Category: Roles And Functions Of The State And The Nature Of State Power

Adam Smith, though deeply influenced by the physiocrats, however, could not accept that labour can only produce on land and in nature. Labour being the source of ‘value’ could produce wherever it performed.10 Commerce, industry and agriculture, all became source of wealth for Smith. And how to maximize this wealth became the main objective of Smith’s… Continue reading Adam Smith

Physiocrats In the eighteenth century, physiocrats and economists, namely, Smith, Ricardo and Malthus advocated the principle of laissez-faire, non-interference of government in economic life of individuals. Physiocrats were a school of economic thought in France led by Francois Quesnay and Mirabeau. Quesnay, a physician in the court of Louis XV, devised a chart of the economy called tableau… Continue reading Theorists of the Laissez-Faire State

cThe social contractualist doctrine of Hobbes and Locke can be treated as advocacy of early liberalism. Hobbes’s man is competitive, egoist, self-interested and is rational insofar as his safety and well-being is concerned. Further, the basis of the State is consent of the individuals through their social contract. If liberalism is about individualism, freedom and… Continue reading Thomas Hobbes and John Locke: Theorists of the Possessive Individual

Philosophical and political roots of negative liberalism can be traced in the social contract theory of Hobbes and Locke. Subsequently, it was developed, revised and amplified by Bentham and J. S. Mill’s utilitarianism, Spencer’s ‘survival of the fittest’ doctrine, Paine’s doctrine of State as a ‘necessary evil’ and others. On the economic front, the Physiocrats,… Continue reading Negative Liberalism and Theory of Laissez-Faire State

Let us treat liberalism as ‘an ideology based on a commitment to individualism, freedom, toleration and consent.1 The liberal theory of the role, its functions and the nature of state power would invariably focus on: Within this broad focus, however, along with the changing notion of individual liberty and freedom, the liberal tradition has journeyed… Continue reading Liberal and Neo-Liberal Theories

We propose to deal with the roles and functions of the State, and the nature of state power. This also involves examining the relationship of the State with the society on one hand and the individual on the other. We will also discuss the relationship between the core principles of right, liberty, freedom, justice and… Continue reading Introduction