States Are Necessary Evils - Essay Example

s are necessary evils Introduction Initially, all disputes and discussions may be structured in accordance with our likes or dislikes; with regards to our attitude to a friend-or-foe. Consequently, our attitude to good and evil is also based mainly on a subjective opinion. Further discussion concerns an assessment of a state as a necessary evil. This argumentative claim is considered from different perspectives further on. There is no doubt, that further discussion is mainly subjective. Still, there is a hope that providing pro and contra arguments with relation to the claim would make further discussion an impartial one. State is good Good and evil exist everywhere in our lives. We cannot see or touch them, but we definitely know that they exist. The same can be said about the state. It is everywhere and, at the same time, nowhere. Social practices in the state are mediated by social workers and many other agents. There are a lot of people and organizations working in favor of the state. Their main functions are focused on regulation of our daily lives. We know the exact functions of the state. We know that the state is a constant phenomenon and it is a background of our activities, but at the same time we are confused, because we do not notice functions of the state in our daily lives, we just take it for granted. Despite Hook’s claim that state’s organizations are ‘a formless mass’, there is a need to regulate and direct citizens’ activities in the right direction (Bromley et al, 2009, Chapter 8). An essential increase of the state’s role can be referred to world’s crisis of 2008. This is an example, when the states managed to cope with the negative consequences of crisis and solve this problem at different social, political and economic levels. Currently, there are complicated relations between different state and non-state organizations and it is necessary to balance these relations. From this perspective, the state brings into balance relations between governmental and non-governmental organizations and it is good and beneficial for the social lives of the citizens. We can’t do without the state, because it regulates our social life by laws and policies that make us civilized and bring everything in order. Thus, the first conclusion we make is that there is no evil, but there is good in the states. We come to the conclusion that the state is an invisible massive something, which is “visible in everyday life through a complex assemblage of institutions, practices, people and discourses which provide social order” (Bromley et al, 2009, Chapter 8). Social order is not evil, it is good. Thus, we can surely claim that the states put their efforts to organize and regulate lives of their citizens. State is evil Still, there is no one relevant claim describing whether states are always evil or not. From another perspective, everyone, who wants may find seeds of evil in the state: “Black people may feel separated from a state that is still run predominantly by white people. Women may question the authority claims of a state still run predominantly by men. Working-class people may at times feel alienated from a state run predominantly by individuals from the middle and upper classes” (Bromley et al, 2009, Chapter 8). Racism has taken significant place in the history of all states. At present time many different world organizations, including cultural societies and football leagues, take preventive measures from displaying any racial attitudes. Racism and discrimination will always exist in the society, for it is human’s nature, that a person who is ‘not like us’ is viewed with suspicion or even hostility. Some suppose that racism is inherent in people as much as xenophobia is peculiar to them. Despite us being modern society, we have hardly been able to find any means of eliminating the notions of discrimination from our lives. On the contrary, it continues its living with us, finding roots in more and more world cultures. As far as we can see, every social group is looking for the root of evil and tries to find it in the most vulnerable area for them. Critical perspectives on the state have been always existed, as well as positive ones. The state’s evil has been currently considered from two different perspectives: on the one hand, there is a need to introduce minor changes in the state’s functions and structures; on the other hand, there is a need to introduce fundamental changes. Actually, the claim “states are necessary evils” can be best considered in the context of military moods. Nevertheless, it is relevant to define evil as something great or something small. For example, if to consider military conflict between Taliban and USA, evil may be correlated both with USA and Taliban. Evil happens if the rod of power is shifted. Thus, when Taliban were driven from authority, USA made an attempt to create a new state there and to bring people and territory of Afghanistan back into the international community (Bromley et al, 2009, Chapter 9). Another example can be illustrated by US war in Iraq. In spite of disarmament of Iraq in 1998, US with other supporters from UN revealed that Hussein had some secret weapon and considered this as a starting point for war. We can see, that evil of the authoritative state “dances” the way it wants. No weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, but evil of the state was satisfied by numerous deaths of innocent people and soldiers. Nevertheless, USA paid a huge price for its carelessly freed evil: it lost the international authority. The fact that other states did not support US war in Iraq we can explain as the absence of evil in these states. In other words, “(not all) states are necessary evils”. This can be explained from realist traditions’ interpretation of order: “there is no legitimate authority internationally and that order is based on power and fear of power, not on legitimate authority” (Bromley et al, 2009, Chapter 9). If to analyze this claim, we can conclude that evil of the state is the only way to reach the international acclaim. We can see that concepts of “fear” and “power” go hand in hand in the context of realist tradition. In order to support this claim, a perfect example is given by Bromley et al (2009): “All states can agree that piracy, for example, should be suppressed but not all states agreed in 2003 that bringing down the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq was necessary for international peace and security” (Bromley et al, 2009, Chapter 8). The necessity of suppression of Hussein regime was propagated by USA and supported by the allies. If to look at the root of this claim, it is possible to draw parallels between “necessity of suppression of the state” and “necessity of evil of the state”. It is interesting to see that the roots of the state’s evil can be logically explained and proven by the examples. Conclusion Thus, we can see that both good and evil in the state exist, but we can neither touch them, nor see what they really are. The same can be said about the state. We know that the state exists. It is everywhere and nowhere; it is something invisible that regulates our lives. The same can be said about evil. It exists everywhere and it regulates an international behavior of the states, which release it. The absence of the state is a right way to anarchy, which means the absence of centralized government. Still, the root of evil can be found in non-governmental violence, as it is clearly shown by the attacks of 11 September 2001. The authority of states was challenged. Therefore, the states are in the condition of mutual fear before military attacks of each other. We can suppose that there are two powerful drivers of the state’s functioning: evil and power. Evil compensates power. In case misbalanced powers of the states occur, it is compensated by a huge power of evil. Both, a balance of evil power and authority power of the state’s authority are of crucial importance for any state’s functioning. Works cited 1. Bromley S., Clarke, J., Hinchliffe S. and Taylor, S. (eds), 2009. Exploring Social Lives. The Open University. Read More