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The Modern State and State-Society Relations

Chapter 3. The Modern State and State-Society Relations. Emergence of the Modern State. Modern nation state – emerged between 13 th and 16 th centuries in Europe. Now dominant form of political organization Long-term – in many cases not completed until 19 th C Napoleon - example

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The Modern State and State-Society Relations

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  1. Chapter 3 The Modern State and State-Society Relations

  2. Emergence of the Modern State • Modern nation state – emerged between 13th and 16th centuries in Europe. Now dominant form of political organization • Long-term – in many cases not completed until 19th C • Napoleon - example • Recognized fixed national boundaries and sovereignty of state within its national territory

  3. Principles of the Modern Nation State (1) Combines 2 fundamental dimensions. • Idea/ideal of ‘the nation’ as people & territory united by shared language, customs, religion and a ‘way of life’ • Artificial creations – suppressing differences and creating traditions as basis of common identity

  4. Principles of the Modern Nation State (2) • Development of formal & centralized apparatus of governance and control over the territory • Different from feudalism, in which power was decentralized and privatized • Power in modern NS was centralized and public • In short, we see: the appearance of political units persisting in time and fixed in space, the development of permanent, impersonal institutions, agreement on the need for an authority which can give final judgments, and acceptance of the idea that this authority should receive the basic loyalty of its subjects.

  5. Explanations for the Emergence of the Modern State (1) • Moving from ‘what’ and ‘when’ to ‘why’ and ‘how’- what caused this new form to emerge when it did? • Political sociologists and historians – many accounts • Gianfranco Poggi – three main types of explanation – managerial, military and economic

  6. 1. The Managerial Explanation • Professional administration and capacity to govern ever larger territories. More effective ways of: • Collecting, distributing and using resources (e.g. via taxation) • Of providing services to local communities (e.g. policing and judicial services) • Role of literacy and print culture in enabling communication, coordination, standardization and record keeping

  7. 2. The Military Explanation • Demands of warfare as driver for development of state apparatus • Equipping for war requires control and organization of populations, resources, production and technology • Coordinated management of wide range of social activities • Expensive – efficient collection of wealth via taxation • War and public health/welfare programs

  8. 3. The Economic Explanation • Economic change as driver of new state form and end of feudal order • Industrialization – changed forms of production: • Movement from country to city • Wage labor freed workers from vassalage • Breakdown of relations of authority and obedience • New powerful social class – bourgeois capitalists • Challenge to power of aristocratic control of state • Demands of new economy – centralized control

  9. From Subjects to Citizens: The Social Contract • Declining monarchical and aristocratic power – new ways of thinking about relation between state and society, political authority and individuals • Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), John Locke (1632-1704) – divine right of kings unreasonable • Political order needs support and agreement of ruled • Contract or exchange – state protects person and property, people recognize state’s authority and obey its rules • Beginnings of state welfare provision – state has responsibility for basic well-being and safety of its citizens

  10. Visions of State Responsibility (1) • Classical liberalism and the minimal state: • Individual liberty as greatest political good – maximizing freedom to make choices and direct own life • Ownership and disposal of property is ‘natural right’ – what people do with their resources is up to them • State should be minimal – ‘interfere’ as little as possible. Limited to safeguarding individuals’ freedoms and security of person and property • Individual responsibility for own welfare – especially as state provision requires expropriation of resources from people via taxation

  11. Two Concepts of Liberty • Isaiah Berlin, Two Concepts of Liberty (1958) • Negative liberty: freedom = freedom from interference and coercion. Liberty is right to be left alone to do as one wishes. Corresponds to classical liberal position • Positive Liberty: liberty needs to be enabled. Can only exercise meaningful choices if has resources to do so. Emphasis freeing people from disease, ignorance and want, which prevent people from realising their potential – incorporated in social liberal vision of state

  12. Visions of State Responsibility (1) • Social liberalism: • Individual well-being requires more than non-interference • Preconditions for self-realization – health, education, basic material needs (food, shelter, clothing etc) • State has responsibility for ensuring that these needs are met for all citizens, when they are unable to provide for themselves • Drive toward a welfare state – providing for these needs on behalf of society for society

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