 Welcome back learners. In the sections that we have discussed so far, we have learned about the meaning and nature of the state. Now in this particular section, we shall try to examine the evolution of the state. The modern state has evolved over a period spanning over thousands of years. The interplay of several factors such as skinship, religion, property, war, technological development, and political consciousness have all contributed to the emergence of the state. Sociologists have generally identified the following forms of state in the course of its historical evolution, which are the tribal state, the oriental empire, the Greek city state, the Roman world empire, the feudal state, and finally the modern nation state. Now, let us first try to discuss the tribal state. The tribal state was the earliest stage of state organization. The tribal states were small in size. The head of the tribe, often assisted by an advisory council, wielded authority and governed the state. The head of the tribe dictated and is dictates for obeyed by all members of the tribe. Anyone who disobeyed was punished by the head and punishment was meted out as per the customs and traditions of the tribe. The main purpose of the existence of these tribal states was the preservation of internal order and the waging of war with other tribal states. These states retained strong traces of common birth, common religion, and common trade interests. Now, we come to the next stage of state evolution, which is the oriental empire. In due course of time, the tribes settled in places where the basic needs and necessities were fulfilled. They settled in places where they could get food to eat, water to drink, and pastures for the cattle. Flourishing civilizations arose in the fertile valleys of the Nile in Egypt, the Euphrates, and Tigris in Mesopotamia, the Ganges in India, and the Yellow River and Yangtzeckiang in China. The increased prosperity led to the development of the art of war and conquests of territories. As the stronger groups won over the weaker ones, the inhabitants of these valleys were bound together into the empires of Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, India, and China. The oriental empires were neither strongly centralized nor closely knit together. They were made up of subordinate units, which though were practically autonomous in local affairs, were under central supervision. The units were under the obligation to furnish soldiers and to pay tributes. However, the large size of these empires eroded central authority, led to local reforms and external invasions. As a result, the empires disintegrated in due course of time. The Greek city-states. The next stage was the Greek city-states. The peculiar location of Greece helped in the evolution of a new form of political organization called the city-state in the ancient days. The mountains and the sea divided this area into small parts in the form of numerous valleys and islands. The different communities inhabiting these small areas developed features peculiar to the Rome. Accordingly, several city-states emerged in ancient Greece with a variety of political institutions. The size of the Greek city-states was confined to the city, which was the center of all activities. The city-states were the outcome of local patriotism. Athens and Sparta were two such city-states, which attained a higher level of political development in individual liberty. Gradually, the Greek city-states disintegrated due to mutual rivalry and frequent wars between themselves and external invasion. The Roman Empire. After the downfall of the Greek city-states, the main political development was the emergence of the Roman Empire. The Roman state passed through several periods. The first period was that of the monarchical state. During that period, the king was not only the head of the state, but also the chief priest of the community. The king was required to consult the council of elders and follow their advice. During the initial period of the Roman Empire, the nobles known as the patricians shared political power with the monarch. But the plebians, who included average working citizens of Rome, like farmers, bakers, builders, or craftsmen, enjoyed no political rights. Gradually, monarchy was succeeded by a republic ruled by elected representatives, and both patricians and plebians got equal political rights. During this period, Rome started annexing the neighboring territories. Consequently, the republic gave way to the Roman Empire, which extended over Austria, Germany, France, Spain, England, the Balkans, Greece, Asia Minor, and the whole of the Mediterranean coast and its hinterlands. In due course of time, the Roman Empire began to decay as institutions of democracy and local self-government disappeared. The feudal state, after the fall of the Roman Empire, central authority was eroded, and its vast territories fell into the hands of powerful feudal chiefs, that is the landlords, holding big estates. Each of these nobles created a community of his own, based on ownership of big estates. These feudal chiefs began to exercise powers in 5th century AD. Each feudal lord gave his land to tenants and chiefs, who in turn gave the same to tenants. This led to a hierarchical political organization upon the basis of land holding, with the king as the supreme lord at the top, and serves on the landless peasants at the bottom. In fact, the king exercised only superficial control over the feudal vassals, who enjoyed the real power within the domain. The erosion of the authority of kings led to the emergence of the Christian church as another symbol of authority. By the beginning of the 14th century, when popes were using their authority arbitrarily, the authority of the church was challenged and power of monarchy restored. The modern nation state, the modern state is largely identified as the nation state. Feudalism was succeeded by nation states, each one of which was based on the bonds of nationality and language, strengthened by national boundaries. The process of consolidation of the bonds of nationality and language led to the emergence of France, Spain, England, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Russia, and later Germany and Italy as nation states by the 16th century. Initially the nation states were mostly monarchies. However, since the middle of the 18th century, there has been a slow transition from the absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy and democracy in large parts of Europe. With the growth and expansion of democracy, the principles of liberty, equality, popular sovereignty came to be established in a large part of Europe. Beginning in the 17th century, many European countries started extending the domination over Asia, Africa, and Latin America in search of new sources of raw material, cheap labor, and new markets. During the 19th century, there came into existence many colonial empires with Great Britain having colonies all over the world. Political awakening and national movements for independence in most of these colonies ultimately led to popular uprisings against the foreign powers, especially after the First World War. Subsequently, many of these countries gained independence, one after the other, from the colonial rulers, especially after the Second World War. In this context, mention may be made of countries like India, Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Nigeria, etc. Thus, we find that in the history of human civilizations, various types of state systems have evolved in different ages, leading up to the modern nation states of today. Thank you.