The construction of the modern State

Résumé du document

'Man is by nature a political animal', arguing on that Aristolte induced the existence of political communities. Men lived in communities for decades. However, man's living condition has changed with the passage of time. One landmark change was in his environment. Each evolution was a step towards the achievement of our political structure: the modern state. Historical sociology is the necessary tool to study these changes. This discipline was born in the 1970s thanks to the convergence of history and sociology and tries to think social reality. History and sociology are two sides of the same social reality so 'historical sociology is the study of the past to find out how societies work and change'.The historical sociology was developed in two disciplines: first in sociology and then in political science. In the 1970s the behaviorist wave brought about a scientific methodology. According to this approach, the principal mistake of many disciplines is to study one part of a subject. It means to concentrate on one thing. Behaviorism puts emphasize on the whole and the whole becomes more important that the sum of its parts.

Extraits

[...] War was a new tool to understand the feudal, the absolute and finally the Modern State. Many authors tried to focus on war to explain state formation during the 1990s. Charles Tilly is one of them. He is a contemporary sociologist and a former colleague of Stein Rokkan. He continued the work of Rokkan but Tilly's ambition is to wander from a topographical reading of Europe, because this reading creates problems: its focuses only on a specific historical sequence, this theory is too static. [...]

[...] Bibliographie * Dennis Smith, 'The rise of Historical sociology', Polity press, Cambridge * Graeme Gill, 'The Nature and Development of the Modern State', palgrave macmillan, London * Max Weber, 'Economy and society'. Vols 2. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. * Robert Holton, 'Max Weber and the interpretative tradition', G. Delanty and Engin F. Isin, 'Handbook of Historical Sociology', Sage Publication, London 2003. * Gianfranco Poggi, 'The formation of the Modern State and the institutionalization of Rule', G. Delanty and Engin F. Isin, 'Handbook of Historical Sociology', Sage Publication, London 2003. * Duncan Kelly, 'Karl Marx and Historical Sociology', G. [...]

[...] Secondly, we have to choose a definition of the Ancient State. According to me, Graeme Gill's definition of the Ancient State could be an intersesting one. First of all, the Ancient Sate period began in the middle of the fourth century BC and came to the end around the fifth century. At this date one finds the premisses of the Feudal State. Two different political structures become integrated into the Ancient State definition: the city-States and the Ancient Empires. These City-States are similar to small towns. [...]

[...] The second step has similarities with Weber approach. To rationalise rules, States need pyrmid of offices'[5] to develop the bureaucracy. However, this analysies of state formation places emphasis on a domestic level and it is not the only approach to deal with that subject. Karl Marx's tradition focuses on the whole. He wants to propose a materialist philosophy of history. According to him, history should start from the social and economic conditions of existence. We must understand how human beings ensure their survival. [...]

[...] In fact, neither coherent institutions or effective bureaucracy was created. Even if the central record-keeping become extensive this new bureucracy was still run by the political power and remained isolated from society. Ancient States shared common features. There was no market system or economic system fuctioning (economic role was chiefly administrative), the populace did not have a good relationship with the state and political power and bureaucracy was controled by the rich. Modern State differs from these Ancient States. Thirdly, in order to explain differences between them we also have to choose a definition of the Modern State. [...]