The Modern State

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The Modern State

• Beyond reason?

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The State

• A geographical unit of people who have the legal
  right to make and enforce rules within their
  boundaries.

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Development of the modern state

• Napoleon
• Universal form of political organization by 20th
  century
• Industry and commerce

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A nation is a cultural and especially a
linguistic grouping of people who feel that they
belong together.
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A state is a political unit with sovereignty.
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Nationalism

• Passionate identification with a nation, or with
  a state riding on the coattails of nation

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Challenges to the state

• A. From above
• 1. Economic policy
• 2. Militant Islam
• B. From below
• 1. Ethnic and separatist movements

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Alternatives?

• Regional Integration
• The United Nations
• Communications and a World Culture
• International Law

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Policies of the State

• The expansion of state activity.

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What do governments do?

• Transfer of Resources
• Subsidies with Strings Attached
• Regulation
• Development and Administration

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Health and Social Welfare

• Most modern states have accepted some
  responsibility for maintaining their people in
  reasonable health, in adequate housing, with
  financial security in their old age, and with
  some security against disability or disaster.

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The Roots of American Social Welfare Policy

• The Great Depression of the 1930s convinced many
  people around the world that some government
  participation in economy is required.
• The Depression revealed that state governments
  and private charities simply could not provide
  economic security for the vast majority of the
  population.
• Many of our social welfare the programs generally
  date from these years and this crisis.

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Income Security

• FDRs administration started many programs to
  help the needy.
• In 1935 the Social Security Act made the
  government the major a contributor to income
  security.
• Three programs were created out of this act
• old age insurance (what we now call Social
  Security)
• public assistance for the needy, aged, blind, and
  families with dependent children (the disabled
  were added later)
• unemployment insurance

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Health Care

• In 2000, Americans spent 3,724 per person on
  health care more per person than any other
  country in the world.
• However, the US only ranked 37th in quality of
  care.
• Countries such as Japan and France far surpassed
  the US in terms of how long their citizens live
  in good health.

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National Health Insurance

• In the early 1930s National health insurance was
  considered by FDR and the Congress.
• In 1945, President Truman again put national
  health insurance on the policy agenda.
• In 1972, President Nixon again introduced a
  national health insurance care plan.
• In 1993, President Clinton again proposed to
  enact national health insurance.
• However each proposal failed with the same basic
  opponents strong opposition from groups like
  the American Medical Association managed to
  defeat its passage.

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Income Security

• Income security programs are supposed to protect
  people against loss of income due to
• retirement
• Disability
• Unemployment
• or death of the family breadwinner.
• These programs help prevent cases of total
  deprivation. Still, many Americans cannot afford
  a decent standard of living for themselves or
  their families.

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Health Care

• Our government has been involved with health care
  since the early days of the republic.
• Billions of dollars are spent on research,
  doctors, institutes, and the public health.
• Today much of the government money spent on
  health care is allocated to two programs
  Medicare and Medicaid.

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Education

• The most basic service that most governments are
  expected to offer their people is education.
  This is a prerequisite of economic development
  for the country as a whole, and it greatly
  expands the world of the individuals who are
  educated.

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American Public Education

• Historically, state and local governments have
  funded most of the nations public schools.
• In 1996, 446 billion was spent on public
  education (elementary through high school).
• 44 came from states
• 31 from local governments
• 8 from the national government
• 17 from other sources

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Research and Development

• Defense

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Democracy and Public Policy

• A countries overall wealth and whether it has a
  democratic system of government are the two big
  factors that predominate in determining what
  governments do in various areas of public policy

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Democracy and Public Policy

• The effect of democracy appears to be strongest
  in policy areas having to do with meeting broads
  needs in the population - education, housing,
  and health.

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Democracy and Public Policy

• The difference that democracy makes in policy
  offers a good reminder that how power is
  organized in the state will have a lot to do with
  what kind of collective choice(s) is made.

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State of the Union President Bush

• Look for
• Ideology Ideological statements/themes
• Public Policy areas and themes
• Nationalism Nation/state issues

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The Policy-Making Process

• Public policy is government action or inaction
  taken to deal with problems and concerns.

Policy Adoption
Problem Recognition
Budgeting
Agenda Setting
Policy Implementation
Policy Formulation
Policy Evaluation
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Equality in America

• Conceptualizations of Equality
• Equality under law
• Equality of opportunity
• Equality of material well-being
• Do social and economic barriers exist today?
• Does the unequal distribution of resources such
  as wealth, abilities, and health bestow
  advantages or disadvantages on individuals even
  when laws are neutral?