08/01/2023
CONFLICTING THEORIES OF STATE: What is the nature of state power ,and whose interests does the state represents? 1.Pluralist State: They believe that state acts as an 'Umpire ' or 'Referee' in society. Pluralism holds that the state is neutral. The state is not biased in favour of any particular interest or group ,and it does not have an interest of its own that is separate from those of society. As SCHWARZMANTEL(1994) Put it ,the state is 'THE SERVANT OF SOCIETY AND NOT ITS MASTER'. 2.THE CAPITALIST STATE : The Marxist notion of a capitalist state offers a clear alternative to the pluralist image of the state as a neutral arbiter or umpire .Marxists have typically argued that the state cannot be understood separately from the economic structure of society . This view has usually been understood in terms of classical formulation that the state is nothing but an instruments of class oppression : The state emerges out of and in a sense reflects,the class system. The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.Marx attitude towards the state is was not negative ...He argued that the state could be used constructively during the transition from Capitalism to Communism in the form of the 'revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat ' . The overthrow of Capitalism would see the destruction of the bourgeoisie state and the creation of an alternative ,PROLETARIAN ONE. 3.THE LEVITHAN STATE: The state is a parasitic growth that threatens both individual liberty and economic security . The central feature of this view is that the state pursues interests that are separate from those of the society ..... 4.THE PATRIARCHAL STATE : Systems of male power in a society .It emphasizes that gender inequality is systematic ,institutionalized and pervasive.Women as homemakers are dependent on men as breadwinners
