Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Reflections on the Origins of the Polis: An Economic Perspective on Institutional Change in Ancient Greece

Lyttkens, Carl Hampus LU orcid (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:
author
organization
publishing date
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}},
}