The Sources of a Sovereign State as a Political Category

The concept of the state is in the centre of debates in social sciences. This legitimizes the interest in the philosophical sources of the distinctive category of the modern state which is defined by its main atribute – the sovereignty. In the first part, this article presents the concept of the lawful state, elaborated in the celebrated work of French political theorist Blandine Kriegel, at one time a collaborator with Michel Foucault. The lawful state was based on the idea of sovereignty and was developed by the lawyers as an opposite to Roman concepts dominium and imperium. Until now it can be seen as the pre-condition of non-despotic politics and a major force for human liberty. Further, the article discusses the political philosophy of Jean Bodin and Thomas Hobbes. Bodin and Hobbes developed the doctrine of sovereignty. The analysis of Hobbes´s artificialism is connected with the examination of the modern individualism. It is argued that Hobbes´s theory could be seen as the suitable basis for the further development for the modern liberal and democratic state. Liberal democracies would have been impossible without the political basis provided by the lawful state.