ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the state as an actor in international politics. It explains the origins of the state and how it has expanded to be a key actor on the world stage. It discusses how the state overcame competitors and embedded itself within the political fabric. It notes how states became more diverse in their functionality and came to be regarded as the ‘natural’ unit of political organization. The state’s evolution has not always been smooth, though, and in some places it has been more testing than others. The chapter identifies and discusses the challenges that the state has faced and continues to face from globalization, the legacy of colonialism and the changing distribution of power in the international system. These processes affect the rise of non-state actors and reduce the capacity of states to unilaterally manage their own affairs. The chapter looks then at how states, especially less powerful ones, struggle to deliver security and stability to their populations and how even the more powerful states have had to adapt to change. It looks at the concept of ‘failed states’ in terms of their inability to supply public goods to their people and their construction as sites of insecurity for the region and the international system. The competition between state-centric views and more holistic readings of politics and security is noted in the chapter, through coverage of the debate on state sovereignty. The conditionality of state sovereignty in terms of the need for ‘good governance’ and the need to protect and promote human rights is noted, and tied into a wider discussion of the ‘humanitarian imperative’ and intervention. The view of the state as the Leviathan, the sovereign actor par excellence, is no longer accurate (if it ever was). The chapter concludes, though, that the state remains the principal form of political organization in the international system and reports of its demise are much too premature.
