What is The State?

Abstract

Chapter 2 focuses on alternative conceptions of the state. It presents several different models of the state drawn from different academic disciplines: political science, international relations, political philosophy, and international law. These include states as political leaders; states as unified national governments; states as defined in the Montevideo Convention; states as the citizenry taken together (at least in democratic states); states as competing organizations; and states as competing leaders of organizations. It is argued that particular attention should be paid to two of these models: the citizenry taken together (because this accords well with ordinary intuitions about what the state is), and a version of the unified national governments model that restricts membership in the state to those involved in the wider government administration. Both of these models are taken forward into Chapters 3 and 4 (respectively), in asking whether each group counts as a collective agent, capable of intentional action.