The Historical Evolution of Politics

In an earlier essay (North, 1981, Ch. 3) I developed a Neo-Classical Theory of the State. This essay elaborates, extends and modifies that essay in three directions: 1. It incorporates time into the model; 2. It is explicitly concerned with the perceptions - the belief systems - that determine choices; and 3. It relates the belief systems to the external environment of the players; both the past environmental experiences that are incorporated in cultural conditioning and the present environmental experiences incorporated in local learning