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Question: What is the Role of the State in Contemporary Liberal Democracies?
Answer: The role of the state within contemporary liberal democracies is an issue that perhaps more than any other has attracted the attentions of the social and political sciences. The concept itself is not accorded universal acceptance and there are a plethora of theoretical and ideological conceptualisations which seek to explain not only the constituent elements of the state, but also how the state functions and who actually influences its workings. In the past, much discussion has been devoted to the question of whether the state should be seen as an entity distinct from that of government. For some, the government is perceived as the executive force in society which acts through the structure of the state in pursuing particular objectives. For others, the state is merely a personification, a reflection of the nation as symbolised by the government. In order to explore these and other i...(short extract)
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- Subject: Politics
- Course: Political Theory
- Level: Degree
- Year: 2nd/3rd
- Mark: 72%
- Words: 4626
- Date submitted: January 23, 2009
- Date written: March, 2001
- References: Yes
- Document type: Essay*
- Essay ID: 279
