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Changing Notions of State

Dr. Avinash Samal

Assistant Professor

Hidayatullah National Law University

Raipur, Chhattisgarh

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Different Notions of State Ethical State

Legal State

Church-State

National Sovereign State

State A man-made artificial institution State An Unnecessary Evil

State A Necessary Evil

Totalitarian State

Pluralist State

State A Class instrument Welfare State

Regulatory State

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Ethical State Plato & Aristotle Emphasis on ethics & Philosophy State - first and foremost condition of virtuous life It is the highest form of moral order A supreme, all powerful, all comprehensive and all-

embracing institution It inculcates humanity in the being and hence

human beings existence without state is notpossible

It regards the state as an end in itself

Self-perfection and self-fulfillment can only beachieved through the state

Moral, intellectual & material development can onlybe possible through the instrumentality of state

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Legal State

Roman empire emerged by merging the tiny city-states of theGreek world establishing: Unity, uniform law and order, strong administration, and a

despotic political system While absence of unity was the weakness of Greek city-states,

it was considered the strength of Roman empire Greece had developed democracy without unity, whereasRome secured unity without democracy - Gettell

Romans taught the world that a large state might be stableand successfully governed

Rome three stages of development Like Greek counterparts - city states

Republic An Empire

The first two stages were replaced by the third stage by theclose of the 1stCentury BC

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Cont

Successful Commanders like Marius, Caesar, Augustusetc. established despotic empires with concentration ofauthority, uniformity of law, sovereign organization,limited participation of citizens in public affairs

Nursed ideals like unity, order, law, discipline, strengthetc.

Establishment of a universal code of law mostimportant contribution

Taught the world that large states are much better and

can provide stability, peace, order and good government Liberty of citizens sacrificed for the sake of stable

political system

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Cont

This gave birth to legal notion of state State was viewed as highest law making

power

Laws had universal character Political problems of Romans wereadministrative and legal rather than ethical

Gave birth to Roman Law which is the basis ofmost of the legal systems of world even today

Philosophers like Polybius and Ciceroconcentrated on the art of governing and law-making

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Cont

The Roman Empire lasted about 500 yearswith all its cruelty and despotism

Class structure masters and slaves

Roman empire became very weak in 4thcentury corruption of officials, dictatorialregimes of emperors, slave unrest, lack ofliberty, equality and the advent of Christianity

Emperor Constantine made a compromisewith Christianity by declaring it a statereligion leading to the establishment ofChurch-State

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Church-State

There was mass unrest in the public against thedictatorial regimes of Roman emperors and they werefaced with unprecedented crisis from within and without

Christianity became very popular for its progressive

ideas It raised its voice against injustice and exploitation

Roman Emperors tried to crush Christianity

In the verge of decline, Roman emperors forged analliance with Christianity

Assimilated Christianity and turned this potential enemyinto an ally an act of highest statesmanship on the partof the state

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Cont

Partnership between church and the state helped establishpeace and order in the society for sometime

Partnership between the cross and the Eagle brought gain andloss to both Lipson

After the partnership, the progressive Church became a citadel

of reaction, anti-progress and anti-people Becoming and integral part of the established order, the

church ceased to be a victim of persecution and was ablehenceforth to do persecuting.

Roman Empire could save itself from inner dangers but failedto face the external aggression

In the fifth century, Teutonic people (Barbarians) attackedRoman Empire and destroyed it by establishing smallerkingdoms

This led to the emergence of a feudal system

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Church and the State

Feudalism and the Church Two important features ofthe medieval period

Christian church survived the fall of Roman Empire Religion dominated the mentality of the people in the

Middle Ages to a level unparalleled in the history ofWestern civilization

Derived its strength from the absence of stronggovernment

In the name of religion it mustered good amount ofpower, wealth and prestige

Taught that world is nothing prayer is the solution foreverything religion is the main thing Diverted the attention of the exploited class by drawing

them towards religion

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Cont

As the Church was serving the interest of theruling classes indirectly, it became popularamong them and they adopted Christianity

Started interfering on matters such ascollection of taxes and maintenance of lawand order

Church power went on increasing and it beganto claim superiority over kings and princesand virtually became the sate

King should be under the power of the ChurchSt. Augustine

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Cont

Entry of Church into politics and,consequently, the bitter conflictbetween the two became thefundamental political issue of the age

State was crushed between two forcesChurch and Feudalism

Masses were exploited and were inslumber hoping for salvation in the nextworld

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Socio-Economic & PoliticalStructure

Pope

Kings

Feudal Lords Big Landlords

Masses, Serfs & small producers

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Conflict between the Church andthe State

Churchs attempt to limit the authority of Kings and itsinterference in internal affairs

Theory of two swords Pope Glasious interpreted differently King was not directly under the God but under the Pope who

had the sole agency from God to conduct all the affairs

Pope had acquired much wealth & power and startedchallenging the Kings

Pope claimed to be the absolute master of all princes whowere bound to kiss his feet, and whom he could depose atwill

This led to the open fight between the Church (religious order)

and the King representing the secular order The kings became victorious, i.e. the Eagle swallowed theCross

This lead to the emergence of modern national sovereignstates in European world putting an end to the feudal authorityand the international order represented by the Pope

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National Sovereign State

Modern national sovereign states emerged duringthe 16-17thcenturies

Political movements were directed against papacyand feudalism to support a strong monarchy

Strong Kings emerged in the European world andwere identified as sovereign and unified nationalpowers

Separation of religion from politics led toestablishment of secular state

The state and the king were identified as one -Machiavelli and Bodin

I am the state Luis XIV The state meant the power of the king and he

personified the sate

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State An Artificial Man-madeInstitution

Before the 17thcentury, in the ancient andmedieval times, the was considered eitheras natural order (Greek Philosophers) or a

legal order (Roman Thinkers) or a divineorder (Church-Sate notion)

During the 17thCentury it was seen as aproduct of a social contract

This view regards the state as a machine an artificial man-made institution which isthe result of social contract among freeindividuals

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State A Necessary Evil: LiberalIndividualist Notion

Individualists supporters of negativefreedom of the individual believe thestate as an evil because it limits the

freedom of the individual State is necessary as without it law and

order can not be maintained in the market

society composed of selfish and egoisticindividuals

Adam Smith, Herbert Spencer etc.

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State An Unnecessary Evil:Anarchist Notion

Ultra individualists anarchists regard Statenot only an evil but also unnecessary

State an instrument of oppression and with the

moral development of man state will becomeredundant

A healthy society does not need an unhealthyinstitution like the state

Believes in a stateless society Aims at destroying state and placing the society

under the control of self-governing institutions

Godwin, Proudhon etc.

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Totalitarian State

Emergence of Fascism

State must have absolute powers and theindividuals cannot be allowed any rightsagainst the state

State can do no wrong and hence it cannotbe opposed by any individual, group or

association of the society Philosophers like Hegel and dictators like

Mussolini and Hitler supported this view ofthe state

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Pluralist State

This notion of state gained currencybecause of views of the supporters ofpluralist concept of sovereignty

Decentralization of political power andopposition to absolute sovereignty of state

State merely an association in society and

in no way superior to other associationsperforming their functions

Laski and MacIver

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Marxist State A ClassInstrument

The basis of any society is the economicsub-structure, i.e. the mode of productionwhich determines classes in society

Cultural, moral and political super-structure of the society is based oneconomic sub-structure

State is an coercive instrument belonging

to the capitalist class It uses it to oppress the other classes

An instrument of political power of theeconomically dominating classes

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Welfare State ContemporaryLiberal State

Liberalism considers the state as anwelfare or social service agency

State is not merely a legal institution

having law-making power and coercivepower to make laws

It must serve the society and satisfy themaximum demands pf the maximum

number of people Not only law and order but also promote

social welfare and serve common interest

Green, Laski acIver

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Regulatory State

Crisis in welfare state

Failure of state to manage everything

Withdrawal of state from many sector

Outsourcing and contracting out ofservices earlier performed by the state

Entry of private players and State

competing with them as one of the players Need for independent and impartial

regulation