Political Science and Modern State Theory

1.1. Historical Emergence of Political Science and Logography

The discipline of political science developed significantly after the Second World War. Previous studies existed, but political science in the strict sense emerged in the mid-20th century. We must highlight two different scenarios for the deployment of political science:

• Occidental Europe: European political science is characterized by a strong interest in institutions, political behavior, and contemporary issues, emphasizing historical analysis of recent events.
• United States of America: Political science in the United States places much more emphasis on political behavior and contemporary issues, and introduces empirical and experimental techniques into its studies.

In conclusion, strict political science developed more rapidly in the United States than in Western Europe.

1.4. Objectives of Political Science

• Discover irregularities and submit them to verification.
• Develop rigorous observation techniques.
• Quantify data.
• Examine values and actions.
• Systematize knowledge.
• Facilitate the integration of social sciences.

1.5. Principal Problems of Political Science

• Political science struggles with the demands of describing, explaining, and predicting. Political scientists often content themselves with description, sometimes lacking explanation and prediction.
• The second problem is the need to draw upon complementary knowledge:

1. Sociology: The political system is a subsystem of the general social system. Sociology studies the general system and provides valuable data for the political subsystem.
2. Economy: We live in societies where resources and wealth are distributed, and knowledge of this process is vital.
3. History: The origins of our specialized knowledge help us calibrate institutions.
4. Law: Our social fabric is developed through laws.
5. Psychology: Individuals are the diverse units of the political system.

Political science must translate the knowledge provided by these disciplines into its own language, which is not always an easy task.

The object of study of political science is in permanent mutation, making it difficult to establish universal laws of behavior.The human being, the object of political science, is a complex organism with its own ideological, symbolic, and ontological traits:

1. The ontological human animal behaves according to goals that are not always evident. Determining these objectives is not always simple.
2. The symbolic human animal uses symbols, the most important being language. Determining the exact meaning of these symbols is not easy.
3. The ideological human animal is influenced by complex operations whose results are difficult to determine.

The necessity of acknowledging subjective values. Early science tried to free itself from subjective values. However, ignoring them entirely can lead to the irrelevance of the study, as subjective interest is sometimes necessary.It is necessary to distinguish between futuribles and utopias. A futurible is a future forecast based on a rigorous examination of the present using scientific methods, whereas a utopia is a future forecast that departs from present scientific examination. Futuribles are framed within political science, while utopias belong to philosophy.

1.6. Defects of Political Science

• Provincialism: Excessive emphasis on the study of what is geographically closest, leading to a loss of opportunity for general characteristics.
• Descriptivism: Relying solely on description without explanation or prediction.
• Formalism: Excessive attention to strictly formal variables.

1.8. Preferential Challenges for Political Science

1. Quantifying data. The more a discipline can quantify, the easier it seems to apply empirical methods. However, many areas of political science cannot easily quantify their data (e.g., the study of political elites).
2. Developing new theories that allow for the analysis of general problems, overcoming previous provincialism.
3. Making full use of history. A past problem of political science in the United States was the neglect of historical context.
4. Remaining attentive to everyday political life and societal conditions to properly focus studies.
5. Resorting to speculation, acknowledging the limitations of science and utilizing speculation to generate political reflections.

2.2. Political and Supposed Characteristics of the Modern State

2.2.1. Characteristics of the Modern or Absolute State

1. Territorial integration and solidity, replacing fragmented medieval feudal support.
2. Establishment of a strong central power.
3. Reduction and suppression of feudal powers through the strengthening of monarchies.
4. Reduction of the power of the Church.
5. Creation of infrastructures such as armies, bureaucracies, financial systems, and diplomacy.

2.2.2. Political Suppuestos of the Modern State

1. The state as a rational enterprise. The state is not a natural or divine creation, but an artificial human product created for specific objectives and responding to rational means.
2. Perception of justice. The medieval era anchored justice in a Christocentric society where justice emanated from God. In the Renaissance, a secular concept of justice emerged, established by secular jurists.
3. Public administration. Initially, the foundation of the state was solely justice, but rulers had to delegate responsibilities to a public administration. The existence of a modern state is characterized by:

• A body of salaried officials.
• The birth of diplomacy through salaried ambassadors representing the state abroad.
• The emergence of permanent armies and a fiscal tax system to maintain them.

Monopoly of legitimate violence within a given territory. The state controls the territory, and the only legitimate violence is that exercised by the state.Subjects. Modern state subjects are legally equal with the same rights and duties, largely replacing medieval intermediate privileges.Class condition. Modern states emerged from the balance of interests between the feudal nobility and the new urban bourgeoisie. While Marx viewed the modern state as an instrument of the bourgeoisie, the old nobility often retained ruling-class status by integrating into the state machinery.

2.3. Thinkers of the Modern State: Machiavelli, Bodin, and Hobbes

2.3.1. Machiavelli

Machiavelli was a 16th-century Italian political thinker and author of The Prince. He established rules for political behavior extracted inductively from personal experience and history. He is considered a pioneer of the deductive method. He defined the state as a structure governed by its own self-righteous rules regarding the success of actions. He argued not that the end justifies the means, but that a ruler's success is judged by the people based on outcomes. He also claimed a prince should ideally maintain his word and live with integrity.

2.3.2. Hobbes

An English philosopher of the 16th and 17th centuries, Hobbes argued that in the state of nature, human life is "poor, nasty, brutish, and short," governed by the maxim "man is a wolf to man." To escape this, humans surrender their self-defense and justice to a sovereign Leviathan. Hobbes defended monarchy as an effective sovereign, but argued that if a sovereign fails to provide safety and solvency, it must be replaced.

2.3.3. Bodin

Jean Bodin, a 16th-century French author of The Republic, reflected the synthesis of medieval scholasticism and Renaissance humanism. Bodin introduced the concept of sovereignty. In the Middle Ages, sovereignty was relative (the king was primus inter pares). For Bodin, sovereignty is an absolute, supreme, and perpetual trait of power essential to the state, residing ultimately in the people or nation.

2.5. Capitalist Development and Bourgeois Revolutions

In the economy, the Enlightenment theorized capitalism before it fully existed. However, enlightened thinkers faced material limitations. Key revolutionary milestones included:

1. English Revolution of 1688: The first bourgeois proto-revolution, resulting in a covenant between the nobility and bourgeoisie, though leaving the liberal process somewhat truncated.
2. Birth of the United States in 1776: The first proclamation of general human rights.
3. French Revolution of 1789: Enacted general human and citizen rights, followed by the first representative constitution in 1791.
4. Nineteenth-Century Europe: Experienced different models of development, balancing parliamentary monarchy and liberal movements (e.g., Belgium in 1831, Spain's turbulent constitutional history).

2.6. Division of Powers and Declarations of Rights

2.6.1. Liberal Exercise of Power

1. State organization: The bourgeoisie sought to limit absolute sovereign power. The primary control mechanism was parliament. Parliamentary representation initially involved a census or restricted vote, which expanded during the 19th century alongside public parliamentary sessions and a growing free press.
2. Regulation of justice: Capitalism required predictable, machine-like legal systems, replacing medieval legal uncertainty with the rule of law and equality before the law.
3. Education, Motherland, and Ideology: The bourgeoisie claimed liberty in all areas, leading to conflict with the Church over state financing of education and the introduction of civil marriage.
4. Economic regulation and liberalism: Classical economic liberalism advocated for free trade and minimal state intervention, though contradictions persisted (e.g., lingering feudal privileges, slavery, denial of women's suffrage).
5. Concept of society: Unlike absolute states, liberalism viewed society as a secondary product and a sum of particular interests, with the state acting as a protector of individual liberty.

2.6.2. Division of Powers and Declarations of Rights

The legal instruments of liberalism relied on the separation of powers to reduce old institutional dominance. Montesquieu's model emphasized:

1. Different functions (executive, legislative, and judicial) must reside in different hands.
2. Powers must relate reciprocally through a system of checks and balances.

Declarations of rights in modern constitutions differed from medieval charters and franchises by claiming universal application and recognizing rights for the individual as such, rather than as members of a corporate guild or estate.

Declarations of Rights

Modern declarations (such as American and French) were based on human nature rather than tradition. They included:

1. Individualistic guarantees: Rights of isolated individuals (conscience, property) and relational rights (press, expression).
2. Democratic political rights: Equality before the law and the right to vote.
3. Social or welfare rights: Later additions such as the right to work and education, reflecting the emergence of the welfare state.

   3.1. Alternative Political Ideologies

   3.1.1. Utopian Socialism

   Karl Marx used the term "utopian socialism" negatively to contrast with his "scientific socialism." Utopian thinkers focused on speculation and impractical theoretical developments, though figures like Owen, Fourier, and Saint-Simon made important observations on industrial society and women's emancipation.

   3.1.2. Marxism

   Karl Marx (1818–1883) argued that politics is a secondary emanation of economic relations. Key Marxist concepts include:

   • The Parasitic State: Marx viewed the state as an instrument serving the ruling class of the era (feudal nobility, bourgeoisie, or proletariat).
   • Transformation of Society: Marx acknowledged both peaceful transformation via universal suffrage and revolutionary transformation through the proletariat seizing state power and eventually abolishing the state.
   • Formal vs. Real Democracy: Marx rejected formal democracy (which coexists with economic inequality and exploitation) in favor of real democracy.
   • Stages of Social Transformation: Bourgeois state, transitional suffrage, proletarian domination (dictatorship of the proletariat), and the eventual melting away of the state into a classless society.

   3.1.3. Social Democracy

   Formulated in 1875 with the creation of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SDPA), social democracy attempted to combine political democracy with a socially interventionist state, educational equality, and social justice. Eduard Bernstein later championed a gradualist, reformist path rather than inevitable revolutionary collapse.

   3.1.4. Anarchism

   Anarchism rejects coercive authority and the state, advocating for voluntary, non-coercive social organization. Key schools include individualist anarchism, mutualism (advocating mutual aid banks and strict exchange justice), and collectivist or communist anarchism (associated with Bakunin and Kropotkin, advocating expropriation of private capital and workers' self-management).

   3.2. Fascism and Totalitarianism

   3.2.1. Fascism

   Fascism opposed abstract individualism, emphasizing the supremacy of the state, nation, or race over the individual. It rejected democratic pluralism in favor of a charismatic leader (caudillo), subordinated economic interests to national goals, utilized extreme violence and propaganda not for dialogue but for obedience, and suppressed social differences through rigid hierarchization.

   3.2.2. Totalitarianism and Authoritarianism

   Totalitarianism is characterized by total state incursion into everyday life, concentration of power in a single party, intensive propaganda, and the use of terror. Authoritarianism, theorized by Juan Linz, represents a moderated form of control featuring limited pluralism, an ambiguous ideology, limited mobilization, and a distinct, predictable set of boundaries.

   4.2. The Welfare State

   4.2.1. Functions and Actions of the Social State

   The welfare state expanded the functions of government to include economic redistribution through progressive taxation, regulation of complex economic processes, and provision of social services such as education, healthcare, and unemployment insurance. It modified the classical separation of powers by acknowledging executive-led administrative rule and institutionalized forms of legality.

   5.1. Democracy

   5.1.1. Definition and Features

   Democracy is a political regime that defends the necessary correspondence between government acts and the preferences of its citizens, considered politically equal. Robert Dahl identified institutional guarantees essential for democracy, including freedom of association, freedom of expression, the right to vote, eligibility for public office, free elections, and alternative sources of information.

   5.1.4. Problems of Democracy

   Democracies face the inherent tension of uncertainty and the challenge of balancing majority rule with the protection of minority rights. Evaluation of democratic performance typically involves political rights (free elections, multi-party competition) and civil rights (literacy, independent press, freedom from censorship).

   5.2. Executive-Legislative Relations and Electoral Systems

   5.2.1. Models of Democracy

   • Presidentialism: The president is elected directly by the population, holds executive power independently of parliament, and cannot be easily unseated by parliamentary vote of no confidence (e.g., USA).
   • Parliamentarism: Parliament is the central institution. The prime minister and government are chosen by parliament and are subject to parliamentary votes of no confidence (e.g., Spain).
   • Semi-presidentialism: A directly elected president shares executive power with a prime minister responsible to parliament (e.g., France, Portugal).

   5.2.3. Majority vs. Consensus Democracy

   • Westminster Majority Model: Features single-party executive dominance, a unitary and centralized government structure, a two-party system, and a majoritarian electoral system (e.g., UK).
   • Consensus Model: Features coalition governments, executive-legislative balance, multi-party systems, proportional electoral systems, and decentralized power (e.g., Belgium).

   6.1. Territorial Organization of the State

   • Unitary State: Lacks significant spatial decentralization of political power.
   • Federal State: Combines a central federal government with federated constituent units (states, provinces), established by a federal constitution with shared and coordinated powers (e.g., USA, Germany).
   • Confederation: A permanent union of sovereign states based on an international treaty, where sovereignty remains with the member states.
   • Decentralized Unitary State: A unitary state that grants substantial legislative and executive autonomy to regional or local administrations (e.g., Spain's state of autonomies).

   6.2. Nation, Nationalism, and State

   Nationalism involves territorial demands based on linguistic, historical, and cultural singularity. Scenarios of state-nation relations include a single nation-state, a nation spread across several states, or a multinational state hosting various nations within its borders.

   7.1. Political Parties and Interest Groups

   Political parties aim to govern and place candidates in public office through competitive elections. Interest groups (such as business associations, labor unions, and NGOs) seek to influence government policies without necessarily seeking public office themselves.

   8.6. Electoral Systems

   Electoral systems translate votes into seats. Majoritarian systems allocate seats to the candidate or party with the most votes in single-member or multi-member districts, fostering stability at the expense of proportionality. Proportional representation systems allocate seats proportionally to vote percentages, ensuring fairer representation but potentially leading to parliamentary fragmentation.

   9.2. Neocorporatism

   Neocorporatism is a democratic practice involving tripartite agreements between the state, major business organizations, and representative labor unions to coordinate economic and social policies and ensure systemic governance.

   10.1. Bureaucracy

   Max Weber defined the ideal-type legal-rational bureaucracy by formal rules, a hierarchical structure, division of labor, standardized procedures, and professionalized career officials, ensuring technical efficiency and administrative continuity.

   11.1. Crises and Transformations of Democracy

   Democratic crises occur when substantial elements of the system are severely affected, leading to political polarization, radicalization, or challenges to institutional legitimacy. Factors sustaining democracy include economic prosperity, robust civil society organizations, strong political party traditions, and effective state welfare functions.