PSIR Optional (Theories of State) by Viraj C Rane

Model Answer

Question #1. What are the characteristic features of the Pluralist Theory of State? 10 marks (150 words)

Approach:

• Intro: Pluralist theory as development of liberal theory; polyarchy by Robert Dahl
• Body: Characteristics of classical pluralist perspective and modifications made by reformed pluralist and neo-pluralist tradition.
• Conclusion: Criticism of the Classical elitists like Pareto

In liberal theory, the state is a neutral arbiter among competing groups and individuals in society. This basic theory has been elaborated by modern writers into a pluralist theory of the state. Pluralism is, at heart, the theory that political power is dispersed amongst a wide variety of social groups rather than an elite or ruling class. It is related to what Robert Dahl termed ‘polyarchy’, rule by the many. Pluralist perspective portrays the state as a mechanism designed to serve the interests of various groups simultaneously.

Characteristics of Classical Pluralist perspective: (Robert Dahl and David Truman)

• The state is a place of group conflict and, therefore, is highly responsive to group pressures
• Groups, with varying resources, exist in their relations of continual conflicts.
• Power is an observable and dispersed phenomenon.
• Groups are the bases of government, especially the potential groups and
• Society is not only distinct from state, but also largely non-potential

The reformed pluralist perspective (Richardson and Jordan) of the state proposes that the state is fragmented and is responsive to groups but the access to the state is differential. According to the Pluralist elitist perspective (McFarland, McConnell) of the state, potential elite group have easy access to the governmental positions, but different groups dominate in different areas. Power is both observable as well as unobservable a tendency towards the concentration. The civil society is distinct from the state but has a limited influence in it.

The neo-pluralist theory of the state developed by J.K. Galbraith and Charles Lindblom argue that the modern industrialized state is both more complex and less responsive to popular pressures than the classical pluralist model suggests. While not dispensing altogether with the notion of the state as an umpire acting in the public interest or common good, they insist that it is impossible to portray all organized interests as equally powerful since in a capitalist economy business enjoys advantages which other groups clearly cannot rival. According to them power is unobservable- structural and ideological- concentrated in primary issues, dispersed in secondary issues. They accept that a liberal democracy is a ‘deformed polyarchy’ in which business usually exerts pre-eminent influence, especially over the economic agenda.

Pluralism has been more radically rejected by elitist thinkers who believe that behind the facade of liberal democracy there lies the permanent power of a ‘ruling elite’. Classical elitists such as Vilfredo Pareto and Robert Michels were concerned to demonstrate that political power always lies in the hands of a small elite and that egalitarian ideas, such as socialism and democracy,are a myth.

Question #2. Feminist theory of state is primarily concerned with the inferior status of women as a characteristic feature of state. Examine the above statement. 15 marks (250 words)

Approach:

• Focus: Patriarchy perpetuated by state as the key concern of feminists.
• Introduction: How feminist view is different from the traditional view.
• Body: Patriarchy as the defining feature. Personal is political.
• Conclusion: Views of Catherine MacKinnon and the achievements of the feminist theory despite its limitations.

Feminists argue that traditional theories of the state are either descriptive i.e., deal only with characteristics like sovereignty, territory, power, or deal primarily with their role as instruments of coercion or social cohesion. States according to feminists are patriarchal in structure and support: patriarchy. For feminists states are extensions of society. Thus, the feudal state, the capitalist state, the socialist state all have features of obvious as well as covert or hidden patriarchy.

The role of state in perpetuating patriarchy

According to feminists, although patriarchal practice preceded state formation, states became structured because patriarchal arid class systems got institutionalised and is legitimized by the state and its structures that the patriarchal state system is so acceptable and appears apolitical and natural. Women lost their right to property and came to be treated as property. The individual household Unit rendered women vulnerable to and dependent on fathers or husbands. This weakened their access to counter-wailing power and support from larger kinship networks. Inheritance, sexuality and reproduction are also regulated by the state.

Zillah Eisenstein, in her noted work The Radical Future of Liberal Feminism (1981), has argued that the liberal state represents itself as fully autonomous so that all positions therein are equally open to all players, including women. But gender differentiation is evident in the presence of the disproportionate number of men in the coercive structures of the state like the army or police and women most visible in the service sectors i.e. teachers, health workers and clerical support. In fact, women were supposedly "protected" from the so-called "tough professions" in order to exclude them and to prevent them from equal rights. Such a state is not bothered to ascertain the actual share of power enjoyed by women.

Personal is political

Writers like Spike Peterson and Zilla Eisenstein have shown how the state mystified its patriarchal base by the construction and manipulation of the ideology that sees the distinction between public and private life. Feminists argue that the dominance of man over woman is not confined to the public sphere; it

extends to all aspects of her life including the most intimate relations like sexual relations. In order to secure justice to woman, the sphere of purely personal relations between man and woman will also have to be regulated. Hence feminists insist on redefining the term 'political' in this context. This idea is expressed in the slogan: 'the personal is political'. Kate Millett noted American feminist, in Sexual Politics (1971), sought to redefine politics as "power-structured relationships, arrangements whereby one group of persons is controlled by another."

Conclusion: Feminists have ambivalent attitude towards the state. On one hand they believe state as an institution of patriarchy, on the other hand, they believe that only state can improve the status of women. State is identified as a key actor in meeting the demands of women like protection from male violence, greater reproductive rights etc. (Iris Mariam Young has given the concept of differentiated citizenship which justify affirmative action by the state in favour of women.)

It is said that feminist analysis of state is analysis of patriarchy and the role played by state in perpetuating it. They study ‘patriarchy’ and how patriarchy results into the subordination of woman as well as exploitation. According to Catherine MacKinnon ‘there is no feminist theory of the state’. She says: ‘when I look at the state, state appears male to me’. The lack of well-articulated theory cannot however deny the criticism of the state by feminists and the changes that have resulted: voting rights, equal inheritance and political representation. Women still face patriarchal structures of state and society- whether in term of employment, dual burden, violence culture. Patriarchy has been challenged and altered but it exists. The tasks of the feminist movement thus remain.