A collection of fragments of understanding in the pursuit of deeper questions.
Forms of State: the relationship between the state that can legitimately exercise coercive power, on one hand, and its citizens, taken individually or as a community, on the other. [to understand the shift of power from public authorities to platforms] So it is a set of values and principles that are behind the relationship behind the State and citizens. ex. Equality is a value that have changed over time, from slavery to inequality between men and women, but the set of values and principles have changed over time in order to achieve equality. There are two different methods:
**Diachronic Method **
Feudal state
Each State is sovereign and has power over a permanent population which is established over a limited territory. Prior to the peace, the organization of the community was feudalism in which there was a total identification of the feudal lord with the possession of the land. The organization of the community was based on private agreements between individuals. And the sole aim was the protection of the lands and its related possessions from external attacks. The lord was giving protection of everyone under his sovereignty, in exchange of services on the land. It cannot considered a State because there is not a complete sovereignty, each feud is independent and there was not the concept of people. People were only workers for a specific purpose, they did not have rights expect from being compensated for the service on the land ⇛ no concept of citizenship. The State has general ends while feudalism didn't.
Absolute State
Shift of power from the feudal lords, to the kings (and thus the stabilization of monarchical authority). Land did not anymore imply power, but money was the actual form of power. The possession of power is proportional to the possession of money. And it has a sovereign power (legislative → make laws, executive → apply the law and make it effective, juridical → enforce the law and make sure it is not violated) resides in the King. In the absolute state the three components of the sovereign power were in the hand to the King. Absolute power means that it has no constraint, and all the powers were resigned in the King and nobody could oppose to it. The general goal was to have money, there is no more the idea of protection of the land. The king is considered the holder of the sovereign power.
Liberal State
It is characterized by the separation of powers based on fact that there is no more the same body holding the three powers but powers are allocated among different and separate authorities. There is a judiciary which exercise juridical power, Parliaments had legislative power most of the time in accordance with the king. There is a limitation of monarchical power. The concept of popular and national sovereignty: the power is under the control of the people which are part of the parliament and have relationship with King.
The introduction of the rule of law is faced all the state activities are subject to law, and implies the separation of the three different power and therefore political power is subject to constraint too. The rule of law is introduced because constitution begin to being signed, which are placing boundaries over bodies which exercise political power. Another feature is the protection of first generation rights (Negative rights are those which do not require the state intervention to be protected but can be fulfilled when the state does not interfere with their enjoyment → ex. the freedom of expression: the state doesn't have to build anything ≠ the right of education: the state has to build schools. ) The individual rights were the first right protected in the first liberal state and for this reason are defined first generation rights. Strong separation between State and society (limited intervention in the economy).
Democratic / Pluralistic State
A shift is faced (only upper classes had rights in the Liberal State) now everybody has rights and there are no more distinctions based on social status. There is the recreation of mass parties, which capture social instances and the political interest rises, therefore political rights are open to everyone. While previously the parties were reserved only to upper classes. There are also social and economic rights and not only first generation rights, which are second generation rights. The attention on social and economic rights led to increase of social welfare in fact Welfare States were born. The State reaches its highest point of sovereign power. Between the democratic and the welfare state some Nations went through a period which is called the totalitarian state ( for example Italy, Germany and Japan). Passage to a multiclass society and the creation of mass parties is faced which increase the participation in the political life of the Nation. Second generation rights are recognized such as education and health care.
Using the synchronic method state look at the current organization of the political power and how it is exercise on the citizens.
Unitary state: there is a central government which has a total legislative power (China).
Decentralized state: sub-state entities are present and exercise some part of the legislative power. For example the United States of America
The distinction is made on the basis of five elements:
Allocation of Legislative Powers in the Italian Constitution Executive legislative power: State Concurring legislation: State and Regions Residual legislation: Regions.
Forms of government Set of rules concerning the distribution of power among the branches of the government (bodies of the central government) Four different forms:
The classification of forms of government is based on three methods:
Parliament - Parliamentary executive It is elected by the electoral body. It has relationship:
The executive needs to have confidence otherwise elections will happen again in order to re-establish the confidence. There is both a head of state and a head of government, there is no popular election of the head of state, so the elections are not direct. The head of state serve for 7 years while the head of government serve for fixed terms (2 normally) if he is able to get to the end.
Presidential executive
Congress has the power of impeachment only in certain circumstances.
The President creates a cabinet, with secretaries of states
**Differences: **
| Parliamentary Executive | Presidential Executive |
|---|---|
| Head of state + Head of government | Head of State and Government are combined into one institution: the President |
| Neither the head of state nor the head of government is popularly elected | The president is popularly elected |
| Generally, the head of government does not serve for a fixed term | The president serves for a fixed term |
Semi-Presidential Executive Electoral body elects both the parliament and the president - which means that he is popularly elected. There is no confidence relationship between the parliament and the president. The parliament votes confidence to the government / cabinet which is appointed by the president.
The executive power is splitted between the president and the government (parliamentary executive the head of state has no political power). The majority in the parliament can shift in a short period of time so the executive power could potentially be exercised by two organs coming from different parties.
Cohabitation: the scenario in which two different parties share executive power. If the situation is not verified the president exercise the complete executive power, while if the political background (cohabitation scenario) is different also the prime minister will have some executive power. The president serves for a fixed term (5 years, it was reduced from 7 in France) [read the Directorial Executive]