"A strong state is a state that ensures the well-being of its citizens, but also respects the rights of its citizens"

A strong state is presented as more than a monopoly on force; it is a steward of collective flourishing and a guardian of individual dignity. The first clause emphasizes capacity: competent institutions that deliver public goods, healthcare, education, infrastructure, safety nets, macroeconomic stability. These functions reduce vulnerability, expand opportunity, and cultivate the capabilities people need to shape their lives. Yet capacity alone can drift into paternalism or coercion if unbounded.

That is why the second clause, respecting rights, is not a constraint tacked on after the fact but a constitutive element of strength. Rights ground the legitimacy of state action, channel power through law, and protect pluralism, dissent, and private initiative. A government that can build roads and hospitals but cannot tolerate criticism or due process corrodes trust and invites brittle compliance; it may appear formidable, but it lacks resilience.

The formulation rejects a false dichotomy between welfare and liberty. Economic security without freedoms becomes dependency; freedoms without material footing ring hollow for those excluded by poverty or discrimination. The benchmark is a dynamic equilibrium: institutions capable enough to act, and restrained enough to be accountable. That balance requires transparent budgeting, judicial independence, free media, fair elections, and predictable rules for markets and civil society.

Strength, then, is measured by outcomes and procedures: do people live longer, learn more, and prosper, and are they protected from arbitrary power while doing so? Crises test this definition. A robust state can mobilize resources swiftly while preserving proportionality and oversight; emergency powers sunset, rights remain justiciable, and the social safety net cushions shocks.

Ultimately, the state’s power is justified not by fear or grandeur but by the everyday experience of liberty with security. Where both are present, citizens invest trust, cooperation rises, and the polity becomes durable in both prosperity and adversity. That mutual reinforcement is the hallmark of genuine state strength.