Comparative Politics

1. DEFENCE AND SECURITY
The main topics in this chapter are:
• The state and security
• Defence and national security
• Internal law and order
• Other forms of protection
• The limitations of state security
• Theories of security and conflict

2. STATE AND SECURITY
• In 1651, the British philosopher Thomas Hobbes
(1588–1679) published a classical defence of the need
for security in society.
• What was needed was a third party commanding
enough power to make sure that each citizen respected
the security of everybody else. This is where the state
– or the ‘King’ or ‘Leviathan’ as Hobbes preferred to
call it – comes in.

4. • According to this line of reasoning the state’s main
task is to provide physical security for its citizens.
• Hobbes’ argument still underpins the case for a state
that wields a monopoly of the legitimate use of
physical force in order to protect itself and its
citizens.

5. DEFENCE AND NATIONAL SECURITY
• Protecting the state and its citizens from outside
aggression is probably the most conventional task of
any government.
•Conflict Resolution: Conflicts involving states can
be classified according to the degree of violence
involved.

6. • Severe conflicts can not be solved easily by
exchanging views and trying to reach agreement. In
cases where there is little trust, those involved may
use third-party mediation (or conciliation) to try to
find common ground – turning to an ‘honest broker’
who can break the deadlock. Conflicting states may
bring their case to the Security Council of the UN or
to the International Court of justice (ICJ), or to some
other authoritative international body.

7. • Mediation: Attempt by a third party to reach an agreement between
disputing parties on the basis of an investigation of the facts of the dispute.
• The use of violence between states is – measured by the
number of conflicts – rather limited.
• Just Wars: In the international community, violent action
is accepted only if (1) force is used in self-defence, or (2)
the action is authorised by the Un. Straightforward as
these principles may seem, they are highly disputed in
any given case.
• The self-defence problem is even greater in the case of
conflict within a state.

8. • Military Expenditure: In spite of the determined attempts
to regulate conflicts by peaceful means or to rely on Un action,
many states maintain large armies or manufacture large amounts
of military equipment.
• The ‘top five’ states in the world with the largest defence budgets
are;
• 1. USA
• 2. China
• 3. Russia
• 4. India
• 5. Britain

9. • The picture of military spending changes dramatically
when we calculate it as a percentage of gross domestic
product (or GDP).
• Global trading is heavily dominated by US firms.
• some argue that high levels of military spending are
part of the problem of security in the world, and not
the solution.
•Prevention: Attempt to hinder or deter delinquent
behaviour.

11. INTERNAL LAW AND ORDER
• Citizens, however, the protection of life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness starts at home: they expect government
to protect their life and property and to punish those who
break the law.
• Law enforcement and punishment of offenders are among the
traditional tasks of the state the autonomy of the legal
system is based on the idea that judges should be independent
of the government and final arbiters of the law.

12. CRIME, PUNISHMENT AND PREVENTION
• The conventional way to deal with crime is to search for
offenders, bring them to court and punish them for their
behaviour. The most common measure against grave
breaches of the law is to send offenders to jail.
• Law and order is an expensive business. Prisons are also
expensive, but even long sentences do not seem to act as a
deterrent so the preferred solution of many politicians to
the crime problem does not seem to work.

13. OTHER FORM OF PROTECTION
•Information
•Certification
•Permisson
•Product Safety

14. • Information: Governments try to protect their citizens by requiring
the producers of goods and services to inform consumers about what
they are buying.
• Certification: Governments issue rules not only for the
standardisation of products (electric plugs should be the same size and
shape) but also for safety standards, and they then certify the products
as suitable for public use.
• Permission: In many countries, potentially harmful products such as
medicine, industrial equipment, chemicals and guns, can be sold only
by registered dealers and to people who are licensed to use them by
medical prescription, driving licences or gun licences.

15. •Product Safety: Product safety is the ability of a
product to be safe for intended use, as determined when
evaluated against a set of established rules.
•The Limitations of State Security: Government
ought to provide security. However, government can not
provide security everytime. Globalization prensents some
obstacles like terrorism, international crime and corruption.
•Terrorism: The use of violence against civilian targets to
create fear for political aims. What some regard as terrorism
is seen as ‘freedom fighting’ by others. Textbook example
Taliban or ISIS.

16. •International Crime: Organising this business
is extremely lucrative, and the chances of arrest are
lower because of international legal and policing
arrangements. Piracy, drugs, weapon trade,
historical materials etc.
•Corruption: The use of illegitimate means to
influence or control the making of public decisions,
or the secret use of public offices or resources for
private purposes.

17. THEORIES OF SECURITY AND
CONFLICT
•Idealism: On the one hand, the idealist approaches that
dominated before the Second World War saw politics as the
struggle between competing ideas and ideologies. The
behaviour of states in the international system was guided, so
far as possible, by ideals and morality, and by the possibility of
peaceful coexistence.
•Realism: In international relations, realism refers to
the view of politics that emphasises the role of self-
interest as a determinant of state policies and hence the
importance of power in these relations.

18. •Policy Communities: Defence policy and the arms
trade are often used as a prime example of the policy
communities that operate in some areas of public policy, and
policy community theory has had some success in explaining
decision making in government.
•The military–industrial Complex: It was first
defined by Wright Mills. This is an elitist theory. According
to Mills, there is an oligarchy (elite administration) in USA
and the citizens only can choose weapon firms or elite
groups through election.