Examine the liberal theory of the State in contemporary politics.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Route 1 individual primary → state by consent to protect liberty / rights / property → claim of limited, neutral state now strained
Route 2 liberal frame still dominant → neutrality questioned by the market turn, inequality, identity claims
Locke foundation (natural rights, consent; “no other end but preservation of property”) vs Hobbes’s order-state → classical (Smith, laissez-faire, “necessary evil”) → modern (J. S. Mill; Rawls / Sen / Dworkin → welfare + opportunity) → neo-liberal turn (Hayek “mirage”, Nozick minimal state; Thatcher TINA; LPG 1991)
2008 crisis + Stiglitz “failed ideology” + Polanyi (markets need the state) → inequality → feminist / Marxist / neo-pluralist denial of neutrality
Route 1 constitutionalism still central → strength = liberty + limits; weakness = assumed neutrality amid inequality
Route 2 social-liberal reform (Rawls / Sen / Dworkin) → liberal state survives by reforming, not retreating
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
