Political Evolution in Micronesia
Peoples, James G. (1993). "Political Evolution in Micronesia". Ethnology. 32 (1): 1. doi:10.2307/3773542. ISSN 0014-1828.
- Has attachment: File:MCSLBZMM.pdf
Abstract: Explores the development of political systems in the Micronesian islands, focusing specifically on the Nuclear Micronesian peoples. It employs a method of controlled comparison to examine how regional environmental factors influence variations in sociopolitical complexity among islands sharing common ancestry. The paper discusses how sociopolitical systems in Pohnpei and Kosrae resemble the complexity found in Polynesian chiefdoms despite the smaller size and population of Micronesian islands.
A theoretical framework is proposed, drawing on the ideas of Barth, Carneiro, and others. It suggests that political structures arise from choices constrained by environmental factors, with population growth leading to resource shortages and conflicts potentially resulting in the formation of chiefdoms and states . The paper argues that in historically related cultures, like those in Nuclear Micronesia, cultural diversity is better explained by variations in environmental conditions than by individual ideational innovations.
Overall, the paper attempts to integrate micro- and macro-level approaches to cultural evolution, suggesting that the level of complexity in a society emerges from strategic choices made by individuals and groups in specific ecological contexts. It implies that the differences in political complexity among the islands are influenced significantly by their environmental settings and cultural interactions with these settings, rather than by separate origins or histories.
Extra details:
QID: Q56048258 MAG: 149463960 OpenAlex: W149463960 CorpusID: 141185219
