Department of Political Science

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Open Access
The State: A Conceptual Jungle?
(2013) FADAKINTE, M. M.; Fadakinte, M.M.
The idea of the state has been appearing in political thought/theory, with its definition and meaning varying from the time of Plato through Hobbes to Marx, denoting and connoting country, society, nation, government or community. Thus, what is the state? However, the centrality of the state in contemporary political discourse demands that our understanding of the concept of state should have some clarity, in that, the meaning of the state should be more specific, for clearer and more meaningful analyses of political issues. This paper therefore interrogates the idea of the state from Plato to Marx and concluded that scholars have added to the confusion regarding the definition and meaning of the state, because they fail to differentiate the spirit of the state, people being together, from its basic characteristics (identifying it). The state means the dominant group of people in society, who exercises power through the government. Therefore, it will not be apt to refer to a country of multinationals like Nigeria, India, Ghana, and Kenya as states.