War and State Building in Medieval Japan

The nation state as we know it is a mere four or five hundred years old. Remarkably, a central government with vast territorial control emerged in Japan at around the same time as it did in Europe, through the process of mobilizing fiscal resources and manpower for bloody wars between the 16th and 17th centuries. This book, which brings Japan's case into conversation with the history of state building in Europe, points to similar factors that were present in both places: population growth eroded clientelistic relationships between farmers and estate holders, creating conditions for intense competition over territory; and in the ensuing instability and violence, farmers were driven to make Hobbesian bargains of taxes in exchange for physical security.

John A. Ferejohn is a political economist and democratic theorist. He is Professor of Law and Political Science at New York University. Frances McCall Rosenbluth is a political economist with a special interest in Japan. She is the Damon Wells Professor of International Politics at Yale University.