Robert H. Bates, Eaton Professor Emeritus of the Science of Government at Harvard University, is the author, co-author, or editor of over a dozen books on the developing world. He specializes on the study of conflict and Africa, where he has spent much of his research career. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and National Academy of Sciences, he has held professorships at the California Institute of Technology, Duke University and the Toulouse School of Economics.

1. Introduction; 2. Societies Without States; 3. An Impossibility Result?; 4. From Kinship to the State; 5. Restraining the Leviathan: Part I; 6. Restraining the Leviathan: Part II; 7. The Political Impetus for The Great Transformation; 8. Shaping the Path of Growth and Development; 9. Conclusion.