Classification of states is a task that many scientists have tried to solve since ancient times. And to this day, this issue is relevant. There are a number of approaches on the basis of which the classification of state forms is carried out. In this article we will talk about the main ones.
The state and its functions
First you need to determine what a state is. This is a sovereign political and territorial organization of public authority, which has a special apparatus, and also has a will that all its citizens are obliged to fulfill. The state is the main institution of the political system. We have revealed the meaning of this concept because each classification is based on the definition of the essential features of an object.
Types of state functions are divided into internal and external. The internal ones include political (for example, ensuring order), economic (privatization, nationalization), ideological (forming patriotic and civic values through the media and education, educating members of society) and social (health care, cultural support, social welfare programs). External functions are the provision of national security by the state , the development of mutually beneficial cooperation between countries, the upholding of national and state interests in the international sphere, and participation in solving various global problems.
The state appears in a society that is filled with coercion and violence, but seeks to limit them, to create the necessary conditions for cooperation and cooperation of people. That is why it is a controversial and complex entity that acts as an arbiter and mediator between various classes and groups of society. Its occurrence is explained by the need to satisfy the interests of not only a certain social class, but also of society as a whole.
How to classify states
There are a large number of different government entities. Therefore, their study involves combining these formations into separate groups. This is necessary to determine the reproducible, repeating characteristics on which the classification of states is based. It is not easy to briefly talk about the whole diversity of the object of our study. Each state is unique. However, this does not mean that certain essential features cannot be repeated. Some of them are characteristic for a number of objects. The concept of "classification of the state" involves ordering them on various grounds (one or more), dividing the totality into groups and classes according to one or another essential characteristic.
Even Plato, an ancient Greek thinker, proposed the first example of the classification of states, significant from the point of view of science. This pattern was subsequently perfected by his student, Aristotle. Currently, one of the most famous is the formation approach, which is based on the historical and dialectical materialism of Marx and Engels. It can be considered that this is the main classification of states.
Formation Approach
It involves an appeal to such a concept as a socio-economic formation. In Marxist-Leninist theory, this term means a historical stage in social development. She has a special way of production, called the basis. In addition, it is characterized by certain political and social relations, ideology, legal institutions and norms (superstructure).
From the point of view of supporters of this approach, there are 5 socio-economic formations. The earliest of them is primitive communal. Followed by slave, then feudal, bourgeois and finally communist. Class formations correspond to a certain type of state. The classification criteria for these types are as follows:
- mode of production, level of development of production relations and productive forces;
- main form of ownership (public or private);
- the division of society into classes (rich, haves, poor and poor).
In accordance with these criteria, the following types are distinguished: slave-owning state, feudal, bourgeois and socialist. Let's consider each of them.
Slave type
In the conditions of such a state, the main object of ownership is a person. Primitive tools cannot yet provide people with greater productivity. Consequently, the quantity of products that society receives depends on the qualities of the workers. The states of the Ancient East belonged to the slave type, that is, those that developed at the end of the 4th - beginning. 3 millennium BC e. (Ancient China, Ancient India, Ancient Egypt, Assyria, Sumer, etc.). They were characterized by:
- agricultural communities (community tenure, rural communities);
- irrigation farming;
- collective slavery;
- primitive types of patriarchal slavery;
- state ownership of irrigation facilities.
In ancient Greece and ancient Rome, which were also slave-type states, were observed:
- division of society into classes of slaveholders and slaves;
- private ownership of the former on the means of production (means and objects of labor), as well as slaves, who were goods, objects, things, and at the same time people who created various material goods;
- protection and protection of private property.
Feudal type
There are other types of states. The classification proposed by Marx and Engels, as you recall, includes four types. The economic basis of the state of the second, feudal type is the private ownership of the feudal lords on the means of production, primarily land. For such a system is characterized by the consolidation of peasants in compulsory order on land. This has been observed for various reasons. For example, peasants agreed to this, so as not to pay tribute and not to participate in military campaigns. They could become serfs of their own free will, however, because they faced the need to somehow feed their family. Another option is the residence of peasants on a landowner-owned land plot.
However, serfs were still not completely disenfranchised. The feudal state is characterized by the private ownership of peasants in the inventory (small tools of agriculture), as well as on the remnants of the products they produced, on buildings and their housing. But at the same time they had to work for the feudal lord free of charge. In the feudal state, there were 3 main types of rent:
- corvée - a developmental rent in which the serf was obliged to work for his master a certain number of days per week;
- natural quitrent when he was forced to give the owner a certain amount of agricultural products produced by him (and the artisan gave away the products of his labor);
- cash rent (cash rent), that is, payment of a certain amount of money to the feudal lord of serfs.
There was a legal and economic dependence of the peasants on feudal lords, as well as vassals (less wealthy feudal lords) on more affluent (overlords). Private property of vassals and overlords was protected. Examples of such states were medieval France, Germany, Italy, Russia, etc.
Bourgeois state (capitalist)
It is characterized by the existence of diverse forms of ownership, however, it is private (for means of production) that is predominant. The main sources of the emergence and accumulation of property is the exploitation of the labor of employees and workers. The results of someone else's work are assigned. The economy is of a market nature. This means that prices are based on supply and demand. There is competition in the market. Society is divided into classes of capitalists (bourgeoisie) and wage workers; to the lower, middle and upper classes.
The first capitalist states appeared about 200-300 years ago in North America and Europe. The bourgeois system began to quickly conquer the world after the Great French Revolution. In the 30s of the last century, the capitalist states entered the modern stage of development. Apparently, it is transitional to a higher formation.
Socialist type
The economic basis of states of this type is state ownership of the means of production. Planned regulation of the economy, an equal distribution of goods produced, and the exploitation of working people by the state are observed. Society is divided into classes of intelligentsia, peasants and workers.
The socialist state in formation theory is no longer a state in the full sense of the word, since the working classes in it are not exploited by the minority. In fact, we can say that this is a "semi-state." It expresses the interests and will of the absolute majority of society: all working people.
In a communist society, which is supposed to come in the future, it will die out, as it will give way to public communist self-government. However, as A. B. Vengerov believed, the socialist type of state as a whole turned out, in many of its features, to be a kind of oriental despotism that arose as a result of the application of the Asian mode of production.
One type is replaced by another through a social revolution. It is the result of the existence in society of an insoluble contradiction between production relations and production forces.
Civilization approach
There is another popular approach by which the classification of state forms is carried out - the civilizational one. It is based not only on the development of class relations and production, but also on spiritual and cultural and other factors (in particular, technological, geographical, chronological, religious, legal, etc.).
The concept of "civilization" is central in using this approach. This term is derived from the Latin word translated "civilian". A. D. Toynbee, an English historian and philosopher of the 20th century, believed that civilizations are certain groups of communities that cause associations in the field of architecture, religion, painting, customs and mores, that is, in the field of culture as a whole.
There is currently no general opinion among researchers about how many civilizations have existed in history. So, O. Spengler, a German culturologist and philosopher, spoke of eight main cultures. Karl Jaspers, a philosopher-theologian, identified nine civilizations. From the point of view of A. Toynbee, their number reaches 21 (Chinese, Egyptian, Western, Far Eastern, Orthodox, Iranian, Arab, Mexican, Syrian, etc.).
Classification of Danilevsky
For the first time, the basis of a civilizational approach was formulated by N. Ya. Danilevsky. In his work "Russia and Europe", published in 1869, he substantiated the theory of "cultural-historical types." Otherwise, they can be defined as civilizations. These types are distinguished by the originality and independence of social, religious, industrial, domestic, artistic, scientific and other development. The scientist believed that civilizations are developing in the same way as biological organisms. They go through the stages of maturation and decrepitude, after which they die. The change of one cultural-historical type to another is inevitable. N. Ya. Danilevsky believed that it was the Slavic type that was historically promising. It is opposed to nonviable cultures of the West.
Legal classification
The legal classification of states does not take into account their inclusion in a particular social system. She is distracted from their social content, political ideologies and struggles, the correlation of opposition and ruling parties, which are inherent in any state. The study of all these points takes place in political science and historical science.
The legal approach is institutional and formal. Such a classification of states implies their attribution to one or another state form. The latter is defined as a way of the emergence, organization and implementation of state power. It includes the following three aspects:
- form of government (unitary state, union, confederation, federation);
- form of government (absolute, limited or parliamentary monarchy, republic);
- a form of political regime, which may be liberal democratic or undemocratic.
All these criteria for classifying a state must be considered. For example, Russia is a federation, a republic having a liberal-democratic form of political regime.
Other classification grounds
Other methods for classifying states can be proposed. For example, according to the level of technological development, they can be informational, postindustrial, industrial and agricultural. From the point of view of the history of development, a state can be defined as modern, medieval or ancient. There is also an economic classification of states, on the basis of which developed and developing countries, third world countries, are distinguished. Given the geographical factor, we can talk about European, African, Asian and American types. There is also a classification of the rule of law. It may relate to the traditional religious, Romano-Germanic or Anglo-American legal system. If we take religion as a basis, then states can be Catholic, Orthodox, Hindu, Muslim.
Thus, the classification of states can be carried out for many reasons. We described in detail only the most common ones. If you pass the exam, we recommend that you study a topic such as "classification of states" well. The cheat sheet will help you only if you understand the main points for yourself.