In a book to be published in April, The Origins of Political Order, Francis Fukuyama of Stanford University presents a sweeping new overview of human social structures throughout history, taking over from where Edward O. Wilson’s book Sociobiology left off.

He considers several factors, including warfare, religion, and in particular human social behaviors like favoring kin. The book traces the development of political order from the earliest human societies, which were small groups of hunter-gatherers.