ABSTRACT
Early Southeast Asian states had tenuous institutional bases and often crumbled when a leader left or a challenge to authority arrived. Increased agricultural production in the states was sufficient to provide surplus resources that appears to have required the development of irrigation techniques for rice production. Highly complex irrigation systems were created in mountainside catchments, taking advantage of highly fertile volcanic soils and plentiful rainfall while controlling natural runoff areas and water flow to intensify agricultural production, especially rice production. Predatory activities included piracy as well as extractions, such as taxes and tolls or protection payments, whereas servicing activities included portage, safe harbor, and reprovisioning. The main pressure underlying state formation—the villages' needs for protection from outside forces—required centrally controlled human resources. State formation throughout traditional Southeast Asia was uneven. States did not evolve in all parts of the region, and where there were states, many were poorly organized. The state was overlaid on the village community.
