A Night Watchman State, Thesis Paper Example

The concept of the night watchman state refers to a government that is only limited in the provision and control of particular activities. Such undertakings include offering protection to the people, security from both the external and internal hostility, maintenance of law and order, stipulation of laws, and regulations. The state should not interfere with people’s activities as long as they are legal. In addition, private transactions between parties should be free from the government interference. As the liberal sees it, the responsibility of the state comprises mainly and solely in ensuring the security of life, wellbeing, freedom and private property against vicious assaults. Everything that goes past, this is insidiousness. A State that is determined to go so far as to encroach on individual security of life and wellbeing, flexibility, and property would be inside and out terrible. . The citizens are in a position to engage in business and other social duties while enjoying the protection from the government and peaceful environment.This study will concentrates on the practices of the government involved in the night watchman state and the way the citizens are supposed to be handled and treated. The night watchman provides its citizens with the freedom to determine their activities and operations freely, it is the best form of government as it leads to economic growth.

What is a watchman state?

A night watchman state refers to the government with the slightest possible quantity of powers, to maintain the law. Powers applied by a night watchman state can never be lessened any further without eliminating the state in general and initiating a manifestation of lawlessness. The powers of the state are restricted. These include the legal system, the prisons, the police, and the armed forces to protect citizens from intimidation and robbery, guard the nation against external aggression, and punish criminals (Booth 243).

A night watchman state advocates minarchism, which argue that the government must have no right to be a monopoly in using force meddle with transactions between individuals. Moreover, the state has a duty to ensure that the transactions between private parties are free. The minarchists or those who support the night watchman state, therefore, follow the laissez-faire approach and principals to the economy. Therefore, the night watchman State advocates for economic prosperity without the use of force by the state to limit the activities of the citizens apart from the essential factors such as security (Thorburn 442).

The responsibilities of a night watchman state

The responsibility of the Night Watchman State is to provide security to its citizen through the police and the armed forces. The citizens are protected from both the internal and external aggression. The internal aggressions include criminal activities such as theft, murder, harassment, etc. Moreover, the external ones include the terrorist activities, war between nations, and matters concerning the borders.

With the police, the state ought to uphold law and order to shield the citizens and give them opportunities to live their lives freely and peacefully (Booth 257). This ensures that the entrepreneurs and the citizens have time to concentrate on business and other transactions and hence the growth in the overall economy to raise their standards of living.

As the pioneer of free-market, Adam Smith engineered the Laissez-faire philosophy to discourage too much involvement of government in taxing free markets. As the watchman state, he uses his theory to showcase the role of evy person in promoting demand and supply. Smith observes that, while people engange in various monetary activities, they not only benefit financially, but ensure that people get what they want. Arguably, activities that people do end up creating wealth for the state. The state also has a duty to provide public utilities such as schools, hospitals, roads, harbors, canals, airports. This is the most important part of government expenditure. If utilized in the best way leads to a higher rate of growth of the economy and hence improves the wee-being of the citizens by raising the standards of living. According to Adam Smith, if public expenditure had been the leading expenditure, apart from the other government expenditures, the economy would have improved drastically (Booth 257). Moreover, the primary concern of the state on public instructions is the education for the youth and healthcare services. Arguably, the two institutions form a massive budget and hence the government should be involved. Notably, the amount of money used for such building, school fees, and teachers’ remuneration is too high. Smith supports the public expenditure of the post office and the Royal Mint, in addition to other government activities such as the collection of taxes, payment of civil servants, and inspection of products to ensure quality. The night watchman state has the duty to provide rules and laws that govern the citizens. These laws include business laws, laws concerning the interaction of the citizens, and regulations of individual events (Thorburn 439).

Does the idea of the watchman state cover the responsibilities of the government or are there other responsibilities that the government must fulfill?

The idea of the watchman state or monarchism covers the duties of the government as a whole and, therefore, the government should not be involved or given other responsibility. The government should not have other added duties in order to concentrate on a few given to it. This is because the duties it has are very sensitive and hence it should concentrate to ensure that the highest quality of its output. This will help its citizen to engage fully in matters concerning the growth of the economy.

Adding other responsibilities to the state would mean interfering with the citizens’ activities. The government ought to limit itself only to the duties outlined above in the paper. Government being involved in other duties would mean that the use of force to the citizens would increase and hence the interference would be problematic to the people and hence democracy would be compromised. According to the champions of democracy in the 18th century, monarchs are injudicious, evil and depraved since they control everything. Further, they argue that the citizens are pure, noble, and kind and have intellectual gifts required in determining what is what is to be done (Kennedy 2005). It is, however, nonsense because they are restricted and have no freedom and free will to do what they wish. The night watchman is against this. The people must be given a chance to make decisions and transact freely with others while the government should provide security, defense, and peaceful environment for the citizens and to improve the economy.

In summary, the government ought not to interfere with every activity undertaken by its citizens. The people should have their freedoms while the state undertakes the duties of protecting them and providing the essential services and utilities that cannot be left in the hands of the private individuals because of their sensitive nature. The aforementioned utilities include security, the police, courts of law, and the army among others. According to the monarchism, this form of government is the best for the growth of the economy. Therefore, the State should be restricted to only certain activities meant to benefit the majority as opposed to a select group.

Works Cited

Booth, Anne. “Night watchman, extractive, or developmental states? Some evidence from late colonial south?east Asia1.” The Economic History Review 60.2 (2007): 241-266. Print

Thorburn, Malcolm. “Reinventing The Night-Watchman State? .” University of  Toronto law journal 60.2 (2010): 425-444. Print

Kennedy, Gavin. Adam Smith’s Lost Legacy. Palgrave Macmillan, 2005. Print