Reflections on the Origins of the Polis: An Economic Perspective on Institutional Change in Ancient Greece
(2006) In Constitutional Political Economy 17(1). p.31-48- Abstract
- From a beginning of small isolated settlements around 1000 B.C., the city-state (polis) emerged in Greece in the course of four centuries as a political, geographical and judicial unit, with an assembly, council, magistrates and written laws. Using a rational-actor perspective, it is shown how this process was driven by competition among the members of the elite. A crucial ingredient was the gradual consolidation of boundaries, which contributed to population growth, inter-state conflicts, colonisation and competition for power. Variations over time in the conditions for competition explain both the introduction of formal political institutions and their overthrow by tyrants.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1384536
- author
- Lyttkens, Carl Hampus LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2006
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Institutional change, Ancient Greece, City-state, Competition
- in
- Constitutional Political Economy
- volume
- 17
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 31 - 48
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:33646693866
- ISSN
- 1043-4062
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10602-006-6792-z
- project
- The Economics of Ancient Greece
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 215dbe22-5cd5-4033-8f97-236344d0b146 (old id 1384536)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 12:02:03
- date last changed
- 2023-11-11 10:19:24
@article{215dbe22-5cd5-4033-8f97-236344d0b146, abstract = {{From a beginning of small isolated settlements around 1000 B.C., the city-state (polis) emerged in Greece in the course of four centuries as a political, geographical and judicial unit, with an assembly, council, magistrates and written laws. Using a rational-actor perspective, it is shown how this process was driven by competition among the members of the elite. A crucial ingredient was the gradual consolidation of boundaries, which contributed to population growth, inter-state conflicts, colonisation and competition for power. Variations over time in the conditions for competition explain both the introduction of formal political institutions and their overthrow by tyrants.}}, author = {{Lyttkens, Carl Hampus}}, issn = {{1043-4062}}, keywords = {{Institutional change; Ancient Greece; City-state; Competition}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{1}}, pages = {{31--48}}, publisher = {{Springer}}, series = {{Constitutional Political Economy}}, title = {{Reflections on the Origins of the Polis: An Economic Perspective on Institutional Change in Ancient Greece}}, url = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/2752246/4779340.pdf}}, doi = {{10.1007/s10602-006-6792-z}}, volume = {{17}}, year = {{2006}}, }