A profound reflection on imperial domination.

Drawing up an exhaustive overview of the tribes and empires included in the established societies from the Sahara to the Gobi Desert, in this essay in the field of historical sociology, Mohamed Cherkaoui provides a fundamental contribution to understand the relationships between social morphologies and political orders. In particular, he refutes the theory that founds the advent of the State and the empire on conflicts between herdsmen and farmers, and contests theories that explain everything through religion, family structures, heritage, or contracts.