A modern state is an institutionalized division of political labor

Evidence

There is a fourth institutional dimension to be distinguished: control of the means of violence. Military power was always a central feature of pre-modern civilisations. Yet in those civilisations the political centre was never able for long to secure stable military support and typically fell short of securing a monopoly control of the means of violence within its territories. The military strength of the ruling authorities depended upon alliances with local princes or warlords, who were always liable either to break away from or directly to challenge the ruling groups. The successful monopoly of the means of violence within territorially precise borders is distinctive to the modern state. So also is the existence of specific links to industrialism, permeating both the organisation of the military and the weaponry at their disposal. The “industrialisation of war” radically changes the character of warfare, ushering in an era of “total war” and later the nuclear age. — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 155 (#expands, via linked claim)

This image of general society finds a small-scale analogy (infinitely simplified and stylized) in bureaucracy. A bureaucracy consists of a certain order of positions, of a predetermined system of functions. It exists as an ideal structure, irrespective of the particular occupants of these positions. Every new entrant finds within it a clearly defined place which has waited for him, so to speak, and to which his individual talents must be suited. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 189 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Monopoly of violence within precise borders is distinctive to the modern state — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 155; The evolving administrative systems laid groundwork for modern governance. — Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking…, 372; Institutionalization enables collective work while codification imposes a false orthodoxy (+4 more)

Related

• State-led reform and national wars dominate the formation of modern states (similarity 0.83)
• Monopoly of violence within precise borders is distinctive to the modern state (similarity 0.81)
• Agrarian states never achieved the internal pacification of modern states (similarity 0.81)
• The state’s raison d’être is security against the natural equality of potential murderers (similarity 0.81)
• Pre-modern states worked as mechanical blocs of semi-autonomous social groups with dual power (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Monopoly of violence within precise borders is distinctive to the modern state #expands (0.85) — Anthony Giddens, The Consequences of Modernity, 155
• Institutionalization enables collective work while codification imposes a false orthodoxy #expands (0.78)
• Bureaucracy is a stylized model of society’s positional structure #expands (0.78) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 189
• Society operates as a complex formation structured in dominance with relative institutional autonomy #expands (0.75)
• The evolving administrative systems laid groundwork for modern governance. #qualifies (0.72) — Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking…, 372