Theories of sovereignty
First emerged as a response to the problem of social unrest and the lack of legitimate ground of
social order
Legitimacy: when something’s existence can be defended and justified with reasoning
Social order regulates how people should behave -> and thus should be legitimate for overall
acceptance
People with authority should be able to justify their power and order over the people that they
rule
Pluralistic: powers were dispersed to many centres of power
Monism: one supreme centre of power
Advancement to modernity was the transition from Medieval times to Modern times
Modernity: becoming independent of (science, economics, politics) domains of society
Changes happened in the fields of science, economic, political
1) Science: was scholastic (strongly influenced/limited by Aristotle and Christian faith)
aimed to discover life as God had created it. Modernisation meant that science and the
scientific method were separated from Christian systems of beliefs and the Church.
Secular human reason could discover life and the world without involving religion. They
formed hypothesis and conducted controlled experiments
Aristotle and Aquinas: thought that a rational natural order existed, and that it was man’s task to
discover this order to live a good live. They developed morality and knowledge
- In Modernity, the unity of scientific knowledge and morality breaks down: the universe is
no longer teleological (no purpose of overall goodness) and science can be performed
without serving a higher purpose. Humanity can gain a scientific knowledge of nature of
control, not gods will but human’s will to control the world and build a society
2) Economic: supported by changes in science and developing technology. The invention of
the compass led to European colonialism and overseas trade and exploration, which led
to early formed globalisation through trade. Social classes in the Medieval times were
built on three layers: workers (peasants), fighters (noble), prayers (clergy)
The Industrial Revolution led to industrialisation, the development of markets, labour and money
and urbanisation which resulted in the rise of a capitalistic economy
- There was a change in economic focus of work on agriculture to urbanisation in
industries
- Class structure changed as a result of the merchants who worked in trade. The
merchant class (bourgeoisie) resulted in a change in the dynamic and were the center of
economic development
- Merchants developed early stages of Global Law: Lex Mercatoria to regulate practice of
trade
, 3) Political: medeival society was divided into a plurality of different types of religion,
political and legal orders resulted in different sectors creating their own types of law with
no centralised authority to control them all
Modernity led to a centralisation of power to the state which had become the sovereign power
The emergence of a secular state was partially a cause of economic factors, as the
several types of law werent benefitting the rise in merchants and bourgeoise society -> a
need of security was required
- The state supported a rise in colonialism and trade
- There was an overall loss in the belief of divinity and the right of kings, resulting in the
older system's lack of function. People no longer accepted that they had to obey the
commands of the King because he represented God
- Human autonomy and independence replaced the idea of the world being led by a
greater God
The emergence of a secular state was also a result of religious reformation
- There was a collapse of the Christian unity in Europe, resulting in several branches of
Christianity-> resulted in conflict and religious wars
Treaty of Westphalia: beginning of a series of transformations into the formation of a
Westphalian state-> sovereign state authority having the highest power over the remaining
population, separation from the Church and the ability to punish those who break the law
Individualism: rights of individuals
The fall of Medieval ideas of the will of god resulted in the rise of individualism, and their destiny
is no longer decided by god. Individuals are able to govern themselves individually without the
power of the church
Thomas Hobbes
Individual freedom is the central building block in the justification for state sovereignty
- Hobbes was a protoliberal:Not totalitarian
- Born in 1558 in a small English rural time
- Fear and longing for security are the most prominent emotions in Hobbes’ political
theories
- Believed that political theory should be made a science of its own based on the laws of
human psychology and empirical facts about the world and human beings
Hobbes Political Theories:
Structure of his writing:
- Descriptions and arguments about what the individual is like
- Political questions
Methodological individualism: the suggestion that we better understand the nature of political
organisation and law if there is a better understanding of what individuals are like
, Leviathan
The utmost aim is the creation of a peaceful social order
which could only exist if there is a single sovereign supreme
power that everyone respects and obeys
The Leviathan shows the sovereign's body filled with all
citizens' bodies. This captures the idea of the sovereign as
the power to unite all citizens, coerce them to its will and
simultaneously protect them from internal and external threats
- Starts with the workings about the human mind,
senses, passions and language
- Later in the book he discusses political philosophy
- States that humans firstly always pursue their own
survival and preservation skills, aiming to avoid death
and secure security
Mechanical mechanism: the whole
Fascinated by the mechanical clock, believed that society and nature performed similarly.
Nature is created by god, society is created by human beings and the workings of both can be
explained by how their individual parts causally affect each other
1) The human body and political organisation was seperated into smaller parts. The idea is
to analyse how each part would perform separately without external influence
2) Then, each individual part’s influence on the whole would be analysed. A focus on how
the individual parts of the body and political organisation impact each other
Body politic: political organisation, the state, the commonwealth is an artificial built
arrangement
The state of nature: a lawless state with no general law, used to justify the existence of public
authority
- A thought experiment that reduces society to its component parts, mere individuals
- Everyone is the judge and executioner in their own case
- Everything is practical and in rational reason because there is no public law to bind all
people
- In the state of nature, one’s liberty is actually limited by others’ liberty to do whatever
they want
In the absence of all legal institutions: “Men live without a common power to keep them all in
awe”
-> For Hobbes, the state of nature with no legal institutions or governing powers is a clear
dystopia, and cause a state of war for all against all
Reasons for pessimistic view:
- Theory of humans always pursuing their own survival skills out of fear of death
- Everyone’s their own judge of what they can and cant do and how to preserve their own
life
First emerged as a response to the problem of social unrest and the lack of legitimate ground of
social order
Legitimacy: when something’s existence can be defended and justified with reasoning
Social order regulates how people should behave -> and thus should be legitimate for overall
acceptance
People with authority should be able to justify their power and order over the people that they
rule
Pluralistic: powers were dispersed to many centres of power
Monism: one supreme centre of power
Advancement to modernity was the transition from Medieval times to Modern times
Modernity: becoming independent of (science, economics, politics) domains of society
Changes happened in the fields of science, economic, political
1) Science: was scholastic (strongly influenced/limited by Aristotle and Christian faith)
aimed to discover life as God had created it. Modernisation meant that science and the
scientific method were separated from Christian systems of beliefs and the Church.
Secular human reason could discover life and the world without involving religion. They
formed hypothesis and conducted controlled experiments
Aristotle and Aquinas: thought that a rational natural order existed, and that it was man’s task to
discover this order to live a good live. They developed morality and knowledge
- In Modernity, the unity of scientific knowledge and morality breaks down: the universe is
no longer teleological (no purpose of overall goodness) and science can be performed
without serving a higher purpose. Humanity can gain a scientific knowledge of nature of
control, not gods will but human’s will to control the world and build a society
2) Economic: supported by changes in science and developing technology. The invention of
the compass led to European colonialism and overseas trade and exploration, which led
to early formed globalisation through trade. Social classes in the Medieval times were
built on three layers: workers (peasants), fighters (noble), prayers (clergy)
The Industrial Revolution led to industrialisation, the development of markets, labour and money
and urbanisation which resulted in the rise of a capitalistic economy
- There was a change in economic focus of work on agriculture to urbanisation in
industries
- Class structure changed as a result of the merchants who worked in trade. The
merchant class (bourgeoisie) resulted in a change in the dynamic and were the center of
economic development
- Merchants developed early stages of Global Law: Lex Mercatoria to regulate practice of
trade
, 3) Political: medeival society was divided into a plurality of different types of religion,
political and legal orders resulted in different sectors creating their own types of law with
no centralised authority to control them all
Modernity led to a centralisation of power to the state which had become the sovereign power
The emergence of a secular state was partially a cause of economic factors, as the
several types of law werent benefitting the rise in merchants and bourgeoise society -> a
need of security was required
- The state supported a rise in colonialism and trade
- There was an overall loss in the belief of divinity and the right of kings, resulting in the
older system's lack of function. People no longer accepted that they had to obey the
commands of the King because he represented God
- Human autonomy and independence replaced the idea of the world being led by a
greater God
The emergence of a secular state was also a result of religious reformation
- There was a collapse of the Christian unity in Europe, resulting in several branches of
Christianity-> resulted in conflict and religious wars
Treaty of Westphalia: beginning of a series of transformations into the formation of a
Westphalian state-> sovereign state authority having the highest power over the remaining
population, separation from the Church and the ability to punish those who break the law
Individualism: rights of individuals
The fall of Medieval ideas of the will of god resulted in the rise of individualism, and their destiny
is no longer decided by god. Individuals are able to govern themselves individually without the
power of the church
Thomas Hobbes
Individual freedom is the central building block in the justification for state sovereignty
- Hobbes was a protoliberal:Not totalitarian
- Born in 1558 in a small English rural time
- Fear and longing for security are the most prominent emotions in Hobbes’ political
theories
- Believed that political theory should be made a science of its own based on the laws of
human psychology and empirical facts about the world and human beings
Hobbes Political Theories:
Structure of his writing:
- Descriptions and arguments about what the individual is like
- Political questions
Methodological individualism: the suggestion that we better understand the nature of political
organisation and law if there is a better understanding of what individuals are like
, Leviathan
The utmost aim is the creation of a peaceful social order
which could only exist if there is a single sovereign supreme
power that everyone respects and obeys
The Leviathan shows the sovereign's body filled with all
citizens' bodies. This captures the idea of the sovereign as
the power to unite all citizens, coerce them to its will and
simultaneously protect them from internal and external threats
- Starts with the workings about the human mind,
senses, passions and language
- Later in the book he discusses political philosophy
- States that humans firstly always pursue their own
survival and preservation skills, aiming to avoid death
and secure security
Mechanical mechanism: the whole
Fascinated by the mechanical clock, believed that society and nature performed similarly.
Nature is created by god, society is created by human beings and the workings of both can be
explained by how their individual parts causally affect each other
1) The human body and political organisation was seperated into smaller parts. The idea is
to analyse how each part would perform separately without external influence
2) Then, each individual part’s influence on the whole would be analysed. A focus on how
the individual parts of the body and political organisation impact each other
Body politic: political organisation, the state, the commonwealth is an artificial built
arrangement
The state of nature: a lawless state with no general law, used to justify the existence of public
authority
- A thought experiment that reduces society to its component parts, mere individuals
- Everyone is the judge and executioner in their own case
- Everything is practical and in rational reason because there is no public law to bind all
people
- In the state of nature, one’s liberty is actually limited by others’ liberty to do whatever
they want
In the absence of all legal institutions: “Men live without a common power to keep them all in
awe”
-> For Hobbes, the state of nature with no legal institutions or governing powers is a clear
dystopia, and cause a state of war for all against all
Reasons for pessimistic view:
- Theory of humans always pursuing their own survival skills out of fear of death
- Everyone’s their own judge of what they can and cant do and how to preserve their own
life
