What are the Cornerstones of the Transition to the Modern State? Chapter-4

The modern conception of the state emerged in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and has survived to the present day. The most important feature that distinguishes modern states from traditional states is its understanding of sovereignty and legitimacy. 

In the pre-modern period, it was believed that state power originated from God and that all power came from God. In this period, the legitimacy of the political power-state was based on religious, mythological and traditional sources. 

With the transition to the modern understanding of the state, the idea that state power originated from society and that its legitimacy should be sought within the dynamics of society began to be accepted. Thus, the source of political power became secularized and its legitimacy was based on rational principles. 

With the New Age, there was a transition from the traditional understanding of the state to the modern understanding of the state. However, this transition was intertwined with the transformation experienced by Europe in this period. From this point of view, the modern conception of the state is the result of economic, political and social developments in a certain historical period. It can also be said that the modern conception of the state is the reflection of the philosophical transformation experienced by Europe in this period on state life. 

The intellectual foundations of the modern conception of the state were laid during this philosophical transformation. The modern state theory was formed with the contributions of thinkers such as Niccolo Machiavelli, Jean Bodin, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Emmanuel Sieyes, who lived through this process of change that lasted several centuries. 

The development process of modern states, which emerged in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and has continued to the present day, is divided into two periods. At the end of the Middle Ages, kings, backed by the bourgeoisie, gained the power to liquidate the church and feudalism. Thus, the emergence of monarchs on the stage of history as the sole, absolute and indivisible power holder is considered as the first stage of the modern state concept. This stage refers to a period when absolute monarchies were dominant in Europe. 

Niccolo Machiavelli, Jean Bodin and Thomas Hobbes are considered as the founders of modern state theory. What these three thinkers have in common is that they gave political power-state a secular basis and advocated realizing it in the context of absolute monarchies. Before these three thinkers, it was believed that state power originated from God and that all power came from God. With the theories of Machiavelli, Bodin and Hobbes, the idea that state power originated from society and that its legitimacy should be sought in society became the basis. Thus, the source of sovereignty became secularized and its legitimacy rationalized. This process first started with Machiavelli's fiction of a secular-worldly political power-state free from divinity. Bodin then introduced the concept of sovereignty and defined its basic qualities (absolute, indivisible, inalienable and permanent). Hobbes, in turn, developed the theory of the "Social Contract", which led to the refinement of the modern idea of the state.

Since absolute monarchies abolished the political units of the feudal order in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it has been argued that monarchs have completed their historical functions and duties. The thinkers of the period, who grew up with the secular and rationalist doctrines of the Enlightenment period, pioneered the development of a new political theory by advocating fundamental rights and freedoms, free market economy, separation of powers, limitation of the state, parliamentary democracy, constitutionalism, the source of sovereignty being the people-nation and so on. 

The first of these thinkers was John Locke. Locke wrote texts defending the theory of natural rights, free market economy, separation of powers, limitation of state powers, social contract and the right to resist. He emphasized the trilogy of "Right to Life, Liberty and Property". Thus, he became famous as the thinker who dealt the heaviest blow to absolutist views. The ideas of the famous English philosopher Locke, the first writer to coherently summarize the basic ideas of constitutional democracy, strongly influenced many of the leading thinkers of the French Enlightenment, as well as the founders of the United States.

Rousseau then comprehensively brought together the pioneering ideas put forward by Hobbes and Locke before him and made it famous as the "Social Contract" theory. He preferred to base the source of sovereignty on the people (the mass of citizens). He defended the theory of popular sovereignty and played a pioneering role in establishing the legitimacy of the state on democratic foundations. He argued that the system of representation was incompatible with the understanding of popular sovereignty; he emphasized that sovereignty should be exercised by the citizens themselves. The dominant theme in Rousseau's political works was a passionate desire for equality and an equally passionate sense that the existing structure of society was intolerably unjust. He defined property as the most sacred of citizens' rights.

Sieyes' most important contribution to the understanding of the modern state was his clarification of the concept of "nation" and "representation". He considered the nation as an abstract whole with its own personality and will, separate from its constituents and their wills. Sieyes pointed to this abstract whole (the nation) as the source of sovereignty. In this way, Sieyes was recognized as the father of the theory of "national sovereignty". Sieyes revealed the mechanism of representation by stating that sovereignty can only be exercised through representatives acting on behalf of the nation.

The period of absolute monarchies in Europe continued until the French Revolution of 1789. The period from the 1789 French Revolution to the present day is recognized as the second stage of the modern understanding of the state. At this stage, the sovereignty belonging to the king was taken away from him and given to the society, thus the democratic character of sovereignty was clearly revealed. In addition, when there were developments in the sense that the powers that the sovereign could exercise were not unlimited but could be exercised within certain limits, the concept of 'limited sovereignty' emerged, different from absolute sovereignty. The type of political power of this period, in which sovereignty was limited and democratic qualities were introduced, is the definition of the nation-state.

In this series of articles, three parts of which have already been published, I have endeavored to examine the philosophical foundations of the modern conception of the state and to present the prominent issues to your attention. My aim was to present the theories of the modern state. In this framework, the theories of Niccolo Machiavelli, Jean Bodin, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Emmanuel Sieyes, who were among the thinkers who pondered on the theories of the modern state, were emphasized, and the analysis was carried out within the framework of the works of these thinkers.

I think that the understanding of the modern state, which emerged as a result of the idea of creating a political organization suitable for the new relations and developments created by the economic, political and social developments experienced in a certain historical period, constitutes a basis for all of us in order to better understand today's states, relations between states and international organizations.

Stay with respect and love.