The Sovereign State and Its Competitors.

• Author: Baron, Josh
• Position: Book Review

THE SOVEREIGN STATE AND ITS COMPETITORS Hendrik Spruyt (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1994), 288 pages.

In Spruyt's conception of the sovereign state, a broad and dramatic change in society will encourage realignment among political and social actors, ultimately producing state institutions that meet the needs of their constituencies. Spruyt applies this model to the era of state formation in Europe, suggesting that the economic renaissance of the late Middle Ages applied a shock to the non-territorial mode of political organization.

In response to this shock, three types of institutions emerged--sovereign states, city states...