This book introduces to statebuilding literature the case of Japan, demonstrating the ways in which farmer negotiations with warlords formed the bedrock of a medieval economy that enabled the consolidation of the state.

John A. Ferejohn is a political economist and democratic theorist. He is Professor of Law and Political Science at New York University.
Frances McCall Rosenbluth is a political economist with a special interest in Japan. She is the Damon Wells Professor of International Politics at Yale University.