HSS F362: Local Governance and

Participation

Lecture 4 : 24-01-2024

Mohan Kumar Bera

BITS Pilani Goa Campus

CONCEPT OF STATE
WHAT IS STATE ?

State:

• Greeks used term : Polis

• Romans : Civitas & Republica
• Medieval period : Christian Common wealth
• 16th (Century)Machiavelli: State
Definition of State

• The state is a form of political entity by which a society is organized

under an agency of government which claims legitimate sovereignty
over a geographical area and has a monopoly of physical force.

• According to Garner,
“A State is a community of persons, more or less numerous,
permanently occupying a definite portion of territory,
independent, or nearly so, of external control, and possessing an
organized government, to which the great body of inhabitants
render habitual obedience”
Elements of the State
(1) Population

(2) Territory

(3) Government

(4) Sovereignty

Lets discuss these element one-by-one:

.
• Population : A considerable group of human beings;

• Territory : A definite area of earth’s surface upon which the

population permanently resides

• Government: A political organization through which the will

or law of the state is expressed and administrated.

• Sovereignty : the supremacy of the state over all individuals

and associations within it and the independence of the state from
external control.
Characteristics:
1. A community of persons

2. Permanently occupying a definite portion of territory

3. Independent of external control

4. Possessing an organized government

5. Inhabitants render habitual obedience

Elements of a State
.
.
.
 Functions of State:
1. Social Control: The state establishes the laws that formally specify what is
expected of the citizens as well as what is prohibited by enacting and
enforcing.

2. Defence: Protects citizens not only against external aggression, but also
internal conflicts.

3. Welfare: Initiates policies and programmes, like health, education,

transportation, employment, public services, and pension benefits, to
provide for the general welfare of the people under its territory.

4. Other Functions: Plan and pay for most roads, run public schools, provide
water, organize police and fire services, establish zoning regulations,
license professions, and arrange elections for their citizens.
Difference between State and Nation:

STATE NATION

1. It is a political concept 1. It is an ethnic concept

2. It is not subject to 2. May or may not be
external control independent from external
3. May consist of one or control
more nations or people 3. May be made of several
states
The World As We See It?
The World In Reality

What is the difference?

Defining States and Development of the State Concept

Problems of defining States:

Almost all habitable land belongs to a country today

In 1940, there were about 60 countries
Today, there are 193 countries
(as evidenced by United Nations membership)

Some places are difficult to classify

Korea: one state or two?
Western Sahara (Sahrawi Republic) or Morocco?
Claims to polar regions: Many claims.
China and Taiwan: one state or two?
What is a State?
The term country is a synonym for state

4 elements:
◦ People – contains a permanent population
◦ Territory – occupies a defined territory on the earth’s surface
◦ Government – rules people
◦ Sovereignty - control over its internal and foreign affairs,
independent from other states

Concept of dividing world into independent states is recent

What is a Nation?
 A social/cultural concept, more so tied to ethnicity
 Historical community that shares common ancestry; a people with a
sense of union with one another
 Not every nation has a state
◦ Kurds, Palestinians
 Some states contain more than one nation
◦ Belgium, UK, Canada
 Some nations are larger than one state
◦ About 4 millions Jews live in Israel, many members of the Jewish
nation living elsewhere in the world (US/Eastern Europe)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNu8XDBSn10
 The “Perfect” European Model of State


State:
 Nation-state:

 A political unit
wherein the
territorial state

Nation: coincides with the
area settled by a
certain national
group or people.


Law

Nation-State: s

------

-------

-------

--------
Globalization & Future of the Nation-State

Concept of sovereign nation-states is increasingly being challenged by

globalization

Globalization is a contested concept. There are three positions in the

debate (see Sorensen 2008, pp. 604-606; also for definitions):
1. Retreat of the state position: States are losing power and influence.
2. The state-centric position: States have even managed to expand their
capacities for regulation and control.
3. Pragmatic position: Process of state transformation. States are
“winning” and “losing” at the same time.
.

Sorensen (2008) argues that modern states are based on:

1) National economy: Removal of local barriers to trade and the

building of a nation-wide infrastructure

2) National government: A centralized system of democratic rules and

strong political-administrative capacities within a precisely defined
territory

3) Nation: People who build a community of sentiment and a

community of citizens

4) Sovereignty: No final political authority outside or above the state.

.

However, according to Sorensen (2008) these characteristics are

transformed by globalization
(1) The economy is increasingly embedded in cross-border networks.
“Shallow and deep integration”
(2) National government is replaced by multi-level governance
(3) Nation:
– Globalization reinforces collective identities “above” and “below”
the nation.
– There is evidence of an emerging “western civic identity” but also
of “resistant identities”.
.

(continued)
(4) Sovereignty:
– the rule of non-intervention is challenged in a world of multi-
level governance.
– But still consent of states needed!
– States in process of transformation: “post-modern” states.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ark8cRiSw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVoB2fGBrFc&t=47s
Theories of the State:
Various attempts to explain state;

Various philosophers explain different ways;

(1) Force Theory

(2) The Divine Theory

(3) The Social-Contract Theory

THE FORCE THEORY
The state came into existence as
a result of the forced subjection of the weak to the strong.

Two arguments in Force Theory:

1. One group of thinkers used this theory to justify the state on the
ground that the state is power, that might makes right and that the
essence of the state is a sovereign will.

2. Second group, to attack the state because of its injustice and urge
individual freedom and limited state action
.

In middle ages theologians argued that, the state was based upon force
and injustice and decried the origin of earthly sovereignty in order to
subordinate temporal to spiritual power.

Individualist & anarchist believe that the State is an evil because of

their desire for individual freedom.

Socialist believe that, the state resulted from the aggression and
exploitation of labourers by capitalist and attack, not the idea of the
state itself.
THE DIVINE THEORY
During the large part of human history the state was viewed as direct
divine creation.

Early oriental empires rulers claimed a divine tight to control the

affairs of their subjects and this right was seldom questioned.

The Hebrews believed – Divine Origin

Spat between State Concept & Christianity Pope

SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY
In moral and political philosophy, the social contract is a theory or
model, originating during the age of enlightenment, that typically
addresses the questions of the origin of society and the legitimacy of
the authority of the state over the individual.

Social contract arguments typically hypothesize that, individuals have

consented, either openly or tacitly, to surrender some of their freedoms
and submit to the authority of the ruler or magistrate, in exchange for
protection of their remaining rights.

The question of the relation between natural and legal rights,

therefore, is often an aspect of social contract theory.
.

• Thomas Hobbes ( 1588-1679) : Leviathan (1651)

• John Locke ( 1632-1704) : Two Treatise of Government (1689)
• Rousseau ( 1712-1778): Discourse on Equality, The Social Contract

Social Contract Theory:

starts with the assumption that, man lived originally in a ‘state of
nature’, antecedents (background) to the formation of political
organization. In this condition he was subject only to such rules of
natural law as are prescribed by nature itself, and was the possessor
(holder) of natural rights.
 .
Hobbes:
It was a state of war, a savage state, men were selfish and aggressive brutes.
Every men was the enemy of every other man . To avoid fear and danger
of this terrible situation, men agreed to setup an authority.

John Locke:
Life in the state of nature was one of the peace and ease. Freedom and
tranquillity (harmony) prevailed. Men were bound by the law of nature and
possessed certain natural rights, but there was the absence of an agency to
interpret and implement the law of nature, so men agreed to create a
common authority.

Rousseau:
People led to a ideal life and enjoyed ‘idyllic happiness’ in the state of
the nature. But the rise of property produced evils. To escape from them
men set up authority by contract.
EVOLUTIONARY THEORY/ STATE

Forces in State-building:
(1) Kinship

(2) Religion

(3) Industry

(4) War
NATURE & ROLE OF THE STATE

State has always been central to the political analysis, to such an extent
that politics is often understood as the study of the state.

Two key debates on State:

The first: focuses the need for the

state and the basis of political obligations

Second : concerns the nature of the state power

Three versions:

1. Idealist theory of state

2. Marxist theory of state

3. Liberal theory of state

IDEALIST THEORY OF POLITICS

Plato & Aristotle are considered to be founders of the idealist theory.

They started the premise that man is by nature a social and political
animal.

It is only by living in society that man can develop his personality and
realize all that is best in him. They never differentiated society with the
state.

They regarded the state as a self-sufficing entity identical with the whole of
society, existing for itself and by itself.
MAJOR EXPONENTS:

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is regarded as father of idealistic theory.

He gives expression to this doctrine in his famous book "metaphysical
first principles of theory and law" in 1796. Kant major focus of
analyzing is put of different aspect of state and its relation with other
element existing within state.

G.W.F. Hegel: His philosophy had made state to rise to mystical

heights and held that German people have divine mission to fulfil in
their relation to rest of the world. .