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Political Economy of World-Systems 2002 Conference Riverside, California |
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Abstract Power Is in the Details: Administrative Technology and the Growth of Ancient Near Eastern Cores Mitch Allen The expansion of the Ancient Near Eastern core has been addressed by world-systems scholars for two decades now, since it represented the earliest documented case of strong core/periphery differentiation. But many have pointed out that those differences were fragile, and ANE empires had limits as far as size and longevity. This situation changes drastically in the first millennium BC, where the Assyrian empire expands to a size unheard of in previous times and survives intact for over a century. Even when it fails, it is replaced by Babylonian, Achemenid, and Macedonian empires of equal size. What caused this exponential leap in the strength of cores over peripheral areas? Using the example of the western semi-periphery of the Assyrian empire--Phoenicia, Philistia, and Israel--I will attempt to demonstrate that the Assyrians used new innovations in administrative and financial technology to solidify its growth. Curiously, these advances were originally developed by the semi-peripheral states as means of combatting Assyrian influence and were only later turned into tools of imperial stabilization and control. This principle of administrative development and cooptation will then be used to examine other ANE settings for its general utility. |
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27th Annual Conference of the Political Economy of World-Systems Spring Hosted by the Institute for Research on World-Systems at the University of California, Riverside |