The State

An examination of the capacities of the state to serve the cause of peace and justice

The future of our species depends on the state on how effectively states resist corporate capture, religious zealotry, and nationalist mania, and how they find a way to work together so that the earth heals and its peoples prosper. Are states up to the task? In this book, the prominent political philosopher Philip Pettit examines the capacities of the state to serve peace and justice both within its borders and beyond them. Doing so, he breaks new ground by making the state the focus of political theory and by presenting a persuasive, historically informed image of an institution that lies at the center of our lives.

Offering an account that is more realist than utopian, stipulating that certain institutions are unlikely to be eliminable but are capable of being improved, Pettit explores the organizational function and structure of the state. He offers a theory and rationale of the state under conditions in which rulers have a real power to achieve things, but not so much power that they can ignore those over whom they rule. In light of that theory, Pettit explores the form that a functional state should ideally take. He contends that it must satisfy a basic ideal of statehood that is arguably presupposed by the richer ideal of justice. Only if states approximate this functional ideal will they be able to deal with the age-old problems of extreme poverty and bitter discord as well as those that loom over the coming centuries, including climate change, population growth, and nuclear arms.

About the Author

Philip Pettit is L. S. Rockefeller University Professor of Human Values at Princeton University and Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Australian National University, Canberra. He is the author of Republicanism, On the People's Terms, Just Freedom, and other books.