Author: Haroon Khalil

Central to the Marxist understanding of society is the differentiation between infrastructure and superstructure. The Marxian theory gives primacy to the economic structure of society, which consists of forces and relation of production. Forces of production imply the capacity of society to produce and may include organization of human labour, scientific and technical knowledge, technological equipments and forces, etc.…

Views and arguments put forward by some of the writers like Norman Angell and Graham Wallas have been grouped as emerging from ‘distrust of the power of the overdeveloped state’. Emergence of various groups and voluntary associations for economic and ethical purposes to which many of individual’s need could be met like trade unions, clubs,…

Now we may turn to a theory that stands for a categorical rejection of the State as an ‘unnecessary evil’ and advocates liberation of the individual from any form of authority. Anarchism, as a political philosophy, not only rejects state sovereignty but denounces any form of authority—yoke of private property, authority of religion and yoke…

As mentioned above, from pluralism to Guild Socialism, the degree of opposition to the State and its sovereignty increases. Syndicalism presents even a higher degree of rejection of the concept of State and its sovereignty. Syndicalism is based on the idea that Trade Union organizations as representatives of the interests of the workers should take…

During medieval Europe, Guild system has emerged as a part of the diffused power structure. Guild refers to ‘association of merchants and craftspeople in medieval Europe, formed to give help and advice to its members and to make regulations and set standards for a particular trade.’108 Each member of an autonomous Guild owned the instruments with…

After a rather lengthy discussion on the pluralists’ criticism of sovereignty, we may now turn to some other trends or approaches, which besides being critical to the state and sovereignty also, at times, reject the necessity of state and sovereignty. These criticisms may involve: (i) pluralistic arguments based on groups like professional and economic associations…

Our critical evaluation of the pluralist theory may assess it as a critique of the monist theory of sovereignty and as a theory of a pluralist state. The advocates of the monist doctrine of sovereignty focused on legal functions of the State at the cost of exclusion of social forces, which determine the content and…

The adherents of the traditional concept of sovereignty maintain that legally, international law and treaty obligations do not constitute legal limitations on the state’s sovereignty. This is primarily due to the fact that they are at most, self-restricted as ‘voluntary assent of the state is necessary to their binding validity and that assent once given…

In line with the pluralist position, Laski supports the independent and prior existence of associations in society as compared to the State. According to Laski, ‘The state is only one among may forms of human association and as compared with the other associations, has no superior claims to the individual’s allegiance.’82 The State becomes as one…

Laski makes a distinction between the State as a concept and its reflection in practice as government. Government for all practical purposes invokes the power of the State and makes decisions, issues orders and enforces obedience. Thus, power of the State is expressed in the government. Laski says, ‘A theory of State … is essentially a…