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This paper investigates the role of the state in world history and analyses some of the major issues confronting such an investigation with a particular focus on the relationship between the modern European state and the other historical forms of the state. Firstly it considers the problems raised by the fact that the terminology of state analysis is derived from a discourse that arose to explain the particularity of European state development. Secondly it considers the problem of the origins of the state. It examines two major issues: van Creveld's argument that only modern European states are real states and the chiefdom/state distinction. It argues that new political forms occurred both with the emergence of civilisation and the "state" in the ancient world and with the development of the modern European state after 1300. Thirdly it considers the issue of a typology of states through an examination of the model developed by Finer in his The History of Government. It argues that this model is only really effective in dealing with pre–modern political forms and that the modern European state needs to be understood as a deviant from the Eurasian norm of the agrarian empire.

The article examines the `clash of civilizations' theory of history as developed recently by Samuel Huntington and Victor Lee Burke. It argues that this theory attempts to combine an historical sociology that sees states and war as the motors of human history with a notion of civilization as something solid and fixed. It contends that civilizations are fluid and amorphous entities that cannot be treated as states, and that `the ways of peace' such as cultural exchanges and trade are just as important as war and conflict in any attempt to understand the history of humanity.

The article examines the "clash of civilizations" theory of history as developed recently by Samuel Huntington & Victor Lee Burke. It argues that this theory attempts to combine a historical sociology that sees states & war as the motors of human history with a notion of civilization as something solid & fixed. It contends that civilizations are fluid & amorphous entities that cannot be treated as states, & that "the ways of peace" such as cultural exchanges & trade are just as important as war & conflict in any attempt to understand the history of humanity. 21 References. Adapted from the source document.