Lecture 2: The State: What is it Good For?

Question 1

D: Rights

Answer 1

Legal or moral entitlements to act or be treated in a particular way; civil rights differ from human rights.

Question 2

D: Competition state

Answer 2

A state which pursues strategies to ensure long-term competitiveness in a globalized economy.

Question 3

D: Tiger economies

Answer 3

Fast-growing and export-orientated economies modelled on Japan: for example, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.

Question 4

D: Social justice

Answer 4

A morally justifiable distribution of material rewards; social justice is often seen to imply a bias in favour of equality.

Question 5

D: Welfare state

Answer 5

A state that takes primary responsibility for the social welfare of its citizens, discharged through a range of social security, health, education and other services (albeit different in different societies).

Question 6

C: Statism

Answer 6

• belief that state intervention is the most appropriate means of resolving political problems, or bringing about economic and social development
• rooted in a deep (unquestioning) faith in the state as a mechanism through which collective action can be organized and common goals can be achieved
• state is seen as an ethical ideal (Hegel) or as serving the ‘general will’
• statism is most clearly reflected in gov’t policies that regulate and control economic life

Question 7

D: Collectivization

Answer 7

The abolition of private property in favour of a system of common or public ownership.

Question 8

D: Totalitarianism

Answer 8

An all-encompassing system of political rule, involving pervasive ideological manipulation and open brutality.

Question 9

D: Laïcité

Answer 9

The principle of the absence of religious involvement in government affairs, and vice versa.

Question 10

D: State religion

Answer 10

A religious body that is officially endorsed by the state, giving it special privileges, but (usually) not formal political authority

Question 11

D: Supraterritoriality

Answer 11

The reconfiguration of geography that has occurred through the declining importance of state borders, geographical distance and territorial location.

Question 12

D: Economic sovereignty

Answer 12

The absolute authority of the state over national economic life, involving independent control of fiscal and monetary policies, and control over trade and capital flows.

Question 13

C: Governance

Answer 13

• broader than government

- the various ways through which social life is coordinated