Meeting them is, arguably, one function of the state.
"Provision of public education of good quality is a core function of the state," Singh says.
Freedom of expression is a "function of the state", he claims.
Immigration control has traditionally been viewed as an inalienable sovereign function of the state.
Under the caliphates, the collection and expenditure of zakat was a function of the state.
The Lib Dems swallowed the story that the country needed a boiling down of every function of the state to its bare bones.
"The true function of the state as it interferes in social life," Roosevelt wrote, "should be to make the chances of competition more even, not to abolish them".
"The true function of the state, as it interferes with social life," he wrote, "should be to make the chances of competition more even, not to abolish them".
National security is a prime function of the State, and in this day and age it takes many forms.
It needs to have, as Eric Hobsbawm used to say, 'the future in its bones': a socialism that embraces technology and modernity and sees the function of the state as supporting and empowering citizens in an age of insecurity.
And unless governments reassert control over what used to be a core sovereign function of the state, many more Jimmy Mubengas are likely to die.
