Order and Anarchy

Through The Study Of Civil Society The Evolution Of Social Relations And The Breakdown Of Social Order Order And Anarchy Re-Examines The Role Of Violence In Human Social Evolution. Drawing On Anthropology Political Science And Evolutionary Theory It Offers A Novel Approach To Understanding Stability And Instability In Human Society. Robert Layton Provides A Radical Critique Of Current Concepts Of Civil Society Arguing That Rational Action Is Characteristic Of All Human Societies And Not Unique To Post-Enlightenment Europe. Case Studies Range From Ephemeral African Gold Rush Communities And The Night Club Scene In Britain To Stable Hunter-Gatherer And Peasant Cultures. The Dynamics Of Recent Civil Wars In The Former Yugoslavia Chad Somalia And Indonesia Are Compared To War In Small-Scale Tribal Societies Arguing That Recent Claims For The Evolutionary Value Of Violence Have Misunderstood The Complexity Of Human Strategies And The Social Environments In Which They Are Played Out.