Politics Through Anthropology Part 1

Politics is often associated with the concept of power, especially in modern-day politics, where the influence of certain groups can significantly affect decisions. Power is defined as the ability to bring about change in a group, institution, or oneself. The questions of who gets this power and how much power they should receive are determined by the community. As Aristotle explained, we live in a world of collective partnership and seek a good life for ourselves through our community.

Human political history began with small, mobile hunter-gatherer groups. As our populations grew, we developed more complex forms of government. Political anthropology gained prominence in the 1960s, focusing on the politics of small, local states, particularly in Africa. Many of these studies, however, did not provide accurate portrayals as they failed to place local systems within a global context, despite the evident impacts of colonization in Africa.

Elman Service (1962), a political anthropologist, categorized world political systems into four types: bands, tribes, chiefdoms, and states, the most common in the modern world. These categories follow an evolutionary process from simple to complex.

Bands were food foragers who practiced hunting and gathering and had small kinship ties. They typically had between twenty to several hundred members and frequently disbanded and reformed due to conflicts and alliances among members. Bands lacked a centralized form of government and made decisions based on consensus. There was also no social stratification, as the concept of accumulating wealth did not exist. This way of life was typical of early Homo species, including Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and early Homo sapiens.

Tribes are culturally distinct populations that combine different bands. People in tribes believe they originate from a common ancestor and organize around villages, kin groups, clans, and lineages. They are decentralized and also make decisions based on consensus. Although leaders may emerge, their power is limited and generally based on personal achievements in warfare and diplomacy.

Chiefdoms are autonomous political units composed of villages under the authority of a chief. They represent the transition from simple to complex governance. Relationships and connections extend across thousands of people in various villages. The chief holds full authority, and the position is typically inherited through generations or other kinship relations.

Finally, states are autonomous regional structures with political, economic, and military rule and power. The government creates laws and can use force to maintain and protect its territory. Early examples of states include Mesopotamia, Egypt, and the Indus Valley. The prominence of state governments is largely due to European or Western colonization, which employed economic, military, and political force to align the borders and systems of other countries with colonial needs. A crucial aspect of state governance is hegemony—the ability to create agreement within the population without relying on threats or force. This is often achieved by promoting nationalism and patriotic sentiments.

This overview of political anthropology and these classification structures has helped me understand the evolution of our modern forms of government and politics.