Historically the evolution of the State as a socio-political, bureaucratic, and ruling entity has responded to specific needs or demands of the society, sometimes generated by external processes, others by internal ones, and often by a combination of both internal and external factors. For example, as farming developed, people ceased their nomadic wandering and private property became important and a more organized communal life needed to take shape. In this context, the State evolved as a key actor to define, protect, and transfer private property. Likewise, between the late twelfth and fourteenth centuries the move from a feudal system to city-states responded to the need of imposing some form of rule and security to vast uncontrolled land patrimonies. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the move from absolute monarchies and colonial territories to constitutional and independent states responded to the need for self-determination and the rise of civil society. The aspirations for a less tyrannical form of government, and for equality have also driven the evolution of the State throughout the nineteenth, twentieth, and now the early part of the twentieth firs centuries. What do the events in 2020 mean for the State moving forward?
Read More “The Re-Emergence of the State and its Need to Tackle Inequality and Autocracy”
