Definition

A state is the institutionalization of aggressing to monopolize the provision of select goods and services within society.

Discussion

In international parlance, a “state” does not mean a jurisdiction within a federation, such as Maine or Texas in the United States. Rather, a state is a particular type of national government, one which does not allow competitors to develop or enforce law within its jurisdiction.

Many people today accept that a state engages in acts which aggress. People dispute less whether a state is, for instance, imposing moral viewpoints on others or taking peaceful people’s resources without permission.

Rather, the conflicting viewpoints concern whether the state has authorization to aggress, or whether its aggressing is legitimate.

The state is a relatively modern concept in human history. In Europe, until the seventeenth century most governments were administered on a local level and largely through private law.

This transition from local governance to state governance can be explained by a combination of:

• geopolitics represented by the shifting power structures following the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, and
• changes in social ideals articulated in Thomas Hobbes’ book Leviathan published in 1651.

Further Resources

• Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651).