Trajectories of state formation in Eurasia: a discussion

Abstract

Two questions have often been posed: 1) Why did humanity not take the path of Modernity already in Ancient times? 2) Why was it Europe that undertook the development towards Modernity? In this paper we will present an overview of these issues, rying to outline an interpretative hypothesis bout the propulsive role that the presence, after the fall of the Roman Empire, of a plurality of political entities in a constant relation of competition and cooperation, had on the development of the European continent. At the same time we will analyze the evolutionary dynamics that pushed Europe, rather than China, India or the Arab world, towards Modernity.