3 STATE

• The state - A political association that establishes sovereign jurisdiction within defined territorial borders, and exercises authority through a set of permanent institutions. These institutions are those that are recognizably ‘public’, in that they are responsible for the collective organization of communal life, and are funded at the public’s expense.
• idealist - Hegelian view of the state: as an ethical community underpinned by mutual sympathy--‘universal altruism’; fails to distinguish institutions that are part of the state and those that are outside of the state.
• Functionalist - focuses on the role or purpose of state institutions- function: maintenance of social order; the set of institutions that uphold order and deliver social stability
• Organizational- defines the state as the apparatus of government in its broadest sense; the set of institutions that are responsible for the collective organization of social existence and are funded at the public’s expense (5 features: sovereign, public, an exercise in legitimation, an instrument of domination, a territorial association).
• International - views the state as an actor on the world stage; the basic unit of international politics; highlights the dualistic structure of the state; deals with the state’s outward-looking face--its relations with other states and its ability to give protections against external attack (4 features: defined territory, permanent population, effective government, capacity to enter into relations with other states).
• Four Different Approaches in Defining the State

  1. Idealist
  2. Functionalist
  3. Organizational
  4. International
• capitalist state -(Marxist tradition)the state is nothing but an instrument of class oppression; an instrument of the ruling class to oppress other classes; (neo-Marxist view?structuralist)
• leviathan state - associated with the New right, the neoliberal view; sees the state as an overbearing nanny desperate to meddle or interfere in every aspect of human existence; a parasitic growth that threatens individual and economic liberties; an autonomous or an independent entity that pursues its own interests (“big government”, enlargement of the bureaucracy)
• patriarchal state - (Liberal feminist) positive view of the state: state intervention is needed as a means of redressing gender inequality and enhancing the role of women; Radical feminist?- a more critical view of the state; state institutions are embedded in a wider patriarchal system
• Pluralist state - (liberal tradition) the state acts as an umpire, an impartial/neutral arbiter or referee in society; is susceptible to the influence of various groups and interests, and all social classes; (neo pluralist view?)
• Minimal state - the ideal state of classical liberals; has 3 core functions as a “nightwatchman state”: to maintain social order, to ensure that contracts are enforced; to provide protection against external attack.
• Developmental state - the state that intervenes in economic life in order to promote industrial growth and economic development.
• Social-democratic state - aims to bring about broader social restructuring along the principles of fairness and equality.
• Collectivized state - brings the entirety of economic life under state control.
• Totalitarian state - is the most extreme form of interventionism; the construction of an all-embracing state which penetrates every aspect of human existence
• What factors led to the impression of the so-called “retreat of the state”?

  • rise of globalization (3 views: led to the decline of the state as a meaningful actor; remain as principal actors or; simply transformed the state) economic globalization
  • rise of international migration and the spread of cultural globalization (made state borders permeable)
  • rise of non-state actors (TNCs) and growing importance of international organizations (WTO, EU, ASEAN), political globalization weak states, failed states.
• The Return of the State

  • state’s capacity to maintain domestic order and protect its citizens from external attack
  • perceived threat of transnational terrorism
  • imposition of tight border controls and wider powers of surveillance as counterterrorism strategy
  • economic role of the state