The State.

Definition: Autonomous political unit and is central local of political authority in the
world.
The state has to administer a territory and another social functions.
Mesopotamia earliest form of states.
Different forms of state empires and city states (Milan, Amsterdam, Venice).
The Territorially Sovereign State military technology, national identity, economic
change, religion.
The state is not a nation or a country. Palestine is not internationally recognized as a
state. Not Government. Not civil society.
State social contract. Lock said that the state is limited; the state is there to protect
the society but is limited.
David Easton should drop the concept of state in favour of the political system
Core features: territory linked to the specifically national groups of people;
sovereignty one state has sovereignty just because other state says that it has;
legitimacy; use of force.
Failed states. 12 criteria. Democratic pressures etc.
Theories of the state. Pluralist respect to government, bureaucracy.
1. The weathervane model. The state reflects the balance of social forces.
2. The neutral state model.
3. The broker state model. State officials have their own interests plural elitism.
Elite theory. Global elite Washington.
M theory.
1. Instrumentalism. The state is an instrument of the ruing class.
Problems: Similar to Pluralism and Elite Theory. Ignore wider structural issues.
2. Structuralism. The state is a capitalist state. Nicolas Pulantzas: relative autonomy
to secure long-term interests of capital, divided into fractions.
3.Fractionalism. Finance capital e.g. the City.
Summary. Difficult to define but has features.