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5/4/06

TCS Daily - Group Power in Europe

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Group Power in Europe

Eventually, when the medieval era was over, there were two types of European states. The imperial states, like Spain and France, had a legacy of top-down rule. The associational states, like the Netherlands and (somewhat later) England, had a legacy of strong non-governmental sources of authority, which in turn limited the power of government.

The commercial and industrial revolutions took off earliest in the associational states. Associational government was stable to the extent that it guaranteed freedom of association. Strong non-state associations served as a check against expansion of state power. Associational government was economically powerful because of the strong protections against government confiscation of private property. Without predation, Kohn argues, economic growth tends to take place naturally.

As the autocratic states, such as France and Spain, required more revenue to finance wars, they tended to concede power to other elites. Thus, they became slightly less autocratic. Meanwhile, as the city-states attempted to merge in order to protect themselves, governments would tend to become more predatory. However, in some exceptional cases, notably the Netherlands and England, an "associational state" emerged, which combined the limits on governmental predation of the smaller polities with the military defense capability of the larger polities.

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