ABSTRACT

Because it draws strongly on the work of Pettit, we will now look at an account in which the State is trusted to both make a society free of existential anxiety, rather than just that a claim can be made about its elimination, and to neutralise dominant interests. These are qualities which the account presented here rejects. The account of the State which we have presented might be seen by some as a form of State scepticism. Certainly, it is an account against those who argue that the State can and should be trusted to minimise fear. In this context, we will consider the principal arguments of Loader and Walker. This consideration is given in the context of the signifi cance of their work on the highly topical issue of security and given that it is a direct challenge to the account of the State being put forward here.