A state is a political association with effective sovereignty over a geographic area. Social contract describes a broad class of republican theories whose subjects are implied agreements by which people form Nations and maintain a Social order Sovereignty is the exclusive Right to control a Government, a country, a people or oneself Area is a Quantity expressing the two- Dimensional size of a defined part of a Surface, typically a region bounded by a closed Curve. These may be nation states, sub-national states or multinational states. For the online game see Jennifer Government NationStates. The nation-state is a certain form of State that derives its legitimacy Many countries are made up of a number of subnational entities called states (or related terms in languages other than English A multinational state is a State (country in which the Population consists of two or more ethnically distinct Nations (peoples that are of significant A state usually includes the set of institutions that claim the authority to make the rules that govern the exercise of coercive violence for the people of the society in that territory, though its status as a state often depends in part on being recognized by a number of other states as having internal and external sovereignty over it. Institutions are structures and mechanisms of Social order and Cooperation governing the Behavior of a Set of Individuals In Politics, authority ( Latin Auctoritas, used in Roman law as opposed to Potestas and Imperium Sovereignty is the exclusive Right to control a Government, a country, a people or oneself In sociology, the state is normally identified with these institutions: in Max Weber's influential definition, it is that organization that "(successfully) claims a monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory," which may include the armed forces, civil service or state bureaucracy, courts, and police. Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (maks 'veːbɐ (21 April 1864 &ndash 14 June 1920 was a German political economist and sociologist who was considered The monopoly on the legitimate use of violence ( Gewaltmonopol des Staates, also known as monopoly on legitimate violence and monopoly on violence) is the For the military meaning see Armed forces. For the Soviet sports society see Armed Forces (sports society Armed Forces See also Bureaucrat The term civil service has two distinct meanings Branch of governmental service in which individuals are hired on the basis Bureaucracy is the structure and set of regulations in place to control activity usually in large organizations and government A court is a forum used by a power base to adjudicate disputes and dispense civil, labour administrative and criminal Justice under its Police are agents or agencies usually of the executive, empowered to enforce the law and to effect public and social order through the legitimatized use of force

Usage

Although the term often includes broadly all institutions of government or rule—ancient and modern—the modern state system bears a number of characteristics that were first consolidated in western Europe, beginning in earnest in the 15th century, when the term "state" also acquired its current meaning. For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government. Thus the word is often used in a strict sense to refer only to modern political systems.

Within a federal system, the term state also refers to political units, not completely sovereign themselves; however, these systems are subject to the authority of a constitution defining a federal union which is partially or co-sovereign with them. Political federalism is a Political philosophy in which a group of members are bound together (Latin foedus, covenant) with a governing A constitution is a system for government often Codified as a written document that establishes the rules and principles of an autonomous political entity Thus we find the "states and territories of Australia" and the "states" in the United States of America. The Commonwealth of Australia is made up of 8 states and territories controlled under a federal system of government A US state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of the United States of America that share Sovereignty with the federal government The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

In casual usage, the terms "country," "nation," and "state" are often used as if they were synonymous; but in a more strict usage they can be distinguished:

• Country denotes a geographical area. This article deals with the general meaning of the term "synonym" In Political geography and International politics, a country is a Political division of a geographical entity
• Nation denotes a people who are believed to or deemed to share common customs, origins, and history. A nation is a Human Cultural and Social Community. In as much as most members never meet each other yet feel a common bond it may be considered However, the adjectives national and international also refer to matters pertaining to what are strictly states, as in national capital, international law.
• Authority (as the identity and legal person of the state) refers to the set of institutions that exercise legitimated, sovereign, possibly separated powers over the definite territory and population. In Politics, authority ( Latin Auctoritas, used in Roman law as opposed to Potestas and Imperium Sovereignty is the exclusive Right to control a Government, a country, a people or oneself Separation of powers, a term ascribed to French Enlightenment Political philosopher Baron de Montesquieu, is a model for the Governance Political power ( Imperium in Latin is a type of power held by a group in a Society which allows administration of some or all of In Biology a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular Species; in Sociology

Etymology

The word state and its cognates in other European languages (stato in Italian, état in French, Staat in German and estado in Spanish and Portuguese) ultimately derive from the Latin STATVS, meaning "condition" or "status". A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. Portuguese ( or língua portuguesa) is a Romance language that originated in what is now Galicia (Spain and northern Portugal. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. ^[1] With the revival of the Roman law in the 14th century in Europe, this Latin term was used to refer to the legal standing of persons (such as the various "estates of the realm" - noble, common, and clerical), and in particular the special status of the king. Roman law is the legal system of Ancient Rome. As used in the West the term commonly refers to legal developments prior to the Roman/Byzantine state's adopting The Estates of the realm were the broad divisions of society usually distinguishing Nobility, Clergy, and Commoners recognized in the Middle Ages The word was also associated with Roman ideas (dating back to Cicero) about the "status rei publicae", the "condition of the republic. Marcus Tullius Cicero ( Classical Latin ˈkikeroː usually ˈsɪsərəʊ in English January 3, 106 BC &ndash December 7, 43 BC was a Roman " In time, the word lost its reference to particular social groups and became associated with the legal order of the entire society and the apparatus of its enforcement. ^[2]

In other languages meaning can be different. Polish 'państwo' can be derived from the word 'pan'=lord, the one who has power ('Lord Jesus'='Pan Jezus'). 'Państwo' therefore denotes a state, when someone is governing (is in charge). The word 'państwo' also suggest some kind of social organisation, as its second meaning in Polish relates to "family" (państwo Smith = the Smiths).

It has also been claimed that the word "state" originates from the medieval state or regal chair upon which the head of state (usually a monarch) would sit. This article is about royal thrones for the order of Angels by the same name see Thrones. Head of state is the generic term for the individual or collective office that serves as the chief public representative of a Monarchic or Republican Nation-state By process of metonymy, the word state became used to refer to both the head of state and the power entity he represented (though the former meaning has fallen out of use). In Rhetoric, metonymy (mɨˈtɒnɨmi is the use of a word for a concept or object associated with the concept/object originally denoted by the word Two quotations which reference these different meanings, both commonly, though probably apocryphally, attributed to King Louis XIV of France, are "L'État, c'est moi" ("I am the State") and "Je m'en vais, mais l'État demeurera toujours. Early years Birth and ancestry Louis XIV was born in the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye on September 5 1638 and bore the Heir apparent " ("I am going away, but the State will always remain"). A similar association of terms can today be seen in the practice of referring to government buildings as having authority, for example "The White House today released a press statement. In Architecture, Construction, Engineering and real estate development the word building may refer to one of the following Any man-made See also Executive Office of the President of the United States The White House, formerly known as the Executive Mansion, is the Official residence . . ".

Empirical and juridical senses of the word state

The word state has both an empirical and a juridical sense, i. A central concept in Science and the Scientific method is that all Evidence must be empirical, or empirically based that is dependent on evidence Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society e. , entities can be states either de facto or de jure or both. ^[3]

Empirically (or de facto), an entity is a state if, as in Max Weber's influential definition, it is that organization that has a 'monopoly on legitimate violence' over a specific territory. Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (maks 'veːbɐ (21 April 1864 &ndash 14 June 1920 was a German political economist and sociologist who was considered An organization (or organisation &mdash see spelling differences) is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals which controls its own performance and The monopoly on the legitimate use of violence ( Gewaltmonopol des Staates, also known as monopoly on legitimate violence and monopoly on violence) is the ^[4] Such an entity imposes its own legal order over a territory, even if it is not legally recognized as a state by other states (e. g. , the Somali region of Somaliland). Somalia ( Soomaaliya; الصومال) officially the Somali Republic ( Jamhuuriyadda Soomaaliya, جمهورية الصومال) and formerly known

Juridically (or de jure), an entity is a state in international law if it is recognized as such by other states, even if it does not actually have a monopoly on the legitimate use of force over a territory. International law is the term commonly used for referring to the system of implicit and explicit agreements that bind together nation-states in adherence to recognized values and standards Only an entity juridically recognized as a state can enter into many kinds of international agreements and be represented in a variety of legal forums, such as the United Nations. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security

States, government types, and political systems

The concept of the state can be distinguished from two related concepts with which it is sometimes confused: the concept of a form of government or regime, such as democracy or dictatorship, and the concept of a political system. A system of government is a term that refers to the set of political Institutions by which a Government of a State is organized in order to exert its powers The word regime (occasionally spelled " régime " particularly in older texts refers to a set of conditions most often of a Political nature Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system A dictatorship is usually defined as an autocratic Form of government in which the Government is ruled by a Dictator. A political system is a System of Politics and Government. It is usually compared to the Law system, Economic system, Cultural The form of government identifies only one aspect of the state, namely, the way in which the highest political offices are filled and their relationship to each other and to society. A system of government is a term that refers to the set of political Institutions by which a Government of a State is organized in order to exert its powers A society is a Population of Humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive Culture and Institutions It does not include other aspects of the state that may be very important in its everyday functioning, such as the quality of its bureaucracy. Bureaucracy is the structure and set of regulations in place to control activity usually in large organizations and government For example, two democratic states may be quite different if one has a capable, well-trained bureaucracy or civil service while the other does not. Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system Bureaucracy is the structure and set of regulations in place to control activity usually in large organizations and government See also Bureaucrat The term civil service has two distinct meanings Branch of governmental service in which individuals are hired on the basis Thus generally speaking the term "state" refers to the instruments of political power, while the terms regime or form of government refers more to the way in which such instruments can be accessed and employed. Political power ( Imperium in Latin is a type of power held by a group in a Society which allows administration of some or all of The word regime (occasionally spelled " régime " particularly in older texts refers to a set of conditions most often of a Political nature A system of government is a term that refers to the set of political Institutions by which a Government of a State is organized in order to exert its powers ^[5]

Some scholars have suggested that the term "state" is too imprecise and loaded to be used productively in sociology and political science, and ought to be replaced by the more comprehensive term "political system. " The "political system" refers to the ensemble of all social structures that function to produce collectively binding decisions in a society. Social structure is a term frequently used in Sociology and Social theory — yet rarely defined or clearly conceptualised (Abercrombie et al In modern times, these would include the political regime, political parties, and various sorts of organizations. The word regime (occasionally spelled " régime " particularly in older texts refers to a set of conditions most often of a Political nature A political party is a Political organization that seeks to attain and maintain political power within Government, usually by participating in electoral An organization (or organisation &mdash see spelling differences) is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals which controls its own performance and The term "political system" thus denotes a broader concept than the state. A political system is a System of Politics and Government. It is usually compared to the Law system, Economic system, Cultural ^[6]

The historical development of the state

The earliest forms of the state emerged whenever it became possible to centralize power in a durable way. Agriculture and writing are almost everywhere associated with this process. Agriculture allowed for the production and storing of a surplus. This in turn allowed and encouraged the emergence of a class of people who controlled and protected the agricultural stores and thus did not have to spend most of their time providing for their own subsistence. In addition, writing (or the equivalent of writing, like Inca quipus) because it made possible the centralization of vital information. Quipu or khipu (sometimes called talking knots) were recording devices used in the Inca Empire and its predecessor societies in the Andean ^[7]

Some political philosophers believe the origins of the state lie ultimately in the tribal culture which developed with human sentience, the template for which was the alleged primal "alpha-male" microsocieties of our earlier ancestors, which were based on the coercion of the weak by the strong. However anthropologists point out that extant band- and tribe-level societies are notable for their lack of centralized authority, and that highly stratified societies--i. e. , states--constitute a relatively recent break with the course of human history. ^[8]

The state in classical antiquity

The history of the state in the West usually begins with classical antiquity. Classical antiquity (also the classical era or classical period) is a broad term for a long period of cultural History centered on the Mediterranean During that period, the state took a variety of forms, none of them very much like the modern state. There were monarchies whose power (like that of the Egyptian Pharaoh) was based on the religious function of the king and his control of a centralized army. This article is about the country of Egypt For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Egypt topics. Pharaoh is the title given in modern parlance to the ancient Egyptian kings of all periods There were also large, quasi-bureaucratized empires, like the Roman empire, which depended less on the religious function of the ruler and more on effective military and legal organizations and the cohesion of an aristocracy. An empire (from the Latin " Imperium " denoting military Command within the ancient Roman government) is a State that Aristocracy is a form of Government, where rule is established through an internal struggle over who has the most status and influence over society and internal relations

Perhaps the most important political innovations of classical antiquity came from the Greek city-states and the Roman Republic. The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC The Greek city-states before the 4th century granted citizenship rights to their free population, and in Athens these rights were combined with a directly democratic form of government that was to have a long afterlife in political thought and history. The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca Athenian democracy developed in the Greek City-state of Athens Athenian democracy developed in the Greek City-state of Athens Democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is held completely by the people under a free electoral system

In contrast, Rome developed from a monarchy into a republic, governed by a senate dominated by the Roman aristocracy. Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC The Roman Kingdom ( Latin: Regnum Romanum) was the monarchical Government of the city of Rome The Roman Republic was the phase of the ancient Roman civilization characterized by a Republican form of government a period which began with the overthrow of the The Roman Senate was a political institution in Ancient Rome. The Roman political system contributed to the development of law, constitutionalism and to the distinction between the private and the public spheres. Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society For the revolt in Brazil, see Constitutionalist Revolution. The term Constitutionalism is a word with a variety of meanings Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively Public is of or pertaining to the people relating to or affecting a nation state or community opposed to private; as the public treasury a road or lake

From the feudal state to the modern state in the West

The story of the development of the specifically modern state in the West typically begins with the dissolution of the western Roman empire. The Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial This led to the fragmentation of the imperial state into the hands of private and decentralized lords whose political, judicial, and military roles corresponded to the organization of economic production. In these conditions, according to Marxists, the economic unit of society corresponded exactly to the state on the local level. See also Marxian economics, Marxism Marxist philosophy or Marxist theory are terms which cover work in Philosophy

The state-system of feudal Europe was an unstable configuration of suzerains and anointed kings. Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period (17th century in its most classic sense refers to a Medieval Europe Political system composed Suzerainty (ˈsjuːzərənti RP or /ˈsjuːzəreɪnti/ RP) (/ˈsuːzərənti/ GA) is a situation in which a Region or people is a A monarch, formally at the head of a hierarchy of sovereigns, was not an absolute power who could rule at will; instead, relations between lords and monarchs were mediated by varying degrees of mutual dependence, which was ensured by the absence of a centralized system of taxation. This reality ensured that each ruler needed to obtain the 'consent' of each estate in the realm. This was not quite a 'state' in the Weberian sense of the term, since the king did not monopolize either the power of lawmaking (which was shared with the church) or the means of violence (which were shared with the nobles). Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (maks 'veːbɐ (21 April 1864 &ndash 14 June 1920 was a German political economist and sociologist who was considered

The formalization of the struggles over taxation between the monarch and other elements of society (especially the nobility and the cities) gave rise to what is now called the Standestaat, or the state of Estates, characterized by parliaments in which key social groups negotiated with the king about legal and economic matters. Austrofascism (Austrofaschismus is a term which is frequently used by historians to describe the authoritarian rule installed in Austria between 1934 and 1938 These estates of the realm sometimes evolved in the direction of fully-fledged parliaments, but sometimes lost out in their struggles with the monarch, leading to greater centralization of lawmaking and coercive (chiefly military) power in his hands. The Estates of the realm were the broad divisions of society usually distinguishing Nobility, Clergy, and Commoners recognized in the Middle Ages Beginning in the 15th century, this centralizing process gave rise to the absolutist state. An autocracy is a Form of government in which the Political power is held by a single self-appointed ruler ^[9]

The modern state

The rise of the "modern state" as a public power constituting the supreme political authority within a defined territory is associated with western Europe's gradual institutional development beginning in earnest in the late 15th century, culminating in the rise of absolutism and capitalism. Macroeconomics is a branch of Economics that deals with the performance structure and behavior of a national or regional Economy as a whole An autocracy is a Form of government in which the Political power is held by a single self-appointed ruler Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where

As Europe's dynastic states — England under the Tudors, Spain under the Hapsburgs, and France under the Bourbons — embarked on a variety of programs designed to increase centralized political and economic control, they increasingly exhibited many of the institutional features that characterize the "modern state. The Kingdom of England was a State (927-1707 located in Western Europe dating from the ninth or tenth century to the early eighteenth century when it was legally The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was an English royal Dynasty that lasted 118 years from 1485 to 1603 a period known as the Tudor period Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The House of Bourbon is an important European Royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty. " This centralization of power involved the delineation of political boundaries, as European monarchs gradually defeated or co-opted other sources of power, such as the Church and lesser nobility. In place of the fragmented system of feudal rule, with its often indistinct territorial claims, large, unitary states with extensive control over definite territories emerged. This process gave rise to the highly centralized and increasingly bureaucratic forms of absolute monarchical rule of the 17th and 18th centuries, when the principal features of the contemporary state system took form, including the introduction of a standing army, a central taxation system, diplomatic relations with permanent embassies, and the development of state economic policy—mercantilism. A standing army is an Army composed of full time career Soldiers who 'stand over' in other words who do not disband during times of peace Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting Negotiations between representatives of groups or states A diplomatic mission is a group of people from one State or an international Inter-governmental organization (such as the United Nations) present in Mercantilism is the idea that a colony should export more goods than it imports and that a colony should sell at higher prices and buy at lower prices

Cultural and national homogenization figured prominently in the rise of the modern state system. Since the absolutist period, states have largely been organized on a national basis. A nation is a Human Cultural and Social Community. In as much as most members never meet each other yet feel a common bond it may be considered The concept of a national state, however, is not synonymous with nation-state. For the online game see Jennifer Government NationStates. The nation-state is a certain form of State that derives its legitimacy Even in the most ethnically homogeneous societies there is not always a complete correspondence between state and nation, hence the active role often taken by the state to promote nationalism through emphasis on shared symbols and national identity. A nation is a Human Cultural and Social Community. In as much as most members never meet each other yet feel a common bond it may be considered The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation ^[10]

It is in this period that the term "the state" is first introduced into political discourse in more or less its current meaning. Although Niccolò Machiavelli is often credited with first using the term to refer to a territorial sovereign government in the modern sense in The Prince, published in 1532, it is not until the time of the British thinkers Thomas Hobbes and John Locke and the French thinker Jean Bodin that the concept in its current meaning is fully developed. Il Principe ( The Prince) is a political Treatise by the Florentine public servant and political theorist Thomas Hobbes (born 5 April 1588died 4 December 1679 was an English philosopher, whose famous 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704 was an English Philosopher. Jean Bodin ( 1529 / 1530 &ndash1596was born in Angers France and became a French Jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement ^[2]

Today, most Western states more or less fit the influential definition of the state in Max Weber's Politics as a Vocation. Maximilian Carl Emil Weber (maks 'veːbɐ (21 April 1864 &ndash 14 June 1920 was a German political economist and sociologist who was considered Politics as a Vocation ( Politik als Beruf) was a Lecture given by Max Weber, a German Economist and sociologist ^[4] According to Weber, the modern state monopolizes the means of legitimate physical violence over a well-defined territory. Moreover, the legitimacy of this monopoly itself is of a very special kind, "rational-legal" legitimacy, based on impersonal rules that constrain the power of state elites. Rational-legal authority (also known as rational authority, legal authority, rational domination, legal domination, or bureaucratic

However, in some other parts of the world states do not fit Weber's definition as well. ^[3] They may not have a complete monopoly over the means of legitimate physical violence over a definite territory, or their legitimacy may not be adequately described as rational-legal. Rational-legal authority (also known as rational authority, legal authority, rational domination, legal domination, or bureaucratic But they are still recognizably distinct from feudal and absolutist states in the extent of their bureaucratization and their reliance on nationalism as a principle of legitimation. Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period (17th century in its most classic sense refers to a Medieval Europe Political system composed An autocracy is a Form of government in which the Political power is held by a single self-appointed ruler Bureaucracy is the structure and set of regulations in place to control activity usually in large organizations and government The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation

Since Weber, an extensive literature on the processes by which the "modern state" emerged from the feudal state has been generated. Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period (17th century in its most classic sense refers to a Medieval Europe Political system composed Marxist scholars, for example, assert that the formation of modern states can be explained primarily in terms of the interests and struggles of social classes. Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in Societies or Cultures. ^[11]

Scholars working in the broad Weberian tradition, by contrast, have often emphasized the institution-building effects of war. War is an international relations Dispute, characterized by organized Violence between National Military units For example, Charles Tilly has argued that the revenue-gathering imperatives forced on nascent states by geopolitical competition and constant warfare were mostly responsible for the development of the centralized, territorial bureaucracies that characterize modern states in Europe. Charles Tilly ( May 20, 1929 &ndash April 29, 2008) was an American sociologist, political scientist, and Bureaucracy is the structure and set of regulations in place to control activity usually in large organizations and government States that were able to develop centralized tax-gathering bureaucracies and to field mass armies survived into the modern era; states that were not able to do so did not. ^[12]

State and civil society

The modern state is both separate from and connected to civil society. Civil society is composed of the totality of voluntary civic and social organizations and institutions that form the basis of a functioning Society as opposed to the force-backed The nature of this connection has been the subject of considerable attention in both analyses of state development and normative theories of the state. Earlier thinkers, such as Thomas Hobbes emphasized the supremacy of the state over society. Thomas Hobbes (born 5 April 1588died 4 December 1679 was an English philosopher, whose famous 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation Later thinkers, by contrast, beginning with G. W. F. Hegel, have tended to emphasize the points of contact between them. Jürgen Habermas, for example, has argued that civil society forms a public sphere, that is, a site of extra-institutional engagement with matters of public interest autonomous from the state and yet necessarily connected with it. Jürgen Habermas (ˈjʏʁgən ˈhaːbɐmaːs born June 18, 1929 is a German Philosopher and Sociologist in the tradition of The public sphere is an area in social life where people can get together and freely discuss and identify societal problems and through that discussion influence political action

Some Marxist theorists, such as Antonio Gramsci, have questioned the distinction between the state and civil society altogether, arguing that the former is integrated into many parts of the latter. Antonio Gramsci ('ɡramʃi ( January 23, 1891 &ndash April 27, 1937) was an Italian Philosopher, Writer, Others, such as Louis Althusser, maintain that civil organizations such as church, schools, and even trade unions are part of an 'ideological state apparatus. Louis Pierre Althusser (Pronunciation altuˡseʁ ( October 16, 1918 – October 22, 1990) was a Marxist philosopher. A school (from Greek σχολεῖον - scholeion) is an Institution designed to allow and encourage Students (or "pupils" A trade union or labour union is an organization of workers who have banded together to achieve common goals in key areas such as wages hours and working conditions forming ' In this sense, the state can fund a number of groups within society that, while autonomous in principle, are dependent on state support.

Given the role that many social groups have in the development of public policy and the extensive connections between state bureaucracies and other institutions, it has become increasingly difficult to identify the boundaries of the state. Privatization, nationalization, and the creation of new regulatory bodies also change the boundaries of the state in relation to society. Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of business from the Public sector (government to the Private sector (business Nationalization, also spelled nationalisation, is the act of taking an industry or assets into the Public ownership of a national government This article is for the legal term For regulation of genes see Regulation of gene expression. Often the nature of quasi-autonomous organizations is unclear, generating debate among political scientists on whether they are part of the state or civil society. Some political scientists thus prefer to speak of policy networks and decentralized governance in modern societies rather than of state bureaucracies and direct state control over policy. ^[13]

The state and the international system

Since the late 19th century the entirety of the world's inhabitable land has been parceled up into states with more or less definite borders claimed by various states. The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar Earlier, quite large land areas had been either unclaimed or uninhabited, or inhabited by nomadic peoples who were not organized as states. Nomadic people, (from the νομάδες nomádes, "those who let pasture herds" also known as nomads, are communities of people that Currently more than 200 states comprise the international community, with the vast majority of them represented in the United Nations. The United Nations ( UN) is an International organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in International law, International security

These states form what International relations theorists call a system, where each state takes into account the behavior of other states when making their own calculations. From this point of view, states embedded in an international system face internal and external security and legitimation dilemmas. Recently the notion of an "international community" has been developed to refer to a group of states who have established rules, procedures, and institutions for the conduct of their relations. Institutions are structures and mechanisms of Social order and Cooperation governing the Behavior of a Set of Individuals In this way the foundation has been laid for international law, diplomacy, formal regimes, and organizations.

The state and supranationalism

In the late 20th century, the globalization of the world economy, the mobility of people and capital, and the rise of many international institutions all combined to circumscribe the freedom of action of states. Supranationalism is a method of decision-making in political communities wherein power is democratically entrusted to independent experienced appointed personalities or to representatives The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Globalization (or globalisation) in its literal sense is the process of transformation of local or regional phenomena into global ones In Economics, capital or capital Goods or real capital refers to items of extensive value These constraints on the state's freedom of action are accompanied in some areas, notably Western Europe, with projects for interstate integration such as the European Union. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in However, the state remains the basic political unit of the world, as it has been since the 16th century. The state is therefore considered the most central concept in the study of politics, and its definition is the subject of intense scholarly debate. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions

The state and international law

By modern practice and the law of international relations, a state's sovereignty is conditional upon the diplomatic recognition of the state's claim to statehood. The declarative theory of statehood defines a State as a person of international law that meets certain structural criteria Diplomatic recognition in international law is a unilateral political act with domestic and international legal consequences whereby a state acknowledges an act Degrees of recognition and sovereignty may vary. However, any degree of recognition, even recognition by a majority of the states in the international system, is not binding on third-party states.

The legal criteria for statehood are not obvious. Often, the laws are surpassed by political circumstances. However, one of the documents often quoted on the matter is the Montevideo Convention from 1933, the first article of which states:

The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states. The Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States was a treaty (which was later accepted as part of customary international law signed at Montevideo, Uruguay Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar.

Contemporary approaches to the study of the state

There are three main traditions within political science and sociology that shape 'theories of the state': the pluralist, the Marxist, and the institutionalist. Political science is a branch of Social sciences that deals with the theory and practice of Politics and the description and analysis of Political systems Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" The political theory of pluralism holds that Political power in society does not lie with the Electorate, nor with a small concentrated Elite, but is distributed In addition, anarchists present a tradition which is similar to, but different from, the Marxian one.

Each of these theories has been employed to gain understanding on the state, while recognizing its complexity. Several issues underlie this complexity. First, the boundaries of the state sector are not clearly defined, while they change constantly. Second, the state is not only the site of conflict between different organizations, but also internal conflict and conflict within organizations. Some scholars speak of the 'state's interest,' but there are often various interests within different parts of the state that are neither solely state-centered nor solely society-centered, but develop between different groups in civil society and different state actors.

Pluralism

Pluralism has been very popular in the United States. In fact, it might be seen as the dominant vision of politics in that country.

Within this tradition, Robert Dahl sees the state as either (1) a neutral arena for settling disputes among contending interests or (2) a collection of agencies which themselves act as simply another set of interest groups. Robert Alan Dahl (born 17 December 1915) is the Sterling Professor emeritus of Political science at Yale University. An interest group (also advocacy group, lobby group, pressure group or special interest group) is an organized collection of people who seek With power diffused across society among many competing groups, state policy is a product of recurrent bargaining. Although pluralism recognizes the existence of inequality, it asserts that all groups have an opportunity to pressure the state. The pluralist approach suggests that the modern democratic state's actions are the result of pressures applied by a variety of organized interests. Dahl called this kind of state a polyarchy. In modern political science the term Polyarchy ( Greek: poly many arkhe rule was introduced by Robert A ^[14]

In some ways, the development of the pluralist school is a response to the "power elite" theory presented in 1956 by the sociologist C. Wright Mills concerning the U. A power elite, in political and sociological theory, is a small group of people who control a disproportionate amount of wealth privilege and access to decision-making Charles Mills ( August 28, 1916, Waco Texas &ndash March 20, 1962, West Nyack New York) was an American S. and furthered by research by G. William Domhoff, among others. George William ( Bill) Domhoff (born August 6 1936 is a Research Professor in Psychology and Sociology at the University of California In that theory, the most powerful elements of the political, military, and economic parts of U. S. society are united at the top of the political system, acting to serve their common interests. The "masses" were left out of the political process. In context, it might said that Mills saw the U. S. elite as in part being very similar to that of the Soviet Union, then the major geopolitical rival of the U. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 S. One response was the sociologist Arnold M. Rose's publication of The Power Structure: Political Process in American Society in 1967. He argued that the distribution of power in the U. S. was more diffuse and pluralistic in nature.

The importance of democratic elections of political leaders in the U. S. (and not the Soviet Union) provides evidence in favor of the pluralist perspective for that country. We might reconcile power elite theory with pluralism in terms of Joseph Schumpeter's theory of democracy. Joseph Alois Schumpeter ( February 8, 1883 &ndash January 8, 1950) was an Economist and Political scientist born in To him, "democracy" involved the (non-elite) masses choosing which elite would have the power.

The absence of democratic elections do not rule out pluralism, however. The old Soviet Union is sometimes described as being ruled by an elite, which ran society via a bureaucracy which united the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the military, and Gosplan, the economic planning apparatus. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 Bureaucracy is the structure and set of regulations in place to control activity usually in large organizations and government Gosplan or State Planning Committee ( Russian: ru Госпла́н) was the committee responsible for economic planning in the Soviet Union. However, bureaucratic rule from above is never perfect. This meant that, so to some extent, Soviet policies reflected a pluralistic competition of interest groups within the Party, the military, and Gosplan, including factory managers. An interest group (also advocacy group, lobby group, pressure group or special interest group) is an organized collection of people who seek

Marxism

Marxist theories of the state were relatively influential in continental Europe in the 1960s and 1970s. The 1960s decade refers to the years from the beginning of 1960 to the end of 1969 This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. But it is hard to summarize the theory developed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Friedrich Engels (28 November 1820 – 5 August 1895 was a German social scientist and philosopher, who After all, the effort by Hal Draper to distill their political thinking in his Karl Marx's Theory of Revolution (Monthly Review Press) took several thick volumes. Hal Draper (1914-1990 was a Third Camp American Socialist activist Marxist and Author, perhaps best known for his role in the Berkeley California But many have tried.

For Marxist theorists, the role of modern states is determined or related to their role in capitalist societies. They would agree with Weber on the crucial role of coercion in defining the state. (In fact, Weber himself starts his analysis with a quotation from Leon Trotsky, a Bolshevik leader. ) But Marxists reject the mainstream liberal view that the state is an institution established in the collective interest of society as a whole (perhaps by a social contract) to reconcile competing interests in the name of the common good. Social contract describes a broad class of republican theories whose subjects are implied agreements by which people form Nations and maintain a Social order Contrary to the pluralist vision, the state is not a mere "neutral arena for settling disputes among contending interests" because it leans heavily to support one interest group (the capitalists) alone. Nor does the state usually act as merely a "collection of agencies which themselves act as simply another set of interest groups," again because of the state's systematic bias toward serving capitalist interests.

In contrast to liberal or pluralist views, the American economist Paul Sweezy and other Marxian thinkers have pointed out that the main job of the state is to protect capitalist property rights in the means of production. Paul Marlor Sweezy ( April 10, 1910 – February 27 2004) was a Marxist economist Means Of Production is a compilation of Aim 's early 12" and EP releases recorded between 1995 and 1998 At first, this seems hardly controversial. After all, many economics and politics textbooks refer to the state's crucial role in defending property rights and in enforcing contracts. But the capitalists own a share of the means of production that is far out of proportion to the capitalists' role in the total population. More importantly, in Marxian theory, ownership of the means of production gives that minority social power over those who do not own the means of production (the workers). Because of that power, i. e. , the power to exploit and dominate the working class, the state's defense of them is nothing but the use of coercion to defend capitalism as a class society. The Dominate was the ' despotic ' latter phase of government in the ancient Roman Empire between its establishment in 27 BC and the formal date of the collapse Social class refers to the hierarchical distinctions (or stratification) between individuals or groups in Societies or Cultures. ^[15] Instead of serving the interests of society as a whole, in this view the state serves those of a small minority of the population.

Among Marxists, as with other topics, there are many debates about the nature and role of the capitalist state. One division is between the "instrumentalists" and the "structuralists. "

On the first, some contemporary Marxists apply a literal interpretation of the comment by Marx and Frederich Engels in The Communist Manifesto that "The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie. Manifesto of the Communist Party ( often referred to as The Communist Manifesto, was first published on February 21, 1848, and is " In this tradition, Ralph Miliband argued that the ruling class uses the state as its instrument (tool) to dominate society in a straightforward way. Ralph Miliband ( January 7, 1924 – May 21, 1994) was a notable Marxist political theorist. For Miliband, the state is dominated by an elite that comes from the same background as the capitalist class and therefore shares many of the same goals. State officials therefore share the same interests as owners of capital and are linked to them through a wide array of interpersonal and political ties. ^[16] In many ways, this theory is similar to the "power elite" theory of C. Wright Mills. Charles Mills ( August 28, 1916, Waco Texas &ndash March 20, 1962, West Nyack New York) was an American

Miliband's research is specific to the United Kingdom, where the class system has traditionally been integrated strongly into the educational system (Eton, Oxbridge, etc. Oxbridge was originally a fictional composite of the University of '''Ox'''ford and the University of Cam'''bridge''' in England, and the term is now ) and social networks. In the United States, the educational system and social networks are more heterogeneous and seem less class-dominated to many. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the But a social connection between state managers and the capitalist class can be seen in the dependence of the major politicians and their parties on campaign contributions from the rich, on approval from the capitalist-owned media, on advice from corporate-endowed "think tanks," and the like.

In the second view, other Marxist theorists argue that the exact names, biographies, and social roles of those who control the state are irrelevant. Instead, they emphasize the structural role of the state's activities. Heavily influenced by the French philosopher Louis Althusser, Nicos Poulantzas, a Greek neo-Marxist theorist argued that capitalist states do not always act on behalf of the ruling class, and when they do, it is not necessarily the case because state officials consciously strive to do so, but because the structural position of the state is configured in such a way to ensure that the interests of capital are always dominant. Louis Pierre Althusser (Pronunciation altuˡseʁ ( October 16, 1918 – October 22, 1990) was a Marxist philosopher. Nicos Poulantzas ( Νίκος Πουλαντζάς in Greek (1936-1979 was a Greco - French Marxist political sociologist. Neo-Marxism is a loose term for various Twentieth-century approaches that amend or extend Marxism and Marxist theory, usually by incorporating elements For the use of structuralism in biology see Structuralism (biology Structuralism is an approach to the human sciences that attempts to analyze

Poulantzas' main contribution to the Marxian literature on the state was the concept of relative autonomy of the state: state policies do not correspond exactly to the collective or long-term interests of the capitalist class, but help maintain and preserve capitalism over the long haul. The "power elite," if one exists, may act in ways that go against the wishes of capitalists. While Poulantzas' work on 'state autonomy' has served to sharpen and specify a great deal of Marxist literature on the state, his own framework came under criticism for its "structural functionalism. Structural functionalism also known as a social systems paradigm is a Sociological paradigm which addresses what Social functions various elements "

But this kind of criticism can be answered by considering what happens if state managers do not work to favor the operations of capitalism as a class society. ^[17] They find that the economy are punished by a capital strike or capital flight, encouraging higher unemployment, a decline in tax receipts, and international financial problems. Capital strike refers to the withholding of new Investment in an economy. Capital flight, in Economics, occurs when Assets and/or Money rapidly flow out of a Country, due to an economic event that disturbs Investors Unemployment occurs when a person is available to work and currently seeking work but the person is without work. The decline in tax revenues makes it more necessary to borrow from the bourgeoisie. Because the latter will charge high interest rates (especially to a government seen as hostile), the state's financial problems deepen. Such events might be seen in Chile in 1973, under Salvador Allende's Unidad Popular government. Chile, officially the Republic of Chile ( Spanish:) is a country in South America occupying a long and narrow Coastal strip wedged between the Salvador Isabelino Allende Gossens (June 26 1908 – September 11 1973 was President of Chile from November 1970 until his death during the coup d'état of Unidad Popular ( UP) ( English: "People's Unity" was a coalition of Political parties in Chile that stood behind the successful candidacy Added to the relatively "automatic" workings of the economy (under the spur of profit-seeking businesses) are the ways in which an anti-capitalist government provokes anti-government conspiracies, including those by the Central Intelligence Agency and local political forces, as actually happened in 1973. near as long as it used to be several months ago It has been actively summarized and split into sub-articles and there is a dynamic talk page discussion of all

Unless they are ready to actually mobilize the working population to revolutionize society and move beyond capitalism, "sober" state managers will pull back from anti-capitalist policies. In any event, they would likely never go so far as to "rock the boat" because of their acceptance of the dominant ideology encouraged by the prevailing educational system. An ideology is a set of beliefs aims and Ideas especially in politics

Despite the debates among Marxist theorists of the state, there are also many agreements. It is possible that both "instrumental" and "structural" forces encourage political unity of the state managers with the capitalist class. That is, both the personal influence of capitalists and the societal constraints on state activity play a role.

Of course, no matter how strong this link, the Marx-Engels dictum that "The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie" does not say that the executive will always do a good job in such management. (As Poulantzas pointed out, the state maintains some autonomy. ) First, there is the problem of reconciling the particular interests of individual capitalist organizations with each other. For example, different parts of the media may disagree on the nature of needed government regulations. Further, it is often unclear what the long-run class interests of capitalists are, beyond the simple defense of capitalist property rights. It may be impossible to discover class interests until after the fact, i. e. , after a policy has been implemented. Third, state managers may use their administrative power to serve their own interests and even to facilitate their entrance into the capitalist class.

Finally, pressure from working-class organizations (labor unions, social-democratic parties, etc. ) or other non-capitalist forces (environmentalists, etc. ) may push the state from toeing the capitalist "line" exactly. In the end, these problems imply that the state will always have some autonomy from obeying the exact wishes of the capitalist class.

In this view, the Marxian theory of the state does not really contradict the pluralist vision of the state as an arena for the contention of many interest groups, including those based in the state itself. Rather, the Marxian proposition is that this multi-sided competition and its results are strongly biased in the direction of reproducing the capitalist system over time.

It should be emphasized that all of the Marxist theories of the state discussed above refer only to the capitalist state in normal times (without civil war and the like). During a period of economic and social crisis, the absolute need to maintain order may raise the power of the military -- and military goals -- in governmental affairs, sometimes even leading to the violation of capitalist property rights.

In a non-capitalist system such as feudalism, Marxian historians have said that the state did not really exist in the sense that it does today (using Weber's definition). Feudalism, a term first used in the early modern period (17th century in its most classic sense refers to a Medieval Europe Political system composed That is, the central state did not monopolize force in a specific geographic area. The feudal king typically had to depend on the military power of his "lieges. " This meant that the country was more of an alliance than a unified whole. Further, the difference between the state and civil society was weak: the feudal lords were not simply involved in "economic" activity (production, sale, etc. Civil society is composed of the totality of voluntary civic and social organizations and institutions that form the basis of a functioning Society as opposed to the force-backed ) but also "political" activity: they used force against their serfs (to extract rents), while acting as judge, jury, and police.

Getting further beyond capitalism, Marxist theory says that since the state is central to protecting class inequality, it will "wither away" once class inequality of power is abolished. In practice, no self-styled Marxist leader or government has ever made attempts to move toward a society without a state. Of course, that is to be expected. After all, no society has ever completely abolished classes. In addition, no self-described "socialist" country has been able to do without a military defense against capitalist invasion or destabilization. Third, in Marxian theory, impetus for the abolition of the state would not come from the leaders or the government themselves as much as from the working people that they are supposed to represent.

Anarchism

The anarchists share many of the Marxian propositions about the state. But in contrast, anarchists argue that a country's collective interests can be served without having a centralized organization. The maintenance of law and order does not require that there be a sector of society that monopolizes the legitimate use of force. It is possible for society to prosper without a state, even without a long period of classes "withering away. " In fact, anarchists see the state as a parasite that can and should be abolished.

Thus, they oppose the state as a matter of principle and reject the Marxian view that it may be needed temporarily as part of a transition to socialism or communism. Socialism refers to a broad set of economic theories of social organization advocating state or collective ownership and administration of the Means of production and distribution Communism is a Socioeconomic structure that promotes the establishment of an egalitarian, classless, stateless Society based They propose different strategies for the elimination of the state. There is a dichotomy of views regarding its replacement. Most anarchists propose non-coercive organizations to replace the state. Anarcho-capitalists envision a free market guided by the invisible hand offering critical or valuable functions traditionally provided by the state. Anarcho-capitalism (also known as Free-market anarchism) is an individualist anarchist Political philosophy that advocates the elimination A free market is a Market in which property rights are voluntarily exchanged at a price arranged completely by the mutual consent of sellers and buyers The invisible hand is a Metaphor coined by the Economist Adam Smith.

Anarchists consider the state to be the institutionalization of domination and privilege. According to key theorists, the state emerged to ratify and deepen the dominance of the victors of history. Unlike Marxists, anarchists believe that the state, while reflecting social interests, is not a mere executive committee of the ruling class. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In itself, without class rule, it is a position of power over the whole society that can dominate and exploit society. Naturally enough, many fractions of the ruling classes and even the oppressed classes strive to control the state, forming different and ever-changing alliances. They also reject the need for a state to serve the collective needs of the people. Hence, they reject not only the current state, but the Marxian idea of the dictatorship of the proletariat). The " dictatorship of the proletariat " or workers' state is a term employed by Marxists that refers to what they see as a temporary state between the Instead, they see the state as an inherently oppressive force which takes away the ability of people to make decisions about the things that affect their lives.

Anarchists (such as Bakunin and Kropotkin in the 19th century), argue for a form of socialism without the state. Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin ( - July 1 1876) was a well-known Russian Revolutionary and theorist of Collectivist anarchism. Such socialism would require worker self-management of the means of production and the federation of worker organizations in communes which will then federate into larger units.

Institutionalism

Both the Marxist and pluralist approaches view the state as reacting to the activities of groups within society, such as classes or interest groups. In this sense, they have both come under criticism for their 'society-centered' understanding of the state by scholars who emphasize the autonomy of the state with respect to social forces.

In particular, the "new institutionalism," an approach to politics that holds that behavior is fundamentally molded by the institutions in which it is embedded, asserts that the state is not an 'instrument' or an 'arena' and does not 'function' in the interests of a single class. New institutionalism or neoinstitutionalism describes social theory that focuses on developing a sociological view of Institutions --the way they interact Scholars working within this approach stress the importance of interposing civil society between the economy and the state to explain variation in state forms.

"New institutionalist" writings on the state, such as the works of Theda Skocpol, suggest that state actors are to an important degree autonomous. Theda Skocpol (born May 4 1947) is an American sociologist and Political scientist at Harvard University. In other words, state personnel have interests of their own, which they can and do pursue independently (at times in conflict with) actors in society. Since the state controls the means of coercion, and given the dependence of many groups in civil society on the state for achieving any goals they may espouse, state personnel can to some extent impose their own preferences on civil society. ^[18]

'New institutionalist' writers, claiming allegiance to Weber, often utilize the distinction between 'strong states' and 'weak states,' claiming that the degree of 'relative autonomy' of the state from pressures in society determines the power of the state—a position that has found favor in the field of international political economy. International political economy ( IPE) is an academic discipline within the Social sciences that analyzes International relations in combination with

The state in modern political thought

The rise of the modern state system was closely related to changes in political thought, especially concerning the changing understanding of legitimate state power. Early modern defenders of absolutism such as Thomas Hobbes and Jean Bodin undermined the doctrine of the divine right of kings by arguing that the power of kings should be justified by reference to the people. Thomas Hobbes (born 5 April 1588died 4 December 1679 was an English philosopher, whose famous 1651 book Leviathan established the foundation Jean Bodin ( 1529 / 1530 &ndash1596was born in Angers France and became a French Jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement The Divine Right of Kings is a general term that refers to the philosophy and ideas used to justify the authority and legitimacy of Monarchs in Medieval and Hobbes in particular went further and argued that political power should be justified with reference to the individual, not just to the people understood collectively. Both Hobbes and Bodin thought they were defending the power of kings, not advocating democracy, but their arguments about the nature of sovereignty were fiercely resisted by more traditional defenders of the power of kings, like Sir Robert Filmer in England, who thought that such defenses ultimately opened the way to more democratic claims. Sir Robert Filmer (1588 – 26 May 1653) was an English Political theorist.

These and other early thinkers introduced two important concepts in order to justify sovereign power: the idea of a state of nature and the idea of a social contract. State of nature is a term in Political philosophy used in Social contract theories to describe the hypothetical condition of humanity before the State 's Social contract describes a broad class of republican theories whose subjects are implied agreements by which people form Nations and maintain a Social order The first concept describes an imagined situation in which the state - understood as a centralized, coercive power - does not exist, and human beings have all their natural rights and powers; the second describes the conditions under which a voluntary agreement could take human beings out of the state of nature and into a state of civil society. Depending on what they understood human nature to be and the natural rights they thought human beings had in that state, various writers were able to justify more or less extensive forms of the state as a remedy for the problems of the state of nature. Human nature is the concept that there are a set of logical characteristics including ways of thinking feeling and acting that all 'normal' human beings have in common Thus, for example, Hobbes, who described the state of nature as a "war of every man, against every man,"^[19] argued that sovereign power should be almost absolute since almost all sovereign power would be better than such a war, whereas John Locke, who understood the state of nature in more positive terms, thought that state power should be strictly limited. John Locke (29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704 was an English Philosopher. ^[20] Both of them nevertheless understood the powers of the state to be limited by what rational individuals would agree to in a hypothetical or actual social contract. Social contract describes a broad class of republican theories whose subjects are implied agreements by which people form Nations and maintain a Social order

The idea of the social contract lent itself to more democratic interpretations than Hobbes or Locke would have wanted. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, for example, argued that the only valid social contract would be one were individuals would be subject to laws that only themselves had made and assented to, as in a small direct democracy. Direct Democracy is a movement within the British Conservative Party dedicated to localism and Constitutional reform as a means of reviving public Today the tradition of social contract reasoning is alive in the work of John Rawls and his intellectual heirs, though in a very abstract form. John Rawls ( February 21, 1921  &ndash November 24, 2002) was an American Philosopher, a Professor of Rawls argued that rational individuals would only agree to social institutions specifying a set of inviolable basic liberties and a certain amount of redistribution to alleviate inequalities for the benefit of the worst off. Lockean state of nature reasoning, by contrast, is more common in the libertarian tradition of political thought represented by the work of Robert Nozick. Libertarianism is a term used by a broad spectrum of political philosophies which prioritize individual Liberty and seek to minimize or even abolish the Robert Nozick ( November 16, 1938  &ndash January 23, 2002) was an American Philosopher and Pellegrino University Nozick argued that given the natural rights that human beings would have in a state of nature, the only state that could be justified would be a minimal state whose sole functions would be to provide protection and enforce agreements. A night watchman state, or a minimal state, is a Form of government in Political philosophy where the government's responsibilities are so minimal they

Some contemporary thinkers, such as Michel Foucault, have argued that political theory needs to get away from the notion of the state: "We need to cut off the king's head. Michel Foucault ( (15 October 1926 – 25 June 1984 was a French philosopher, Historian, Intellectual, Critic and Sociologist. In political theory that has still to be done. "^[21] By this he meant that power in the modern world is much more decentralized and uses different instruments than power in the early modern era, so that the notion of a sovereign, centralized state is increasingly out of date.

See also

• Country
• Elite theory
• Failed state
• International relations
• List of countries by date of nationhood
• List of sovereign states
• Montevideo Convention
• Nation
• Police state
• Political power
• Regional state
• Social contract
• State country
• Statism
• The justification of the state
• The purpose of government
• U.S. state
• Unitary state
• Province

References

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