Understanding the State: A Comprehensive Overview
Concept of the State
The state is central to political science. When we discuss the state, we refer to the modern state, characterized by:
- Power over a territory and its population.
- Use of physical coercion to achieve established objectives.
- Administration of individuals’ lives through institutions.
The state is the repository of sovereignty, exercising real, absolute, and perpetual power over the political community. Sovereignty resides in the people, who elect representatives through voting.
State and Government
The state organizes collective life through the government, which can be understood as:
- Political System: How the state is organized.
- Specific Guidelines: Development and implementation of state policies at a specific time.
- Executive Power: The authority of the state responsible for executing general policies and enforcement.
Philosophical Reflection of the State
Proposals from Antiquity
Classical republicanism projected the ideal state, ruled by the wise, who alone could build a just polis. The best government represents the interests of the middle classes, aiming for a good life, not natural inequality. Therefore, aristocratic policy solutions are proposed.
Absolute Sovereignty
A significant contribution to political philosophy is the need for absolute sovereignty. Political coexistence must be separated from morality. The safety of subjects is only possible with a strong government.
- Bodin: Advocated for monarchy as sovereign, with the monarch’s will limited only by God’s law, natural law, and just rules.
- Hobbes: Defended the need for a strong state to preserve individual liberty and advocated for the unlimited sovereignty of the monarch.
The Conquest of Freedom
The English, American, and French Revolutions led to the conquest of national sovereignty and the division of powers, known as the rule of law. Recognition of individual rights and freedoms marked the emergence of the liberal state and constitutions. Key ideas include:
- Locke: Power should be divided within the state, with the state holding the power to punish those who violate property rights and peace.
- Liberalism: Defends the right to private property and means of production, minimal state intervention in the economy, and the free market.
Socialism and Anarchism
Political alternatives emerged in the 19th century, with socialism seeking to replace the liberal state and anarchism aiming to destroy any state agency.
- Socialism: Defends freedom, equality, and fraternity. It can be divided into:
- Utopian: Anti-individualist, anti-capitalist, and presents ideal solutions.
- Marxist: Envisions a social revolution that replaces the liberal state with a socialist one.
- Anarchism: Advocates for the elimination of private property as the root of inequality and the suppression of the state.
The Democratic State
Citizens participate in government through direct democracy or by electing representatives (representative democracy). Popular sovereignty implies that the state is only legitimate if it includes all citizens. The state holds power, but this power belongs to the people, making sovereignty popular. This means accepting political equality for all citizens. The democratic state emerged as many political organizations demanded political rights, leading to universal suffrage.
The Social-Democratic State
The war highlighted the need for governments to address collective well-being. The state adopted some of the traditional demands of the labor movement, leading to the birth of the welfare state.
The Problems of the Concept of Citizenship
Essential Traits of Citizenship
:Citizenship: idividu a relationship is established between the community and politics that is registered as a full member dret.trets essential modern citizenship: 1) a set of rights and duties, 2) a peculiar form of insertion into the community 3) the rules that Rige convvencia .- citizenship is a community with rights and history, gives certain rights and citizens have obligacionsi mechanisms praticipaci. pretiença a society: the viutadania denotes a particular form of collective identity, or of haderencio wide incloent.els with criteria that have attributed a character of the membership conditions extarns not politicses deducted two retail month as defining membership in the philosophical debate: 1) identity: implies an identity conscience. 2) the community before the political pact, the ciutadnia in modern societies are now part of a national unaidentitat character prepolitic.