Chapter Four

State, Government and

Citizenship
Understanding State
 The term “state” has been used to refer to a
bewildering range of things: a collection of
institutions, a territorial unit, a philosophical idea, an
instrument of coercion or oppression, and so on.
• This confusion stems, in part, from the fact that the
state has been understood in four quite different
ways;
1. an idealist perspective,
2. a functionalist perspective,
3. an organizational perspective and
4. an international perspective.
1. The idealist approach to the state
• Hegel identified three moments of social existence: the family,
civil society and the state.
• Within the family, he argued, a particular altruism operates
that encourages people to set aside their own interests for the
good of their children or elderly relatives.
• In contrast, civil society was seen as a sphere of ‘universal
egoism’ in which individuals place their own interests before
those of others.
• Hegel conceived of the state as an ethical community
underpinned by mutual sympathy – ‘universal altruism’.
2. Functionalist approaches to the state
• Focus on the role or purpose of state institutions.
• The central function of the state is to maintain social order and
stability
• Such an approach has, for example, been adopted by neo-
Marxists, who have been inclined to see the state as a
mechanism through which class conflict is ameliorated to
ensure the long-term survival of the capitalist system.
3. The organizational view
• defines the state as the apparatus of government in its
broadest sense; that is, as that set of institutions that are
recognizably ‘public’, in that they are responsible for the
collective organization of social existence and are funded at the
public‘s expense.
• The state comprises the various institutions of government: the
bureaucracy, the military, the police, the courts, and the social
security system and so on; it can be identified with the entire
‘body politic’
4. The international approach to the state
• views it primarily as an actor on the world stage;
indeed, as the basic ‘unit’ of international politics.
• This highlights the dualistic structure of the state:
 The state’s inward-looking face- the state relations
with the individuals and groups that live within its
borders, and its ability to maintain domestic order.
 The state’s outward-looking face- the state
relations with other states and, therefore, its ability to
provide protection against external attack.
According to Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention (1933) on
the rights and duties of the state, the state has four features:
a defined territory,
permanent population,
an effective government and
Sovereignty – internal and external sovereignty
The contemporary political theorists and the UN considered
recognition as the fifth essential attribute of the state. This
is because, for a political unit to be accepted as a state with
an ‘international personality’ of its own, it must be recognized
as such by a significant portion of the international
community
Recognition are of two kinds:
1) Defacto - ‘fact based recognition’
2) Dejure - ‘legal and political based recognition
 Rival Theories of State
1. The Pluralist State
• This theory has a very clear liberal lineage. It stems from the
belief that the state acts as an ‘umpire’ or ‘referee‘ in society.
• The origins of this view of the state can be traced back to the
social-contract theories of thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes
and John Locke.
• They argued that the state had arisen out of a voluntary
agreement, or social contract, made by individuals who
recognized that only the establishment of a sovereign power
could safeguard them from the insecurity, disorder and
brutality of the state of nature.
• Without a state, individuals abuse, exploit and enslave one
another; with a state, order and civilized existence are
guaranteed and liberty is protected.
 In liberal theory, the state is thus seen as a neutral
arbiter amongst the competing groups and individuals
in society; it is an ‘umpire’ or ‘referee’ that is capable of
protecting each citizen from the encroachments of
fellow citizens.
In Hobbes’ view, stability and order could be secured
only through the establishment of an absolute and
unlimited state, with power that could be neither
challenged, nor questioned.
Locke, on the other hand, developed a more typically
liberal defense of the limited state. In his view, the
purpose of the state is very specific: it is restricted to
the defense of a set of ‘natural’ or God-given individual
rights; namely, life, liberty and property
2. The Capitalist State
 The Marxist notion of a capitalist state offers a clear
alternative to the pluralist image of the state as a
neutral arbiter or umpire.
 Marxists have typically argued that the state cannot be
understood separately from the economic structure of
society.
 This view has usually been understood in terms of the
classic formulation that the state is nothing but an
instrument of class oppression: the state emerges out
of, and in a sense reflects, the class system
3. The Leviathan State
 The image of the state as a ‘leviathan’ (in effect, a self-serving monster
intent on expansion and aggrandizement) is one associated in modern
politics with the New Right.
 The New Right is distinguished by a strong opposition towards state
intervention in economic and social life, born out of the belief that the
state is parasitic growth that threatens both individual liberty and
economic security.
The central feature of this view is that the state pursues interests that are
separate from those of society (setting it apart from Marxism), and that
those interests demand an unrelenting growth in the role or
responsibilities of the state itself.
 New Right theorists explain the expansionist dynamics of state power by
reference to both demand- side and supply-side pressures.
Demand-side pressures are those that emanate from society itself, usually
through the mechanism of electoral democracy.
Supply-side pressures, on the other hand, are those that are internal to
the state. These can therefore be explained in terms of the institutions
and personnel of the state apparatus
4. The Patriarchal State
Modern thinking about the state must, finally, take account
of the implications of feminist theory.
Feminist theory encompasses a range of traditions and
perspectives, and has thus generated a range of very
different attitudes towards state power.
Moreover, feminists have usually not regarded the nature of
state power as a central political issue, preferring instead to
concentrate on the deeper structure of male power centered
on institutions such as the family and the economic system.
 Liberal feminists, who believe that sexual or gender
equality can be brought about through incremental reform,
have tended to accept an essentially pluralist view of the
state. They recognize that, if women are denied legal and
political equality, and especially the right to vote, the state is
biased in favor of men.
 Radical feminists, who argue that state power reflects
a deeper structure of oppression in the form of
patriarchy. There are a number of similarities between
Marxist and radical feminist views of state power.
Both groups, for example, deny that the state is an
autonomous entity bent on the pursuit of its own
interests.
Instead, the state is understood, and its biases are
explained, by reference to a ‘deep structure’ of power in
society at large.
Marxists place the state in an economic context,
whereas, radical feminists place it in a context of
gender inequality, and insist that it is essentially an
institution of male power.
The Role of the State
 There is profound disagreement about the exact role the state should play, and
therefore about the proper balance between the state and civil society. Among
the different state forms that have developed are :
1. Minimal States፡ is the ideal of classical liberals, whose aim is to ensure that
individuals enjoy the widest possible realm of freedom.
• From this perspective, the value of the state is that it has the capacity to
constrain human behavior and thus to prevent individuals encroaching on the
rights and liberties of others.
• In Locke’s famous simile, the state acts as a night watchman, whose services
are called upon only when orderly existence is threatened. This nevertheless
leaves the ‘minimal’ or ‘night watchman’ state with three core functions.
• The state exists:
 to maintain domestic order
 to ensures that contracts or voluntary agreements made between private
citizens are enforced, and
 To provides protection against external attack.
• The institutional apparatus of a minimal state is thus limited to a police force, a
court system and a military of some kind.
• Economic, social, cultural, moral and other responsibilities
belong to the individual, and are therefore firmly part of civil
society.
• The cause of the minimal state has been taken up in modern
political debate by the New Right. Drawing on early liberal
ideas, and particularly on free market or classical economic
theories, the New Right has proclaimed the need to ‘roll back
the frontiers of the state’.
In the case of free-market economists such as Friedrich von Haye
and Milton Friedman, state intervention is seen as a ‘dead hand’
that reduces competition, efficiency and productivity. From the
New Right perspective, the state’s economic role should be
confined to two functions:
the maintenance of a stable means of exchange or ‘sound
money’ (low or zero inflation), and
the promotion of competition through controls on monopoly
power, price fixing and so on.
2. Developmental States
• A developmental state is one that intervenes in economic life with
the specific purpose of promoting industrial growth and economic
development.
• This does not amount to an attempt to replace the market with a
‘socialist’ system of planning and control but, rather, to an attempt to
construct a partnership between the state and major economic
interests, often underpinned by conservative and nationalist
priorities.
3. Social Democratic (Welfare) States
• Whereas developmental states practice interventionism in order to
stimulate economic progress, social-democratic states intervene with
a view to bringing about broader social restructuring, usually in
accordance with principles such as fairness, equality and social
justice.
In countries such as Austria and Sweden, state intervention has been
guided by both developmental and social democratic priorities
Nevertheless, developmentalism and social democracy do not always
go handin-hand.
4. Collectivized States
• While developmental and social-democratic states
intervene in economic life with a view to guiding or
supporting a largely private economy, collectivized
states bring the entirety of economic life under state
control.
• The best examples of such states were in orthodox
communist countries such as the USSR and throughout
Eastern Europe.
• These sought to abolish private enterprise altogether,
and set up centrally planned economies administered
by a network of economic ministries and planning
committees.
5. Totalitarian States
• The most extreme and extensive form of interventionism is found in
totalitarian states.
• The essence of totalitarianism is the construction of an all-embracing
state, the influence of which penetrates every aspect of human
existence.
• The state brings not only the economy, but also education, culture,
religion, family life and so on under direct state control.
6. Religious States
• The modern state emerged largely through the triumph of civil authority
over religious authority, religion increasingly being confined to the
private sphere, through a separation between church and state.
• The advance of state sovereignty thus usually went hand in hand with
the forward march of secularization.
• Nevertheless, the period since the 1980s has witnessed the rise of the
religious state, driven by the tendency within religious fundamentalism
to reject the public/private divide and to view religion as the basis of
politics.
Understanding Government
• Government refers to the formal and institutional processes that
operate at the national level to maintain public order and
facilitate collective action.
• It is a body or organ that administers a country and main
organization dealing with affairs of the whole country.
• Thus, government is one of the most essential components and
also an administrative wing of the state.
• Any form of government, to be stable and effective, must
possess two essential attributes: authority and legitimacy.
Authority: It can simply be defined as ‘legitimate power’.
While power is the ability to influence the behavior of others,
authority is the right to do so.
Legitimacy: The term legitimacy (from the Latin word
legitimare, meaning ‘to declare lawful’) broadly means
rightfulness.
Purposes and Functions of Government
Self-Preservation
Distribution and Regulation of Resources
Management of Conflicts
Fulfillment of Social or Group Aspirations
Protection of Rights of Citizens
Protection of Property
Implementations of Moral Conditions
Provision of Goods and Services
Understanding Citizenship
• Citizen refers to the person who is a legal member of a
particular state and one who owes allegiance to that State.
• Citizenship simply denotes to the network of relationships
between the State and the citizen.
 Citizenship refers to the rules regulating the legal/formal
relations between the state and the individual with
respect to the acquisition and loss of a given country‘s
nationality.
 Generally, the concept of citizenship varies from society
to society, depending on the place, the historical
moment and political organization.
 Although differences may exist, there are common
elements such as rights, duties, belonging, identity
and participation one can find in definitions of the
term.
i. Citizenship as a Status of Rights
ii. Membership and Identity
iii. Participation
iv. Inclusion and Exclusion
Modes/Ways of Acquiring and Loosing Citizenship
Ways of Acquiring Citizenship
 The common ways of acquiring citizenship can be grouped in to two:
citizenship by birth and citizenship through naturalization/law.
1) Citizenship from birth/of Origin:
• Are of two kinds; , ‘Jus Soli’ means ‘law or right of the soil’ and , ‘Jus
Sanguinis’ means law or right of blood’.
2) Citizenship by Naturalization/Law:
• The common sub-principles of acquiring citizenship through naturalization
are the following. Political case (secession, merger and subjugation),
grant on application, marriage, adoption, and
reintegration/restoration.
The Modes of Acquiring Ethiopian Citizenship
• Before the 1930, there wasn’t officially inscribed legal document that deals
with citizenship. But in 1930 Ethiopia adopted a legal document named as
“Ethiopian Nationality Law”. Recently, this nationality law has replaced
by another legal document called “Ethiopian Nationality Proclamation
NO.378/2003” which was adopted in 2003 by the House of People’s
Representatives.
1) Acquisition by Descent:
• the 1930 Ethiopian nationality law asserted that “any person born
in Ethiopia or abroad, whose father or mother is Ethiopian, is an
Ethiopian subject.
• Article 3 of the 2003 nationality proclamation ascribed two
principles:
a), “any person shall be an Ethiopian national by descent where
both or either of his/her parent is Ethiopian;”
b), “An infant who is found abandoned in Ethiopia shall, unless
proved to have a foreign nationality, be deemed to have been
born to an Ethiopian parent and shall acquire Ethiopian
nationality”.
2) Acquisition by Law (Naturalization):
• Under this, there are various ways of acquiring Ethiopian
citizenship in accordance with of the amended Ethiopian
nationality proclamation of 2003 recognized by the provisions of
Articles 5 to 12 of the 2003 nationality proclamation. These are:
a) Grant on Application (registration): happens when an alien
requests a host state to be granted citizenship status of the country in
question.
 According to Article 5 of the 2003 Ethiopian nationality proclamation, an
applicant shall get Ethiopian nationality if, and only if, he/she
1. reach the age of majority(18 years)
2. lived in Ethiopia for a total of at least four years
3. has sufficient and lawful source of income (economically self-reliant)
4. is able to communicate in any of the indigenous languages spoken in
Ethiopia
5. has a good character
6. has not recorded criminal conviction
7. has been released from his/her previous nationality or the possibility of
obtaining such a release upon the acquisition of Ethiopian nationality or
that he/she is a stateless person
8. takes the oath of allegiance indicated in Article 12 of the proclamation:
“I, solemnly affirm that I will be a loyal national of the federal democratic
republic of Ethiopia and be faithful to its constitution”.
b) Cases of Marriage: an alien who is married to an Ethiopian
citizen have the possibility of acquiring Ethiopian citizenship if he /she
fulfill the following condition. These are:
1. The marriage shall be thru in accordance with the laws of Ethiopia
or the State where the marriage is contracted;
2. The marriage shall lapse at least for two years;
3. The alien married to an Ethiopian citizen have to live in Ethiopian
for at least one year preceding the submission of the application;
4. the alien have to reach the age of majority, be a morally good
person, and lastly take the oath of allegiance stated under Article
12 of the proclamation
c) Cases of Adoption (Legitimating): this process whereby an
illegitimate child get citizenship status of his/her caretaker’s
nationality.
In this case, Article 7 of the nationality proclamation asserts that a
child adopted by and grown under the caretaker of Ethiopian citizen
has the right to acquire Ethiopian citizenship.
d) Citizenship by Special Cases: as it is labeled in Article 8,
an alien who has made an outstanding contribution in the
interest of Ethiopia may be conferred with Ethiopian nationality
by law without undergoing the pre- conditions stated in Article 5
(sub-articles 2 and 3) of the 2003 Ethiopian nationality
proclamation.
e) Re-Admission to Ethiopian Nationality (Reintegration/
Restoration):
 This is a process by which a person acquires his/her lost
citizenship if he/she fulfill the following
requirement( art.22,pro.no.378/2003).
1. the person could be readmitted to Ethiopian nationality if
he/she applies to the Security, Immigration and Refugee Affairs
Authority for re- admission.
2. he/she has to return and domiciled in Ethiopia and renounces
his foreign nationality to get back Ethiopian nationality.
Dual Citizenship
 Dual citizenship is the condition of being a citizen of two
nations. Of course, a person may acquire more than two
States which is called multiple citizenship.
 Duality/multiplicity arises because of the clash among
the Jus Soli, Jus Sanguini and naturalization.
Ways of Loosing Citizenship
 The common ways of losing citizenship are deprivation,
renunciation, lapse/expiration and substitution.
a) Deprivation is an involuntary loss of citizenship which
arises while government authorities or court take a
decision to nullify an individual‘s citizenship.
 The citizen may be deprived of his/her citizenship for
reasons of ;
 uncovering national secrets,
 non-compliance with citizenship duties (duty of loyalty),
 loss of genuine link with his/her state,
 flawed acquisition of citizenship,
 promising loyalty to and/or serving in armed force of
another country,
 trying to overthrow the government by force,
 seriously prejudicial behavior, and
 becoming naturalized in another country.
b) Lapse/expiration is another way of losing citizenship
which is not applicable to Ethiopia. Lapse is a mode whereby
a person loses his/her citizenship because of his/her
permanent residence or long term residence abroad beyond
the number of years permitted by the country in question.
c) Renunciation is the voluntary way of losing citizenship.
However, the person who has renounced a country’s nationality
may not be actually released from that status until he/she has
discharged his/her obligations towards that particular State or
accused of a crime.
d) Substitution: citizenship may be lost when the original
citizenship is substituted by another state, where it is acquired
through naturalization. On the other side, this may also take
place when a particular territory is annexed by another state; the
inhabitants’ citizenship within the annexed territory will be
replaced by the citizenship of the subjugator.
Statelessness
 It is the condition of having citizenship of any country and with
no government from which to ask protection.
 According to the international law, stateless person is a person
who is not considered as a national by any state under the
operation of its law.