Water and State in Europe and Asia - Borschberg, Peter; Krieger, Martin (New Delhi: Manohar Publishers, 2008)
Water is indispensable for all lofe on earth. Since ancient times, the control of freshwater resources and also the sea facilitated the rise of communal structure and administrative institutions across Europe and Asia. Many states tightened their authority of creaming off agricultural surplluses from irrigated land. The more effective the irrigational systems, the higher state revenues tended to be. For much of the twentieth century, research on such community based irrigation was sominated by Kari August Wittfogel`s discourse on Hydraulic Despotism`.
includes index and biblioraphy