The major 'nations' of Europe are highly artificial and mythological. Britain is an 18th/19th Century political convenience and is a state made of at least four separate nations; each nation is also, to some extent fixitious.
In the Roman Empire and Middle Ages, people regarded themselves as being part of a nation.- The nation-state is modern and we don't know how long it will last .
In the Middle Ages sovereignty was divided, such as the Church is in secular matters. Europe was totally divided.
- Pluralism- the opposite if totalitarianism
- The State- a monopoloy of legitimate violence.
Thomas Hobbes
- His theory of power is the 'artificial man'
- He believed that the State of Nature was living in fear.
- His solution was to alienate our rights to a supreme sovereignty in order to live in peace.
- He says that the emerging state is already vast and artificial.
- Hebbesian State is explicitly a war machine for subjects and rival states who resist.
- In his system the greatest good arises when the whim of the personified state is automatically low- it does not matter if it's cruel or irrational.
The French Revolution
- All forms of traditional feudal links to the state were swept away.
- The French Revolution shows how the 'artificial man' will always remain; it is immortal and keeps reasserting itself.
Rousseau
- He believed in the Social Contract and the rights of man.
- He stated that the Social Contract was only designed for small states, for example, France. However, it was not suitable for bigger states such as, China.
Hegel
- 'The state is God on Earth'
- He believed that the State/ Nation was not natural
Hume
- 'Authority is based on nothing but opinion'
Social division was all about survival of the fittest.
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