Understanding State Organization and Political Power Dynamics

The Organization of the State as the Subject of DC

Here we are interested in developing the idea that when we speak of an authority that can be imposed, we believe it is political power, which has the capacity to decide and implement the standards. Political power has a monopoly on force in a community where violent acts are used to achieve social peace. Speaking of state power, we must also discuss an approach to organization, which consists of rules governing the operation of that power and even its monopoly. The criteria affecting the organization of the State are of three types:

1. Historico-Empirical Type (Heller)

This approach takes its reference from the anthropological features that occur in different social groups. The basic idea is that the justification of power is the notion that any group is a necessary authority for the existence of the group. Power is necessary for cooperation within the group.

2. Instrumental

This theory argues that the rules for organizing a group respond simply to the ability to support their decisions. As Machiavelli said, all the rules to which that power complies have an objective view of duration. The aim is to maintain power.

3. Finalist Type

This refers to the possibility of justifying the purpose of the organization and how to act according to these policy goals. This concept is present throughout history and generally aims to set goals to be served by common authority. What we wish to emphasize is that, from the modern age, these purposes of authority are linked to the legitimacy of the claims of individuals in society and their participation in the community. This raises the question: how is it possible for individuals with different interests to agree to live in society? To answer this question, contractarian theories arise from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with authors such as Locke and Rousseau, who argue that society only arises from the recognition of these individual interests. The fundamental issue is whether the rules of the State respect the positions of individuals and the criterion of autonomy that they have to influence these standards. Thus, we can reach a common conclusion regarding these three criteria: in all the different ways to organize a common authority, the position of society is present. With this analysis of constitutional law, we arrive at a fundamental idea with two aspects:

• The first recognizes the need for an authority, a body through which decisions are made that affect the entire community.
• The second recognizes the existence of freedom and the idea of security that protects against arbitrary action by power.