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The Origins of the State and Social Contract Theory

The Origins of the State and Social Contract Theory. What is the State?. A political community that occupies a definite territory, and Has an organized system of government with the power to make and enforce laws Today: State = Country = Nation. Where did the State come from?.

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The Origins of the State and Social Contract Theory

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  1. The Origins of the State and Social Contract Theory

  2. What is the State? • A political community that • occupies a definite territory, and • Has an organized system of government with the power to make and enforce laws Today: State = Country = Nation

  3. Where did the State come from? • Evolution Theory - Right to rule evolved from traditional family roles • Force Theory - Right to rule is obtained through force and physical domination • Divine Right Theory - The right to rule comes from God • Social Contract Theory - The right to rule come from the consent of the People

  4. The Enlightenment • The Enlightenment - an intellectual movement that started in France and spread around Europe and to theAmericas; • Began as a reaction to absolute monarchy; • Philosophers argued for social equality and individual liberty. • People began to believe they had rights and were important as individual human beings • The Enlightenment gives birth to the ideology of “Classical Liberalism”

  5. Thomas Hobbes (1588 - 1679) • Political philosopher who first developed the idea of the social contract (Leviathan): • In a “state of nature,” all individuals are equal • Life is unbearable, “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” • People enter into a social contract whereby they grant absolute authority to a sovereign ruler in order to obtain security; • No right to rebel

  6. John Locke (1632 - 1704) • Expanded on social contract theory; • Second Treatise on Government • According to John Locke: • Life is very difficult in a state of nature; • All people are born with certain natural rights, but those rights are not protected in a state of nature. • People need to create government in order to protect these natural rights.

  7. THINK ABOUT IT!! • What is a contract? • A contractis a promise made between two or more parties to exchange something of value. • Quid Pro Quo: “Something for Something” • What is the social contract? • People consent to be ruled by the government. • The Government promises to protect the rights of the people (life, liberty and property). • The people have the right to rebel if the government breaks the social contract.

  8. America’s Social Contract • The Declaration of Independence - Britain has broken the social contract with the colonists. • The Constitution - Our new social contract with the government.

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