Theme 3 - The State Flashcards
(18 cards)
1
Q
What is the definition of the state?
A
A historical institution, emerged in 16th-17th century Europe as a system of centralized rule that succeeded in subordinating all other institutions.
2
Q
The international state :
A
-A universal form of political organization around the world
-Earliest form was in China (centralized bureaucracy)
-Emergence(Europe 1500-1789), Expansion(Global 1789-19740, Restructuring(1975-2021)
3
Q
What’re the 4 approaches to the state?
A
*Idealist approach (philosophical)
* Functionalist approach (role/purpose)
* Organizational approach (institutions)
* International approach
4
Q
Define the Idealist approach to the state:
A
- Proponent: G. W. F Hegel
- Three realms of social life:
- The family, defined by particular altruism, set aside your own interests for the family.
- Civil society, defined by universal egoism ,place your own interests ahead of others.
- The state, defined by universal altruism, set aside own interests for political community. The state thus serves the interests of all in society (this is the ideal)
- The state is an ethical community – it pursues a specific ‘good’: (the common good).
- Weaknesses of the approach:
- Uncritical respect for the state
- Ethical definition: no differentiation between institutions that are part of the state and those that aren’t.
5
Q
Define the functionalist approach to the state:
A
- Looks at the role / purpose the state serves.
- State’s most important function is the maintenance of social order.
- The state is a set of institutions that upholds order and delivers social stability.
- Neo-Marxists:* Critical of state: the state helps lessen class conflict to ensure the survival of the capitalist system.
- Weakness:
- Definition is too broad: Any institution involved with social order (family, media, church, etc.)is associated with the state.
6
Q
Define the organizational approach to the state:
A
- State as a set of public institutions
- Responsible for collective organization of social existence
- Funded at Public expense.
- State thus includes branches of government, bureaucracy, military, the courts, social security system etc.
- Makes a distinction between state and civil society.
- State includes government, but government is distinct from the state.
7
Q
Differentiate the state and government, in terms of scope, time, authority and interests.
A
*Scope of state = Includes everyone
*Scope of government = Managers of the state
*Time of state = Permanent
*Time of government = Temporary
*Authority of state = Neutral authority
*Authority of government = Partisan Authority
*Interest of state = Common good
*Interests of government = Those in power
8
Q
What’re the 5 key features of this approach?
A
- The state is sovereign (unrestricted power)
- The state is an exercise in legitimation (public interest)
- The state is an instrument of domination (state is defined by its monopoly of the means of legitimate violence –Max Weber)
- The state is a territorial association (geographically defined jurisdiction)
- State institutions are public (making and enforcing collective decisions, not private ones)
9
Q
Define the international approach :
A
- State as actor
- Requires recognition by other state
- State is a “legal person”
- Two faces of the state: Inward-looking, Outward-looking
- State as a “country”:
- Means civil society is considered part of the state
- Classic definition of the state in international law(Montevideo Convention):
- A defined territory
- A permanent population
- An effective government
- The capacity to enter into relations with other states
10
Q
Define the modern state :
A
- The ‘modern state’ is a coming-together of three big institutions*
:1. A centralized bureaucratic state
2. Rule of law
3. Representative rule / accountability structures. - Confluence of these three institutions at different time in different regions
11
Q
State and define the different theories when debating the state :
A
- The pluralist state:
the state is a ‘referee’ in society.
Difference between state and government.
State must be neutral actor.
Origins in the social contract theory. - The capitalist state:
the state cannot be understood separately from the economic structure of society.
The Marxist view. - The leviathan state:
the state pursues separate interests from those of society.
A self-serving ‘monster’ intent on expansion. - The patriarchal state:
some feminists question conventional definitions of the state.
Liberal feminists have tended to support the pluralist view of the state.
Radical feminists argue that state power reflects a deeper structure of oppression in the form of patriarchy
12
Q
What’re the different 6 roles of the state?
A
- Minimal states
- Developmental states
- Social-democratic states
- Collectivized states
- Totalitarian states
- Religious states
13
Q
Explain the minimal state :
A
- The ideal of classical liberals
- Historic examples: UK and USA during early industrialization of the 1800s
- A negative view of the state – too much state / central authority is oppressive and needs to be kept in its place.
- The value of the state: prevent people from encroaching on the rights and liberties of others.
- The state must provide a framework of peace and order within which citizens can live their lives as they think best.
- Locke – the state is a night watchman
- Three core functions:
1. Maintain domestic order
2. Ensure that agreements or contracts between private citizens are enforced
3. Protection against external attack - Institutional apparatus: Police force; court system; military.
- Economic, social, cultural, moral and other responsibilities left to individuals / part of civil society.
- New Right: early liberal ideas, especially free market, whilst also being socially conservative.
- ’Push back the frontiers of the state’
- Friedrich von Hayek, Milton Friedman: state intervention reduces competition, efficiency and productivity.
14
Q
Explain the developmental state :
A
- A developmental state intervenes in the economy with the specific aim of promoting industrial growth and economic development.
- This does not amount to an attempt to replace the market with a socialist system of planning and control.
- BUT is aimed at constructing a partnership between the state and major economic interests.
- Often underpinned by conservative and nationalist priorities.
- Japan & Germany during the earlier parts of the 20thcentury.
15
Q
Explain social-democratic states :
A
- Developmental states intervene only in order to stimulate the economy.
- Social-democratic states intervene in order to bring about broad social restructuring.
- Based on principles such as fairness, equality and social justice.
- Some states (like Sweden & Austria) have followed both developmental and soc-dem models.
- Shift, from a negative view of the state (a necessary evil) to a positive view.
*State is viewed as a means to enlarge equality &liberty and to promote social justice. - The state no longer just creates the broad framework of life but becomes and active participant– help rectify the imbalances and injustices of a market-based economy.
- Focus less on the generation of wealth, and more on the just distribution of wealth.
- Focus on the reduction of poverty and social equality
16
Q
Explain collectivized states :
A
- Collectivized state - the whole of economic life is under state control (command economy).
- Eg. Communist countries – USSR, former eastern European states (1917-1991)
- Command economies – organized through a system of direct, central planning (Communist Party).
- Based on a fundamental socialist preference for common ownership rather than private property
- The use of state power – to attain this goal of common ownership – suggest a positive attitude to the state.
- This however differs from classical Marxism which envisaged that the state would ‘wither away’.* In the later years of the USSR the state was identified with the interest of the people as a whole.
17
Q
Explain Totalitarian States :
A
- The most extreme and extensive form of intervention.
- The focus is on the construction of an all-embracing state that penetrates every aspect of human existence: economy, education, culture, religion ,family life, etc.* Eg: Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, USSR, Hussein’s Iraq.* Comprehensive process of surveillance and terroristic policing.
- Strict Ideological control*
Tries to abolish civil society and to do away with the private sphere of life. - Fascists, for example, wanted to dissolve the individual identity into the group/social identity.
- The advance of human civilization is linked to the state and to the widening of its responsibilities.
18
Q
Explain Religious states :
A
- In the modern world there is an increasing separation between the civil authority and religious authority – Secularization.
- Since the 1980s there has however been a resurgence of the prominence of religion and its claims within the public realm.
- There has even been the emergence of what we can call religious states.
- These states reject the division between public and private and view religion as the basis of politics.
- Radical religious movements want to seize control of the state and use it as an instrument for moral and spiritual regeneration.
- Pakistan under General Zia-ul-Haq after 1978 and in the establishment of the Islamic State in Iran after1979.
- There are also examples of religiously orientated movements operating in the context of constitutional secularism – AKP in Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
