Clean drinking water, functioning hospitals, and rules that help protect people and nature—these are all shaped by the state. The state is a system made up of different parts that work together to meet public needs, from local councils to national laws, from tax offices to public schools.
In this subtopic, you’ll explore how the state fits into the wider economy and society. You’ll learn how its power is formed, where it comes from, and why people sometimes question it. Not all states work in the same way. Some are more centralised or authoritarian, others more democratic or more involved in providing public services. But even the strongest states rely on their relationships with households, markets, and commons. These relationships affect how much trust people have in the system and how fairly power is shared.
You’ll also think about how that power can be challenged or supported. What happens when businesses grow more powerful than states? What happens when citizens and residents lose their voice? By looking at different stories about what the state is for, whether it should step back or take the lead, you’ll begin to understand how state choices shape the future of the economy, society and the planet.
At the end of Subtopic 5.1 What is the state? you should be able to:
describe the state provisioning institution in terms of its parts and their relationships
outline some ways of classifying states, by geographic area of authority, distribution of power, approaches to power sharing, level of involvement in providing public goods and services
outline the historical origins of states
describe state power and explain why people may obey the state
explain various functions of the state in three categories: providing essential goods and services, safeguarding individuals and society, and stabilising and guiding economic change
explain the importance of balancing state and non-state economic power and strategies to achieve such a balance
describe the neoliberal narrative and explain how it came to dominate economic thinking
evaluate the impact of neoliberal narratives on society, the economy and Earth systems
describe the entrepreneurial state narrative and outline how it has manifested historically
evaluate the role of the entrepreneurial state in regenerative economies