Political Science 1020E Lecture 25: Political-Science-1020E-All-Second-Semester-Notes
1 Jul 2018
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● If a case is brought up in lecture, then it will be on exam. If not then not on exam.
● Ignore the green boxes
● Concept yellow boxes are fair game to be on exam
● Debating Sections: used as starting questions in tutorials, fair game for exams
● Blue box: Focus on: some important and some not
Lectures 1 and 2: Defining and Debating the State
Lecture Plan:
● Define the state
● Make sense of the Dualism of the State
● Chart Changes in the State Since its emergence in history
● Determine why the state acts and What we should let states do for us
The state
● States Haven’t always existed (not applied to all forms of political organization)
● Rival Forms: Cities(independent sovereign entities), Traditional Kingdoms, Empires
● State model proved superior after 1500
● State model now universal
● Will we always have states? (point where things the state does is uneeded)
Defining the State
● Hegelian Idealism: (republican not hegelian, want to shrink gov)
○ Development: (developmental approach to political history, moving towards an
end of history)
■ Family: ‘Particular Altruism’ (heightened concern or caring, not treat the
whole world in the same fashion)
■ Civil Society: ‘Universal Egoism’ (there are general rules and treat
everyone the same with a heightened degree of selfishness (egoism),
important because brings in universalism because treating everyone on
an identical basis)
■ State: ‘Universal Altruism” (state is broad universal body to have impact
on society as a whole and treats citizens equal basis, does so with high
degree of concern and care)
○ State as End of History (modern state is the end of history)
● Woodrow Wilson: State Idealist (was a hegel Idealist)
● Functionalism: you get what you need (we don’t explain something based on the
demand for it but based on the need it fulfils)
● State as a provider of order and stability (this is the need the state fulfils)
● So, what threatens order?
○ Marxists: Class conflict - State resolves it (poor become restless)
● But - state is whatever does this work (family structures can be state or interest groups
because they are solving the problem of disorder)
● Organizational Approach:
1. State as Specific set of institutions: Bureaucracy, Military, Police, Courts, etc.
2. Why treat these collectively as ‘the state’?
3. After Hegel, political scientists rejected the concept as abstract, unnecessary
● Organizational Features:
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1. Territory - Demarcated Area, Defensible Borders (first and foremost are territorial
entities)
2. People - Community Defined by Territorial Boundaries (needs human population that is
subject to authority of the state)
3. Sovereignty - Final and Absolute authority within territory (came about in monarchy
systems where king or queen was final authority, constitution can say the final word is
negotiating between certain groups, sovereignty can be redistributed some group is
sovereign over certain issue)
4. Public Institutions and Roles (when there was a move to public treasurys and had to
account for the money, the people who exercise power don’t act for private interest,
accountable to the public, makes state abstract)
5. Domination - Max Weber: Monopoly of Coercion within a given territory (no major rivals
to the state, state can control the territory and introduce economic regulation and can
punish)
6. Legitimacy - Makes domination easier to swallow (if only domination it would be
expensive to uphold the force) (if legitimate you will obey and won’t need to use as much
domination)
3 q per tutorial
Defining the State
● International Approach Adds:
○ Effective government (good at borders and maintaining order)
○ Relations with other states (interact other units, united nations
● But it’s all international and internal (part of the same picture)
The Duality of the State
● Protects its people from each other and also from external threats
● Borders define what is internal and external in the first place (the barriers of the states
dualism, outside border is international view)
The Emergence of the Dual State
● With the Decline of:
○ 1. Feudalism (system existed in 1500 that had series of personal relations that
are unequal, Ex. princes and vassals)
■ War made the state
○ 2. The Universal Church (christian church was central player in medieval
europes, was similar to state had legitimacy and influences peoples lives)
■ Protestant reformation (singular church that stops rise of territorial state,
split the universal church into 2 catholic and protestant(split into other
smaller sects))
■ Peace of Westphalia, 1648: State Controls Religion Within Territory
(warfare on religious grounds, in 1648 the war ends with messy
compromise protestant say they have right and christian say no,
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compromise allows kings and queens decide religion of their territory,
now state can use religion to reinforce legitimacy)
Dualism’s Distinctions
● State from internal society, for which it provides rules and order (subject to effective rule
making)
● And
● State from the international sphere, in which it competes with other states, in the
absence of order (national laws not applicable to other countries, has order internally but
interacting with other countries means it lacks order)
Comparative Politics and International Relations
● Comparative politics: State as Units of analysis
○ a) compares Units (why some state democratic and other authoritarian
○ b) And studies politics under state-provided order (study social movements,
political parties, elections)
● International Relations: States within state system
○ a) begins with concept of anarchy (competition with no overarching framework of
rules)
○ b) Examines state interactions in absence of rules and enforcement
The Triumph of the State Model
● Global Extension - a World of states
● States formally equal (in most respects, in united nations)
● If highly unequal in capacity (both internationally and domestically, strong(effectively
manage territory, borders, implement justice))
Pluralist State (essentially liberal)
● Social power is widely and evenly dispersed(things that matter in terms of power are
broadly distributed, economic, social)
● The elected government leads the way (state does what a fairly elected government tells
it to do, there aren't separate interests like military with a separate interest)
● Therefore, the state is neutral (referee)
Capitalist State (marxist approach, marxist analysis of state in capitalist society)
● Social power is unequal and concentrated
● Economy generates hierarchy of classes
● Therefore, state bias in favour of dominant class
● Uses power to maintain class system (state maintains in place the system of class)
Patriarchal State (share marxist on capitalist view)
(instrumental perspective: many ppl in one view use as instrument
Structuralist: state must do what the majority wants because they are bound by them, need
funding to do anything)
● Social power is unequal and concentrated (not economic power and class but gender
that matters)
● This time, it’s not class but gender
● Therefore, state bias in favour of men
● Some feminists are pluralist (think state isn't inherently biased, if we make a strong case
to the state then the state will change policies, not a pluralist if you think state biased
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find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
If a case is brought up in lecture, then it will be on exam. Concept yellow boxes are fair game to be on exam. Debating sections: used as starting questions in tutorials, fair game for exams. Blue box: focus on: some important and some not. Lectures 1 and 2: defining and debating the state. Make sense of the dualism of the state. Chart changes in the state since its emergence in history. Determine why the state acts and what we should let states do for us. States haven"t always existed (not applied to all forms of political organization) Rival forms: cities(independent sovereign entities), traditional kingdoms, empires. Will we always have states? (point where things the state does is uneeded) Hegelian idealism: (republican not hegelian, want to shrink gov) Development: (developmental approach to political history, moving towards an end of history) Family: particular altruism" (heightened concern or caring, not treat the whole world in the same fashion)
