Nature of the Modern State and the Role of Bureaucracy. The growth of nationalism and the development of the nation-state. The process of democratization, the role of the Judiciary, and the political parties in modern states.
Introduction
The exercise of power in modern European states was absolute, along with enormous population mobilization.
Although the states needed some form of consent from the population, they gradually developed unlimited powers and entered all spheres. i.e., unlimited and expanding.
The modem European state was able to act like this because of One direct rule through its monopoly on the exercise of legitimate coercion.
Two nationalisms, through its imposition of cultural uniformity on the population under its control.
Direct Rule and Bureaucracy.
Direct rule was the first and essential foundation of the modern European State.
The monarchy concentrated all forces in their hands by depriving feudal lords and estates of power and appointing royal officers directly responsible to the monarch. This was the beginning of modern Bureaucracy.
Bureaucracy is an administrative hierarchy of officials with the following features as ideas: –
- Salaried professionals with no personal interest in the decisions.
- Carry out orders of their superiors and issue orders to their inferiors.
- Bureaucracy in such a rational-legal form is a reliable and responsive instrument that makes the State immensely powerful.
Impersonality, expert action according to rules, strict hierarchy, and easy Replicability make it possible to carry out decisions with precision and predictable results. Pre-modern rulers lacking such Bureaucracy were ostentatious and dramatic but far less effective than those in modern times.
Modern Bureaucracy does not need ostentation because, It can anticipate problems, Solve so many of them before they mature, Target a Criminal or political opponent with remarkable accuracy and ensure Compliance.
Modern State is more absolute. There is no sphere in which the modern State does not act. Modern State’s capacity for violence and repression is infinitely more significant than that of any of the famous tyrants in history. A monopoly of violence, organization of military Systems, technological development of modern weaponry, Weapons Systems.
Weapons Technology
- Artillery
- Innovations in the handhold gun
- Tank
- Mastery of the sky