Two obvious comments: what about the Mediterranean republics of Antiquity? Secondly, is there any comprehensive paper where this concept is developed? Regarding Netherlands, their society was extremely urbanized even in the Middle Ages; are you sure the Italian medieval republics shall not be here? In any case, thanks for the post!
Very little work that I know of discusses Free Peasant societies. That it is why it is hard to be specific about which societies apply to the term.
The only work that I know of is by Gerhard Lenski, who had a huge impact on my thinking. I believe that he used the term "Frontier society" and he focused on Biblical Israel. He saw them as a sub-type of Agrarian societies as I do.
"Frontier society" is briefly mentioned in these summaries from my online library of book summaries
I used to live in Denmark and I know that there has been alot written about the limited extent of feudalism in Scandinavia and its impact on modern egalitarianism. I don't think that this has been applied to other regions.
I have a post coming out on Thursday about Ancient Greece, so I will defer answering until then. I think the early Roman Republic might be an example of a Free Peasant society, but all the land and slaves from military conquests went to wealthy landowners, so I think that gradually overcame free peasants. It is clear that peasants losing their land to wealthy landowners was a key contributing cause of the frequent civil wars in the Late Republic. I have never seen a systematic study of land ownership in the Roman Republic, so at this point it is only speculation.
You are correct about urbanization in the Netherlands, but I am not sure that it applies for the period before 1500. I might be wrong, as I am not as familiar with that time period.
I think the Italian medieval republics were Commercial societies as they were heavily urbanized. This tended to make farmers far more commercialized than in a typical Free Peasant societies.
But again this concept is so underdeveloped that one good book about the subject could completely change my mind.
What about Mediterranean republics not being agrarian societies ? But rather commercial proto-capitalist ones. Hence displaying some of the capitalist/industrial political structures, including lack of landed/feudal aristocracy and even classical Athenian proto-democracy.
What do you think of the idea that is might be related to water supply ?
Classic agrarian and centralized systems would rather develop in areas where water is scarce and supply depends mostly on large and collectively maintained irrigation infrastructures. While free peasant systems tend to develop where water supply come directly from the sky and thus cannot be controlled by the elite.
There are certainly substantial differences between agricultural societies based on irrigation compared to those based on rainfall. I am skeptical about rainfall-based agriculture being enough of an explanation. Almost all European agriculture was based on rainfall and the Free Peasant societies evolved in only a tiny subsection of Europe.
It is probably fair to say that rainfall-based water supply is necessary but not sufficient for the evolution of Free Peasant societies.
There might also be some cultural factor into play : close to the Mediterranean/Middle East area where water is scarce and irrigation dominant, strong centralisation is seen by leaders as the norm. And thus a political necessity. Further away, it is more difficult to implement and justify.
Agreed. I think the biggest factor driving centralization, however, is the threat of military invasion. Where the threat is high, the regimes with the largest and best militaries will tend to survive. This typically requires political centralization.
Thanks for the restack!
Two obvious comments: what about the Mediterranean republics of Antiquity? Secondly, is there any comprehensive paper where this concept is developed? Regarding Netherlands, their society was extremely urbanized even in the Middle Ages; are you sure the Italian medieval republics shall not be here? In any case, thanks for the post!
Thanks for the comment.
Very little work that I know of discusses Free Peasant societies. That it is why it is hard to be specific about which societies apply to the term.
The only work that I know of is by Gerhard Lenski, who had a huge impact on my thinking. I believe that he used the term "Frontier society" and he focused on Biblical Israel. He saw them as a sub-type of Agrarian societies as I do.
"Frontier society" is briefly mentioned in these summaries from my online library of book summaries
https://techratchet.com/2020/02/03/book-review-human-societies-an-introduction-to-macrosociology-by-nolan-lenski/
I used to live in Denmark and I know that there has been alot written about the limited extent of feudalism in Scandinavia and its impact on modern egalitarianism. I don't think that this has been applied to other regions.
I have a post coming out on Thursday about Ancient Greece, so I will defer answering until then. I think the early Roman Republic might be an example of a Free Peasant society, but all the land and slaves from military conquests went to wealthy landowners, so I think that gradually overcame free peasants. It is clear that peasants losing their land to wealthy landowners was a key contributing cause of the frequent civil wars in the Late Republic. I have never seen a systematic study of land ownership in the Roman Republic, so at this point it is only speculation.
You are correct about urbanization in the Netherlands, but I am not sure that it applies for the period before 1500. I might be wrong, as I am not as familiar with that time period.
I think the Italian medieval republics were Commercial societies as they were heavily urbanized. This tended to make farmers far more commercialized than in a typical Free Peasant societies.
But again this concept is so underdeveloped that one good book about the subject could completely change my mind.
What about Mediterranean republics not being agrarian societies ? But rather commercial proto-capitalist ones. Hence displaying some of the capitalist/industrial political structures, including lack of landed/feudal aristocracy and even classical Athenian proto-democracy.
Yes, after this article was published I wrote an article on Ancient Greeks
https://frompovertytoprogress.substack.com/p/were-the-ancient-greek-citystates
Interesting.
What do you think of the idea that is might be related to water supply ?
Classic agrarian and centralized systems would rather develop in areas where water is scarce and supply depends mostly on large and collectively maintained irrigation infrastructures. While free peasant systems tend to develop where water supply come directly from the sky and thus cannot be controlled by the elite.
Interesting idea.
There are certainly substantial differences between agricultural societies based on irrigation compared to those based on rainfall. I am skeptical about rainfall-based agriculture being enough of an explanation. Almost all European agriculture was based on rainfall and the Free Peasant societies evolved in only a tiny subsection of Europe.
It is probably fair to say that rainfall-based water supply is necessary but not sufficient for the evolution of Free Peasant societies.
There might also be some cultural factor into play : close to the Mediterranean/Middle East area where water is scarce and irrigation dominant, strong centralisation is seen by leaders as the norm. And thus a political necessity. Further away, it is more difficult to implement and justify.
Agreed. I think the biggest factor driving centralization, however, is the threat of military invasion. Where the threat is high, the regimes with the largest and best militaries will tend to survive. This typically requires political centralization.
The Agrarian History of Sweden, in 5 volumes (in Swedish) is widely considered definitive here in Sweden. English summary here.
https://www.academia.edu/31602764/The_Agrarian_History_of_Sweden_4000_bc_to_ad_2000
One important thing which was necessary for Swedish industrialisation was the abolishment of the Guild system.
Thanks for the link. I will check it out.