SepSec - Origins of Nation/State Theory

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SepSec^Origins

Origins of
Nation/State Theory

HOMEPAGE

THE ROOTS OF TODAY'S NATION / STATE SYSTEM reside in the theories and writings of Classical, Mediaeval, and Enlightenment philosophers such as Plato, Niccolo Machiavelli, Sir Thomas More, Jean Bodin, Thomas Hobbes, Samuel Pufendorf, Baruch de Spinoza, John Locke, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Voltaire. Within their prolific treatises and commentaries, one can identify the central debates surrounding state structure and the understanding of "nationality" and "citizenship" within the context of human government.

Whether studying liberal democratic theory or the self-described revolutionary ideologies of Marxism and Fascism, the seeds of the great twentieth-century world struggles were firmly planted centuries ago by these remarkable theorists. Any serious study of today's world and its nation/state culture starts with them. One is struck by the familiarity of the issues which they address and hence the continuity of political thought.

Some simple connections illustrate this: Plato defined various typologies of state and citizenship, distinctions which shaped the Roman world, and which in turn influenced our own. Machiavelli formally unveiled the blueprint for today's RealPolitik. Sir Thomas More stirred the dream of Utopian ideals and the quest for the perfect society. (Without the combined idealism of More's "Utopia" and the sobering effects of Hitlerian and Stalinist realities, would Huxley and Orwell ever have penned their "dystopian" tales of state and citizenship in "Brave New World" and "1984"?)

Then, of course, there were the Enlightenment thinkers, who challenged Church hegemony with a new authority based on the notion of contract and mutual responsibility between Citizen and Sovereign -- in short, a detailed model for credible secular authority. Over time, the principles of "natural law" and "inalienable rights" became the foundation for the modern view of state, society and citizenship, based upon the balanced and mutual exchange of societal rights and duties.

The application of the Enlightenment's political theory took its most famous and tumultuous forms in the American War of Independence and the nearly contemporary French Revolution. A more evolutionary, though still frequently violent, process of democratization unfolded in Britain over the course of centuries. To study the political economies of these societies through the 19th and into the early 20th centuries is to examine in detail the development of the liberal-democratic ethic as applied to the nation/state system.

However, the liberal ethos was only one of several seemingly antithetical ideologies which actually share a common root of inquiry. The self-described "revolutionary" theories of Marxism and Fascism, so influential in the 19th and 20th centuries, were spawned by the critique both of the seminal philosophers and of the liberal paradigm which eventually had emerged. Yet despite the theoretical nuances of their class-oriented analyses and anti-bourgeois doctrines, the wider foci of Marxist and Fascist theorists alike has remained the question of how to optimize the relationship between the state and the citizen.

Employing the Machiavellian tactics of modern RealPolitik in pursuit of a Utopian dream worthy of Sir Thomas More, both "revolutions" draw considerable, though seldom acknowledged, inspiration from Jean Jacque Rousseau's concern over the dangers of private property, his advocacy of active patriotic duty, and his maxim that the state must educate the citizen in how to be "free." Hence totalitarianism, though frequently vilified in liberal societies, begins with the premise of a quest for harmony and the fulfillment of human identity.

Of course, the precise definitions of freedom and equality (and their interplay) have provided the central trigger point, quite literally. When one remembers that Rousseau's thinking is considered by many to be a vital component of liberal democratic theory, it becomes apparent just how tightly woven the web of Western political philosophy remains. One might suggest that an ideologically-divided Europe, on the eve of World War Two, symbolized the complexities (some would argue contradictions) inherent in Rousseau's social theory. Tightly-argued ideals became distorted and grotesque: (1) Laissez-faire irresponsibility among the Western democracies. (2) Blind patriotic furor in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. And (3) utter state-subordination of the citizen in the pursuit of Soviet "equality".

So blame it all on Rousseau, right?

With Rousseau himself representing only one link in the chain of political philosophers, one must not exaggerate the point; the lesson is simply that startling extremes can emerge from a common origin because of ahistorical forgetfulness or selective reasoning. Where we wind up usually makes perfect sense if only we could recount the poor decisions which got us there. Of course, there are those who argue that Rousseau's theorizing, to continue the example, was self-contradictory, his proposed structures self-defeating, the fragmentation of his thought inevitable.

Regardless, the wider point is simply that the Marxist and Fascist thinkers, as influential as they have proven in certain times and places, have been revolutionary only in their willingness to investigate the full potential of a prior, yet related epistemology. Theirs was merely a more radical exploration of questions already raised long before.

Below you will find chronologically organized sources for reacquainting yourself with the philosophical foundations of state-formation theory and nationalist activism. Without doubt, anyone who reads these sources, or even just several of them, will marvel at both the complexity and the consistency of the issues from century to century, and even from ideology to ideology. The themes reappear again and again, despite differing agendas, from Plato to Hobbes to Lenin to Hitler to Chomsky and all points between. A working knowledge of this material helps today's analyst distinguish between a comprehensive political programme borne of sound political philosophy and the more simplistic sloganeering tactics more characteristic of mere opportunism -- a distinction which is vital to any sober analysis and resolution of conflicts borne of separatist nationalism.

Enjoy learning how short a span 2300 years really is . . .

PLATO
The Republic

NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI
The Prince (1513)

SIR THOMAS MOORE
Utopia (1516)

JEAN BODIN
Six Books of the Commonwealth (1590)

THOMAS HOBBES
The Citizen (1647)

Leviathan (1651)

SAMUEL PUFENDORF
The Duty of Man and Citizen
According to Natural Law (1673)

BARUCH DE SPINOZA
Political Treatise (1677)

JOHN LOCKE
Second Treatise on Government (1689)

A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689)

JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU

On The Origin Of Inequality (1754)

A Discourse On Political Economy (1755)

The Social Contract (1762)

JOHANN GOTTFRIED VON HERDER
Excerpt from "Materials for the Philosophy
of the History of Mankind (1784)

JOHANN GOTTLIEB FICHTE
To the German Nation (1806)

To the German Nation (1807)