Chapter Four: State, Government and

Citizenship

4.3. Understanding State

 4.3.1. Defining State
 The term ‘state’ has been used to refer; a collection of institutions, a
territorial unit, a philosophical idea, an instrument of coercion or
oppression, and so on.
 state has been understood in four quite different ways; from an idealist
perspective, a functionalist perspective, an organizational
perspective and an international perspective.
 The idealist approach (Hegel) identified three moments of social
existence: the family (Altruistic) people set aside their own interests
for the good of their children or elderly relatives.) , civil society
(Universal Egoism) individuals place their own interests before those
of others) and the state (an ethical community underpinned by mutual
sympathy – ‘universal altruism’.)
 Limitation of idealists approach is it gives an uncritical deep respect
for the state and, by defining the state in ethical terms, fails to
distinguish clearly between institutions that are part of the state
and those that are outside the state.
 Continued…
• Functionalist approaches to the state focus on the role or purpose of
state institutions.
• state being defined as that set of institutions that uphold order and
deliver social stability.
• The weakness of the functionalist view of the state, however, is that it
tends to associate any institution that maintains order (such as the
family, mass media, trade unions and the church) with the state
itself.
• The Organizational view defines the state as the apparatus of
government. set of institutions that are recognizably ‘public’, in that
they are responsible for the collective organization of social
existence and are funded at the public’s expense.
• It distinguish Civil society & state.
• The international approach to the state views it primarily as an actor
on the world stage; indeed, as the basic ‘unit’ of international
politics.
 Continued…
• State has two faces, one looking outwards and the other looking
inwards. International perspective see states outwards.
• According to Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention(1933) , the
state has four features: a defined territory, permanent population,
an effective government and sovereignty.
• Sovereignty is the principle of absolute and unlimited power.
• It has two aspects - Internal and External. Internal Sovereignty
implies that inside the state there can be no other authority that may
claim equality with it.
• External sovereignty implies that the state should be free from
foreign control of any kind.
• The contemporary political theorists and the UN considered
recognition as the fifth essential attribute of the state.
• for a state to be legal actor in the international stage; other actors
must recognize it as a state.
 4.4. Rival Theories of State
• Disagreements on theories of state comes from questions about
whether, for example, the state is autonomous and independent of
society, or whether it is essentially a product of society, a reflection of
the broader distribution of power or resources. Moreover, does the state
serve the common or collective good, or is it biased in favor of
privileged groups or a dominant class? Similarly, is the state a positive
or constructive force, with responsibilities that should be enlarged, or is
it a negative or destructive?
• Heywood (2013) classified the rival theories of state into four: the
pluralist state, the capitalist state, the leviathan state and the
patriarchal state.
4.4.1. The Pluralist State
• The pluralist theory of the state has a very clear liberal lineage.
• the state acts as an ‘umpire’ or ‘referee’ in society.
• This theory reduce the state and state organizations and focus
instead on ‘government’
 Continued…
• State & Gov’t are different.
• This theory comes from social-contract theories of thinkers such as
Thomas Hobbes and John Locke. They argued that the state had arisen
out of a voluntary agreement, or social contract, made by individuals who
recognized that only the establishment of a sovereign power could
safeguard them from the insecurity, disorder and brutality of the state of
nature.
• the state is thus seen as a neutral arbiter amongst the competing groups
and individuals in society; it is an ‘umpire’ or ‘referee’ that is capable of
protecting each citizen from the encroachments of fellow citizens.
• the state acts in the interests of all citizens, and therefore represents the
common good or public interest.
• In Hobbes’ view, state power must be absolute and unlimited, while Locke
favor constitutional & representative Gov’t.
• Acc to Locke, the purpose of the state is very specific: it is restricted to the
defense of a set of ‘natural’ or God-given individual rights;
 Continued…
• As a theory of society, pluralism asserts that, within liberal
democracies, power is widely and evenly dispersed.
• As a theory of the state, pluralism holds that the state is not biased
in favor of any particular interest or group, and it does not have
an interest of its own that is separate from those of society.
• Two key assumptions underlie this view.
1. Non-elected state bodies (the civil service, the judiciary, the police,
the military and so on) are strictly impartial and are subject to the
authority of their political masters.
2. party competition and interest-group activity ensure that the
government of the day remains sensitive and responsive to public
opinion.
 Neo-Pluralist theory of the state says “states are both more complex
and less responsive to popular pressures”. business enjoys a
‘privileged position’ , the state can, and does, forge its own sectional
interests.
 4.4.2. The Capitalist State (Marxism)
• The state cannot be understood separately from the economic
structure of society.
• The state is nothing but an instrument of class oppression: the state
emerges out of, and in a sense reflects, the class system.
• Two theories of state are found in Karl Marx writings
1. The state is clearly dependent on society and entirely dependent on its
economically dominant class, which in capitalism is the bourgeoisie.
2. The state could enjoy relative “autonomy” from the class system.
• Marx’s attitude towards the state was not entirely negative. He argued
that the state could be used constructively during the transition from
capitalism to communism in the form of the ‘revolutionary
dictatorship of the proletariat’.
• Marx predicted that, as class antagonisms faded, the state would
‘wither away’, meaning that a fully communist society would also be
stateless.
 Continued…
• In The State in Capitalist Society the state seen as an agent or instrument of
the ruling class, state biased to capitalists.
• Neo-Marxists “seen the state as a dynamic entity that reflects the balance of
power within society at any given time, and the ongoing struggle for
hegemony.
4.4.3. The Leviathan State(The New Right thoery)
• The image of the state as a ‘leviathan’ (in effect, a self-serving monster intent
on expansion and aggrandizement) is one associated in modern politics with the
New Right.
• This theory committed to a radical form of individualism.
• The central feature of this view is that the state pursues interests that are
separate from those of society and that those interests demand an unrelenting
growth in the role or responsibilities of the state itself. (the internal
dynamics of the state).
• New Right theorists explain the expansionist dynamics of state power by
reference to both demand-side and supply-side pressures.
• Demand-side pressures are those that emanate from society itself, usually
through the mechanism of electoral democracy.
 Continued…
• Supply-side pressures, are those that are internal to the state. These can
therefore be explained in terms of the institutions and personnel of the state
apparatus.
• While Marxists argue that the state reflects broader class and other social
interests, the New Right portrays the state as an independent or autonomous
entity that pursues its own interests.
4.4.4. The Patriarchal State (Feminist Theory)
• Feminist theory believed that there is deeper structure of male
power centered on institutions such as the family and the
economic system.
• Liberal feminists as pluralists believe in State Neutrality and
recognize that, if women are denied legal and political equality, and
especially the right to vote, the state is biased in favor of men.
• Liberal feminists have therefore usually viewed the state in
positive terms, seeing state intervention as a means of redressing
gender inequality and enhancing the role of women.
 Continued…
• Radical feminists see state as a negative force argue that state power
reflects a deeper structure of oppression in the form of patriarchy.
• Both Marxist & Radicalists don’t believe on autonomy of the state who
has it’s own interest. Rather it’s biased. Whereas Marxists place the
state in an economic context, radical feminists place it in a context of
gender inequality.
• Instrumentalist versions feminist views the state as little more than
an agent or ‘tool’ used by men to defend their own interests and
uphold the structures of patriarchy.
• Structuralist feminist focus on the personnel of the state, and
particularly the state elite, their arguments tend to emphasize the
degree to which state institutions are embedded in a wider
patriarchal system.
 4.5. The Role of the State
• Anarchists dismiss the state as fundamentally evil and unnecessary.
• Based on role the state should play, and therefore about the proper balance between
the state and civil society. States classified into:-
1. Minimal States
• it is the idea of classical Liberalism. whose aim is to ensure that individuals enjoy the
widest possible realm of freedom.
• This view is rooted in social-contract theory.
• State is merely a protective body.
• Acc to John Lock The ‘minimal’ or ‘night watchman’ state with three core functions.
I. the state exists to maintain domestic order.
II. state ensures that contracts or voluntary agreements made between private citizens are
enforced.
III. State provides protection against external attack. The institutional apparatus of a
minimal state is thus limited to a police force, a court system and a military of some
kind.
• The institutional apparatus of a minimal state is thus limited to a police force, a court
system and a military of some kind
• Economic, social, cultural, moral and other responsibilities belong to the individual,
and are therefore firmly part of civil society.
 Continued…
2. Developmental States
• A developmental state is one that intervenes in economic life with the specific
purpose of promoting industrial growth and economic development.
• Developmental states attempt to construct a partnership between the state and
major economic interests, often underpinned by conservative and nationalist
priorities.
• The classic example of a developmental state is Japan & Germany.
3. Social Democratic (Welfare) States
• social-democratic states intervene with a view to bringing about broader social
restructuring, usually in accordance with principles such as fairness, equality and
social justice.
• Example Austria and Sweden.
• helping to rectify the imbalances and injustices of a market economy.
• The twin features of a social democratic state are therefore Keynesianism and social
welfare.
• The aim of Keynesian economic policies is to ‘manage’ or ‘regulate’ capitalism with a
view to promoting growth and maintaining full employment.
• ‘welfare states’, whose responsibilities have extended to the promotion of social well-
being amongst their citizens.
 Continued…
4. Collectivized States
• Collectivized states bring the entirety of economic life under state
control.
• These sought to abolish private enterprise altogether, and set up
centrally planned economies.
• Example USSR & Eastern Europe.
• Collectivized states prefer common ownership over private property.
5. Totalitarian States
• The state brings not only the economy, but also education, culture,
religion, family life and so on under direct state control.
• E.g Hitler, USSR, Iraq & Mussolini .
• totalitarian states effectively extinguish civil society and abolish the
private sphere of life altogether.
6. Religious States
• Use religion as state ideology.
 4.6. Understanding Government
• To govern means to rule or control others.
• Government include any mechanism through which ordered rule is
maintained, the ability to make collective decisions and the capacity to
enforce them.
• Gov’t refer to the formal and institutional processes that operate at the
national level to maintain public order and facilitate collective action.
• Government can also refer to political organization comprising
individuals and institutions authorized to formulate public policies
and conduct affairs of state.
• Gov’t must possess two essential attributes: authority and legitimacy.
• word authority implies the ability to compel obedience. It can simply be
defined as ‘legitimate power.’
• Power is the ability to influence the behavior of others.
• legitimacy, is the popular acceptance of a governing regime or law as an
authority. .
 4.6.2. Purposes and Functions of Government
• the main purpose of the state is to protect rights and to preserve
justice.
• the constitutions of various countries codify views to the purposes,
powers, and forms of their governments.
• major purposes and functions of government include:-
1. Self-Preservation:-responsibility to prevail order, predictability,
internal security, and external defense.
2. Distribution and Regulation of Resources:-socialist states decide
that the resources should be controlled by the public. While capitalist
states decide to be controlled by the private sector. other states may
place in between, that is the resources could be controlled by both the
public and private sector.
3. Management of Conflicts
4. Fulfillment of Social or Group Aspirations:-(promotion of human
rights, common good, and international peace).
 Continued…
5. Protection of Rights of Citizens
6. Protection of Property
7. Implementations of Moral Conditions
8. Provision of Goods and Services:
4.7. Understanding Citizenship
• citizen refers to the person who is a legal member of a particular
State and one who owes allegiance to that State.
• citizen is a person who is legally recognized as member of a particular,
officially sovereign political community, entitled to whatever
prerogatives (a right or privilege) and encumbered(burden) with
responsibilities.
• citizenship refers to the rules regulating the legal/formal relations
between the State and the individual with respect to the acquisition
and loss of a given country’s nationality.
• There are common elements such as rights, duties, belonging, identity
and participation one can find in definitions of the term.
 Continued…
• Citizenship can be defined as:-
A. As a Status of Rights:-rights such as civil (liberty), political and
social(right to public safety, health, the right to education, etc).
• Hohfeld (1978) discovered four components of rights known as ‘the
Hohfeldian incidents’ namely, liberty (privilege), claim, power and
immunity.
B. Membership and Identity:-Citizenship is associated with membership of a
political community, which implies integration into that community with a
specific identity that is common to all members who belongs to it.
C. Participation:-There are two approaches in this regard; minimalists
(passive participation) and maximalists (active participation).
D. Inclusion and Exclusion: All individuals living in a particular state do not
necessary mean that all are citizens.
• Both aliens/foreigners and citizens should respect the law of the country.
However, citizens are fundamentally different from aliens in enjoying
privileges and shouldering responsibilities.
• Organizations and [endemic] animals could also be considered as citizens.
 Continued…

 Liberty rights:- is a freedom given for the right-holder to do something

and there are no obligations on other parties to do or not to do anything
to aid the bearer to enjoy such rights. E.g Freedom of Movement
 Claim Rights: are the inverse of liberty rights. claim rights are rights
enjoyed by individuals when others discharge their obligations. E.g the
right to public service.
 Liberty and claim rights termed as primary rules, rules requiring that
people perform or refrain from doing particular action.
 Secondary rules (power & Immunity) specify how agents/beholders can
introduce, change and alter the primary rules (liberty and claim rights).
 Powers Rights: The holder of a power, be it a government or a citizen,
can change or cancel other people and his/her own entitlements. E.g
Property right & citizenship.
 Immunity Rights: allow bearers escape from controls and thus they are
the opposite of power rights. E.g right against self incrimination.
 4.7.2. Theorizing Citizenship
4.7.2. Theorizing Citizenship
• approaches to citizenship are four:- liberal, communitarian, republican and
multicultural citizenship.
4.7.2.1. Citizenship in Liberal Thought
• Liberal theory of citizenship begins with the individual person (the self). it gives
a strong emphasis to the individual liberty of the citizen, and rights that
adhere to each and every person.
• individuals are free to form their own opinions, pursue their own projects, and
transact their own business untrammeled by the State’s political agenda and
coercive power, except in so far as individual actions implicate the interests of
other members of society.
• Citizenship cannot be defined based on shared identity or a common culture
• There are three fundamental principles which a liberal government must
provide and protect: (1) equality, whereby the government has to treat
individuals who are similarly situated in the same way and afford them the same
rights; (2) due process, such that the government is required to treat individuals
over whom it exercises power fairly; and (3) mutual consent by which
membership in the political community rests on the consensual relationship
between the individual and the state.
 Continued…
• Critics of Liberal Theory of Citizenship
1. free-raiders problem and the tragedy of the commons. The free raiders
problem occurs when those who benefit from resource or service do not
pay for it, which results in an under provision of the resource/service.
 tragedy of the commons is a dilemma arises when individuals act
independently and rationally consulting their own self-interest
ultimately deplete shared limited environmental resources.
2. The preferences and insights of autonomous individuals might
originate from impure process, the information they were provided
might be biased or meaningless, or their preferences might have arisen
from a fit of anger.
3. liberal societies tend to be less egalitarian. if many citizens are not
willing to devote time or give attention to politics, power will become an
instrument of the few rather than of the many.
4. liberalism may actually increase economic and other kinds of
inequalities rather than reduce them.
5. State neutrality favor a specific group not the majority.
 4.7.2.2. Citizenship in Communitarian Thought

• The communitarian (also known as the nationalist) model argue that the
identity of citizens cannot be understood outside the territory in which
they live, their culture and traditions, arguing that the basis of its rules and
procedures and legal policy is the shared common good.
• It emphasizes on the importance of society in articulating the good.
• Rather than viewing group practices as the product of individual
choices, communitarians view individuals as the product of social
practices.
• The good of the community is much above individual rights and
citizenship comes from the community identity, enabling people to
participate.
• features of communitarian perspective are
1. no individual is entirely self-created; instead the citizen and his/her identity
is deeply constructed by the society where he/she is a member.
2. What is good for community is good for individual, if everyone does not
participate in the community, the common good will be diminished .
 Continued…
• Communitarian citizenship is criticized as
1. It is hostile towards individual rights and autonomy.
2. Communities are dominated by power elites or that one group
within a community will force others to abide by its values.
4.7.2.3. Citizenship in Republican Thought
• Republican citizenship theory put emphasis on both individual and
group rights.
• citizens need to bring together the facets of their individual lives as best
they can and helps them to find unity in the midst of diversity.
• republicans don’t pressurize individuals to surrender their
particular identities like the communitarian thought.
• Republicans acknowledge the value of public life.
• There are two essential elements of the republican citizenship:
publicity (the condition of being open and public)and self-
government.
 Continued…
• Critics of Republican citizenship
1. Its not realistic.
2. It denies “differences” and impose “Homogeneity”.
3. citizenship involves a false ideal of impartiality. (impartiality
between self interest and public interest)
4.7.2.4. Multicultural Citizenship (differentiated
citizenship)
 It emphasize on recognizing group differences.
 Principles of Multicultural Citizenship
1. Taking equality of citizenship rights as a starting point.
2. Recognizing that Formal equality of rights does not necessarily lead to
equality of respect, resources, opportunities or welfare.
3. Establishing mechanisms for group representation and participation.
4. Differential treatment for people with different characteristics, needs and
wants.
 Continued…
 Critics of Multi-cultural citizenship
1. It encourage “differences”
2. would create a "politics of grievance."