Assignment: Founded on Force

Every state is founded on force,' said Trotsky at Brest-Litovsk. That is indeed right. If no social institutions existed which knew the use of violence, then the concept of 'state' would be eliminated, and a condition would emerge that could be designated as 'anarchy,' in the specific sense of this word. Of course, force is certainly not the normal or the only means of the state--nobody says that--but force is a means specific to the state. Today the relation between the state and violence is an especially intimate one. In the past, the most varied institutions--beginning with the sib--have known the use of physical force as quite normal. Today, however, we have to say that a state is a human community that (successfully) claims the physical force within a given territory. Note that 'territory' is one of the characteristics of the state. Specifically, at the present time, the right to use physical force is ascribed to other nstitutions or to individuals only to the extent to which the state permits it. The state is considered the sole source of the 'right' to use violence. Hence, 'politics' for us means striving to share power or striving to influence the distribution of power, either among states or among groups within a state.

This part of the speech stood out to me because it is true that one of the main reasons for the creation of a state is to ensure a certain territories' security. Being able to protect its domain is important because it legitimazies the righteousness of the states' being and their use of force. However, words such as force and power have different meanings when it comes to the state itself and their territories or people. There's a sort of irony in saying that "Politics" for the people means that their is struggle to influence the way power is distributed. While the primary use of force can be used as a means of protecting one's said territory, the state can also use force as a means of controlling its population. This is where the social insitiutions come into play. They help to control the population by "assisting" them in every aspect of their lives. This is much like what we see in United States politics. There are people called Lobbyists and then there are the corporations that campaign or sponsor for a favorable candidate. Either way, they "strive" to share power by seeing who can come up with the most amount of money in order to influence the outcome of an election.