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