Social evolution, its regularities and main characteristics have always been in the focus of attention of social scientists. One of the most influential theories of historical development was and still is Marxism, which gave rise to various neo-evolutionist theories of twentieth-century political anthropology. In contrast to "Soviet Marxism", which constantly emphasized the importance of class struggle and the actions of the social lower classes in the history of society, neo-evolutionist concepts paid primary attention to the activities of the upper classes, who established their power and domination and sought to consolidate it in ideological systems; an example of this approach is the theory of political evolution by E. Service " local group-tribe / community-chiefdom-state" [Service 1962, 1975]. The recently formulated theory of collective action aims to prove that "under certain conditions, state formation reflects rational agreements and mutually beneficial agreement between the rulers and the governed in the political community" [Blanton and Fargher, 2008, p. 11]; cf.: [Zakharov, 2010(2), pp. 383-392], which brings back to mind the classical theory of the social contract by D. Locke and J.-J. Russo. R. Blanton and L. Farger develop the concept of collective polity, built on the cooperation of individuals and groups of the political community. This article analyzes the applicability of the theory of collective action to the Java polities of the eighth and tenth centuries. Keywords: collective action, formation of statehood, Ancient Java, inscriptions. By collective politics, researchers mean a " complex society in which the government provides services ("public goods") in exchange for income, including labor, provided by willing taxpayers " [Blanton, Fargher, 2008, p. 13]. I will immediately note that any polity fits this definition, because it is impossible to imagine a political community divided into managers and managed, in which there would be no public g ... Read more