6 - The role of the state

Summary

With an internal market economy, exposed externally to world markets, and with a plethora of international organisations deciding political and economic policy, what role is left for the nation state? This chapter looks at public perspectives on the state: the role that the public in developing or transitional countries feel it should play in the life of their nations, and their perceptions of its actual role and performance in practice. They see at least four possible roles for the state in an era of globalisation: as national economic entrepreneur, as physician or protector, and as advocate – all of which they would support; and as a conspiracy against the public, which they condemn. To explore that fourth role more fully, we take a closer look at the differences between public and officials.

‘Decline of the state’ or transformation?

Robertson (1985: p. 307) suggests that ‘the State may be the most commonly-used and the most opaque term in the whole of political vocabulary’. Its meaning certainly varies according to context. It can be distinguished from transient ‘government’ in the narrow sense of a small group of ministers. But it is not so different from ‘government’ in the wider sense of the ministry plus all the civil and military servants at their command. In Vietnam it is equated with the Party, and both Party and government are regarded as permanent insofar as any socio-political structure is ever permanent.