The state and the exercice of power

Question 1

What is an institution?

Answer 1

Established organisations that present patterns of behaviour that give stability and predictability to social life

Question 2

Institutions can be two ways:

Answer 2

Formal- state, gov, bureaucracies
Informal- family, education

Question 3

Define the soverain state according to Weber

Answer 3

institution claiming a monopoly of legitimate use of physical force in enforcing order over a territorial area

Question 4

What are the two levels a state can embody?

Answer 4

1. Government, bureaucracy
2. institution that survives the state, permament

Question 5

What are the two types of soverainty?

Answer 5

De jure and de facto

Question 6

Define De jure soverainty

Answer 6

legal sov., recognised by other states. legal right to rule supremely over a geographical area

Question 7

De facto

Answer 7

Actual ability of government to exercice power and authority

Question 8

What is an example of an internal challenge to soverainty?

Answer 8

Indigenous people still de facto soverains of their land but the government is de jure, which creates conflict

Question 9

What is an example of an external challenge to soverainty?

Answer 9

Thigs that connect staes (social media, internet) take away the ability of states to exercice authority unilaterally

Question 10

Name the three ways of exercising power

Answer 10

coercion: sheer power/ physical force
manipulation: illegitimate authority
consent: legitimate authority

Question 11

what is weber’s 3 fold classification of authority?

Answer 11

1. traditional: based on trzaditional value and customs (monarchs)
2. charismatic: based on personaity and traits of a person (limits what is achievable)
3. legal-rational: based on status of person’s office and legality of process by which they obtain this position (judges are nominated)

Question 12

is state soverainty final?

Answer 12

no, states rely on each other politically and economically thus soverainty is not guaranteed and dependent on international factors

Question 13

What is one of the factors that has blurred state lines ?

Answer 13

Globalisation: fragilised state sov. and made them dependent on other countries’ exports and trade

Question 14

What is a territorial area (Weber)?

Answer 14

states authority is bound by its borders
cannot intervene in other states

Question 15

Enforcing its order (Weber)

Answer 15

State has final say in how laws are made and enforced

Question 16

“state” (Weber)

Answer 16

2-fold system
- states as Executive of a country: government
- states as a structure of political authority: when government changes the institutions stay permament and stable

Question 17

Monopoloy of physical force (weber)

Answer 17

state can use whatever means necessary to make sure the laws are followed in the name of order
doesn’t mean they can use any amount of force arbitrarily

Question 18

Legitimacy (weber)

Answer 18

-very important in democratic society to prevent abuses of power
- can only use force when it’s seen as valid by those who influence who rules the state

Question 19

How can states be classified? (typology)

Answer 19

• how much the state interves (nightwatchman, socialist, welfare state)
• how democratic they are (liberal democracy, illiberal democracy, authoritarianism, totalitarianism)

Question 20

Define pluralism

Answer 20

• opposite of elitism
• theorised by robert dahl
• ## a normal feature of the state is that it contains different groups each with different interest and pursuing their own goals

Question 21

What does pluralism believe?

Answer 21

1/ pluralism is inherent to all societies and therefore shapes politics (society is complex and has multiple realities)
2/ plurality of actors influence how decisions are made ( many groups with diverging interest compete for influence over society/ must gain enough to be able to achieve their goals)
3/ state’s role is to regulate between the groups (referee)
4/ power is diffused and distributed between different actors (not binary, no elite or government has all of it)

Question 22

What are the key ideas of pluralism?

Answer 22

1. Political influence takes different forms (power is not binary)
2. No one group can claim exclusive influence over society not even the govt (govt can’t eliminate groups he can only mediate btw them)

Question 23

Define the new right

Answer 23

movement that want to implement neoliberals ideas in support of negative liberty
tied to liberalism
tied to social contract theory: society was born from conflict between people, therefore a contract between the government and the peopel was made- the state’s role is to protect our rights

Question 24

What does new right argue?

Answer 24

• the welfare state has overstepped its initial purpose of protecting individual liberties
• state has gone from negative liebrty to positive freedom
• if state redistributes wealth it adds pressure on taxpayer
• state has become way to large in power and size
• want a smaller less intervening state

Question 25

what are the reasons the state has expanded?

Answer 25

• democracy:elections have made politicians over-promise things which leads to disappointment
• bureaucracy: bureacracies of any state have the tendency to see their own growth as a positive so they’re likely to want to take on more responsibilites

Question 26

What’s the new right political program?

Answer 26

• tax cuts
• rollback on wellfare services
• privatisation of state industries and corporations
• free trade