Skip to main content

Why is the government identified as the service agent of the state?

The question presumes there is a difference between "the state" and "the government."  Merriam Dictionary provides multiple definitions of the word "state", and the one pertaining to matters of government and civil society has three related sub-definitions:



5(a):  a politically organized body of people usually occupying a definite territory; especially one that is sovereign


(b):  the political organization of such a body of people


(c):  a government or politically organized society having a particular character <a police state> <the welfare state>



The definition shows that the concepts of state and government are often used interchangeably.  Therefore, in the context of the question, the notion of "state" refers to the people and relationships associated with a particular territory ("the governed"), while government refers to the institutions, people, and resources which define and enforce the rules for that territory.


The distinction gives rise to the idea of the government as the agent of the state, which is to say the government acts on behalf of the state to further its interests.  This conceptualization of government is inherent in many of the ways we speak about government, especially in liberal democracies (government officials "serve," "we are a nation of laws, not men," etc.).  It is different from the idea of power residing in a single person, who wields it for his or her own benefit and attends to the needs of the governed at his or her whim.


Finally, substantial political theorization revolves around dysfunction in the extent to which various forms of government actually represent the entirety of the state, versus just the powerful elements of the polity (e.g. Marxist theory).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is 'efficate' a word in English?

I routinely hear the word "efficate" being used. For example, "The most powerful way to efficate a change in the system is to participate." I do not find entries for this word in common English dictionaries, but I do not have an unabridged dictionary. I have checked the OED (I'm not sure if it is considered unabridged), and it has no entry for "efficate". It does have an entry for "efficiate", which is used in the same way. Wordnik has an entry for "efficate" with over 1800 hits, thus providing some evidence for the frequency of use. I personally like the word and find the meaning very clear and obvious when others use it. If it's not currently an "officially documented" word, perhaps its continued use will result in it being better documented.
Post a Comment
Read more