PROBLEMS AND WORRIES

Why should we organize our polities in the way we do, as states? The question, as well as the inquiry that follows, is rather abstract. Yet it is motivated, in large part, by a set of particular worries, concerns, and problems. I shall distinguish and clarify these, if only so that the motivation for the inquiry will be clear at the outset.

First and foremost, the evils of modern states are striking and appalling. The modern state is the site, if not the agent, of extraordinary evil. Auschwitz, the gulag – these crimes of states need no recounting. To some, however, such a list of evils is too short: Exploitation and other forms of oppression, economic catastrophes (the Great Depression), various social experiments (Mao's “Great Leap Forward” and “Cultural Revolution”) should be added. Whatever we think about particular entries in particular lists of crimes d'Etat, it should not be unexpected that modern states are capable of enormous wrongs. For modern states are very powerful. The modern state is a form of political organization with highly centralized means of administration and control. In theory – and theory is my central concern in this book – states are “sovereign” in their territories, and they claim a monopoly of the use of legitimate force therein. This is held to distinguish states from the Mafia or multinational corporations. Given their power and authority, the institutions of states offer to many the means to realize their greatest ambitions and dreams.