Weber, Hobbes, Miller: Sovereignty, States and Nations

Question 1

How does Weber define politics?

Answer 1

by its means, which is legal force within a particular territory

Question 2

Weber: what explains obedience to the state?

Answer 2

1. ancient authority/tradition
2. charisma of the leader
3. belief in the law

Question 3

Weber: how does a state maintain domination?

Answer 3

controls and administers material goods

Question 4

Hobbes: what is the natural state of humans?

Answer 4

war, aggression, selfishness/self-interest

Question 5

Hobbes: why do humans enter in conflict?

Answer 5

1. competition over resources
2. diffidence
3. desire for glory

Question 6

Hobbes: what is required for peace?

Answer 6

people need to renounce or transfer their rights and liberty and enter a covenant with each other to ensure each other’s security and preservation.

Question 7

Hobbes: liberty

Answer 7

doing what one wishes without any obstacle.

Question 8

Hobbes: commonwealth

Answer 8

the result of the covenant. the commonwealth compels people to obey laws and ensures they do not stray from the covenant.
the commonwealth rules by fear.

Question 9

Hobbes: how is the commonwealth organized?

Answer 9

all the wills of the individuals are transferred to a man (or an assembly of men) called the sovereign

Question 10

Weber: how is the (his) contemporary state defined?

Answer 10

“by the separation of the administrative staff, officials, and workers from the material means of administration.”

by expropriation

Question 11

Westphalia

Answer 11

1648

Question 12

Miller: what did the Peace of Westphalia establish?

Answer 12

decentralized nation-states

Question 13

Miller: what was the political order like before the Peace of Westphalia?

Answer 13

though there was decentralized rule, in people’s minds the world was imagined as unified by Christianity.

Question 14

Miller: sovereignty during Peace of Westphalia

Answer 14

based on Jean Bodin.
“absolute authority of monarch within his realm but limited by God and nature.”
thus, sovereignty begets equality because all territories recognized as sovereign

Question 15

Miller: what are some key traits of Westphalia?

Answer 15

1. married nation to states
2. states recognized as sovereign are recognized as equals
3. established neutrality or non-interference to maintain security and balance of the entire system **
4. laissez-faire logic

Question 16

Miller: John Locke’s laissez-faire logic

Answer 16

that minimal governmental interference in people’s lives begets the common good.
people should be as free as possible to pursue their interests, which will lead to culture and wealth

Question 17

Miller: what is the link between Westphalia and imperialism?

Answer 17

system did not recognize other territories as sovereign.

these were free to be exploited by European entrepreneurs, based on Smith’s idea of laissez-faire economics