The Origins of

the State

THE STATE is a central concept in the study and practice of

politics
State (Websters Dictionary: a form or mode of being, a
condition). From Latin status (literally: standing)
The political term the state conveys the idea of an
impersonal and sovereign political order* in society
(letat in French, das Staat in German, lo stato in
Italian, estado in Spanish)
____________
*David Held, Introduction. In: States and Societies. Edited by David Held et al.
Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1985, p.1

Society and the State

Human society predates the state. 200,000 years
of human existence passed without the state
The state arises at a certain stage in social
evolution:
when human society becomes bigger, more
complex, more productive, more divided by
private property
and when the very existence of society begins to
require a special mechanism for coordination
and use of social power

Human history can be described as a process of social

evolution
Just as biological evolution is development of simpler
forms of life into more complex and highly organized forms
of life,
social evolution (or social development) is a process of
growth of complexity and differentiation of social
organization (cooperation between human beings,
coordination of human activities)
*See Stephen Sanderson, Social Transformations. Blackwell, 1995, Ch. 1 - and
Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies. Norton, 1997, 1999
For an interesting discussion of theories of social evolution, go to:
Science and Society: OVERVIEW PAGE

In other words,
It is a process of creation and development of new, more
complex, and more effective forms of social organization.
It takes place under the influence of ecological,
demographic, technological and economic factors

From band to state

The human journey

http://www.bradshawfoundation.co
m/journey/

The prehistoric band

Band a small community bound by blood ties

Not centralized, egalitarian (low inequality), low division of

labour (mostly gender-based),
Decisions are made collectively.
Unity is based on customs and traditions

Hunter and gatherer societies

The tribe

Tribe a group of bands united for a common purpose

In order to survive, humans tend to form bigger groups.
Also egalitarian: power is dispersed throughout the tribe.
Leaders are first among equals, they dont have the
means to compel tribesmen to obey. Custom, tradition,
ritual, religious belief are the main tools to maintain
social order.
Agricultural societies (farming, animal husbandry)

The chiefdom

Chiefdom a transitional form on the way from tribe to state.

A larger society with more developed division of labour, higher

productivity, which means that there is surplus product to use
beyond mere subsistence.
Private property appears, inequality grows, people are more
and more divided by class.
Power is increasingly separate from society, as power over
society.
Authority is formalized (institutionalized) in the office of the
chief, which can be filled by different people. The chief has
means of compelling members of society (military force)

Develops in agricultural societies, which increasingly rely on

slave labour
Appears about 10,000 years ago

State a highly structured organization of power over a

more developed, more complex, class-divided society.

The state is capable of performing massive tasks:

suppressing social revolts,

waging wars,
organizing construction of fortresses, dams and canals,
minting money.

It has the power to tax and to punish those who break the law
The city is the seat of state power

First states appear in Egypt, Babylon, Assyria and Persia

(Iran), beginning around 5,000 years ago.
RECORDED HISTORY OF HUMANITY BEGINS

God Horus
symbol of
Pharaohs
supreme
power

The Pharaoh

The
Pharaohs
enemy

Tax collector

Enemy
soldiers
killed
Ancient Egypt: image of the state

Ancient Babylon

Ancient Egyptian kinglist

From Band to State: Summing Up

-- As societies become more complex, differentiated,

populous, and technologically advanced, their political
organizations become more centralized and separate from
society
-- As societies develop from band to state, they become
less egalitarian and less democratic
-- As societies become more complex, the power of
community decreases and the power of the state grows.

From Antiquity to Modernity

Antiquity: 3000 B.C.E. (Before Common Era*) 5th
century C.E. (Common Era**).
Middle Ages: 5th 15th centuries C.E. (from the fall of
Rome to the beginning of Renaissance)
Modern Age: 15th century (or, are we in a postmodern age already?)
(Note: all dates are approximate, based on certain pivotal events, while in real life,
the transitions from one age to another were usually slow and gradual)
*Old term: B.C. (before Christ)
**Old term: A.D. (Anno Domini)

Anthony Giddens:
Modernity is...a shorthand term for modern society, or
industrial civilization. Portrayed in more detail, it is
associated with

(1) a certain set of attitudes towards the world, the idea of

the world as open to transformation, by human intervention;
(2) a complex of economic institutions, especially industrial
production and a market economy;
(3) a certain range of political institutions, including the
nation-state and mass democracy

Largely as a result of these characteristics, modernity

is vastly more dynamic than any previous type of social
order. It is a societymore technically, a complex of
institutionswhich, unlike any preceding culture, lives in
the future, rather than the past.
Giddens, Anthony. The Consequences of Modernity. Stanford: Stanford University
Press, 1998, p. 94

Rise of productivity of human labour

Per capita income growth in Europe
700-1700 (in 1,000 years):
Grew at 0.11% a year, doubling every 630 years.*
1820-1990 (in 170 years):
Grew by 10 times in Britain, by 15 times in Germany,
by 18 times in USA, and by 25 times in Japan.**
*William J.Baumol, Sue Ann Batey Blackman, and Edward N.Wolff, Productivity
and American Leadership: The Long View (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989), p.12
**Angus Maddison, Dynamic Forces in Capitalist Development
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), pp.6-7

The Population Explosion*

--10,000 years ago 5-6 million people lived on Planet Earth
--1,000 BCE 150 million (grew by 30 times in 9,000 years,
result of the agricultural revolution)
--1700 CE 500 million (grew by 3.3 times in 2,700 years
--Today about 7 billion (grew by 13.5 times in 300 years,
result of the industrial revolution)
Follow this link to the current count:
http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/popclockworld.html
*See Krishan Kumar, The Rise of Modern Society, Basil
Blackwell, 1988, p.13

Urbanization
The city appears in history 5,000 ago as a product of
the Agricultural Revolution.
1500: 75 cities with total population of 7.5 million (est.)
1800: 3% of the worlds population lived in cities
2000: 47% of the world lived in cities (411 cities with
population of 1 million or more, 41 megacities with
population of 5 million or more)
2030 (forecast): 60% will live in cities

Global urban populations, mln. people

Modernization
Development of industrial, urban, capitalist (with
important exceptions) societies, organized in nationstates, guided by belief in reason, science, and progress,
and undergoing constant change
A long, uneven, tumultuous and often violent
process that starts in Western Europe and gradually
reshapes the entire world
Wars, intense struggles for power, revolutions
Colonial conquests
Development of global markets
The West captures global dominance

The state plays a crucial role in the development of

modern societies
As Europe enters the Modern Age in the 15th-16th
centuries, the state exists in its traditional forms:
City-states, feudal systems, patrimonial empires, etc.
The new type of state, the modern state, gradually
emerges (through evolution and revolution) to manage
the transition to modernity*
*For an additional reading on the rise of the modern state, go to:
http://books.google.ca/books?
id=oo4QCt4g9fgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+modern+state&source=bl&ots=-OkjPtuom&sig=ErTziaNeeN2Bz2ZhrkJ83HPXss0&hl=en&ei=YqeeTNqdEoagnwe9lpzDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q
&f=false

Three definitive features of the modern state

(See Max Weber, Politics as a Vocation):

Monopoly on force has the right and ability to use

violence, in legally defined instances, against members
of society, or against other states
Legitimacy its power is recognized by members of
society and by other states as based on law and some
form of justice.
Territoriality the state exists in a defined territory (which
includes land, water and air) and exercises authority
over the population of that territory

The state and government

The term the state has a broader meaning, referring to the

entire set of social relations concerning the use of political
power
Government is a narrower term referring to how a state is
organized
We say government when we refer to:
a particular group exercising political power at the
moment (e.g. the Conservative Government)
institutions of a state (e.g. the Federal Government)
Ontario has a government, but it is not a state. Ontario is a
part of the Canadian state
Canada is a state, and it has a government

In the United States, a state is one of the 50 territorial units

which form the Union. Each State has its State Government.
The Federal Government exercises authority over the entire
American territory.
To avoid confusion, Americans tend to use the term the
government both in the narrower sense and when they
mean the state. Still, one can use the expression the
American state (but not an American state) to refer to the
entire American system of government. Official description of
the US President is chief of state.
Governance usually refers to the process of government

Analyzing the state: 3 main traditions

(See Oxford Concise Dictionary of Politics: state):

Issues:
--Where does the power of the state come from? Or,
what is the source of sovereignty?
--How much power should the state have over society?
--How can society control the state to make sure that the
state always serves societys interests?
--How should the state be organized?
Three main traditions:
STATIST, PLURALIST, MARXIST

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)

Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, 1651:

Hereby it is manifest that during the time men live without a
common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that
condition which is called war; and such a war as is of every
man, against every man.
The only way to erect such a common power, as may be
able to defend them from the invasion of foreigners, and the
injuries of one another, and thereby to secure them in such
sort, as that by their own industry, and by the fruits of the
earth, they may nourish themselves and live contentedly; is,
to confer all their power and strength upon one man, or upon
one assembly of men, that may reduce all their wills, by
plurality of voices, unto one will: and therein to submit their
wills, every one to his will, and their judgments, to his
judgment.
(continued on the next page)

This done, the multitude so united in one person, is called a

COMMONWEALTH, in Latin CIVITAS. This is the
generation of that great LEVIATHAN, or rather (to speak
more reverently) of that mortal god, to which we owe under
the immortal God, our peace and defence.
(continued on the next page)

For by this authority, given him by every particular man in

the commonwealth, he hath the use of so much power and
strength conferred on him, that by terror thereof, he is
enabled to form the wills of them all, to peace at home, and
mutual aid against their enemies abroad...And he that
carrieth this person, is called SOVEREIGN, and said to
have sovereign power; and every one besides, his
SUBJECT
And the covenants, without the sword, are but words, and
of no strength to secure a man at all.
Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, pp.629, 631, 641

STATIST THEORIES
The oldest ideas about the state. Value order above
freedom.
--The state is like a living body, a powerful organic
entity which always dominates society it controls
--Policies of the state are motivated, above all, by
the interests of the state (raison detat Fr.), which
are considered the same as the interests of society.
Stress social unity.
--Reflect the experience of ancient and medieval
empires, absolute monarchies of the Modern Age,
right-wing and left-wing dictatorships of the last
century.

Hobbes actually represents a modernized variety of

statism by placing the source of state power in society
And statist practices exist in all democratic states.
--Statism is invoked to justify expansion of state power in
times of national emergency:
war
severe economic crisis
civil disorders
ecological disasters
--It is reflected in the legal and political notion of public
interest, which is usually considered as supreme over
private interests.

Philip II, King

of Spain,
1527-1598

Louis XIV,
King of
France from
1643 to 1715

Peter the Great,

Emperor of All
Russias, 1682-1725

George III,
King of
England and
Ireland, 17601820

A different view of the state:

What is government more than the management of the
affairs of a nation? It is not, and from its nature cannot be,
the property of any particular man or family, but of the whole
community, at whose expense it is supported Sovereignty,
as a matter of right, appertains to the nation only, and not to
any individual; and a nation has at all times an inherent
indefeasible right to abolish any form of government it finds
inconvenient, and establish such as accords with its interest,
disposition, and happiness Every citizen is a member of
the sovereignty, and, as such, can acknowledge no
personal subjection; and his obedience can be only to the
laws.
(Continued on the next page)

Great part of that order which reigns among mankind is not

the effect of government. It has its origins in the principles
of society and the natural constitution of man. It existed
prior to government, and would exist if the formality of
government was abolished. The mutual dependence and
reciprocal interest which man has upon man, and all the
parts of a civilized community upon each other, create that
great chain of connexion which holds it together.
Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man. 1791 In: David Held et al (ed.) States and
Societies, pp.84-85

Thomas Paine (1737-1809)

David Hume, Scottish philosopher, Of the Original

Contract, 1852:
http://presspubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch2s4.html

PLURALIST THEORIES
Dominant today; serve as the basis for the theory and
practice of liberal democracy. Value freedom above
order.
--View the state not as a living organism but as a
contract between members of society. Government is
elected by citizens and is accountable to them.
--View the state as a political market - a neutral arena
for constant competition between different societal
interest groups (farmers, businesses, unions, women,
minorities, retirees, taxpayers, etc.).

--Policies of the state reflect, above all, the results of this

competition.
--Accept competition among members of society as a
normal condition.
--Seek to limit state power over society.
In real practices of states, pluralism coexists and interacts
with statism

Yet another view of the state:

Because the state arose from the need to hold class
antagonisms in check, but because it arose, at the same
time, in the midst of the conflict of these classes, it is, as a
rule the state of the most powerful, economically dominant
class, which, through the medium of the state, becomes
also the politically dominant class, and thus acquires new
means of holding down and exploiting the oppressed class.
By way of exception, however, periods occur in which the
warring classes balance each other so nearly that the state
power, as ostensible mediator, acquires for the moment a
certain degree of independence of both.
Friedrich Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State .
In: David Held et al (ed.) States and Societies, p. 104

Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Friedrich Engels (1820-1895):

a monument in Berlin, Germany

MARXIST THEORIES
Since mid-19th century, have influenced development of
political thought,
and provided ideological fuel for socialist movements. Value
social justice and equality above order and freedom
--View the state as the tool used by the dominant class to
maintain its domination.
--Policies of the state reflect, above all, the interests of the
dominant class, rooted in private ownership of the means of
production.
--Stress class conflict as the main dynamic of society.
--Advocate the creation of a classless society in which the
state will wither away as no longer needed.

In the 20th century, Marxist ideas were used in the creation of

communist states in Eastern Europe and Asia.
States ruled by Communist Parties pursued rapid modernization
of societies on a non-capitalist basis
This type of modernization resulted in the rise of new forms of
extreme statism and unrestrained, inefficient bureaucratic rule.
In 1985-1991, all Eastern European communist states were
replaced by capitalist states with varying degrees of political
pluralism
In Asia, Communist Party states continue to exist in China,
Vietnam and North Korea. In China and Vietnam, these states
carried out economic reforms which enabled effective
integration of these countries into the global capitalist
economy

Each of the three approaches contains important insights

into the nature of the state.
--The different theories overlap, interact, influence each
other.
--They continue to evolve, as people search for new
answers to the problems they face
--Depending on the course of history, some ideas become
more influential than others
--Some work better in the practice of government
--Others work better as sources of the politics of protest
and change

A World of States
In the last 5,000 years, humanity has created
thousands of different states, from tiny city-states
to global empires
Today, there are 196 sovereign states in the world,
193 of which are members of the United Nations.
Almost all of them are nation-states organized on
the basis of distinct nations

New states continue to appear; some scholars predict

that in the 21st century hundreds, if not thousands of
new states will be created
Existing states undergo changes in their organization
They are challenged from within and from without
They are constantly tested for viability and adaptability
How much change can a state withstand? Can a state
afford to be static?

Coats of Arms (official symbols) of a few sovereign states

(those with eagles and lions)

Egypt
(compare
this eagle
with the
falcon
image of
God Horus
in the
picture of
Pharaoh)

Poland

USA

Austria

Albania

Russia

Armenia

Czech
Republic

Belgium

Bulgaria

Congo

Estonia

Denmark

Canada