ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly notes recent examples of state collapse in which religion and ritual have played significant roles. It discusses recent approaches to the issues of decline, collapse, and regeneration; it summarizes the contributions in the volume. The chapter notes some common themes among them. Various aspects of collapse have attracted scholarly attention, with an initial focus on the interpretation of the terms and models of the processes in the decline and collapse of a society. Discussion of collapse in archaeology progressed to question what fills the socio-political vacuum when processes of social institutions cease and thus shifted to address ideas of resilience and regeneration. While some of the earliest studies stress that “societies do not simply disappear”, others underscore how few societies on close inspection exhibit absolute societal collapse with a complete end to the political system and the related framework of civilization.
