Genesis; essence and functions of the state
State- the main institution of the political system, organizing, directing and controlling the joint activities and relationships of people, social groups, classes and associations. The state represents the central institution of power in society and the concentrated implementation of policy by this power.
The state arose as a natural, objective result of the natural development of society at a certain stage of its maturity. The state separated from society in the process of decomposition of the primitive communal system under the influence of a number of reasons and factors. Typically these include:
- deepened social division of labor , separating management in order to increase its efficiency into a special branch of social activity. With the development of productive forces, the expansion of economic and other connections, and the consolidation of human communities, society has a need to strengthen management functions and concentrate them on certain individuals and bodies;
- the emergence during the development of social production of private property, classes and exploitation . The state appears as a result of the irreconcilability of class interests, as a political organization of the economically dominant class and an instrument for its suppression of other classes and strata. This position is most fully represented in Marxism. The state, Lenin pointed out, is “a machine for the oppression of one class by another, a machine for keeping other subordinate classes in obedience to one class” (V.I. Lenin. Complete collection essays. -T. 38. – P. 37).
Non-Marxist scientific directions do not deny the important influence of economic and social-class relations on the formation of statehood, but also do not absolutize the role of private property and classes. It is known that in some cases the formation of the state historically preceded and contributed to the class stratification of society. In the course of social development, as class oppositions are erased and society democratizes, the state increasingly becomes a supra-class, national organization.
Political theory, along with class reasons, identifies other reasons for the emergence of the state:
- demographic factors , changes in the reproduction of man himself. This refers to the growth in population size and density, the transition of peoples from a nomadic to a sedentary lifestyle, the prohibition of incest and the regulation of marriage relations. All this increased the need of society to regulate the relationships between people living in a certain territory;
- anthropological factors . Representatives of anthropological concepts believe that state uniform organization is rooted in the very social nature of man. Aristotle also wrote that man as a being in highest degree the collective can realize itself only within the framework of certain forms of communication. The state, like the family and the village, is a natural, organically inherent nature of humanity at a certain stage of development. highest form dormitories;
- psychological, rational and emotional factors . The state is viewed here as a fruit of the human mind, ripened under the influence of certain human needs and emotions. This point of view is typical, in particular, for contractual theories of the state. According to T. Hobbes, the strongest motive that encourages people to conclude a social contract to create a state is fear of aggression from other people, fear for life, freedom and property. D. Locke puts human reason in the foreground, the belief that the state is better able to ensure natural human rights than traditional, pre-state forms of community life.
It is obvious that the real state arose during the long natural-historical development of society, and not as a result of the signing of a social contract. But for their time, the contractual concepts of the state had a progressive meaning, posing problems of relationships between the individual, society and the state;
- conquest of some peoples by others . An important role was given to this factor in the emergence of the state by supporters of the theory of violence - L. Gumplowicz, F. Oppenheimer and others. In their opinion, the state arises as a result of external conquests and political violence, which aggravates social inequality, leads to the formation of classes and exploitation.
The literature also identifies some other factors influencing the formation of a state - geographical, ethnic, etc. Thus, the emergence of statehood is due to many reasons, among which it is hardly possible to single out any one as decisive. The state arises, exists and develops as a result of the complication of economic and social life, a form of satisfying the needs for ordering, regulating and managing public affairs.
The state form of organization of power replaced the primitive communal one approximately 5-6 thousand years ago. The first states on Earth appeared in North-East Africa, South-West and Southeast Asia (Egypt, Babylonia, India, China).
To understand the essence of the state, it is important to know the objective reasons that caused its emergence.
The foundations of the modern scientific vision of the problem of the origin of the state were laid in the works of the classics of historical materialism, who were able to reveal the general universal laws of the transformation of primitive power into state power. The most significant of them is the work of F. Engels “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.”
According to the concept of F. Engels, the decomposition of the primitive system and the emergence of the state was a natural result of the transition of society from an appropriating economy to a producing economy, the gradual development of production forces and changes in production relations in society. This process began long before the formation of the first states and developed gradually.
F. Engels pointed out the following main reasons for the emergence of the state.
1. Social division of labor, consisting of three stages:
Separation of cattle breeding from agriculture;
Department of handicraft production;
The emergence of merchants - a special class of people who do not produce products, but act as intermediaries in its exchange between the manufacturer and the buyer.
The division of labor became possible due to the growth of population and its needs, the development of means of production and the increasing degree of human independence from nature. These factors have opened up new opportunities for farming. Individual tribes no longer needed to provide themselves with all the necessary goods on their own. It became profitable for them to specialize in the production of a specific product, and to exchange surplus production for other products produced by other tribes. This specialization gave rise to the emergence of pastoral and agricultural tribes, artisans and merchants.
2. The emergence of private property. The growth of labor productivity led to the division of the community economy into the farms of small groups of people and individuals. Over time, collective property was transformed first into group property and then into private property.
The amount of property could not be the same for different people - property stratification appeared and social classes arose.
3. The emergence of classes. Classes are large groups of people that differ in their material condition and the place they occupy in the labor process (V.I. Lenin).
Separation social functions and property stratification led to an increase in the personal and economic independence of the subjects, their independence from nature and from each other. Society was split into several layers, whose interests sometimes directly contradicted each other. In this regard, a force was needed that could limit the class struggle to a reasonable framework and ensure the further conflict-free development of society. The state was such a force. Relative order in public relations was ensured through the preferential protection and protection by the state machine of property and other interests of the economically dominant class.
Thus, the state arose as a product of the development of society itself, as a result of the contradictions that arose in it. At the same time, F. Engels viewed it as a means of class domination, an instrument with the help of which the economically dominant class suppresses resistance and carries out economic exploitation of the oppressed class.
The transition from the primitive communal organization of power to the state was accompanied by a transformation of the system of social norms. This transformation was expressed both in the quantitative growth of regulatory requirements and in the qualitative complication of their system. Social norms have become more diverse. Along with customs and traditions, public morals, etiquette, politics, religion, ideology, and culture are actively developing.
In addition, the increasing complexity of relations in society and their conflictual nature required the emergence of more effective means regulation, the most important of which were the rules of law, written down and protected from violations by state coercive measures. The first legal regulations were essentially the written expression of customs and traditions. But subsequently the gap between state and customary law constantly intensified. The norms of laws increasingly reflected not so much the existing state, but rather the necessary, proper (ideal), from the point of view of the official authorities, state of social relations.
More on the topic General reasons for the emergence of state and law:
- 2. General patterns and reasons for the emergence of the state
Lecture 1. Concept, characteristics and essence of the state.
The concept and characteristics of the state.
The concept and characteristics of a rule of law state.
6. State form:
A) form of government
B) shape government structure
C) type of state-political regime
Functions of the state.
Introduction. The role and significance of legal knowledge.
Law is the science of what is good and just. This is how ancient Roman jurists defined law. Law comes from the Latin word “justitia” - justice. Currently, law is understood as a set of generally binding rules of behavior (rules of law) established by the state to regulate the most important social relations.
The meaning and value of law is that the law allows:
1. To streamline and stabilize the spontaneous process of social development.
2. Express the common interests and needs of individuals, social communities, and states.
3. Solve global international problems in a civilized manner.
Knowledge of law by citizens :
1. Enables them to competently perform their duties.
2. Warns them against committing unlawful acts.
3. Helps them protect their rights and legitimate interests.
4. Allows them to influence the formation of public opinion regarding the further development and improvement of law .
Basic theories of the origin of the state.
In total there are about 30 theories of the origin of the state, of which the main ones are 7-8 theories.
1) Theological theory (Thomas Aquinas) – Divine origin of the state. According to this theory, the emergence of the state is the result of Divine providence. It was common in the Middle Ages.
“+”: the theory united and centralized power.
“-”: theory is based on faith.
2) Patriarchal theory (Aristotle, Mikhailovsky) - the state arose as one big family. The power of the monarch is an expanded paternal power, the power of the father.
Family ® clan ® tribe ® union of tribes ® village ® state.
This contributed to the unification, because relatives did not go against each other.
3) Contractual theory or theory of social contract (Grotius, Rousseau, Radishchev) - the transition from the primitive system to the contractual state. There is a primary process of the origin of the state from primitive society, and there is a secondary process of the origin of new states from existing ones on the basis of an agreement between different states.
“-”: a certain level of consciousness is required. It is not the same everywhere in different states.
4) Theory of violence (Dühring, Kaudsky) - the state arose as a result of violence, conquest. Examples: Roman Empire (the Germans captured vast territories of the Roman state), the state of Alexander the Great.
“-”: this theory takes into account only the military-political factor.
5) Organic theory (Spencer, Worms) arose as a result of natural scientific discoveries. It was developed in the 19th century. We humans are biosocial beings; we cannot exist outside of society. The state corresponds to a living organism, where the ruler is the head, the government is the brain, people are the cells, and the punitive organs are the hands.
6) Psychological theory (Petrozhidsky, Z. Freud). According to this theory, the state arose based on psychological characteristics person. Some people like to stand out from the crowd - these are managers (managers). Other people need to worship someone, obey someone - these are the controlled (performers).
7) Materialist or Marxist theory (Machiavelli, Montesquieu, Hegel, Marx, Engels) considers the origin of the state based on social and economic prerequisites. A large social division of labor took place, and a class of merchants and rich people emerged. There was a property stratification of society. On this basis, a state of rich people emerged. The state arose as a result of class struggle.
Prerequisites for the emergence of the state.
Such social institution, as a state, arose at a certain stage in the development of human society. The formation of a state is a historically natural phenomenon. The state replaced tribal relations, which were characterized by: the unification of people on the principle of consanguinity, social equality, the absence of an apparatus of management and coercion, and the participation of all adult members of the clan in the management of affairs. However, changes in the economic and social spheres societies lead to the formation of the first states (about five thousand years ago). These states were slaveholding states, among them such as: Ancient Egypt, Babylon, Ancient Rome, Ancient Greece. The first Slavic state, Kievan Rus, was formed in the 9th century.
There were economic prerequisites for the emergence of the state:
1) improvement of tools;
2) division of labor;
3) transition from an appropriating economy to a producing one;
4) the emergence of primary trade turnover;
5) the emergence of private property (mainly in Western countries).
Social prerequisites:
1) property stratification of society;
2) the introduction of monogamy;
Ideological background:
1) introduction of monotheism.
Political background:
1) seizure of living space for the tribe;
2) ensuring the safety of the tribe.
Psychological background:
1) awareness of common interests.
Friedrich Engels in his work “The Origin of Property, Family, State” highlighted 3 forms of origin of states:
1. Athenian form. The formation of the Athenian state is the classic way of state formation. The reason for the emergence of the state was internal processes, there was neither internal struggle, no wars of conquest. There was a stratification of the population along property lines, and a class of rich people emerged and began to rule.
2. Roman form. The Roman state arose as a result of the struggle between two social classes- between the patricians (tribal nobility, indigenous clans) and the plebeians (newcomers).
3. Ancient Germanic form. The state arose as a result of the aggressive campaigns of the Germanic tribes. They captured the Roman state.
F. Engels ignored the peculiarities of the emergence of ancient Eastern states. It was communal property. From the community the state emerged.
The main factors contributing to the emergence of states:
1) Natural - climatic factor. The state initially arises where favorable climatic conditions naturally exist (“mild” climate of the Mediterranean; the valleys of the Indus and Ganges rivers; seasonal floods ® fertile silt ® harvest several times a year - the Nile River valley in Ancient Egypt).
2) Geographical factor assumes a favorable geographical location at the intersection or directly next to well-established trade routes (Anterior Asia - modern Israel; the Great Silk Road - modern China; the territory of the Phoenicians - due to navigation, trade, exchange of goods).
3) Economic factor- “linear scheme” proposed by F. Engels - he identified the scheme economic development. The transition of people from an appropriating economy to a producing one.
4) Power factor. There is a transformation of the essence of power from the authority of its bearer to the authority of the position.
5) Transformation of the system of social connections from tribal relations to family ones. The family is the basis of the state.
6) A change in normative regulation from universal to differentiated, in which, in connection with the emergence of the state, law also arises. For example, legal liability ® public execution.
7) Demographic factor. The formation of a state is possible only in those demographic conditions when society reaches a significant number of its members, and effective management this society within the framework of tribal relations is not possible.
8) Spiritual factor. The formation of a state is possible only in conditions of a relatively high spiritual culture of society, the ability of this society to perceive the value of the state.
9) Personal factor. The development of the state among individual nations is closely related to the manifestation of the personal qualities of the ruler.
When forming a state, it is not a single factor that matters, but their necessary and sufficient combination in specific historical social conditions.
§ 2. Formation of the first states
1. What is a policy?
Polis is a small state of the ancient Greeks, Romans and some other ancient peoples. It consisted of a city and a rural area. The population was divided into several groups, while only full citizens, who were usually a minority, were considered the owners of the policy.
Question for point 5. Where and when did Islam originate? What are the main tenets of this religion?
Islam arose in the 7th century on the Arabian Peninsula. He teaches that there is only one Lord, whose words are conveyed to people by the holy book (Koran), which was brought by the righteous prophet (Mahammed). Islam condemns evil deeds for which a person goes to hell after death.
Question for point 7. What are the main tenets of Judaism?
Judaism teaches that there is only one Lord and strictly prohibits the worship of others. Its main provisions are written down in the holy book (Torah), which in Christianity became the first part of the Bible. Today in Judaism there are a lot of regulations that a believer must observe, and not only the ban on sins, but also the ban on working on the Sabbath and even dealing with electrical appliances, mixing meat and dairy products, and many others.
Question for point 8. Why do you think Khazar Khaganate and Volga Bulgaria were stronger states than the Turkic Kaganate?
Only hordes of nomads lived in the Turkic Kaganate. In the Khazar Kaganate and Volga Bulgaria, the centers of power were cities around which nomadic tribes were already united.
Questions for the paragraph
1. What were the reasons for the appearance of Greek city-states on the territory of our country?
The policies of Balkan Greece were rich, because many children survived there and the population was constantly growing. But at the same time, this peninsula has poor soils that could not feed everyone. That's why colonization began. The colonists settled along the shores of the Mediterranean, which included the Black Sea. They founded new settlements where they were natural resources, that is, arable land and minerals. Therefore, colonies appeared on the territory of modern Russia.
2. What was the relationship between the inhabitants of the Greek city-states and the local population?
Local residents traded with the Greeks because they did not know what the artisans of the policies could do. In the policies, they willingly bought the gifts of nature that local residents collected.
3. Name the reasons for the emergence of the Bosporan kingdom.
The kingdom was formed mainly so that the Greeks could work together to repel the attacks of the barbarians. It appeared in exactly this form due to the strengthening of the Panticapaeum policy.
4. What role did nomadic tribes play in the history of the Northern Black Sea region?
Nomadic tribes were the main population of the Northern Black Sea region for many centuries, at least until the 16th-17th centuries, and then very slowly lost their positions. Scythians, Sarmatians, Goths, Pechenegs, Polovtsy and Tatars replaced each other. Therefore, they not only played some role, they themselves were the history of this region and determined all its processes.
5. What states existed in the 7th-9th centuries. in the Volga region?
The 7th century still saw the Turkic Khaganate, which collapsed at the beginning of this century. But most of it in the Volga region existed the Khazar Kaganate and Volga Bulgaria.
6. How natural conditions influenced the types of economic activities of the Finno-Ugric peoples?
Finno-Ugric tribes lived in a forest zone, so they could not engage in cattle breeding. It was also because of the forests that they practiced slash-and-burn farming: there was something to cut down and burn. Thanks to the abundance of rivers and lakes, fishing was such an important place for these people.
We think, compare, reflect:
1. How did the invasions of nomads influence the development of sedentary peoples? Is it possible to find positive consequences of such invasions?
Usually nomads forced farmers to move away from their invasions. But sometimes farmers rallied to repel their threat. This is how the Bosporan kingdom appeared. However, it did not cause a rise in culture and did not develop a new form of government. Therefore, his appearance was neither positive nor negative.
But sometimes the consequences were positive. At times, the settled population (though mostly traders) and the nomadic population united into single prosperous states, such as the Khazar Kaganate and Volga Bulgaria.
2. Using the Internet and additional literature, make a notebook list of the peoples who lived in Crimea from ancient times to the 9th century. Find out what peoples live on the modern territory of Crimea.
In Crimea in different times Until the beginning of the 9th century, there lived Cimmerians, Taurians, Scythians, Greeks, Romans, Sarmatians, Alans, Goths, Huns, Byzantines, Jews, Turks, Bulgarians and Khazars.
3. What provisions of the teachings of Islam could attract people who accepted this religion?
Religion is not always adopted for some benefit. Islam has many prohibitions (for example, drinking alcohol); it also includes heavy fasts (for example, it is forbidden to eat during daylight hours for a month). Sometimes people sincerely began to believe in the truth of the teachings of the Koran.
Often what attracted rulers who accepted this faith was that Islam justified their power, and the support of the rest of the Muslim world was also important. Ordinary people usually accepted this faith in Muslim countries, where such a step provided great benefits, starting with tax benefits.
§ 2. Formation of the first states
legal system of government
Reasons for the emergence of the state
The period of the late primitive community was characterized by significant qualitative and quantitative changes that contributed to further evolution primitive society into public education. The emergence of agriculture and cattle breeding, ensuring the regular production of surplus product, made it possible, and in the future inevitable, the establishment social inequality and states. The phase of the late primitive community was the last stage of development of primitive society, which was replaced by the era of transition from community to formation government agencies, the so-called era of the “proto-state”. The development of this form was a long and controversial process. As a result of such factors as: the transformation of the primitive community into a system of increasingly isolated farms; the emergence of a large, patriarchal family; highlighting crafts; development of trade exchange; deepening property and social inequality; formation of private ownership of tools; appearance various forms operation; external territorial wars and conflicts, the size of social formations increased; communities are all in to a greater extent from independent social units turned into components of emerging states. Thus, at the end of the Neolithic, the evolutionary development of society from a lower form of organization (primitive herd) to a higher one (state), characterized by a higher level of social organization and public consciousness, the level of development of the economy and productive forces, the presence of power, subordination and normative regulation.
The primitive communal system was the longest stage in human history - more than a million years. In the scientific community today there is no consensus on when the earliest man (and with him, primitive society) arose. Some believe that this happened 1.5 - 1 million years ago, others attribute its appearance to a time more than 2.5 million years ago. (The latter is confirmed by finds in the upper layers of the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age).
There is also no consensus on the issue of periodization of primitive history, where several special and general (historical) periodizations exist in parallel.
Of the special periodizations, the most important is the archaeological one, which is based on differences in materials and techniques for making tools. Even the ancient Chinese and ancient Roman philosophers knew the division of ancient history into three centuries - stone, bronze (copper) and iron. In the 19th - 20th centuries. The eras and stages of these centuries were typologized and scientifically developed. Stone Age begins with the Old Stone (Paleolithic), in which the eras of the Early (Lower), Middle and Late (Upper) Paleolithic are distinguished. This is followed by the transitional era of the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic), which is sometimes called the “post-Paleolithic” (and sometimes not distinguished at all). The final era of the Stone Age is the New Stone Age (Neolithic), at the end of which the first copper tools appeared.
Archaeological periodization makes it possible to chronology of primitive history. “For most of the ecumene, the Lower Paleolithic ended approximately 100 thousand years, the Middle Paleolithic - 45-40 thousand, Upper Paleolithic- 12-10 thousand, Mesolithic - no earlier than 8 thousand and Neolithic - no earlier than 5 thousand years ago. The Bronze Age lasted until the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e., when the Iron Age began."
Another type of special periodization is paleoanthropological, which is based on the criterion of human biological evolution. Here we distinguish the eras of the existence of archanthropus (ancient man), paleoanthropus ( ancient man) and neoanthropus (fossil human of modern form).
Also worthy of interest is the division of primitive history into the history of primitive societies that existed before the emergence of the first civilizations, and the societies that coexisted with these and later civilizations. (The so-called “apolitean primitive societies” (APO) and “sinpolitean primitive societies” (SPO).
Despite the importance of special periodizations of primitive history, they cannot replace general (historical) periodization, the development of which has been going on for centuries.
The first serious attempt at historical periodization was made in the 19th century. American ethnographer L. G. Morgan, using in his work “ Ancient society» established division historical process into eras of savagery, barbarism and civilization and highlighting in each of them the lowest, middle and highest stages. The lowest stage of savagery begins with the appearance of man and articulate speech, the middle - with the advent of fishing and the use of fire, the highest - with the invention of the bow and arrow. As a criterion for periodization, L. G. Morgan put forward the level of development of productive forces.
L. G. Morgan's periodization was highly appreciated by F. Engels, who at the same time initiated its revision. Summarizing Morgan's periodization, he defined the era of savagery as the time of the appropriating, and the era of barbarism as the time of the producing economy. F. Engels also emphasized the qualitative uniqueness of the lowest stage of savagery as a kind of period of the “human herd”. The same qualitative originality of the highest level of barbarism was shown by him in a special chapter (“Barbarism and Civilization”) of his work “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.”
Subsequent theoretical developments, which used as a criterion for the periodization of primitive history not the level of development of productive forces, but differences in the method of production (in particular, in the forms of production relations), led to the fact that most researchers today adhere to the identification of the main stages of this history with main types of development of a primitive community:
Proto-community (primitive human herd), or period
the formation of the primitive system;
- - early primitive and late primitive (early and late natal), or the period of maturity of primitive society;
- - primitive neighboring (proto-peasant) communities, or the period of decomposition of primitive society.
Based on “...from the most established points of view, the eras of general (historical) periodization can be compiled with the most important links of archaeological and paleoanthropological schemes as follows.
“The first men probably lived in herds, and as far back as our eyes can go we find that this was so.”
In the era of the ancestral community, “... people lived in small related groups of 20 - 30 people, moving randomly from place to place.” As the group grew, difficulties arose in organization and nutrition. If it grew too large, some families had to break away and go in search of new lands - usually in the same region. There were no problems with this as long as the population remained relatively small and there was plenty of free land. The main occupation and main sources of food for people in autonomous local groups were hunting, fishing and gathering. They required a lot of time, while gathering provided relatively little food, which was also low in calories, and hunting was also a dangerous activity, often accompanied by victims, and not always successful.
People had to wage a constant struggle for existence: “...primitive man was completely depressed by the difficulty of existence, the difficulty of fighting nature.”* The need to defend against enemies, to help each other endure everyday hardships, and finally, to simply survive, served as an incentive for uniting people into related groups. Moreover, this unity was limited only by blood kinship. “Our wild ancestors did not recognize any brotherhood, with the exception of real consanguinity, which they considered as existing fact. If two people were not related by blood, there could be nothing in common between them.” Kinship ties were the starting point that connected individuals into a collective.
Autonomous local groups are already built on the principle of married couples, although it should be emphasized that paired unions are extremely fragile.
The appropriative nature of the economy and the resulting specificity of consumption predetermine a whole set of fundamental principles on which relationships within the group are built.
A person at this stage could not provide a stable supply of food sufficient to meet minimal needs. The rhythm of consumption is very uneven. Periods of successful hunting brought an abundance of food that could not be stored. But then long periods of hungry existence could follow. And in that other case, the only way out was naturally the principle of equalizing consumption - otherwise the group would simply die out. The appropriating economy and the equalizing consumption that resulted from it left a corresponding imprint on relations within the group. An autonomous local group is egalitarian. The gender and age division within the collective affected the order of consumption, causing certain deviations from the principle of egalitarianism, but this is not at all the embryo of social inequality, “... this is an inequality of a different kind, genetically going back to the inequality known in the animal world.”
Who carried out management functions in a local group, what did they consist of, and what was the general mechanism for regulating the behavior of group members?
There is still a very long way to go to any kind of property and social inequality. Although norms of behavior exist, there are no special mechanisms based on coercion dedicated to their observance. There is a leader in the group, but the only thing he could rely on was his authority (prestige), with the help of which he resolved issues of the life of the group within his competence. He had no other levers of power.
The very conditions of existence were a significant help in the leader’s performance of his functions and, probably, the main regulator ensuring the proper behavior of group members. An individual without a collective was doomed to death, hence the fear of the most severe punishment - expulsion from the collective - determined the conformity of the behavior of an individual member. But fear was not the only driving force behind compliance with intragroup norms. At the head of the hierarchy of values primitive man lay the already mentioned prestige, which depended on public opinion. In general, the team’s assessment of the individual played an exclusive role in that period. great value. This was also due to the peculiarities of the coexistence of economic and social relations. “...Economic relations in ancient societies... are not a special, much less a determining sphere, but are immersed in social relations, forming together with them, as it were, a single whole.”* The essence of this merging of economic and social is the existence of a system of equivalent exchange, the so-called “reciprocity” (from the Latin gesirgoso - move back and forth, return back). Since hunting and food production remained an individual matter, and consumption was a collective one, the introduction of a group of extracted product into the common pot entailed receiving in return social benefits that were quite valued at that time, moreover, social benefits that stood at the top of the pyramid of values and were expressed in the approval of side of the group in gaining prestige. “The leader had to be generous. Everything he had or acquired, the leader gave to the group, receiving respect and prestige in return.”
A rather impractical way of behavior in our opinion was the only way for the group to survive and, moreover, subsequently, at the stage of the appearance of a surplus product, it played one of the main roles in the formation of a separate layer of “managers”, in consolidating the principle of centralized redistribution (from the Latin redistribuo - redistribute ) the total product of the collective. It is interesting to note that during the period under review, the development of productive forces did not have the significance for the evolution of social forms that was attributed to it in Russian literature. Rather, on the contrary, the dominant role in this sense was played by the subjective principle inherent in the principle of meritocracy (from the Latin meritus - worthy and the Greek kratos - power), which created the necessary preconditions for the emergence of a social product. The reasons for the emergence of the latter lie on a different plane, but the leader’s thirst for prestige - and hence, as a consequence, the emergence at subsequent stages of a desire for maximum growth in the economic function of the collective - is an exclusively subjective factor.
State - political structure of a special kind, which arose at a certain stage of social development, representing the central institution of power in political system specific society.
The emergence of the state is due to a whole complex of economic, climatic, geographical, religious and other factors that are of great importance for the organization public life. Therefore, it is necessary to distinguish between the reasons, conditions and forms of state formation.
The emergence of the state and the constantly renewed need for its existence were, first of all, a consequence of the self-development of society, which has its own internal mechanisms and incentives for development and requires coordinated guiding influence from a single center.
This was to a certain extent facilitated by changes in natural and climatic conditions. The onset of cold weather led to the disappearance of large animals and forests. People split into small family groups and roamed along with migrating animals. The decrease in animal biomass and the expansion of the steppe area encouraged people to engage in agriculture and cattle breeding. However, natural, climatic and other circumstances stimulating specialization labor activity, only accelerated the process of state formation, but did not serve as its cause.
In the theory of the state, there are two main conceptual approaches regarding the reasons for the emergence of the state - class and economic. Supporters of the class approach (K. Marx, F. Engels and their supporters) see the reason for the emergence of the state in the split of society into classes, which arose as a result of the socio-economic development of society and the division of labor, while supporters of the economic approach (A.V. Vengerov and others) believe that the state was formed during the transition of society from an appropriating economy to a producing one (ca. 4-3 thousand BC). One way or another, the state was the highest level of evolutionary development of primitive society and human social consciousness.
So, the reasons for the emergence of the state are as follows:
- 1) transition from an appropriating economy to a producing economy;
- 2) division of labor: the separation of cattle breeding, the separation of crafts from agriculture, the emergence of a special class of people - merchants;
- 3) the emergence of a surplus product, which entailed the property stratification of society;
- 4) the emergence of private ownership of tools and products of labor, which led to the social and class stratification of society.
- 5) strengthening of public power, the formation of governing bodies, and as a consequence - the creation of a state apparatus.
In connection with the increasing complexity of social production and the reproduction of man himself, the need has arisen to organize society in a new way and ensure the management of social processes. This was facilitated by the achievement of a certain level of social well-being, which made it possible to maintain a professional, specialized management apparatus. It is symptomatic that the emergence of the state was preceded by a transitional period of military democracy, accompanied by constant wars, allowing the elite to quickly and legitimately enrich themselves by plundering other tribes and gain a foothold in a certain territory. This contributed to the rise of the leader and his inner circle. The leader was endowed with supernatural qualities and therefore often performed priestly functions. His power gradually became hereditary, and taxes for the maintenance of the squad and closest assistants turned into taxes.
The above circumstances served as the basis for the formation of the state and state power, the main task of which was to maintain the unity and stability of human society.
At the same time, the question of the origin of the state is debatable, because ethnographic and historical science provide new knowledge about the reasons for its origin. In various theories, the reasons for the emergence of the state are: in theological - divine power; in contract - the power of reason, consciousness; in psychological - factors of the human psyche; in organic - biological factors; in materialism - socio-economic factors; in the theory of violence - military-political factors, etc.
One should keep in mind the specific historical specificity and different proportions of the influence of these reasons on the formation of states among individual peoples, which determine their typological and other features.