POL101Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Toronto Stock Exchange, Crimean War, Total War
Document Summary
The state has a legitimate monopoly on violence. It encompasses several elements, such as the judiciary, executive, legislative, and the military. The state bureaucracy are make up the of cials that provide the government with the information that they need to perform their duties: whether these are permanent or more politicized and permanent depend on the government"s system. The legislative is the body that debates and sometimes makes laws, and the executive is the body that executes the laws. Rousseau believed that people were, by nature, peaceful and were initially free. In the absence of institutions, people would be less corrupt and happier. Hobbes, on the other hand, felt the absence of the sovereign would lead to a brutish, nasty, and short life. Humans, to hobbes, are self-interested and naturally violent. Without governments, we would all turn on each other.
