State and Society

Lessons-Kinds of Society
Legitimacy of the State
Structuring State Power
The Limits of State Power
 Kinds of Society
SOCIETY- can be understood as referring to the
totality of all natural relations and institutions
between man and man. The size and scope of society
differs. A small group of academic scholars, for
instance, can be called a society; while we also speak
of society on the level of country or state such as the
Philippine and American societies. Furthermore, there
are many kinds of society, classified according to
geographical location, culture, ethnicity, belief system
or religion, political ideology and type of economy,
among others.
 Kinds of Society
(based on the primary means of
subsistence or sources of lifes necessities)
1. Hunting and gathering societies
2. Pastoral societies
3. Horticultural societies
4. Agricultural societies
5. Industrial societies
6. Post-industrial societies
 Legitimacy of the State
STATE VIS--VIS SOCIETY
An important feature of society is what we call the
state. A state is a political human organization that is
sovereign and supreme in exercising its authority within its
territory. The states exercise of authority within its territory
is sovereign in that it is independent of the influences of
other states; and it is supreme in that the state imposes its
laws on the various political organizations under it.
The state, being an organization of humans, necessarily
involves society. Society, however, is much more than the
state for aside from politics, society also involves culture,
religion, and the arts, among others
 Legitimacy of the State
STATE VIS--VIS GOVERNMENT
The state is often identified with the government.
Strictly speaking, however, the government is the institution
that manages the affairs of the state, such that the state can
change its government while remaining the same.
STATE VIS--VIS NATION
The state is also identified with a nation. A nation,
however, refers to a group of people based on language,
culture, ethnicity, and others. Consequently, it is possible for
a nation not to have a state and for a state to contain one or
more nations or just parts of different nations
 Legitimacy of the State
STATES POWER
It is the authority of the state which comes in the form of
power, through its government, to make laws on its constituents by
means of punishment. It is also referred to as political power. How the
state acquires this power and exercises it make up the issue of the
legitimacy of the state.
3 GENERAL CONDITIONS FOR THE LEGITIMACY OF THE STATE/
DIMENSIONS OF STATE POWER
1. JUSTIFICATION- the institution or existence of the state should be
justified, for the state is justified in having its political power only
if its institution itself is justified
2. STRUCTURE- for an effective exercise of its political power
requires a right structure
3. LIMITS- the state should observe the limits of its political power,
for otherwise this power will be abused
 Theories on the Legitimacy of the State
When can we say that the existence of a state is justified?
1. Divine Right Theory/ Theory of the Divine Right of Kings-
which claims that a state is justified only if it is run by a
government whose ruler is appointed by God
2. Social Contract Theory/ Consent Theory of the State-
which claims that a state is justified only if it is run by a
government that fulfills its primary functions as
determined by its contract with its citizens
3. Consequentialist Approach- which claims that a state is
justified only if it is run by a government that increases
the overall happiness of its constituents
 Legitimacy of the State
DIVINE RIGHT THEORY claims that what justifies the
political power of the state is the appointment of its king by
God. This theory thus considers the monarchy (government
ruled by a king, or sometimes by a queen) as the best form
of government. Believing that the authority of the kings is
given directly by God, it claims that kings right t rule is
absolute, for the king does not need the approval of his
constituents in exercising his political power. This theory is
sometimes called Absolutism.
 Legitimacy of the State
JEAN DOMAT- Since government is necessary
for the common good and God himself established
it, it follows that those who are its subjects must be
submissive and obedient. For otherwise they would
resist God, and the government which should be the
source of the peace and unity that make possible
the public good would suffer from dissension and
trouble that would destroy it.
 Legitimacy of the State
SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY claims that what justifies
the political power of the state is the informed and
voluntary consent that its citizens have given to the
institution of the state. This consent is expressed in the form
of a contract, called a social contract, between the citizens
and the state, which specifies the primary duties and
obligations of the citizens toward the state and of the state
toward the citizens. The social contract, however, is an ideal
contract and thus is a theoretical (or abstract model) for
evaluating existing states. If the citizens fail to fulfill their
obligations toward the state, the state imposes punishment
on them; but if it is the state fails to fulfill its primary
obligations to its citizens, the citizens acquire the right to
change or even overthrow their government
 Legitimacy of the State
THOMAS HOBBES- describes the state of nature is basically a
condition wherein everyone is at war with everyone else-a
war of all against all and so people institute the state to
bring peace into their lives by following the laws of nature.
JOHN LOCKE- describes that people in the state of nature
decide to institute the state in order to safeguard their
natural, inalienable rights by justly punishing those violating
these rights.
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU- people in the state of nature
decide to institute the state in order to protect their
properties in light of perpetual conflicts, bloodshed, and
war, and to which the rest of the savages later on give their
consent
 Legitimacy of the State
CONSEQUENTIALIST APPROACH is provided by the
ethical theory called Utilitarianism, which claims that since
happiness or welfare as the only inherent good then our
moral duty is to increase or maximize overall happiness of
all persons affected by our actions
THE GREATEST HAPPINESS PRINCIPLE- which states that an
act is morally good if it promotes the greatest happiness of
the greatest number of people.
Thus for Utilitarianism, the state is justified in its
existence only if it is managed by a government that
promotes the greatest good of the greatest number of the
citizens or that increases their overall happiness
 Structuring State Power
ARISTOTLEAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT- classifies the
various forms of government which are based on two
considerations:1.) the number of rulers; and 2.)
whether the rulers rule to advance their personal
interests or good of all the citizens of the state
Number of Ideal Perverted
rulers
One Monarchy Tyranny
Few Aristocracy Oligarchy
Many Democracy Mobocracy
 Structuring State Power
Based on the first consideration governments are
classified as either the rule of one, the few and the
many. While based on the second consideration,
governments are classified either good when rulers
advance the common good, or bad when the rulers
advance their private good.
In terms of the rule of one, the good form of
government is monarchy or kingship, while the bad
form is tyranny or dictatorship. In terms of the rule of
the few, the good form is aristocracy and the bad form
is oligarchy. And in terms of the rule of the many, the
good form is democracy and the bad form is
mobocracy.
 Legitimacy of the State
DEMOCRACY- is actually the rule of the poor, but since
the poor constitute the majority in society democracy
is thus considered as the rule of the many.
Democracy is usually defined as having a
government that is of the people, by the people, and
for the people. It is of the people in that the citizens
are the ones who institute the government, not some
foreign power. It is by the people in that it is run by the
citizens through their representatives. And it is for the
people in that it promotes the common good or the
interests of the citizens, not the private interests of a
few individuals.
 Legitimacy of the State
BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT
1. Legislative- has the power to enact temporary
or perpetual laws, and amend or abolish those
that have been already enacted
2. Executive- has the power to make peace or
war, send or receive embassies, establish
public security, and provide against invasion
3. Judiciary- has the power to punish criminals,
or resolve disputes that arise between
individuals
 Legitimacy of the State
2 KINDS OF DEMOCRACY
1. Participatory/Direct Democracy- is thought to
be more keeping with the democratic ideal of
a government run by people but it is beset by
problems like the long and tedious process of
holding popular assemblies will just be
dominated by people enjoying popularity
2. Representative Democracy- is more practical,
but also has its share of problems, foremost of
which is the danger that representatives will
just push for their own personal interests.
 Limits of State Power
THE SPHERE OF INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM
This a principle for determining the limits of state power over
individual freedom
1. MILLS LIBERTY/HARM PRINCIPLE- states that a persons freedom
of action can be justifiably limited only if the exercise of such
freedom will bring harm to another person. Mill claims that while
the state has the right to regulate the other-regarding actions of
its citizens ( to ensure that such actions will not bring harm to
other people), it has no business interfering with the self-
regarding actions of its citizens (even if such actions will bring
harm to themselves).
SELF-REGARDING ACTIONS- referring to actions that directly and
immediately affect the agent or the doer of the actions
OTHER-REGARDING ACTIONS referring to actions that directly and
immediately affect other people
 Limits of State Power
Consequently, Mill specifies three region of absolute human
liberty or spheres of human life where state has no right to intervene
1. Region of consciousness- this is the liberty of thought and
feeling; absolute freedom of opinion and sentiments on all
subjects, practical or speculative, scientific, moral or theoretical
2. Region of tastes and pursuits- this is the region of freedom of
forming the plan of our life to suit our own character; of doing as
we like, subject to such consequences as may follow; without
impediment from our fellow creatures, so long as we does not
harm them, even though they should think our conduct foolish,
perverse or wrong
3. Region of forming associations- this is the region of freedom to
unite, for any purpose not involving harm to others; the persons
combining being supposed to be of full age, and not forced or
deceived
 Limits of State Power
THE SPHERE OF ECONOMIC FREEDOM
This concerns human activities in the market. MARKET is any place where activities
of producing, marketing, selling, and buying goods and services take place
TYPES OF MARKET SYSTEM
FREE-MARKET SYSTEM- also called capitalism, argues for the
elimination of state intervention in the economic activities in the
market; that is to say, who produces the goods, what goods to
produce, for whom are the goods produced, and at what prices are
the goods to be sold should be left to the free decisions of the players
in the market
COMMAND SYSTEM- also called socialism, argues for a centralized
system of state intervention in the said activities in that these
activities should be left to the decisions of the state
MIXED ECONOMIES- which combine both types of market system; and
what identifies a countrys market system to be capitalist or socialist is
simply a matter of what is dominant
 Limits of State Power
JOHN LOCKE- considers humans to be endowed
with natural rights (to life, liberty and property,
and the right to punish offenders of these rights)
and the primary function of the state is the just
administration of punishments in order to protect
it citizens rights. It follows that the state should
not intervene in the citizens exercise of natural
rights as they pursue their economic interests. In
sum, these natural rights give economic freedom
to the citizens
 Limits of State Power
ADAM SMITH- argues the invincible-hand
argument which claims that when people are left
on their own to pursue their individual selfish
interests in the market they are somehow guided
by an invincible hand (the market forces) to bring
about the common good
KARL MARX- according to him capitalism is the
root cause of most social evils. He believes that
the capitalists, in the pursuit of profit exploit the
workers