self-organizing or multi-agent processes (Other Keyword)
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Reinterpreting the rise of the state in Mesopotamia as a self-organizing process engendered by the interaction of interpersonal behavior and religious eschatology (2015)
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Anthropologists have long used "integration theory" to explain the rise of the state in Mesopotamia. This perspective, derived from functionalism, structural-functionalism, general systems, or cultural ecology, sees state emergence as a response to problems of population growth, ecological distress, competition, warfare, or the need to organize long distance trade. Integration theory is thus "top down." That is, it posits that state governance is imposed upon a population as a social solution...