Looking Beyond the State: exploring dimensions of military, political, and social organisation among decentralised collectives in the distant past

In this presentation, Dr Ben Raffield will present the work of an ongoing initiative that seeks to interrogate dimensions of social, political, and military organisation among decentralised polities in the historic and ancient past. These groups, many of which have traditionally been labelled–somewhat pejoratively–as ‘barbarians,’ loom large in the historical and popular imaginary. Examples include the Germanic tribes who crossed into the Roman Empire via the frozen Rhine River in 406, the Visigothic forces that sacked Rome in 410, and the viking fleets that rampaged across western Europe during the 8th-9th centuries. More recent examples include indigenous societies encountered during the colonisation of North America from the 15th century onwards.    

Such groups are often characterised in contemporaneous sources as primitive, disorganised, and irrationally violent, a view that reflects the perspectives of imperialist or colonial outsiders, who typically present them as existing beyond the margins of the pre-modern state. These narratives not only colour our understanding of the past, but they also underpinned early scholarly approaches to the study of the archaeological and historical records. And yet, across the centuries, we have seen so-called ‘barbarians’ develop strategies to scale up military coordination in such a way that it allowed them to effectively compete on a peer-level with centralised kingdoms and empires. The fact that descriptions these groups generally originate from the same populations that were the victims of this ‘disorganised’ violence serves to mask their emic rationale and organisational structures.  

In approaching these issues, Dr Raffield and his colleagues argue for the need to develop a new body of theory and, indeed, a new vocabulary to explore and elucidate the means by which decentralised polities come together to pursue and achieve mutual goals. Within the context of this seminar, he will focus on the repertoires of institutions, resources, and strategies, that allowed them to organise for collective action in the face of opposition from centralised polities. Given the interdisciplinary environment of the IAS, he would welcome questions and critique that draw on the perspectives of colleagues working across multiple fields, and of course suggestions of how we might further develop our framework and arguments in such a way that they engage with topical questions and debates currently taking place elsewhere. 

In preparation for the seminar, participants may wish to read the following, recently published article, which offers an overview of our initial arguments:   

Birch, J., Raffield, B., Arkush, E., Roscoe, P., Allen, M.W., Cameron, C.M., Gragson, T.L., Hedenstierna-Jonson, C., Lindblom, M. & Thompson, V.D. 2025. ‘Breaking down the “Barbarian” trope: Strategic military coordination in decentralized collectives’, Journal of Archaeological Research, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-025-09208-x. 

Places are limited and so any academic colleagues or students interested in attending in person must register here for a place. 

More information about Dr Benjamin Raffield