Evolution of the State

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This article is part of the Basic Course on Libertarianism and the Austrian School of Economics-> Module 3: Political Institutions

Last updated: 2026-05-04

The concept of the State did not appear all at once. It is the result of 10,000 years of social evolution.
First: tribes → cities → kingdoms → modern State.

Here several theorists/thinkers of the concept of the State will be named with their main idea.

Before the concept of the State

Prehistory (12,000 years ago)

Nomadic bands → hunted together, without a fixed chief.
Neolithic Revolution (8000 B.C.): agriculture → permanent villages → food surplus → hierarchies.
Private property is born and someone who protects it → first germ of organized power.

First “proto-States” (3500 B.C.)

Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, China:
Cities with priest-king, army, taxes in grain, writing.
Ex.: Uruk (Iraq) had 50,000 inhabitants and a temple-state.
“The State is born to administer irrigation” – Karl Wittfogel.

The first forms (Antiquity) – State without theory

Before a theory of the “State” existed, there were already similar structures:

Mesopotamia → city-states such as Ur or Babylon.
Egypt → a central power with bureaucracy.
Greece → polis (city-states).
Rome → the Republic and later the Empire.
Athens and Sparta invent the *city-state.

But the ancients did not speak of “State” in the modern sense. They spoke of: polis (city), res publica (public thing), imperium (command), civitas (political community). The idea of the State as a permanent institution separate from the ruler did not yet exist.

Plato (427? – 347? B.C.)

“The ideal State is like a body: head (philosophers), chest (warriors), belly (producers).” In his book The Republic, he describes how the ideal political community should be organized. He does not use the word “State,” but reflects on: organization of power, justice as the foundation of the community, functions of rulers and citizens.

Details of his work \"The Republic\" (Press to expand)

The Republic (Πολιτεία) is Plato’s most famous and extensive dialogue (written around 375 B.C.). It apparently deals with what justice is both in the individual and in the city, but in reality it is a complete treatise on how a perfect society should be organized, the human soul, education, philosophy, and knowledge.

The book begins with Socrates asking “what is justice?” After rejecting several common definitions (paying debts, helping friends and harming enemies, the interest of the stronger…), Plato proposes that justice is easier to see “on a large scale”: in an ideal city (the “Kallipolis” or beautiful city). He then describes a society strictly hierarchized into three classes:

Producers (farmers, artisans, merchants): they seek pleasure and wealth.
Guardians/auxiliaries (warriors): they seek honor and courage.
Perfect guardians or philosopher-kings: they seek wisdom and the Good. Only they should govern because they are the only ones who know the eternal Ideas, especially the Idea of the Good (compared to the Sun).

For this city to work, Plato proposes revolutionary measures: community of goods, women, and children among the guardians (no private property or traditional families), egalitarian education for men and women, censorship of poets (Homer included), rigorous selection from childhood through tests, and a long educational process of 35 years (mathematics, geometry, astronomy, music, and dialectic) until age 50 to form future rulers.

In the second part (books V–VII) the most famous part appears: the theory of Ideas, the divided line (degrees of knowledge), and the allegorical myths:

The myth of the cave (the best known in all of philosophy): men live chained seeing shadows and only the philosopher, after a hard ascent, comes to see the Sun (the Good).
The myth of the winged chariot (in the Phaedrus, but related) and others.

Books VIII–IX analyze why real cities fail and classify five degenerate forms of government (timocracy → oligarchy → democracy → tyranny), showing that democracy is a chaotic regime that prepares the way for tyranny. Finally, Plato returns to the individual: the soul has three parts (rational, spirited, and appetitive) and personal justice consists in reason ruling with the help of courage over the desires.

The Republic is not only a book of politics; it is the first complete philosophical utopia of the West and the clearest presentation of the theory of Ideas, the philosopher as the only legitimate ruler, and education as a tool to transform the soul and society. Although many of its proposals (abolition of the family, censorship, communism of the rulers) sound extreme or authoritarian today, its influence has been enormous in philosophy, Christian theology (Saint Augustine, etc.), and later political theories.

Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)

The focus was on the polis (City-State). It was a complete political and social community. Man is a political animal, who can only achieve fullness within the polis. He considered that the polis is the highest form of association and the ultimate end of community life.

Details of his work \"Politics\" which consists of 8 books (Press to expand)

The eight books that make up Aristotle’s work "Politics" analyze the nature, structures, and objectives of the Greek polis (city-state), establishing that politics is the master science that seeks the supreme good of man: happiness (eudaimonia).

Nature and End of the State (Books I–III)

Man is a “Political Animal” (Zoon Politikon). With this Aristotle means that the human being is naturally destined to live in the polis (City-State), since only there can he develop his capacity for reason and achieve fullness. The polis arises naturally from the union of families (for daily needs) and then of villages (for broader needs), the polis being the self-sufficient association and the ultimate end of all of them. The Citizen is not just any inhabitant. He is one who has the right and capacity to participate in the deliberative and judicial functions of government (bear in mind that they accepted having slaves).

Classification of Governments

Aristotle classifies constitutions (forms of government) according to two key criteria: the number of rulers and the end they pursue (common good or private interest).

Criterion	Correct Governments (Seek the Common Good)	Deviated Governments (Seek Particular Interest)
One	Monarchy	Tyranny
Few	Aristocracy	Oligarchy (government of the rich)
Many	Republic (Politeia)	Democracy (government of the poor)

The best form of government

For Aristotle, the Republic (Politeia) is the best form of government attainable in practice. It is defined as a mixture of oligarchy (government of the rich) and democracy (government of the poor), seeking a balance that avoids extremes. The key to the stability of the State is the strengthening of the middle class. A society with a strong middle class is less prone to factions and revolutions than one polarized between rich and poor.

Causes of Revolutions and their Prevention

Revolutions (constitutional changes) arise mainly from inequality and the desire for equality of those who do not have it, or from the arrogance and greed of the rulers. To maintain constitutions requires respect for the law, honest magistrates, moderation, and above all, that the guiding principle of the constitution be respected and not exceeded.

The State

The Objective of the Polis (of the State) is not only survival, but to facilitate a virtuous and happy life for its citizens. Ethics (study of the individual good) culminates in Politics (study of the common good).

Aristotle also describes the ideal conditions of the territory (size, accessibility), the population (number sufficient for self-sufficiency, but not excessive), and the geographic disposition (nearness to the sea, defense).

In the perfect State, citizens must have free time for virtue (the exercise of reason), so the necessary functions (farmers, artisans, merchants) must be carried out by non-citizens or slaves.

The Importance of Education

The State must take the greatest care with the education of the young, since the virtue of citizens is the only solid basis for the best constitution. Education must be common and public, regulated by law, and not left to individual whim, because the end of the polis is one alone. It centers on gymnastics (body), music (soul), and the learning of the laws in order to form virtuous citizens.

Plato and Aristotle laid the philosophical foundations, but the modern notion of the State does not yet exist.

Rome (1st century B.C. – 5th century A.D.): The Imperium

The central idea was the Res Publica (Public Thing = Thing of the people). It focused on law and right as the foundation of social organization, a crucial legacy for later institutional development.

Roman law is the basis of the rule of law (laws above the king).

The Middle Ages

During this period, power was fragmented between feudalism and the religious authority of the Church. There was no centralized sovereign authority over a defined territory.

Power was personal and tied to the land, not institutional. The concept of sovereignty resided in the monarch, but was limited by the Church and the feudal lords.

Augustine of Hippo (Saint Augustine) (354–430)

In The City of God, he distinguishes between: earthly city (political, imperfect) and heavenly city (God). He does not develop the modern concept of the State, but reflects on authority and order.

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274)

In De Regno and Summa Theologica: “Political power exists for the common good” and “Authority must be limited by natural law.”

There is still no modern State, but there is a theory of power and law.

The concept of the State is born

The transition from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance (from the 15th to the 17th century), the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Modern Age, and the later consolidation of absolute monarchies generated the need for a new concept of centralized and unique power: the Sovereign State.

The 3 thinkers who gave birth to the concept of the State were: Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Bodin.

From here we will summarize the ideas of each thinker and show a link for the detail of each one’s thought.

Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)

Idea: He breaks the medieval tradition and separates morality from politics. Establishing that the supreme end of political action is success in the attainment and maintenance of the power of the State.
Justification: Because men are by nature wicked, ambitious, ungrateful, and traitorous. Without a strong power that controls them with fear and force, society falls into chaos, anarchy, and civil war.
Role: The conservation and greatness of one’s own State (“mantenere lo stato”). Everything else (morality, religion, justice) is secondary. The State serves to: maintain political unity, defend the territory, secure institutional continuity.

Jean Bodin (1530–1596)

Idea: Birth of the concept of sovereignty (power) that the State has.
Justification: Because only a unique, absolute, and perpetual sovereign power can guarantee order, peace, and justice in a community of families. Without sovereignty there is no possible republic.
Role: The family is the basic unit of the republic, and the sovereign exists to protect it, together with private property. Peace, justice, legal order

Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679)

Idea: The State exists to avoid the war of all against all
Justification: The State is necessary to escape the State of Nature, which is a condition of “war of all against all” (bellum omnium contra omnes) where life is brutal and uncertain.
Role: In the state of nature, human life would be “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” To avoid that permanent war, individuals cede their liberty to an absolute sovereign (Leviathan). The State has total power because its function is to secure peace and order.

Theory of the modern State (from the 17th century onward)

From this date the following authors polished, shaped, and justified according to their ideas the concept and the role of the State.

John Locke (1632–1704)

Idea: (Liberal Contractualism) The State to protect natural rights
Justification: The state of nature is not chaotic, but lacks an impartial judge. Natural Rights (life, liberty, property) are not guaranteed.
Role: The State exists solely to protect preexisting individual rights and liberties. Its power must be limited (Limited Government) and is justified by the consent of the governed. Right of rebellion if the State fails.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778)

Idea: The State to realize the general will
Justification: The State is justified when it arises from a Social Contract that expresses the General Will. Natural man is free, but the corrupt State chains him.
Role: The State, legitimately constituted, allows man to attain Civic Liberty. By obeying the law that the community gives itself, the individual obeys himself and is truly free. The State allows the civil liberty and political equality that do not exist in nature.

Immanuel Kant (1724–1755)

Idea: The State to guarantee external legal liberty
Justification: Morality requires the creation of a State to enforce the laws of liberty. Without a state authority, the actions of individuals cannot coexist under a universal law.
Role: The State (or State under the Rule of Law – Rechtsstaat) is the guarantor of everyone’s external liberty, securing the coexistence of each one’s liberty with the liberty of others, under a coercive legal framework.

Montesquieu (1689–1755)

Idea: Protection of the citizen’s political liberty and prevention of the abuse of power
Justification: The State exists to guarantee the political liberty of the citizen.
Role: To prevent any power from becoming absolute through the separation and balance of the three powers (legislative, executive, and judicial).

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)

Idea: The State as ethical realization of objective spirit
Justification: The State exists to realize rational liberty and ethical life (Sittlichkeit). The State is not a necessary evil. It is the highest expression of liberty. Liberty is to live in a society with just laws that one oneself accepts.
Role: It allows citizens to transcend their egoistic interests of Civil Society in order to attain a life of liberty and rational fullness. The State is not a contract, but the institutional expression of the development of reason and of liberty.

Karl Marx (1818–1883)

Idea: The State as an instrument of class domination
Justification: Marx does NOT justify the existence of the State. He sees it as a temporary and repressive tool.
Role: The State is the instrument of oppression of one social class over another (the bourgeoisie over the proletariat). Its existence is tied to class struggle. Once communism is established, the State (“the dictatorship of the proletariat” as a transition phase) must wither away (or decay) together with social classes. Under communism it would disappear, because there would no longer be classes to dominate.

Max Weber (1864–1920)

Idea: The State as the organization that monopolizes legitimate violence
Justification: Weber does not justify its existence in moral terms, but describes it as an inevitable social and political fact of modernity.
Role: The modern State is defined by having the monopoly of legitimate physical violence within a territory. Its existence is due to the need for rational administration based on legal-rational bureaucracy.

Carl Schmitt (1888–1985)

Idea: The State to decide in situations of exception and secure political unity
Justification (Critique): The State exists because of the need to take sovereign decisions in critical moments, not by mere legal agreement.
Role: The central concept of the State is Sovereignty, defined as the capacity to decide on the State of Exception. The State exists to determine who is the political friend and who the enemy, guaranteeing the unity and existence of the political community.

John Rawls (1921–2002)

Idea: The State to guarantee justice as fairness
Justification: The State is justified if its basic principles (the basic structure of society) are chosen justly, behind a Veil of Ignorance.
Role: The State must secure the basic liberties and apply the Difference Principle (social and economic inequalities are only justified if they benefit the least advantaged), guaranteeing Justice as Fairness. Through the “original position” and the “veil of ignorance,” Rawls says that people would choose a State that protects basic liberties and seeks to improve the situation of the most disadvantaged (difference principle). The State is the institutional guarantor of a just society.

Robert Nozick (1938–2002)

Idea: The minimal State (minarchism) to protect rights without violating liberties
Justification: The State is only legitimate if it arises spontaneously (as a Dominant Protection Agency) without violating anyone’s rights, especially property.
Role: The State must be a Minimal State (or Night-watchman state): limited to protection against force, theft, fraud, and the enforcement of contracts. Any State that demands more (e.g. redistribution) is unjustified.

Philip Pettit (1945–Present)

Idea: The State to avoid arbitrary domination
Justification: The State is justified as the only mechanism capable of securing Non-Domination among citizens.
Role: The State must act as a protector of Liberty as Non-Domination. This implies an active State that uses the law to prevent a citizen or group (including the State itself) from having the arbitrary capacity to interfere in the life of another.

Basic Course on Libertarianism and the Austrian School of Economics

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Last updated: 2026-05-04

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