Estado y Violencia

Abstract

The text deals with the relationship between the State and violence, first in Weber’s classic definition, in order to show its scope and limitations. From this questioning, and searching for a more adequate analysis of the times, Hannah Arendt’s notion of violence is used. I am interested in rescuing his argument in favor of the need to differentiate ‘power’ from ‘violence’, and the implications for a way of conceiving the State and the distant politics of the conception inherited from Weber. From Joel Migdal, I try to take advantage of his idea of the State as an entity forced to contest power and compete with political bodies that can become stronger and, therefore, weaken or conquer it.