There is a more recent school of throught led by archaeologists such as Geoff Conrad and Arthur Demarest who believe that the integrative power of great art styles and religion influences complexity. In the Mexica culture of central Mexico we find the association of myth of solar struggle with Huitzilopochtli giving state a divine sanction. The state cult of accelerated warfare and mass sacrifice was a timely ideological adaptation to the political environment of 15th century Mexico. The state cult which arose was also economically adaptive. The role of ideology to more or less legitimize rule is one that we can document in a number of cross-cultural instances. Clearly, the First Emperor of China took the Mandate from Heaven in order to associate himselve with the legendary Yellow Emperor and thereby legitimize his role as Emperor of China.
In the Inca world, the Inca state began as response to Chanca incursions around 1438. In the process, ancestor worship became a state cult and rulers began to evolve the lavish and costly Inca cult of royal mummies. In the Inca culture, each successive ruler was obliged to construct his own palace, develop his own court, and raise the economic support needed to maintain it. This tested the ruler's ability to lead. Inca claimed direct descent from the God Inti, justifying not only Inca imperialism in general but the dynasty's right to power and privilege.
In China, the wealth that produced the Chinese civilization was the product of concentrated political power. The acquisition of that power was accomplished through the accumulation of wealth. One key was the monopoly of high shamanism and alliances enabled rulers to gain critical access to divine and ancestral wisdom, which became the basis for their political authority. Shamans were employed by the politically powerful to divine the will of the forces of nature. During the Shang Dynasty, oracle bones (cracks on turtle shells that had been heated) could tell the fortunes of a hunt or the outcome of a great battle. The king himself was known to possess shaman's powers. This was to be exploited to the benefit of the king eventually and culminated in the claim of the First Emperor of China that he ruled through the mandate from heaven. "When the road to Heaven was monopolized by the possessors of shamanistic powers, ancient art and ritual were the sources of political clout, and the accumulation of art and ritual objects was an instrument of social stratification"
In Mesopotamia the concepts of misharum (equality) and anduranum (freedom) were important. These seem to appear under reign of Entemena (2404-2375 BC). These concepts were fundamental bases of the political contract uniting the responsibility of the rulers to the ruled. New Year's celebrations afforded an occasion for the King to cancel all private debts and state taxes, punish corrupt administrators, free slaves, and fine or imprison avaricious merchants. The royal decrees were considered essential for sustaining the immutable nature of both the cosmic and social order, a concept not too unlike the role of the Egyptian pharoahs to hold the forces of chaos (ma'at) in check ensuring that the sun, for example, was resurrected each day. Law was conceived of as timeless and impersonal Royal power was held in check in Mesopotamia by the conception of law as well as assembly of elders and by the priesthood. Just as in Egypt, the duty of the kings to be just, make the laws function equitably, and to be subject to the law, rather than considered its source
These concepts ultimately served as a point of departure for the codification of law and were the foundation for the social contract between the rulers and the ruled, between different classes, and ideally without prejudice as to sex, nationality, or religious belief.