The Long Run of European State Formation - article ; n°1 ; vol.171, pg 137-150

Publications de l'École française de Rome - Année 1993 - Volume 171 - Numéro 1 - Pages 137-150
Instead of following a unilinear model, European states followed many different paths to the relatively uniform consolidated state that began to prevail in the 19th century. The relative concentration of coercion (as represented, e.g., by the presence of great landlords with private armies) and capital (as represented, e.g., by the importance of commercial cities) strongly affected the way rulers assembled the means for war, which in turn had powerful effects on the process and direction of state formation. A useful simplification distinguishes capital-intensive, coercion-intensive, and capitalized coercion paths toward the consolidated state.
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