The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (262 page)
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State Department
US government department responsible for foreign policy and the diplomatic service.
state of nature
The condition of mankind before a (specified) event, intervention, or artifice. Whether treated as an historical reality or as the result of a mental experiment, the concept of a state of nature has been used to point up various contrasts important to particular writers. For
Hobbes
, the state of nature depicted conditions in the absence of political power or authority—in the absence of the artifice of the state. For
Rousseau
, the state of nature was associated with man in a pre-social, pre-linguistic world. In Christian thought, man's natural condition was likely to be assimilated to what was thought to be his biblical fate, and the story in Genesis contrasted natural innocence with sinfulness after the Fall. The many meanings of ‘natural’ in this context embrace a characterization of human nature: for example, the orthodox Christian account saw human nature after the Fall as inevitably flawed. See also
contract
;
social contract
.
AR
Hobbes
, the state of nature depicted conditions in the absence of political power or authority—in the absence of the artifice of the state. For
Rousseau
, the state of nature was associated with man in a pre-social, pre-linguistic world. In Christian thought, man's natural condition was likely to be assimilated to what was thought to be his biblical fate, and the story in Genesis contrasted natural innocence with sinfulness after the Fall. The many meanings of ‘natural’ in this context embrace a characterization of human nature: for example, the orthodox Christian account saw human nature after the Fall as inevitably flawed. See also
contract
;
social contract
.
AR
state socialism
This refers to the form of socialist organization of production and distribution which is characterized by the control of resources by the organs of the state. In the nineteenth century, two distinct views of future socialist society were expressed. One form, associated with
Saint-Simon
, would have involved the mobilization of all primary economic resources in the hands of a technocratic élite, to be rationally allocated. The other form, associated with
Owen
, contemplated the creation of small socialist communities united only in a fraternal relationship. In the writings of Marx and Engels , the conflict between these two contradictory views was not resolved. While Lenin professed to believe in the communalist form of socialism (his
State and Revolution
is an eloquent expression of this view), he contributed to creating an extreme form of state socialism. This was partly due to the need to defend the revolutionary state against internal resistance, independence movements within the Soviet Union, and external hostility. It was also partly due, however, to Lenin's economic naivety, which led him to a grossly exaggerated confidence in the economies of scale possible in both industry and agriculture, and to the belief that the Western corporate management could provide the model for a centralized planned economy. The choice remained open, however, until Stalin disposed of Bukharin . The issue was dramatically reopened by Mao Zedong in 1958, but by then in China as well as in Russia the strength of the state economic apparatus prevented effective change. However, as a result of Mao's influence subsequent economic reform in China under his successors has included a very large local, communal dimension of socialist development, and since 1971 local communal enterprises have been and continue to be the fastest growing sector of the Chinese economy, while creating at the same time the most likely bases for the renewal of a civil society.
JG
Saint-Simon
, would have involved the mobilization of all primary economic resources in the hands of a technocratic élite, to be rationally allocated. The other form, associated with
Owen
, contemplated the creation of small socialist communities united only in a fraternal relationship. In the writings of Marx and Engels , the conflict between these two contradictory views was not resolved. While Lenin professed to believe in the communalist form of socialism (his
State and Revolution
is an eloquent expression of this view), he contributed to creating an extreme form of state socialism. This was partly due to the need to defend the revolutionary state against internal resistance, independence movements within the Soviet Union, and external hostility. It was also partly due, however, to Lenin's economic naivety, which led him to a grossly exaggerated confidence in the economies of scale possible in both industry and agriculture, and to the belief that the Western corporate management could provide the model for a centralized planned economy. The choice remained open, however, until Stalin disposed of Bukharin . The issue was dramatically reopened by Mao Zedong in 1958, but by then in China as well as in Russia the strength of the state economic apparatus prevented effective change. However, as a result of Mao's influence subsequent economic reform in China under his successors has included a very large local, communal dimension of socialist development, and since 1971 local communal enterprises have been and continue to be the fastest growing sector of the Chinese economy, while creating at the same time the most likely bases for the renewal of a civil society.
JG
State of the Union message
The US President's annual message to Congress, setting out the government's legislative programme. The Constitution requires him to give the address, although it does not specify how often.
stateless society
A term developed by political anthropologists which draws attention to the fact that ‘the
state
’ has not always been present in human societies. Hunter-gatherer societies founded on the basis of kinship exhibited forms of political organization but they evolved no formal political division of labour or coercive institutions empowered to exercise force over (and rhetorically, on behalf of) the people. There is fierce debate over whether the impetus for the development of the ‘pristine’ states of the ancient Near East (from which our present day ‘secondary’ states emerged) was endogenous, a consequence of the development of social stratification and class relations, or exogenous, resulting from military conquest.
The question posed by surviving stateless societies is: How and why do some non-literate societies manage to survive and co-operate without state coercion or authority? Various answers are given, some of them relying on the power of traditional authority and shared norms. An interesting answer of sorts is the evolutionary one: those stateless societies which have survived are the only ones available for the scholar to study; therefore the characteristics which cause a stateless society to collapse cannot generally be observed unless by chance an anthropologist comes on one in the process of extinction, as happened to Colin Turnbull (
The Mountain People
, 1972), who found the Ik of Uganda in a Hobbesian state of war of all against all.
PBm/IM
state
’ has not always been present in human societies. Hunter-gatherer societies founded on the basis of kinship exhibited forms of political organization but they evolved no formal political division of labour or coercive institutions empowered to exercise force over (and rhetorically, on behalf of) the people. There is fierce debate over whether the impetus for the development of the ‘pristine’ states of the ancient Near East (from which our present day ‘secondary’ states emerged) was endogenous, a consequence of the development of social stratification and class relations, or exogenous, resulting from military conquest.
The question posed by surviving stateless societies is: How and why do some non-literate societies manage to survive and co-operate without state coercion or authority? Various answers are given, some of them relying on the power of traditional authority and shared norms. An interesting answer of sorts is the evolutionary one: those stateless societies which have survived are the only ones available for the scholar to study; therefore the characteristics which cause a stateless society to collapse cannot generally be observed unless by chance an anthropologist comes on one in the process of extinction, as happened to Colin Turnbull (
The Mountain People
, 1972), who found the Ik of Uganda in a Hobbesian state of war of all against all.
PBm/IM
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