The power a state wields is dependant on several factors. Marx and Weber both have theories as to how states acquire, hold and increase their levels of power. Marx was not explicit in defining his theories of state, but he wrote on the subject and his followers have expanded on his writings. Weber built his theory upon the theories of the Marx. The followers of Marx have developed two competing theories of state based on Marx's original writings of the Communist Manifesto in 1848 and in several other pieces. These will be presented followed by Weber's theory of how the state generates, maintains, and increases its power.
A key component of this discussion is the idea of a nation-state. The United States is an example of a nation-state. It has a dominant culture and language, which forms the nation, and it has a single political entity, the federal government. marxism and Weberism both operate in the political-economic sphere. The actions and consequences of the government and the economy take place in the arena of the nation-state.
The Marxists who follow the teachings of the Communist Manifesto take a strictly economic approach to a theory of state. This approach reduces everything down to a basic economic relationship. The state is nothing more than "a committee for organizing the affairs of the bourgeoisie". The basic analogy behind this is that the state preserves the relations of social domination. Economism does not specify which relations of dominance are preserved. These relationships may be along class, national, ethnic or gender lines. The essential motivation of profit in a capitalistic society is for profit. This causes relationships to be by nature oppressive.
A second component of economism is the "base-superstructure model" of society. This second idea of Marxism uses an engineering analogy to describe the foundation of economic relationships on which a society's ideology and politics a...