The State PDF
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Concepts in the Social Sciences Mlm A. G. Ikenberry Open University Press Milton Keynes Open University Press 12 Coleridge Close Stony Stratford Milton Keynes MKI1 BY First Published 1989 Copyright © John A. Hall and G. John Ikcnberry 1989 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without written permission from the publisher, British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Hall, John A. (John Anthony), 1949- The state. Concepts in the social science. 1. State. Sociological perspectives I. Title. II. lkenberry, G. John III. Series 306'.2 ISBN 0-335-l5575-8 ISBN 0-335-15574-X (Pack) Typeset by Scarborough Typesetting Services Printed in Great Britain by J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd., Bristol Contents Ackrlowledgemenrs vii 1 Introduction: The State and Social Theory 1 2 The Origins of the State 16 3 The European Dynamic 22 4 The European Disaster 43 5 The Long Peace? 64 6 Conclusions 95 Notes 101 Select fiiblfography I 15 Index 122 Acknowledgements Most of our principal intellectual debts are obvious from the text. In addition, however, we want to thank the following friends and colleagues, all of whom helped significantly in the preparation of Hthaisg gbaordo,k : NMailcehraiee lK -Doyle, anka, MJeaffr yG oWoadtwerins,, DDaavviidd LSapikroe,, §Sli°tlec7p1h"aaEn:T Mann, Theda Skocpoi, and Caroline Thomas. Introduction: The State and Social Theory The period in which social science 'lost interest' in the state - broadly speaking, those years in which the liberal Pax Americana dominated minds as much as institutions -- is now over. The return of scholarly concern with the state led initially to several rather programmatic statements, many of which were formidably obscure' Happily we are now better placed. It is easy, with the advantage of a decade of state-centred social science explanations behind us, to demonstrate the impact of the state, What is harder but now possible is the creation of a more systematic view of the state in history. Our general aim is to specify' the ways in which states interact with other sources of power, the fact that the character of those power sources has varied in history requires a proper treatment of the state to have an historical dimension. We are particularly concerned with the relationship between states and capitalism and in the ways in which this affects political regimes and :i the stability of the international system. But before beginning to trace the state's relationship with other power sources, we need to devote considerable space to views of the state in classical and contemporary social theory. This 'will give our account greater richness. More importantly, our historically-grounded analysis will enable us to look back at these theoretical traditions and to adjudicate their claims. The state defined There is a great deal of agreement amongst social scientists as to how the state should be defined? A composite definition would include three elements. First, the state is a set of institutions; these are manned by the state's own personnel. The state's most 2 The State important institution is that of the means of violence and coercion. Second, these institutions are at the centre of a geographically- bounded territory, usually referred to as a society. Crucially, the state looks inwards to its national society and outwards to larger societies in which it must make its way; its behaviour in one area can often only be explained by its activities in the other. Third, the state monopolies rule making within its territory. This tends towards the creation of a common political culture shared by all citizens. No definition is perfect, some comments on the limitations of this one are in order. Note immediately that the definition is at once institutional and functional. History sometimes makes it necessary to decouple this linkage. Thus in Latin Christendom in the early European Middle Ages, many governmental functions - the provision of order, rules of war and justice were provided by the Church rather than by the puny and transient states which existed within its boundaries To make this point implicitly reveals a very great deal about the nature of our definition. Not all societies in history have been controlled by a state. Chinese civilization was usually controlled by a single state, but Latin Christendom was never so controlled, modern capitalist society, within whose boundaries most states now live, clearly has laws of development all its own. Furthermore, states do not always possess complete control over the means of violence, as feudal rulers knew all too well. Equally obviously, it is not the case that those over whom states rule always share a single culture. The conclusion to be drawn from this is simple: fully-fledged 'staleness' has been an aspiration for every state in history In consequence, the word "tends" which is now in the third proposition of the composite definition above could be appended to virtually every statement in the definition. Some states have moved a considerable way from aspiration towards achieve~ rent, this was especially true of European states at the turn of the century, as is evidenced by the fact that this composite definition is based upon statements of their social scientists Most states of the contemporary Third World, in contrast, comprise hope more than reality: their citizens often do not belong to a single culture, that is, they are not yet nation states, and they are only in the earliest stages of creating an apparatus of state machinery. It is important to highlight how complex is the notion of society used so far. Social organizations and social identities may be larger than the boundaries of states and may have some power over them, equally the state may not be able to control all social groups which Introduction 3 exist inside its own territory. In general, state power has gained as other sources of power, notably ideological and military power, have been territorialized. We pay great attention in this book to the relations of states to capitalism because it has proved far harder for states to territorialize economic power. This statement should not be read naively: if the extensiveness of capitalism means that the state's search for security is not total and complete, states do have the possibility, if they can organize their citizenries, of enhancing their position through acquiring the wealth that participation in the global economy can bring. Classical approaches to the state Three classical theories, liberalism, Marxism and realism, have made the most important contributions to understanding the state. We examine them in turn, paying particular attention to their views of the state as a force within society and as a.social actor in external interactions with a larger world. Liberalism Liberalism is a protean doctrine, but its core idea is extremely simple: the individual is held to be the seat of moral worth.6 State activities inside a society were seen by liberals in more or less sophisticated ways. A notably sophisticated view was that of Adam of Smith. In the third book of the Wealth Nations he described the manner in which the spread of commerce, by allowing the feudal aristocracy to spend its money on commodities rather than on retainers, allowed for the emergence of the rule of law. The causal chain of Smith's argument was complex and subtle: it was the parcellization of sovereignty that took place upon the fall of Rome, that is to say, a political factor, which gave birth to the autonomous and productive city whose economic impact in undermining feudal power was so great. This undermining was clearly welcomed by Smith in and of itself." This theory of liberalism realized fully that power has its own attractions, is capable of being abused and stands in permanent need of being controlled. In other words, commercial society was praised on the instrumental ground that it allowed for a decent political system by replacing naked power with Ie dour commerce." Adam Smith is best known, however, for his insistence - made as
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