Modern States
The State in the Modern Day Context
The state can be seen as a concept which has emerged over thousands of years in order to sustain the needs of societies growing in size and complexity. This growth in size and complexity was coupled with the growing need for authority and order, due to special mechanisms being needed for society to benefit from its increased social power and productive capacity (Petho, 2010:6). State formation passes through stages of development and hinges upon ecological, demographic, economic and political factors (Petho, 2010:2). As a result of this, not all states developed in the same way. States which developed prior to 1945 and post-1945 experienced very different state formation as well as a changed economic environment (Spruyt, 2007:223;25). This literature review will aim to analyse the literature covering the way in which the modern state is defined as well as the two theories which discuss how it came to prominence as we know it today, additionally reference will be made to how the modern state differs from the post-colonial state in Africa.
The modern state is a concept which does not hold a universally accepted definition largely due to the inability of all scholars to agree upon a brief generally acceptable definition, as asserted by Pierson (2004); he raises the notion that even the concept of the state itself remains unresolved as the questions which surround the state cannot be answered with absolute certainty (Pierson, 2004:1). Although, the most famous definition is provided by Max Weber and it defines the state as a “political institutional organisation” whose “administrative staff can successfully exercise a monopoly of legitimate physical force in the execution of its orders” (Anter, 2014:11). However, across the reviewed literature there are a set of common characteristics which are prevalent as the requirements a state needs to meet in order to be considered a modern state. These criterion are much influenced by
The state can be seen as a concept which has emerged over thousands of years in order to sustain the needs of societies growing in size and complexity. This growth in size and complexity was coupled with the growing need for authority and order, due to special mechanisms being needed for society to benefit from its increased social power and productive capacity (Petho, 2010:6). State formation passes through stages of development and hinges upon ecological, demographic, economic and political factors (Petho, 2010:2). As a result of this, not all states developed in the same way. States which developed prior to 1945 and post-1945 experienced very different state formation as well as a changed economic environment (Spruyt, 2007:223;25). This literature review will aim to analyse the literature covering the way in which the modern state is defined as well as the two theories which discuss how it came to prominence as we know it today, additionally reference will be made to how the modern state differs from the post-colonial state in Africa.
The modern state is a concept which does not hold a universally accepted definition largely due to the inability of all scholars to agree upon a brief generally acceptable definition, as asserted by Pierson (2004); he raises the notion that even the concept of the state itself remains unresolved as the questions which surround the state cannot be answered with absolute certainty (Pierson, 2004:1). Although, the most famous definition is provided by Max Weber and it defines the state as a “political institutional organisation” whose “administrative staff can successfully exercise a monopoly of legitimate physical force in the execution of its orders” (Anter, 2014:11). However, across the reviewed literature there are a set of common characteristics which are prevalent as the requirements a state needs to meet in order to be considered a modern state. These criterion are much influenced by