Politics and the State

Chapter 3 of Heywood’s Politics

 Different Approaches in
Defining the State (Heywood)
• 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)
 Heywood’s definition
of a state:

• a political association that establishes

sovereign jurisdiction within defined
territorial borders and exercises authority
through a set of permanent institutions
Other Definitions of The State
• -is a political community formed by a territorial
population which is subject to one government (Hague
and Harrop)

• - is the organization that issues and enforces binding

rules for the people within a territory (Newton & Van
Deth)

• - is the centralized authority and locus of power

(O’Neil)

• - is the organization that maintains a monopoly of

violence over a territory (Weber)
4 Rival Theories of the State
• 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; (neopluralist view?)
• 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
• state power reflects a deeper structure of
oppression in the form of patriarchy -
instrumentalist view: the state is an agent or
tool used by men to defend their own
interests and uphold the structures of
patriarchy
 Roles of the State
• Minimal state- the ideal state of classical liberals; has 3 core functions as
“nightwatchman state”: to maintain social order, to ensure that contracts are
enforced; to provide protection under external attack
• Developmental state- the state that intervene 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 forms of interventionism; the
construction of an all-embracing state which penetrates every aspect of
human existence
• Religious state- uses the state as an instrument of moral and spiritual
regeneration
 Retreat of the state
• 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 as
counter- terrorism strategy