Abstract:

The phenomenon of political administration has been a significant part of social life for thousands of years. Therefore, the institution of politics is regarded as one of the basic and permanent social institutions examined by sociology. The phenomenon of administration is the focus of several discussions in terms of the restrictive nature of individual freedom. A structure that restricts individual freedoms need to have legitimate justifications which can be adopted by public conscience. So, issues such as the conditions of the emergence of political administration historically, various types of administration, duties and functions of state towards society and the limits of the authority during the performance of these duties have always been discussed. In this context, there are various debates and approaches regarding the status of the state and political administration. Some approaches view the existence of the state as necessary and indispensable whereas some others regard the state as the embodiment of injustice and inequality. Another approach looks for the state’s practical legitimacy either in its ability to reflect popular will or in its mission to serve for a faith or ideology. Last, there is an approach suggests that the limits of the state authority should be very wide whereas other conflicting approaches advocate a minimal state organization or even demands for an organization with no administration. As the scope of the topic is very wide, it is tried to mention only relevant main approaches within the limits of this paper. Thus it is attempted to make a general outline of the framework of these debates without entering into its details.

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