Module 1 + Chapter 4

Gov 344L

Weber's definition of the state

A human community that successfully claims a monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory

Territory (Weber)

The component of Weber's definition that distinguishes states from nations; necessary for a state but not for a nation

Monopoly on force

The claim that the state alone is justified in using violence in a given territory; states never perfectly monopolize force in practice

Nation

A group of people sharing a common identity (language, religion, ethnicity, history) that does not require a defined territory

State

A political entity with a defined territory; does not require a common identity among its population

Nation-state

A political entity that combines both a defined territory and a shared national identity (example: Japan)

Stateless nation

A nation without its own state/territory (example: the Roma, the Kurds)

Douglass North's definition of the state

An organization with a comparative advantage in violence, extending over a geographic area whose boundaries are determined by its power to tax

Charles Tilly's definition of the state

Relatively centralized, differentiated organizations whose officials successfully claim control over the chief concentrated means of violence within a population inhabiting a large contiguous territory

Failed state

A state-like entity that cannot coerce and is unable to successfully control the inhabitants of a given territory; cannot enforce rules, provide security, or regulate violence

Fragile States Index

An annual measure of state fragility for 179 countries based on 12 indicators, scored 0–120 with higher scores meaning more fragile (Somalia highest in 2023 at 111.9; Norway lowest at 14.5)

Refugees as political signals

The idea that refugee outflows are not just humanitarian crises but indicators that a state has lost the ability to coerce, tax, and provide services

Piazza's research on failed states and terrorism

Found that failed states are more likely to be targets of terrorism AND more likely to be the origin of international terrorists due to lack of policing capacity

Contractarian / Social Contract view of the state

The view (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau) that the state emerges through a voluntary, intentional, consensual agreement among individuals to escape the state of nature; the state has a duty to protect citizens

State of nature

A hypothetical condition without government; Hobbes described it as a "war of every man against every man" where life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short"

Hobbes's dilemma (prisoner's dilemma logic)

Individuals can "steal" or "refrain"; stealing is the dominant strategy regardless of the other's choice, so both steal and end up worse off than if both had refrained

Sovereign / Leviathan

The centralized authority created by the social contract; must be powerful enough to deter stealing through punishment, but not so extractive that people prefer the state of nature

Predatory view of the state

The view (Tilly, North, Olson, Acemoglu & Robinson) that the state emerges as an unintentional by-product of elites seeking power; no duty to protect citizens is assumed

Extortion racket analogy (Tilly)

The idea that the state resembles organized crime, demanding "tribute" (taxes/obedience) from citizens in exchange for protection — including protection from the state itself

War-making leads to state-making (Tilly)

War-making, taxation/extraction, and capital accumulation interact; institutions created to support war (tax agencies, courts, police, bureaucracies) become the state as a by-product

Stationary bandits vs. roving bandits (Olson)

Stationary bandits have a long-term stake in the prosperity of the population they tax and so limit extraction, unlike roving bandits who extract as much as possible and move on

Legibility

The ability of the state to observe, measure, and tax society (e.g., grain crops vs. tubers, censuses, written records); low legibility makes coercion and taxation difficult

Quasi-voluntary compliance (Margaret Levi)

A situation where citizens comply with state demands because they feel they are getting something in return (policy concessions, limits on future state behavior), reducing enforcement costs

Cage of norms (Acemoglu & Robinson)

Social norms and stratification systems (e.g., caste systems, patriarchal traditions) that prevent state predation but also restrict individual freedom and mobility

Narrow corridor (Acemoglu & Robinson)

The zone where state power and societal power are roughly balanced, producing a "constrained state" and enabling a positive feedback loop of mutual strengthening

Three possibilities for state behavior

Absent (society more powerful than state, e.g., Somalia, India), Unconstrained (state more powerful than society, e.g., China, Colombia), Constrained (balanced power, e.g., Sweden)

Falsifiability

The requirement that scientific claims must be testable and capable of being refuted; tautologies (always true by definition) and claims about unobservable phenomena are not falsifiable and therefore not scientific