Examine and Assess the Ways in Which States Claim Legitimacy
- Submitted by: gabika6
- Views: 2716
- Category: Other
- Date Submitted: 02/20/2011 04:53 AM
- Pages: 6
- Report this Essay
In this essay my aim is to examine and assess the different ways that states claim legitimacy. First let us examine two of the ways we can define states:
The state is an idea based on shared expectations about the ordering of social life, a set of organisations and a set of practices.
Secondly, the state is a mixture of complex organisations and practices such as the The National Health Service, the Police, Hospitals, Local Councils, Tax Offices, Post Offices and the Citizens Advice Bureau.
In 1918 the German sociologist Max Weber defined the state as “ an organisation that successfully claims a monopoly of the legitimate use of force in a given territory‘” (Weber,1991[1921], p. 78 )
States today do more than fifty years ago and they are busy in terms of regulating and solving problems and functioning on a multiple level.
Christopher Hood (1982) a political scientist has argued that the bodies making up the state are a “formless mass” because states nowadays are so large and complex it is almost impossible to describe their importance and beyond their importance also their many functions.
In the UK, after Privatization, a large amount of state run industries and or services were transferred to private ownership. For example the utilities such as gas, electricity and water and transport services are now run by private companies.
In order to examine the complex purposes and responsibilities of the state let us use the example of a hospital. Not only is there the building to maintain, there is the equipment, for .e.g. life support machines, MRI machines, X ray equipment. Most of these machines are provided by the state. There are also all the national health service workers: doctors, nurses, radiologists, and all the support staff such as administrators, receptionists and cleaners all of whom are paid by the state and perform a myriad of functions designed to support the health of the nation.
When we think of the state we think of something solid...
The state is an idea based on shared expectations about the ordering of social life, a set of organisations and a set of practices.
Secondly, the state is a mixture of complex organisations and practices such as the The National Health Service, the Police, Hospitals, Local Councils, Tax Offices, Post Offices and the Citizens Advice Bureau.
In 1918 the German sociologist Max Weber defined the state as “ an organisation that successfully claims a monopoly of the legitimate use of force in a given territory‘” (Weber,1991[1921], p. 78 )
States today do more than fifty years ago and they are busy in terms of regulating and solving problems and functioning on a multiple level.
Christopher Hood (1982) a political scientist has argued that the bodies making up the state are a “formless mass” because states nowadays are so large and complex it is almost impossible to describe their importance and beyond their importance also their many functions.
In the UK, after Privatization, a large amount of state run industries and or services were transferred to private ownership. For example the utilities such as gas, electricity and water and transport services are now run by private companies.
In order to examine the complex purposes and responsibilities of the state let us use the example of a hospital. Not only is there the building to maintain, there is the equipment, for .e.g. life support machines, MRI machines, X ray equipment. Most of these machines are provided by the state. There are also all the national health service workers: doctors, nurses, radiologists, and all the support staff such as administrators, receptionists and cleaners all of whom are paid by the state and perform a myriad of functions designed to support the health of the nation.
When we think of the state we think of something solid...