The Origins of the State

THE STATE is a central concept in the study and practice of politics

State (Webster’s Dictionary: a form or mode of being, a condition). From Latin status (literally: standing)

The political term “the state” conveys the idea of “an impersonal and sovereign political order”* in society

(l’etat – in French, das Staat – in German, lo stato – in Italian, estado – in Spanish)

____________*David Held, Introduction. In: “States and Societies”. Edited by David Held et al. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985, p.1

Society and the State

Human society predates the state. 200,000 years of human existence passed without the state

The state arises at a certain stage in social evolution:

when human society becomes bigger, more complex, more productive, more divided by private property –

and when the very existence of society begins to require a special mechanism for coordination and use of social power

Human history can be described as a process of social evolution

Just as biological evolution is development of simpler forms of life into more complex and highly organized forms of life,

social evolution (or social development) is a process of growth of complexity and differentiation of social

organization (cooperation between human beings, coordination of human activities)

*See Stephen Sanderson, Social Transformations. Blackwell, 1995, Ch. 1 - and Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. Norton, 1997, 1999 For an interesting discussion of theories of social evolution, go to: Science and Society: OVERVIEW PAGE

In other words, It is a process of creation and development of new, more

complex, and more effective forms of social organization. It takes place under the influence of ecological,

demographic, technological and economic factors

From band to state

The human journey http://

www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/

The prehistoric band

Band – a small community bound by blood ties Not centralized, egalitarian (low inequality), low division of

labour (mostly gender-based), Decisions are made collectively. Unity is based on customs and traditions

Hunter and gatherer societies

The tribe

Tribe – a group of bands united for a common purpose In order to survive, humans tend to form bigger groups. Also egalitarian: power is dispersed throughout the tribe. Leaders are first among equals, they don’t have the

means to compel tribesmen to obey. Custom, tradition, ritual, religious belief are the main tools to maintain social order.

Agricultural societies (farming, animal husbandry)

The chiefdom

Chiefdom – a transitional form on the way from tribe to state. A larger society with more developed division of labour, higher

productivity, which means that there is surplus product to use beyond mere subsistence.

Private property appears, inequality grows, people are more and more divided by class.

Power is increasingly separate from society, as power over society.

Authority is formalized (institutionalized) in the office of the chief, which can be filled by different people. The chief has means of compelling members of society (military force)

Develops in agricultural societies, which increasingly rely on slave labour

Appears about 10,000 years ago

State – a highly structured organization of power over a more developed, more complex, class-divided society. The state is capable of performing massive tasks:

suppressing social revolts,

waging wars,

organizing construction of fortresses, dams and canals,

minting money. It has the power to tax and to punish those who break the law The city is the seat of state power

First states appear in Egypt, Babylon, Assyria and Persia (Iran), beginning around 5,000 years ago.

RECORDED HISTORY OF HUMANITY BEGINS

Tax collector

The Pharaoh

The Pharaoh’s enemy

Enemy soldiers killed

God Horus – symbol of Pharaoh’s supreme power

Ancient Egypt: image of the state

Ancient Babylon

Ancient Egyptian kinglist

From Band to State: Summing Up

-- As societies become more complex, differentiated, populous, and technologically advanced, their political organizations become more centralized and separate from society

-- As societies develop from band to state, they become less egalitarian and less democratic

-- As societies become more complex, the power of community decreases and the power of the state grows.

From Antiquity to Modernity

Antiquity: 3000 B.C.E. (Before Common Era*) – 5th century C.E. (Common Era**).

Middle Ages: 5th – 15th centuries C.E. (from the fall of Rome to the beginning of Renaissance)

Modern Age: 15th century – … (or, are we in a post-modern age already?)

(Note: all dates are approximate, based on certain pivotal events, while in real life, the transitions from one age to another were usually slow and gradual)

*Old term: B.C. (before Christ)

**Old term: A.D. (Anno Domini)

Anthony Giddens: “Modernity is...a shorthand term for modern society, or

industrial civilization. Portrayed in more detail, it is associated with (1) a certain set of attitudes towards the world, the idea of

the world as open to transformation, by human intervention; (2) a complex of economic institutions, especially industrial

production and a market economy; (3) a certain range of political institutions, including the

nation-state and mass democracy…

…Largely as a result of these characteristics, modernity is vastly more dynamic than any previous type of social order. It is a society—more technically, a complex of institutions—which, unlike any preceding culture, lives in the future, rather than the past.”

Giddens, Anthony. The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998, p. 94

Rise of productivity of human labour

Per capita income growth in Europe

700-1700 (in 1,000 years):

Grew at 0.11% a year, doubling every 630 years.*

1820-1990 (in 170 years):

Grew by 10 times in Britain, by 15 times in Germany, by 18 times in USA, and by 25 times in Japan.***William J.Baumol, Sue Ann Batey Blackman, and Edward N.Wolff, Productivity and American Leadership: The Long View (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989), p.12

**Angus Maddison, Dynamic Forces in Capitalist Development

(New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), pp.6-7

The Population Explosion*

--10,000 years ago – 5-6 million people lived on Planet Earth

--1,000 BCE – 150 million (grew by 30 times in 9,000 years, result of the agricultural revolution)

--1700 CE – 500 million (grew by 3.3 times in 2,700 years

--Today – about 7 billion (grew by 13.5 times in 300 years, result of the industrial revolution)

Follow this link to the current count:http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/popclockworld.html*See Krishan Kumar, The Rise of Modern Society, Basil Blackwell, 1988, p.13

Urbanization

The city appears in history 5,000 ago – as a product of the Agricultural Revolution.

1500: 75 cities with total population of 7.5 million (est.)

1800: 3% of the world’s population lived in cities

2000: 47% of the world lived in cities (411 cities with population of 1 million or more, 41 megacities with population of 5 million or more)

2030 (forecast): 60% will live in cities

Global urban populations, mln. people

Modernization

Development of industrial, urban, capitalist (with important exceptions) societies, organized in nation-states, guided by belief in reason, science, and progress, and undergoing constant change

A long, uneven, tumultuous and often violent process that starts in Western Europe and gradually reshapes the entire world

Wars, intense struggles for power, revolutions

Colonial conquests

Development of global markets

The West captures global dominance

The state plays a crucial role in the development of modern societies

As Europe enters the Modern Age in the 15th-16th centuries, the state exists in its traditional forms:

City-states, feudal systems, patrimonial empires, etc.

The new type of state, the modern state, gradually emerges (through evolution and revolution) to manage the transition to modernity**For an additional reading on the rise of the modern state, go to: http://books.google.ca/books?id=oo4QCt4g9fgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+modern+state&source=bl&ots=-Ok-jPtuom&sig=ErTziaNeeN2Bz2ZhrkJ83HPXss0&hl=en&ei=YqeeTNqdEoagnwe9lpz-DA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q&f=false

Three definitive features of the modern state

(See Max Weber, Politics as a Vocation):

Monopoly on force – has the right and ability to use violence, in legally defined instances, against members of society, or against other states

Legitimacy – its power is recognized by members of society and by other states as based on law and some form of justice.

Territoriality – the state exists in a defined territory (which includes land, water and air) and exercises authority over the population of that territory

“The state” and “government” The term “the state” has a broader meaning, referring to the

entire set of social relations concerning the use of political power

“Government” is a narrower term referring to how a state is organized

We say “government” when we refer to: a particular group exercising political power at the

moment (e.g. the Conservative Government) institutions of a state (e.g. the Federal Government)

Ontario has a government, but it is not a state. Ontario is a part of the Canadian state

Canada is a state, and it has a government

In the United States, “a state” is one of the 50 territorial units which form the Union. Each State has its State Government. The Federal Government exercises authority over the entire American territory.

To avoid confusion, Americans tend to use the term “the government” both in the narrower sense and when they mean “the state”. Still, one can use the expression “the American state” (but not “an American state”) to refer to the entire American system of government. Official description of the US President is “chief of state”.

“Governance” usually refers to the process of government

Analyzing the state: 3 main traditions

(See Oxford Concise Dictionary of Politics: “state”):

Issues:

--Where does the power of the state come from? Or, what is the source of sovereignty?

--How much power should the state have over society?

--How can society control the state to make sure that the state always serves society’s interests?

--How should the state be organized?

Three main traditions:

STATIST, PLURALIST, MARXIST

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, 1651:

“Hereby it is manifest that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war as is of every man, against every man.

…The only way to erect such a common power, as may be able to defend them from the invasion of foreigners, and the injuries of one another, and thereby to secure them in such sort, as that by their own industry, and by the fruits of the earth, they may nourish themselves and live contentedly; is, to confer all their power and strength upon one man, or upon one assembly of men, that may reduce all their wills, by plurality of voices, unto one will: … and therein to submit their wills, every one to his will, and their judgments, to his judgment.

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…This done, the multitude so united in one person, is called a COMMONWEALTH, in Latin CIVITAS. This is the generation of that great LEVIATHAN, or rather (to speak more reverently) of that mortal god, to which we owe under the immortal God, our peace and defence.

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…For by this authority, given him by every particular man in the commonwealth, he hath the use of so much power and strength conferred on him, that by terror thereof, he is enabled to form the wills of them all, to peace at home, and mutual aid against their enemies abroad...And he that carrieth this person, is called SOVEREIGN, and said to have sovereign power; and every one besides, his SUBJECT…

And the covenants, without the sword, are but words, and of no strength to secure a man at all.”

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, pp.629, 631, 641

STATIST THEORIES

The oldest ideas about the state. Value order above freedom.

--The state is like a living body, a powerful “organic” entity which always dominates society it controls

--Policies of the state are motivated, above all, by the interests of the state (raison d’etat – Fr.), which are considered the same as the interests of society. Stress social unity.

--Reflect the experience of ancient and medieval empires, absolute monarchies of the Modern Age, right-wing and left-wing dictatorships of the last century.

Hobbes actually represents a modernized variety of statism by placing the source of state power in society

And statist practices exist in all democratic states.

--Statism is invoked to justify expansion of state power in times of national emergency:

war

severe economic crisis

civil disorders

ecological disasters

--It is reflected in the legal and political notion of public interest, which is usually considered as supreme over private interests.

Philip II, King of Spain, 1527-1598

Louis XIV, King of France from 1643 to 1715

Peter the Great, Emperor of All Russias, 1682-1725

George III, King of England and Ireland, 1760-1820

A different view of the state:

“What is government more than the management of the affairs of a nation? It is not, and from its nature cannot be, the property of any particular man or family, but of the whole community, at whose expense it is supported… Sovereignty, as a matter of right, appertains to the nation only, and not to any individual; and a nation has at all times an inherent indefeasible right to abolish any form of government it finds inconvenient, and establish such as accords with its interest, disposition, and happiness… Every citizen is a member of the sovereignty, and, as such, can acknowledge no personal subjection; and his obedience can be only to the laws.

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…Great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not the effect of government. It has its origins in the principles of society and the natural constitution of man. It existed prior to government, and would exist if the formality of government was abolished. The mutual dependence and reciprocal interest which man has upon man, and all the parts of a civilized community upon each other, create that great chain of connexion which holds it together.”

Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man. 1791 – In: David Held et al (ed.) States and Societies, pp.84-85

Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

David Hume, Scottish philosopher, Of the Original Contract, 1852:

http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch2s4.html

PLURALIST THEORIES

Dominant today; serve as the basis for the theory and practice of liberal democracy. Value freedom above order.

--View the state not as a “living organism” but as a contract between members of society. Government is elected by citizens and is accountable to them.

--View the state as a political market - a neutral arena for constant competition between different societal interest groups (farmers, businesses, unions, women, minorities, retirees, taxpayers, etc.).

--Policies of the state reflect, above all, the results of this competition.

--Accept competition among members of society as a normal condition.

--Seek to limit state power over society.

In real practices of states, pluralism coexists and interacts with statism

Yet another view of the state:

“Because the state arose from the need to hold class antagonisms in check, but because it arose, at the same time, in the midst of the conflict of these classes, it is, as a rule the state of the most powerful, economically dominant class, which, through the medium of the state, becomes also the politically dominant class, and thus acquires new means of holding down and exploiting the oppressed class.

… By way of exception, however, periods occur in which the warring classes balance each other so nearly that the state power, as ostensible mediator, acquires for the moment a certain degree of independence of both.”

Friedrich Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State . In: David Held et al (ed.) States and Societies, p. 104

Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895): a monument in Berlin, Germany

MARXIST THEORIES

Since mid-19th century, have influenced development of political thought,

and provided ideological fuel for socialist movements. Value social justice and equality above order and freedom

--View the state as the tool used by the dominant class to maintain its domination.

--Policies of the state reflect, above all, the interests of the dominant class, rooted in private ownership of the means of production.

--Stress class conflict as the main dynamic of society.

--Advocate the creation of a classless society in which the state will “wither away” as no longer needed.

In the 20th century, Marxist ideas were used in the creation of communist states in Eastern Europe and Asia.

States ruled by Communist Parties pursued rapid modernization of societies on a non-capitalist basis

This type of modernization resulted in the rise of new forms of extreme statism and unrestrained, inefficient bureaucratic rule.

In 1985-1991, all Eastern European communist states were replaced by capitalist states with varying degrees of political pluralism

In Asia, Communist Party states continue to exist in China, Vietnam and North Korea. In China and Vietnam, these states carried out economic reforms which enabled effective integration of these countries into the global capitalist economy

Each of the three approaches contains important insights into the nature of the state.

--The different theories overlap, interact, influence each other.

--They continue to evolve, as people search for new answers to the problems they face

--Depending on the course of history, some ideas become more influential than others

--Some work better in the practice of government

--Others work better as sources of the politics of protest and change

A World of States

In the last 5,000 years, humanity has created thousands of different states, from tiny city-states to global empires

Today, there are 196 sovereign states in the world, 193 of which are members of the United Nations.

Almost all of them are nation-states organized on the basis of distinct nations

New states continue to appear; some scholars predict that in the 21st century hundreds, if not thousands of new states will be created

Existing states undergo changes in their organization

They are challenged from within and from without

They are constantly tested for viability and adaptability

How much change can a state withstand? Can a state afford to be static?

Coats of Arms (official symbols) of a few sovereign states (those with eagles and lions)

Egypt (compare this eagle with the falcon image of God Horus in the picture of Pharaoh)

Poland

USA

Austria

Albania

Russia

Armenia

Czech Republic

Belgium

Bulgaria

Congo

Estonia

Denmark

Canada