The state
The term ‘state’ can be used to refer to a bewildering range of things: a
collection of institutions, a territorial unit, a historical entity, a
philosophical idea and so on. In everyday language, the state is often
confused with the government, the two terms being used interchangeably.
However, although some form of government has probably always existed,
at least within large communities, the state in its modern form did not
emerge until about the fifteenth century. The precise relationship between
state and government is, nevertheless, highly complex. Government is part
of the state, and in some respects is its most important part, but it is only
an element within a much larger and more powerful entity. So powerful
and extensive is the modern state that its nature has become the
centrepiece of political argument and ideological debate. This is reflected,
in the first place, in disagreement about the nature of state power and the
interests it represents, that is, competing theories of the state. Second, there
are profound differences about the proper function or role of the state:
what should be done by the state and what should be left to private
individuals.