Describe the attributes of states and the special characteristix of theocratic states

1. Theocratic States
Several Nations Under the Gods

2. Political Organization: Basic
Principles
 Power vs Authority
 Power: compliance by coercion or force
 Authority: compliance by persuasion
 Legitimacy: Beliefs rationalizing rule
 Examples: Divine Right, Peoples Consent
 Sanctions: reinforcements of behavior
 Positive: rewards, recognition
 Negative: punishment

3. Power versus Authority
 Extreme examples
 Power: concentration camps:
Auschwitz (above); Guantanamo
(below)
 Authority: !Kung, Inuit, Yanomamo
 Neither is absolute
 Dictatorships need to persuade:
Nuremberg rallies, Mayday parades
 Power is evenly distributed in
nonstate cultures

4. Legitimacy as Justification for
Political Order
 Justification necessary even in
authoritarian states
 Monarchies: the divine right to rule
 Soviet Union: Socialist transition to
communist economy
 Nazi Germany: Racial purification; delivery
of full-employment (Nuremberg rallies,
above)
 Democratic forms: consent by the
governed (below, State of the Union)

5. Legitimacy: Samsara in India
 Justification for a given political
order
 India: Caste system is
reinforced by
 Samsara: A cosmic illusion
marked by
 Birth-and-death cycles

6. Legitimacy: Karma in India
 Karma: influenced by
one’s act in all
previous lives
 Reward: rebirth in
higher state
 Punishment: rebirth in
lower state
 Affects all beings, from
stone to humans to
gods

7. States: Force as Prime Mover
 Defining Characteristics
 A centralized political system
 With power to coerce
 The operating factor:
 Monopoly over the use of
 Legitimate physical force
 Supports the apparatus of the state
 Bureaucracy --Army and police
 Law and legal codes

8. States: Derivative Features
 Administrative structure
 Public services --Tax collection
 Resource allocation --Foreign affairs
 Delegation of force
 Police, all levels --Armed force
 Law
 Civil (dispute resolution)
 Regulatory (trade, economy)
 Criminal (crime and punishment)

9. Law: Cross-Cultural Comparison
 Codified law: Formally defines wrong and
specifies remedies
 Customary law: Informal sanctions or
dispute resolution
 Restitution or Restorative law: emphasizes
dispute resolution, damage restitution
 Retributive law: emphasizes punishment for
crimes committed

10. Case Studies: Restitution
 Nuer: Leopard-skin chief
 Function: mediate disputes; leopard
wrap identifies role
 Cannot force or enforce an
agreement
 Authority is spiritual
 Zapotec in Talea, Mexico
 Function: hear cases and negotiate
 Recommend settlement
 Enforce agreement by community

11. Case Studies: Retribution
 Criminal Law
 Murder, Robbery, Others
 Civil Law
 Consumer Law and Small
Courts
 Final Say: Judge or Arbitrator
 Limitation: Sheer Numbers of
Cases

12. Defining Theocratic States
 States whose legitimacy is derived from
supernatural sources: God or gods
 Mexica (Aztecs): Legitimacy was derived from a
fear that the sun would die out
 Human sacrifice necessary to prevent the loss of
the sun
 Tibet: the belief in samsara—birth, death, and
rebirth
 Karma: the driving force based on one’s deeds—
good or evil—in past lives.