著者

左古 輝人

出版者

首都大学東京

雑誌

人文学報. 社会学 (ISSN:03868729)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.44, pp.1-21, 2009-03-30

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From Auguste Comte onward, sociology has been a science to diagnose the contemporary human condition with long-term historical perspective. This paper clarifies the nature and the future of the modern State system, with reference to Philip Bobbitt's recent study on the history of the State that seems best represent the sociological spirit today. As Bobbitt says, the State -a permanent infrastructure that is represented as an entity autonomous from the ruler as a person-- is a political creation since the end of the 15^<th> century. The main source of state's power is not just physical, but also metaphysical, as its existence depends on people's belief in its unity (sovereignty) and rationality (reason of state). Although its volatility, the State system survived for these 500 years, and still strong enough. This mystery of the State will be unraveled by articulating the similarity between Thomas Hobbes's conception of 'natural state' and Bobbitt's conception of 'marketstate of terror'.