Evolution of the State: From Ancient Philosophy to Modern Democracy
Like Plato, Seeking Ethics in the State
Its purpose is to achieve the good life. For both, the state reflects natural inequalities of human life. Therefore, they propose policy solutions aristocratic.
Medieval Christian Thought
The medieval Christian Church, besides being a spiritual power, is also a political power. This dual responsibility creates a conflict that Christian philosophers should resolve.
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo justified the primacy of the Church over any other political institution. In City of God, he presents human salvation as united to the interests of the Church.
Aquinas
Aquinas claims that the State can and should serve to achieve the common good of citizens, but its sovereignty must be limited by natural law, created by God. Somehow, the State must subordinate the Church.
Modern Political Philosophy
The most important contributions of modern political philosophy agreed on the idea of the absolute necessity of a state.
Machiavelli
Machiavelli theorized about the qualities of a ruler able to maintain political power. We must separate morality from political expediency. In The Prince, he argues that the ruler must pretend to be good.
Bodin
Bodin, analyzing the monarch as sovereign, identified the state with sovereignty, where the sovereign is the king, with inalienable power, although he admits boundaries of natural law and some “fair rules.”
Hobbes
Hobbes defended the need for a strong state to preserve the individual. Without absolute power, anarchy would result from the struggle of all against all. He defended unlimited sovereignty, but acknowledged that the sovereign power would protect the subjects.
From Direct to Representative Democracy
In ancient Greece (5th century BC), citizens actively participated in government (direct democracy). However, due to the size of modern states, this right was given to freely chosen representatives (representative democracy).
The Liberal Democratic State: Popular Sovereignty
- Rousseau: A social contract that generates the state is only acceptable if it represents the general will, encompassing all citizens without exception. The State has power, and this belongs to the people; therefore, popular sovereignty exists.
- Popular sovereignty effectively means accepting the political equality of all citizens. Thus emerged the State as an evolution of liberal democracy. Initially, suffrage was restricted by wealth and gender (censitary vote/no vote for women).
- Many political organizations fought for political rights, culminating in the achievement of universal suffrage, which allowed all citizens to vote regardless of race, sex, economic status, etc.
The Social Democratic State
The transformation of the liberal democratic state occurred after World War II. The situation led to the need to consider collective rights. The state assumed some traditional demands of the labor movement, such as social security, pensions, free public services (education, health, etc.). Consequently, the state is known as the social democratic or welfare state.
Policy and Power
Politics and Power
Policy 2.3: To organize coexistence, we must make decisions that affect the whole community and do not always coincide with the wishes of all. Rules should govern all areas of human action. Such is the power of politics. Politics is an activity pursued by members of a collective aimed at deciding how to organize coexistence.
Power: Compliance is impossible without power. Therefore, policy should reflect on power, its origin, its use, and its scope. Michel Foucault analyzed how power operates and its genealogy. Power is disseminated in multiple forms of everyday life, and its agents use it strategically. Power is a relation of forces, and every social relationship is a manifestation of power (family, work, sports, etc.).
Political Power: Used to organize public life. It means exercising control over the collective imperative that occupies a particular territory. This political power, or institutionalized power in democratic states, must be legitimated by the consensus of the members of the political community to accept the established authority. Max Weber noted, “political power is exclusively the patrimony of the state, exercising the legitimate use of force to perform its functions and objectives.”
The Modern State
The State is the central concept of political science. This type of politico-juridical organization arose in the sixteenth century, during the Renaissance. Neither the Greek polis or Roman civitas nor medieval states were the same as what we understand today. When we refer to the state, we mean the modern state, characterized by:
- a) The exercise of power over a given territory and its population.
- b) The exclusive monopoly on physical coercion.
- c) The administration of individuals’ lives through a network of institutions.
The State is the depository of sovereignty (as understood by early sixteenth-century theorists and philosophers Jean Bodin and Machiavelli). The state is the institution that has real, absolute, and perpetual power over the political community. From the French Revolution onwards, sovereignty began to reside in the people, who elect representatives through voting.
Government and the State
The State organizes collective life through the government. This polysemous concept can be understood as:
- a) Political mode: The general way to organize a state. (Spain has a democratic government.)
- b) Specific development and implementation of management policies of the state at a given time. (The current French government is not indifferent to its citizens.)
- c) Executive Power: The political institution that embodies the legitimate authority of the State and is responsible for executing general policies and enforcement. (The government fully occupied the blue seats of Parliament).
Ancient Philosophers on the State
Plato
Plato was the first philosopher to analyze the state. In The Republic, he argues for an ideal state (utopian), governed by wise men (philosophers), because only they can build a just polis.
Aristotle
For Aristotle, the best government involves the middle classes.