Intro

 As per international law, state is an

Jean Bodin institution with definite territory,
JW Garner: Pol sc begins and ends with population, govt and
the state sovereignty (Montevideo
 Defined sovereignty as the
Convention on Rights and Duties of
supreme power of the state over
Fredrick Watkins: Geographically State, 1933)
citizens and subjects 
delineated segment of human society  Sovereign states are like hard
 It is the most imp concept of
united by common obedience to a single shells, nothing can come inside or
modern nation state
sovereign. go outside without the permission
of the state 

Crisis of nation-state:
 Some communities are scattered across nation-states. Ex. Kurds consider themselves part
of Kurdistan. Thus geographical boundaries defy national affiliations.
 Demands of secessions: Kurds, Catalonia etc. Yogendra Yadav calls India state-nation.
 Many people who have settled abroad like Chinese, Indian still owe affiliation to their
home nations.
 Change in nature of sovereignty and globalization.
 Emergence of supranational states like EU.
 Failed states.
 Robert D. Kaplan (Marco Polo’s World): Rise of new medievalism

Theory of Sovereignty 
Legal sovereignty Political sovereignty (John Locke) Popular
Law is command of sovereign A.V. Dicey (“An Introduction to the study of laws of constitution”): sovereign
Jean Bodin, John Austin, Behind the sovereign which lawyer recognizes; there is another Rosseau:
Hobbes sovereign to which legal sovereign must bow down. general will
Hobbes + John Austin  Laski 

 Monistic   Pluralistic 
 Hobbes (In a particular territory, there  Monistic sovereignty is legal fiction, textual approach
cannot be more than one sovereign)  It would be of lasting benefit if the entire theory of sovereignty is
 Sovereignty of a state is absolute, expunged out of discipline 
Perpetual, Undivided (Jean Bodin)  Since society is federal, authority should also be federal 
 If a determinate human superior not in a  Discovery of sovereignty in the federal state is an impossible
habit of obedience to a like superior, misadventure 
receives habitual obedience from the  Universe is multi-dimensional -> man is multi-dimensional -> multi-
bulk of a given society, that determinate dimensional needs -> multiple institutions.
superior is sovereign and that society is  Extreme Pluralists: MacIver
political and independent. (John Austin-  Moderate Pluralist: State is  the keystone of social architecture 
Province of jurisprudence determined)  Jurists like Leon Duguit and Krabbe Hugo rejected positivist theory of
 Dominant till WW2  law and gave sociological theory of law.

Conclusion 
We can say that plurality theory of sovereignty is more near to reality, as well as more desirable
especially in the age of complex interdependence 
Criticism: Laski : State is the keystone of social architecture, as it persons the function of law
making.
Regarding pluralists it is said that they want to eat the cake and keep it too 

Globalisation on Sovereignty 
Traditional nation-states have become unnatural even impossible units in a global economy-
Kenichi Ohmae
Thomas Friedman Anthony Giddens  Sorenson 
 (Diff from Milton Friedman) 
 Stretching and  Gobalisation has not
 The Lexus and the Olive tree deepening of relations diluted the sovereignty
 Globn as a inexorable integration of markets, nations across space and time  of state in equal
states,  technology to an extent never seen before  amounts 
 Interactions have become   Lesser impact on
o Farther, Faster  powerful states and more
o Cheaper, deeper 
  No longer just a Buzzword  impact on weaker states 

 As per international law, state is an institution with definite territory, population, govt and
sovereignty 
 Sovereign states are like hard shells, nothing can come inside or go outside without the
permission of the state 

Susan Strange: Robert Gilpin - Sceptics 

Kenichi Ohame  David Held (“Models of democracy”)
“Where states were  State Centric view
 Borderless world   Transformationalist 
once masters of  States in command of
 Hyper globalist   Not a Zero sum game 
markets, it is now Globalsiation
 Neither side is winning or losing
markets which on many  Shells of sovereignty  have
M. Mcluhan : Global issues are masters over remained intact 
Village  states.” See more from Heywood Chapter-5 

Changed nature of states in global village:

 Robert Cox: Internationalization of states -> States have lost substantial power over
economy, however economic globalization requires a political framework provided by
states. Ex. Operation of WTO, IMF etc. is done by states.
 Bob Jessup: Schumpeterian Competitive States (entrepreneurial) Ex. Asian tigers.
 Robert Cooper: post-modern states -> Respect of rule of law among citizens, more
complex and less centralized, allow multiple cultures to thrive. Ex. European states.
 Nature of post-colonial states: ‘weak states’; ‘failed states’; ‘pre-modern’; ‘quasi-states’; state-
nations’.

Changing nature of sovereignty

 Responsibility to protect
 Pooled sovereignty (beyond the capacity of single state)
 Disaggregated sovereignty (Distribution of sovereignty among multiple organizations)

With the election of Trump and Brexit it appears that states are winning and globalisation is
losing 

Nature of state in Post-capitalist societies - 

Theory of State—>
Liberals  Marxist 

 Social contract theory (Locke)  State is a class institution 

o Neutral arbiter of conflicting interests
o State - product of will of man  theory (Green)
 Evolutionary theory (MacIver)
o Long process of evolution.
o “State is both the child and guardian
of law”
o “State commands because it serves”
o “General will is not the will of the
state, but the will of the people for the
state”
o Theory of service state: Just an
association.
 Different from mechanistic theory (Locke) as well as organic
 Clear distinction between state and society, man is “social
animal” but not a “political animal”.
 3 levels
o Capitalist 
 Marx
 Lenin:State represents the irreconcilability of class
antagonism
 Gramsci : Integral state - civil society plays the
role of manufacturing consent 
o Post Capitalist: Ralph Miliband/Poulantza
o Post-Colonial: Immanuel Wallerstein/ Hamza Alavi 

Instrumentalist  Relative autonomy 

Marx : Communist Manifesto (Capitalist): State is Marx: 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
executive committee of bourgeoise class 
 Bonapartist state 
Lenin (“The state and revolution”): State represents  Under certain historical conditions state ceases to be an
irreconcilability of class-antagonism. instrument of a particular class
 Equilibrium maker
Ralph Miliband   France, Germany  

 The state in Post capitalist society  Nicos Poulantzas  (Political Power and Social Class)
 Instrumentalist
 Even Welfare state is instrument of dominant  Relatively autonomous 
class o R2V
  Bureaucracy and Judiciary remain elitist  o Competitive party system 
 Econ power remains concentrated - who controls o Electoral system — appeal to masses 
the economic power controls the political power 
o Ceases to be instrument of any class 
 Managerial revolution(James Burnham) is a
o Crisis - always prefer rich 
myth 

Elitist 
C Wright Mills
Pluralist 
Robert Dahl 
 Power in USA in the hands of 3 
o Corporates
 Polyarchy - deformed polyarchies 
o Federal Politicians
o Top military leaders 

Post Colonial State

Liberal Perspective: 
Gunnar Myrdal  F.W. Riggs

 Asian Drama   Prismatic societies 

 Soft state - soft on law breakers   Formalism: Gap in theory and practice
 Poor capacity to implement laws and  Heterogeneity: Coexistence of modernity and traditions 
 policies   Polynormativism: Both rational and irrational basis of law.
 Result   Polycommunalism: communities are co-existing but fearful of each
o Poor law and order  other
o Poor dev prospects   Bazaar-Canteen model: not one price for all
 Reasons for India as Soft state  SALA model: co-existence of rational principles and family
o Corruption  affiliations.
o Culture - disobedience   Functional overlaps
o Gandhi   Attainment norms both on basis of birth and merit.

Instrumentalist : Immanuel Wallerstein, Sameer Amin (“Accumulation on a world

scale”)
Structural school 
 Dependency school
 Colonialism has ended but neo-colonialism is continuing   Overdeveloped state - Hamza A
 Puppets of bourgeoise of core countries   Mediators 
 Results into development of underdevelopment  o Feudal 
 Prosperity in north - poverty in south o Metropolitan bourgeoise
 Flow of money South->North (imperialist rent (Sameer Amin)) o Indigenous bourgeoise
 Unequal exchange, unequal development   Bonapartist state
 Ppl have 2 options   Colonial Legacy 
o Socialism   Militaristic Bureaucratic
o Barbarianaism  oligarchies
 Worse for countries more linked to the international economy   Party in prominent role in
 Should go for autonomous national development freedom - lot off legitimacy
 In his book, “Delinking: Towards a polycentric world”; Sameer Amin called
for disengaging peripheries from agenda of core.
 Political obligation
 According to C.B. Macpherson, fundamental problem of political philosophy has been to
produce such theory which can convince as to why it is the moral duty of citizens to obey
the laws of state.
 Idea of political obligation is as old as political philosophy, yet it found its concrete shape
in T.H. Green’s work, “The lectures on principles of political obligation”
 Green defined that purpose of theory of political obligation is to discover true ground for
obedience to law.
 Socratic theory: Reason being gratitude for being fair and just Right to resistance/revolt
 Aristotle: state is highest of all institution and thus commands  Plato/Aristotle did not give.
highest of obedience.  Medieval time also no right.
 Theory of divine origin  With Hobbes, right to revolt when state fails
 Social contract tradition: state is the product of will of man; in preservation of life.
has delegated powers  Locke: revolt when state fails to preserve
 Rousseau: “General will” is the product of individual wills; right to life, liberty and property.
hence when we obey laws, then only we are free.  Marx: revolution to bring down the state.
 Utilitarianism: Such policies are legitimate which ensure  Thoreau and Gandhi: civil disobedience.
greatest happiness of greatest numbers.  John Rawls: civil disobedience when justice
 T.H. Green: Will not force is the basis of state. is not based on fair procedures.
 John Rawls: different people have different comprehensive  Hannah Arendt also favours civil
doctrines can arrive at an overlapping consensus. disobedience.
Thus political obligations vary from Hobbesian model of absolute state to Marxists and
anarchists. Liberal models lie in the middle of spectrum; obligation only when the laws are made
by democratic process.