States or Governments are entities composed of a hierarchical bureaucracy that exist to dominate society by claiming a monopoly on legal violence over a clearly defined geographical area. According to libertarian socialists, states are defined by the anti-democratic nature, excluding most people from making decisions about how society, either explicitly undemocratic regimes (ie dictatorships) or maintain a facade of democracy (through elections) that fail by inertia and complex legal bureaucracy (representative democracy). States represent the most obvious and violent form of social hierarchy in the world today, and their dissolution is a necessary part of the project for human freedom.
History
The ultimate 'origin' of the state is still largely a mystery in politics, the proposed theories of where states come from are listed below.
Primary State Formation
Primary States refers to states developed in stateless societies that had no contact with other states.
Neolithic Revolution
Many theorists argue that the Neolithic Revolution led to the rise of states, as the use of agriculture enabled for much more production of food per person, this meant that people could specialise in tasks other than gathering food, and the control of food production and distribution ensured that a society based on class emerged, and that the state emerged to enforce class society.
Others are critical of this theory, pointing out that many agricultural societies did not develop states (some even remained strongly non-hierarchical) such as Highland New Guinea, Aboriginal Australia or the Haudenosaunee.
Urbanisation
Some have argued that as people began to migrate from the countryside into cities to be closer to others for protection and to access greater food sources from agriculture. The result of this is a large population that requires urban planning and military defense, only possible through the collective agreement to create a state.
This theory has been strongly criticised as it fails to offer exact dates and archeological evidence for its claim, and there first urban environments (Catal Huyuk and Cayonu Tepesi) have no evidence of a state, and the largest urban environments during the formation of states (Indus River Valley and Minoan Crete) have no evidence of a state.
Secondary State Formation
Secondary States refer to states developed, aided or influenced by an already existing state over a stateless population.
Tertiary State Formation
Tertiary States refers to states created by direct intervention and administration by a fully formed state, in order to restore state power to previously statist populations in which state authority had been weakened or destroyed, or to impose its authority on a population that had previously resisted full integration under a state.
Post-State Formation
Post-State Society refers to societies consisting of people who once lived in a state and faced injustice, soon leaving the state to form their own, non-state communities that develop their own unique culture. Examples include Zomia.
Justifications
Various ideologies across the political spectrum have attempted to justify the state, and collectively these are known as statism.
Divine Right of Kings
Many early states often claimed legitimacy by appealing to religious theories, claiming that god had granted them (the ruling class) the right and duty to rule over populations. This idea is also called a theocracy,
Defense of Revolution
Some states (notably authoritarian socialist ones) have claimed their legitimacy by stating that a state is a necessity for defending the gains of progress
Progressive Statism
Progressive Statists argue that humanity has a natural tendency to be bigoted and poor, and that the state can step in as a progressive agent to alleviate poverty and enforce equality, thus making people's lives better. This is generally the view of liberals and social democrats.
Social Contract
Social contract arguments typically posit that individuals have consented, either explicitly or tacitly, to surrender some of their freedoms and submit to the authority (of the ruler, or to the decision of a majority) in exchange for protection of their remaining rights or maintenance of the social order.
List of States
See: List of States
Notable Theorists
Pro-State
- Plato
- Thomas Hobbes
Anti-State
- Fredy Perlmen
- James C. Scott
- Peter Gelderloos
- Peter Kropotkin
- Pierre Clastres