The state is a contested concept in the historiography on early medieval societies. Debates have frequently revolved around its heuristic validity, but few scholars have addressed its broader theoretical implications. Those who have tend to reduce the state to its institutional features and privilege the role of the dominant groups in the analysis of state-building processes and the workings of the state. This paper contends that a richer conceptualisation of the state can overcome the limits of the debate as it has been framed so far and provide a deeper insight into how social relations shaped and were shaped by the development of early medieval polities. After reviewing the most significant historiographical contributions to the debate, the paper introduces the Strategic-Relational Approach to the state, as formulated by B. Jessop, as one that can provide a more nuanced understanding of early medieval polities. Particular emphasis is made on the analysis of class relationships and the articulation of hegemonic projects as two particularly fruitful lines of inquiry. Finally, the paper focuses on one particular instance of early medieval political practice, the politics of the land, as a means to illustrate the potential of the approach.

中文翻译：

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中世纪早期国家：战略关系方法

在中世纪早期社会的史学中，国家是一个有争议的概念。争论经常围绕其启发式有效性展开，但很少有学者探讨其更广泛的理论含义。那些倾向于将国家简化为制度特征并在国家建设过程和国家运作分析中优先考虑主导群体的角色的人。本文认为，更丰富的国家概念化可以克服迄今为止争论的局限性，并提供对社会关系如何塑造以及中世纪早期政治发展如何塑造的更深入洞察。在回顾了这场辩论中最重要的史学贡献之后，本文介绍了 B. Jessop 制定的国家战略关系方法，作为一个可以提供对早期中世纪政治的更细致理解的人。特别强调对阶级关系的分析和霸权项目的阐述作为两个特别富有成效的探究路线。最后，本文重点关注中世纪早期政治实践的一个特定实例，即土地政治，以此作为说明该方法潜力的一种方式。