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Chapter 3 - The Origins of Modern State

  • A state is a political body that rules over a region via coercion and the threat of force. A failed state is a state-like entity that is unable to compel and effectively govern the people of a particular region.

  • The predatory perspective of the state emphasizes the possibility of conflicts of interest between citizens and the government. States develop as an unintentional result of methods used by individuals such as lords and kings to acquire and preserve power, according to the predatory perspective.

  • To do so, we will focus on two prevalent perspectives of the state: the contractarian view and the predatory view of the state. The state, according to contractarian theory, arises to assist individuals in situations where decentralized cooperation is expected to be problematic.

  • We shall investigate the historical roots of the state in early modern Europe through the predatory perspective of the state. But first, let's look at some common definitions of the state.

What is State

  • Max Weber (1918/1958, 78), a German sociologist, coined the most renowned description of the state: “A state is a human society that (successfully) claims the monopoly of lawful use of physical force inside a defined territory,” he explained.

  • Many Jews, for example, thought they belonged to a country long before Israel was founded; in fact, many Jews in Europe throughout the interwar era campaigned for an extraterritorial vision of the Jewish nation (Mendelsohn 1983).

  • The state must also have a "monopoly on the lawful use of physical force," according to Weber's definition. Many scholars have been disturbed by this concentration on "legitimacy" throughout the years since determining what is and is not a legal use of force is not always straightforward.

  • The state must also have a “monopoly on the lawful use of physical force,” according to Weber's view. Many academics have been concerned by the emphasis on "monopoly." The main reason for this is that it is very easy to come up with examples of non-state actors who have the potential to use physical force and who could consider such use to be justified.

  • The fact that governments rule by force does not imply that they are all-powerful. As previously stated, states never completely monopolize power in any country. This explains why North merely says that states must have a "comparative advantage in violence," whereas Tilly claims that states must have "control over the primarily concentrated instruments of violence."

  • Failed states are those that are unable to compel and use force to successfully govern the population of a particular territory.

A Brief History of Failed States

  • Somalia has been synonymous with "chaos" and has been regarded as a "typical failed state" for the last sixteen years, according to a 2006 congressional hearing in the United States. 3 One failed state researcher describes his experience in Somalia as follows:

  • However, as of March 2011, the TFG held just a tiny portion of Mogadishu's city, with the help of African Union soldiers, and its authority was not recognized throughout the country. Furthermore, the TFG lacked a national military to restore order. The political scenario in Somalia in early 2011 is depicted in Map 4.1.

  • In 1960, a former British protectorate known as Somaliland and a former Italian trust territory known as Somalia were merged to become the Somalia we know today. On June 26, 1960, Somaliland declared independence from the United Kingdom, and on June 30, 1960, Somalia declared independence from Italy.

  • Many countries across the world are concerned that Somalia controlled by al-Shabab would provide a safe haven for terrorists. Somalia, at its most chaotic, would not be a very safe area to hide, reorganize, or establish training camps.

  • The brief history of Somalia that we have just presented should provide a clear picture of life without a state. It should also emphasize the necessity of comprehending the origins of the term "state." For centuries, this has been a topic of debate among political theorists and political scientists. We'll compare and contrast the contractarian and predatory views of the state in the sections that follow.

The Contractarian View of the State

  • Existence in the state of nature, according to Thomas Hobbes, is a "war of every man against every man," with life being "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short". He thought that people living in the wild faced a problem. Given a certain level of individual equality, each person recognized that assaulting his neighbor in a vulnerable state may benefit him. Each citizen, on the other hand, was well aware that his neighbors were probably thinking the same thing about him.

  • You could believe that this debate is mostly about barbarians and that it is thus unrelated to the interests of exalted humans such as us. However, it is essential to note that social contract theorists like Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau did not believe that living in the wild was difficult because of any specific moral shortcoming on the part of the persons involved.

  • Game theory may be used to illuminate the structural features of the natural world that may lead to issues. To begin, we use Hobbes' own terminology to describe a stylized encounter between two individuals in the natural world.

  • A state is a political body that rules over a region via coercion and the threat of force. A failed state is a state-like entity that is unable to compel and effectively govern the people of a particular region.

  • The predatory perspective of the state emphasizes the possibility of conflicts of interest between citizens and the government. States develop as an unintentional result of methods used by individuals such as lords and kings to acquire and preserve power, according to the predatory perspective.

  • To do so, we will focus on two prevalent perspectives of the state: the contractarian view and the predatory view of the state. The state, according to contractarian theory, arises to assist individuals in situations where decentralized cooperation is expected to be problematic.

  • We shall investigate the historical roots of the state in early modern Europe through the predatory perspective of the state. But first, let's look at some common definitions of the state.

What is State

  • Max Weber (1918/1958, 78), a German sociologist, coined the most renowned description of the state: “A state is a human society that (successfully) claims the monopoly of lawful use of physical force inside a defined territory,” he explained.

  • Many Jews, for example, thought they belonged to a country long before Israel was founded; in fact, many Jews in Europe throughout the interwar era campaigned for an extraterritorial vision of the Jewish nation (Mendelsohn 1983).

  • The state must also have a "monopoly on the lawful use of physical force," according to Weber's definition. Many scholars have been disturbed by this concentration on "legitimacy" throughout the years since determining what is and is not a legal use of force is not always straightforward.

  • The state must also have a “monopoly on the lawful use of physical force,” according to Weber's view. Many academics have been concerned by the emphasis on "monopoly." The main reason for this is that it is very easy to come up with examples of non-state actors who have the potential to use physical force and who could consider such use to be justified.

  • The fact that governments rule by force does not imply that they are all-powerful. As previously stated, states never completely monopolize power in any country. This explains why North merely says that states must have a "comparative advantage in violence," whereas Tilly claims that states must have "control over the primarily concentrated instruments of violence."

  • Failed states are those that are unable to compel and use force to successfully govern the population of a particular territory.

A Brief History of Failed States

  • Somalia has been synonymous with "chaos" and has been regarded as a "typical failed state" for the last sixteen years, according to a 2006 congressional hearing in the United States. 3 One failed state researcher describes his experience in Somalia as follows:

  • However, as of March 2011, the TFG held just a tiny portion of Mogadishu's city, with the help of African Union soldiers, and its authority was not recognized throughout the country. Furthermore, the TFG lacked a national military to restore order. The political scenario in Somalia in early 2011 is depicted in Map 4.1.

  • In 1960, a former British protectorate known as Somaliland and a former Italian trust territory known as Somalia were merged to become the Somalia we know today. On June 26, 1960, Somaliland declared independence from the United Kingdom, and on June 30, 1960, Somalia declared independence from Italy.

  • Many countries across the world are concerned that Somalia controlled by al-Shabab would provide a safe haven for terrorists. Somalia, at its most chaotic, would not be a very safe area to hide, reorganize, or establish training camps.

  • The brief history of Somalia that we have just presented should provide a clear picture of life without a state. It should also emphasize the necessity of comprehending the origins of the term "state." For centuries, this has been a topic of debate among political theorists and political scientists. We'll compare and contrast the contractarian and predatory views of the state in the sections that follow.

The Contractarian View of the State

  • Existence in the state of nature, according to Thomas Hobbes, is a "war of every man against every man," with life being "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short". He thought that people living in the wild faced a problem. Given a certain level of individual equality, each person recognized that assaulting his neighbor in a vulnerable state may benefit him. Each citizen, on the other hand, was well aware that his neighbors were probably thinking the same thing about him.

  • You could believe that this debate is mostly about barbarians and that it is thus unrelated to the interests of exalted humans such as us. However, it is essential to note that social contract theorists like Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau did not believe that living in the wild was difficult because of any specific moral shortcoming on the part of the persons involved.

  • Game theory may be used to illuminate the structural features of the natural world that may lead to issues. To begin, we use Hobbes' own terminology to describe a stylized encounter between two individuals in the natural world.