The legitimation of early inchoate states

TLDR: In this article, the authors explain the process of legitimacy by demonstrating how three early states attempted to attain it: the Aztecs of Mexico, the Incas of Peru, and early nineteenth-century Buganda in Africa.

Abstract: The basic premise of this paper is that states have to attain legitimacy if they are to rule by means other than naked force and long survive the tests of history. The author explains the process of legitimation by demonstrating how three early states attempted to attain it: the Aztecs of Mexico, the Incas of Peru, and early nineteenth-century Buganda in Africa. Among the many similarities they share, two features are especially important for the present analysis: formation of the state based on a process of incorporation, and an inchoate state organisation that is a consequence of early state formation. Fig., notes, ref.