The authors construct a mathematical model from which they generate their main hypothesis that resource unpredictability should be associated with frequency of warfare. A cross-cultural test of this hypothesis was performed by Ember and Ember (1992). The authors critique these findings for state societies and test and alternate hypothesis for application to state societies.

In this article, the authors reevaluate Carneiro's (1970) circumscription theory of state formation. They do this by examining relationships between the degree of political hierarchy and whether warfare is conducted for conquest, land acquisition, or plunder. While they find evidence that this theory is plausible in some situations, there is not enough to support the theory wholesale. Thus, they suggest that other theories of state formation should be investigated.

In this article, the authors reevaluate Carneiro's (1970) circumscription theory of state formation. They do this by examining relationships between the degree of political hierarchy and whether warfare is conducted for conquest, land acquisition, or plunder. While they find evidence that this theory is plausible in some situations, there is not enough to support the theory wholesale. Thus, they suggest that other theories of state formation should be investigated.

In this article, the authors reevaluate Carneiro's (1970) circumscription theory of state formation. They do this by examining relationships between the degree of political hierarchy and whether warfare is conducted for conquest, land acquisition, or plunder. While they find evidence that this theory is plausible in some situations, there is not enough to support the theory wholesale. Thus, they suggest that other theories of state formation should be investigated.

This article builds on previous cross-country and cross-state research into Tightness-Looseness (TL) theory, which proposes relationships between the incidence of ecological threat and cultural tightness, as well as tightness’ downstream effects on belief in a moralizing high god, inter-group contact and authoritarian leadership. To evaluate the generalizability of TL theory beyond complex cultures, the authors test these relationships among 86 nonindustrial societies from the ethnographic record. A structural equation model is presented of the results for nonindustrial societies; it is generally in accord with previous findings from more complex societies. Because the nonindustrial sample is more variable, they also look at relationships between societal complexity and kinship heterogeneity, aspects that vary in nonindustrial societies.

This study tests a hypothesis developed in a previous study (Artemova 2003). The authors analyze the relationship between the monopolization of politically important information and gender inequality. Sixty correlations are tested between measures of female status and an indicator of information monopolization; findings support the hypothesis.

This article examines the relationship between warfare and trade and concludes that the relationship varies within different levels of political organization.

In this study, the author empirically tests a formulation of Ellen Dissanayake's evolutionary theory of art, which argues that art evolved to promote group cohesion. The hypotheses derived from this theory and tested in this study specifically focus on ritual art and its relationships to various proxies for group cohesion such as community conflict and internal warfare. Results show that the presence of ritual art is significantly higher where certain measures of group cohesion are also higher (including lower internal warfare, lower conflict between communities of the same society, and lower frequency of violent conflict between groups within local communities).

In this study, the author empirically tests a formulation of Ellen Dissanayake's evolutionary theory of art, which argues that art evolved to promote group cohesion. The hypotheses derived from this theory and tested in this study specifically focus on ritual art and its relationships to various proxies for group cohesion such as community conflict and internal warfare. Results show that the presence of ritual art is significantly higher where certain measures of group cohesion are also higher (including lower internal warfare, lower conflict between communities of the same society, and lower frequency of violent conflict between groups within local communities).

This article tests the effects of variables associated with political participation on the frequency of internal warfare. Findings suggest support for the hypothesis that democracies rarely fight each other.