The state is the political institution that holds ultimate coercive and legal authority over a defined territory and population. Thomas Hobbes gave the foundational modern account in Leviathan (1651), describing the commonwealth as an artificial person created when individuals covenant to transfer their natural right of self-governance to a sovereign, whether a single monarch or a rule-governed assembly. Max Weber supplied the classic sociological definition in Politics as a Vocation (1919): a state is "a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory."
Facts
Founding ContextGiven its foundational modern account by Thomas Hobbes in Leviathan (1651), which described the state as an artificial person created when individuals covenant to transfer their natural right of self-governance to a sovereign, and its classic sociological definition by Max Weber in Politics as a Vocation (1919). 1 Connections
Advocated By
Weber's Politics as a Vocation (1919) supplied the classic sociological definition: a state successfully claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory.
Source Max Weber (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Associated With
The state is conventionally understood as the entity that holds and exercises sovereignty within its territory.
Source Sovereignty (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Founded By
Hobbes' Leviathan (1651) described the commonwealth as an artificial person created when individuals covenant to transfer their natural right of self-governance to a sovereign.
Source Thomas Hobbes (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Influenced By
Source Thomas Hobbes (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Source Treaty of Westphalia Text (Avalon Project, Yale)
Source Al-Farabi (Britannica)
Sources
1. Thomas Hobbes (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Max Weber (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy6.1 Domination and Legitimacy
a human community that (successfully) claims the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory
- Advocated By: Max Weber
View the Source Sovereignty (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyAssociated With: SovereigntyView the Source Treaty of Westphalia Text (Avalon Project, Yale)
The Avalon Project, Yale Law SchoolInfluenced By: Peace of WestphaliaView the Source Al-Farabi (Britannica)
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