Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Egotism
4 Oct 2016
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Tuesday, January 5, 2016
Lecture 1 - The State: What is it?
The State
-States haven’t always existed
-Rival forms: cities, traditional kingdoms, empires when the state was first coming into
existence. Any of these models could’ve won.
-State model proved superior after 1500
-Thereby leading to the state model becoming universal
-We may or may not always have states
Defining the State
-Hegelian Idealism:
-Gradual realization of human consciousness and ideas
-Development:
-Family: ‘Particular Altruism’
-Civil Society: ‘Universal Egoism’
-State: ‘Universal Altruism’ - advanced ethical idea, realization of the most ethical
form that can exist while also bringing in universality
-State as End of History: all of human history was going towards the development of a
state, once we reached it, we had reached the end. Creates rules, and therefore
determines us. Maximum space for human freedom.
-Woodrow Wilson: State Idealist.
-Functionalism: You get what you need
-State as provider of order and stability
-So, what threatens order?
-Neo-marxists: class conflict; state resolves it
-But - state is whatever does this work (provides order and stability in a class conflict
case)
-Organizational Approach
1. State as specific set of institutions: Bureaucracy, military, police, courts, etc
2. Why treat these collectively as ‘the State’?
3. Post-Hegelian political scientists rejected the concept as abstract, distracting,
unnecessary
-Organization Features:
1. Territory - Demarcated area, defensible borders
2. People - a settled community defined by territorial boundaries
3. Sovereignty - final and absolute authority within territory
!1
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Document Summary
Rival forms: cities, traditional kingdoms, empires when the state was rst coming into existence. Thereby leading to the state model becoming universal. We may or may not always have states. Gradual realization of human consciousness and ideas. State: universal altruism" - advanced ethical idea, realization of the most ethical form that can exist while also bringing in universality. State as end of history: all of human history was going towards the development of a state, once we reached it, we had reached the end. State as provider of order and stability. But - state is whatever does this work (provides order and stability in a class con ict case) Organizational approach: state as speci c set of institutions: bureaucracy, military, police, courts, etc, why treat these collectively as the state", post-hegelian political scientists rejected the concept as abstract, distracting, unnecessary.
