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The Origin of the State - Coggle Diagram
The Origin of the State
Divine Origin Theory
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It advocates for the theory that a King rules by God's will,order, and authorisation. State is a divine institution rather than a human institution
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Commands of the King have to be obeyed as dictates of God and disobedience of this is not just a crime but also a sin
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Criticism
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The Divine Origin Theory was rejected and began to decline in the 17th Century. It reached its end when the people of England staged the Glorious Revolution and accepted the principle of sovereignty of the British Parliament.
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Social Contract Theory
Projects the view that originally people lived in the state of nature and then they decided to come out of the state of nature for various reasons (including anarchy and chaos) and they entered into a contract which led to the birth of the state
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Exponents - Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau
Hobbes
Hobbes was an Englishman who was a tutor for King Charles II. He believed firmly in the absoluteness of sovereignty and its rulers.
In his work 'The Leviathan' he expounded his theory and used it to assure the absolute sovereignty of the ruler.
He supported the king in the struggle between the British King and Parliament and he used his theory to back his views.
He believed 1) the contract was made under the natural right of each to voluntarily enter any contract and 2) they ended the state of nature because it was nasty, brutish, and short.
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Locke
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He favoured the concept of sovereignty of community and he believed that people should have the right to change their ruler if the ruler was violating their natural rights
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He believed two contracts were made - a civil one to set up society, and a political one to set up state
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Rousseau
Jean Jacque Rousseau was a French Revolutionary who came forward with his idea of the social contract theory in his works The Social Contract.
His theory took points from both Hobbes and Locke and combined them. His initial thoughts were more like Locke's but he ended up with conclusions similar to Hobbes'
Human Nature - he believed that man used to be carefree and had no concept of mine and thine. They lived blissfully and without limitations. However, selfishness took birth in the form of private property and caused problems like war. Man wanted to go back to the state of nature but had no way of going there
State of Nature - Like Hobbes he believed the state of nature was both pre-social and pre-political. However in contrast, he believed man was happy at this time and was not selfish or quarrelsome until the introduction of private property. This led to wars and property disputes and destroyed the happiness of pre-historic times. To come out of this, man decided to create civil society and came into a social contract
General Will - Through entering the social contract, each individual surrendered their individual will to the collective or general will of the state. By doing so, they gained more than they lost and the general will was usually beneficial to all citizens. The general will of the sovereign was the real will and according to him it was undeniable, absolute, and infallible.
Represents bad history (unhistorical - history does not represent the creation of a social contract), bad law (conceives of a binding contract without the sanction of a sovereign authority) and bad philosophy (conceives the state to be an artificial machine made by man)
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Evolutionary Theory
Universally accepted and most valid theory of the origin of the state - it says that the state has been a growth and not a make. It originated through a natural process of historical evolution. The state came into existence out of a process of historical evolution.
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