So what are "Tribal States"?

[Brennus]

So, are you saying my definition of the state is outdated?

Not so much outdated, but highly critiqued. The idea that you can classify different human societies into neat categories such as tribes or states, is the result of a school of American and British archaeology from the 1960s-1980s. It was known as New Archaeology or Processual Archaeology, and held that humans operate according to scientific rules and thus when the same rule was applied to two communities they would respond in the same way.

However, since then the idea has been much critiqued and most archaeologists and anthropologists accept that human societies are too varied and different to fit into nice neat categories.

Are we not all tribal states... deep down?

A bit of 12am philosophy for you there from Damian... the 12am philosopher.

Well just look at the UK, two of its members (Scotland and England) take their names from Early Medieval Tribes.