5. THE STATE AS AN INSTITUTE OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM

The state does not belong to eternal phenomena. There have been and still are societies that have not created special specialized and public institutions that have the ability to use legitimate coercion. In a society without a state, political functions are not monopolized on a permanent basis by its privileged part. There is no power of the central group, based on a hierarchical administrative apparatus and building its activities on the basis of legal norms.

How does the transition from a society without a state to a society with a state occur? It is carried out when, as a result of the development of productive forces, a surplus product appears and it becomes possible to regulate the conditions of vital activity, use part of the social product for accumulation, which gives rise to social differentiation, the desire of those who have mastered this product to consolidate into a homogeneous social group that dominates the rest. of society. This is how social stratification appears, i.e. organization of society, in which hierarchical groups are interconnected by relations of domination and subordination. The dominant groups begin to perform the functions of organization and control over economic activity, and subordinates become employees who create a social product. The management team for maintaining and reproducing relations of domination and subordination uses various methods - from the authority of tradition to violence. The relationship between the governors and the governed lies in the framework of the political community, where the roles of the power carriers and their subordinates are institutionalized.

Thus, any political system is a hierarchical union of governors and governed, and those with power constitute a minority, often called the "political elite . " It realizes its will through the bureaucratic apparatus, ideological legitimization, coercion, and relies on the consent of the rest of the population. In the mechanism of reaching agreement, traditions, customs, habits, and means of manipulating people's minds occupy an important place. The society is interested in the fact that consent takes the form of legitimacy, and in this respect the role of official ideologies aimed at strengthening statehood and peace on the principles of legality is significant. When they turn out to be insufficient, the state resorts to violence.