International Science Community Association International Research Journal of Social Sciences 2319 7 12 2018 12 14 Conceptualizing state to determine dysfunctional state in the idealistic perspective 1 6 EN Ampong Matthew Boadie – Ampong 1 National Research University-Higher School of Economics, Department of Public Policy, Myasnitskaya Street 20, Moscow-101000, Russia > Research Article 2018 9 8 2018 12 14 The study of state has progressively become a significant concept in political analysis research. In political sciences, state has always been the centre of its analytical studies such that the classic definitions of politics is indirectly understood as the discovery and exploration of state. The study therefore conceptualised state from the etymological and semantic perspective to the specification of state to broader concepts. It also took into consideration the derivation of other autonomous concept from states. These autonomous concepts were further utilised to analyse the dysfunctionality of states using the argumentations posited by scholars of the ideal theory. Also secondary empirical data was used to provide and build contestations in the study. The study depicted that states are not functioning effectively in the context of promoting public interest since they are unable to hold on to the ethical principles that idealism postulate to be the role of a well-functioning state. Copyright@ International Science Community Association