This work offers an assessment of the role of ideology in the emergence and development of early states. In a comparative perspective the significance of ideology in the processes that led to the formation of states in Europe, Africa, Meso-America and Polynesia is discussed by specialists in the fields of anthropology, history and archaeology. Special attention is given to subjects such as the concept of ideology, regional comparison, the reconstruction of ideologies on the basis of archaeological data, gender relationships, coercion, legitimacy, sacred kingship, and ideology and change. The findings of this volume should not only interest anthropologists, historians and archaeologists, but also those studying the interaction of ideological and political developments.