Political theory seeks to understand, explain, and evaluate political concepts, institutions, and practices. It is concerned with analyzing ideas about how governments and societies should be structured and operated. Modern political theory emerged in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries as thinkers began to question traditional ideas about politics and the relationship between rulers and the ruled. This period saw the birth of concepts such as popular sovereignty, social contract theory, separation of powers, liberty, equality, and natural rights, which have shaped political thought and discourse up to the present day.
Some of the foundational thinkers and texts of modern political theory include Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Social Contract, and John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty.
In this extensive article, we will explore the core concepts, texts, and thinkers that established the foundations of modern Western political theory and analyze their lasting impacts. The discussion will be structured around key themes such as the state of nature and social contract theory, concepts of sovereignty and legitimacy, ideas of rights and liberties, theories of justice and equality, and visions of democracy. For each theme, the original texts and ideas of major political philosophers will be summarized and analyzed.
The article will conclude with an assessment of the legacy of early modern political thought and its relevance for understanding politics today. Extensive references will be provided throughout to seminal texts and commentary by leading scholars.
The State of Nature and Social Contract Theory
The concept of a state of nature, used as a philosophical device, was crucial for early modern political theorists to imagine alternatives to existing institutions and social arrangements. Different theorists came up with varying conceptions of the state of nature to explore human nature and develop their political ideologies.
Thomas Hobbes portrayed the state of nature as a condition of perpetual war, competition, and anarchy that rationally compelled individuals to form a social contract and establish political authority. As Hobbes wrote in Chapter 13 of Leviathan (1651), in the state of nature “…men live without other security than what their own strength and their own invention shall furnish them…” Consequently, life was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.” To escape this natural condition of violence and fear, men sacrificed their unfettered natural freedom and subjected themselves to the authority of a sovereign ruler. This was the social contract at the heart of Hobbes’ theory of absolute sovereignty.
John Locke, in Two Treatises of Government (1689), disputed Hobbes’ characterization of the state of nature as intrinsically anarchic and violent. Locke argued that the state of nature was governed by reason and natural law. Individuals possessed natural rights to life, liberty, and property that should be upheld. The social contract for Locke served to better protect these natural rights through representative government constrained by the consent of the governed.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in The Social Contract (1762), defined the state of nature differently from Hobbes and Locke. For Rousseau, the state of nature did not necessarily mean an historical condition pre-dating organized society. Rather, it was a theoretical construct meant to strip man of the accretions of society to uncover his essentially good nature as a free and autonomous “noble savage.” The social contract for Rousseau meant individuals voluntarily coming together in a collective entity guided by the “general will” that pursues the common good.
These varying conceptions of the state of nature formed the foundations for the social contract theories developed by seminal early modern political philosophers. The idea of the social contract itself – that government derives its legitimacy and authority from the voluntary agreement of free individuals – became a core concept of modern republican political thought and discourse.
Sovereignty and Legitimacy
Closely related to social contract theory were fundamental questions about the nature of sovereignty and political legitimacy that emerged prominently in early modern European political thought. Thinkers sought to define the rights and powers of sovereigns, origins of political obligation, and criteria for legitimate rule.
For Thomas Hobbes, the sovereign acquired absolute authority over subjects because individuals mutually contracted to institute the sovereign in order to escape the state of nature. The social covenant was irrevocable and unconditional. Disobedience to the sovereign undermined protection from unrestrained natural freedom. Hence, subjects owed obedience to the sovereign regardless of the form of rule. Critics like John Locke disputed this model of absolute sovereignty.
John Locke argued that sovereignty ultimately rested with the people. Governments derived “just powers from the consent of the governed” as trustees tasked with protecting the people’s rights and interests. If this trust was violated, the compact between rulers and people was dissolved and the latter could institute a new government – a revolutionary idea at the time.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau also centered sovereignty in the people guided by the “general will.” The only legitimate polity was one governed in the interests of all, not particular factions. The general will represented the true interests of the people arrived at through direct democracy or representation. Any government acting against the general will lost its legitimacy.
Hugo Grotius, a founder of modern international law, contributed the idea of “popular sovereignty” – that power was vested in the people and consent was crucial for legitimate rule. Samuel Pufendorf also stressed that natural law implied that governments derived authority from the people, not divine right. John Stuart Mill later grounded legitimacy on principles of liberty, representative government, and individuality.
These perspectives introduced concepts of popular sovereignty and consent that displaced notions of ruling by divine right or brute force. They also provided criteria to distinguish legitimate from illegitimate rule, a contentious issue in practice. Debates persist over questions like: Can the general will be truly known? How is the social contract binding on later generations not party to its drafting? Is violent revolution to institute a new government ever justified? Regardless, social contract theory indelibly placed consent at the heart of political legitimacy.
Rights and Liberties
Early modern political theorists focused intensely on conceptualizing natural rights and defining the scope of individual civil liberties. Their philosophies justified limits on governmental power to protect certain inalienable freedoms and rights.
John Locke propounded the immensely influential theory of natural rights to life, liberty, and estate. These rights preceded the formation of societies and governments. The chief aim of government was to uphold them. If government overreached and endangered natural rights through tyranny, people could dissolve the contract and rebel. Locke advocated constitutional government, separation of powers, and protection of private property as safeguards for natural rights.
Thomas Hobbes also referenced natural rights but gave greater priority to order and security guaranteed by absolute sovereignty. He viewed excessive liberties as leading to anarchy and war. Critics like Locke countered that undue restrictions on liberty upended the legitimate functions of government.
The concept of tolerance emerged as a key right, particularly religious tolerance, as wars ravaged Europe following the Reformation. John Locke’s A Letter Concerning Toleration (1689) repudiated state coercion in religion. Locke circumscribed legitimate government control to civil interests, not individuals’ religious beliefs. However, he excluded atheists and Catholics.
Writers like Voltaire, Montesquieu, and John Stuart Mill broadened arguments for civil liberties and individual freedoms – speech, thought, association, conscience etc. Mill’s On Liberty (1859) became a foundational text, stressing that individual sovereignty over self and opinion could only be limited to prevent harm to others. The harm principle aimed to restrict paternalistic state intervention into private life and beliefs. However, Mill still excluded “barbarians” from liberties due to their perceived arrested development.
These theories enshrining natural rights and freedoms inspired struggles against absolutism. They informed revolutionary documents like the American Declaration of Independence and French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Debates continue today over issues like whether rights are God-given or culturally constructed, expanding rights versus threats of totalitarianism or disorder, and balancing liberty with equality and order.
Theories of Justice and Equality
Early modern political theory frequently intertwined questions of rights with concepts of justice and equality. Thinkers asked: How should goods, resources, rights, political power, and opportunities be distributed within a society? What does justice require when interests and liberties conflict? What roles do natural equality or social rank play?
Thomas Hobbes grounded justice in contracts and covenants freely made and laws properly enacted and enforced by the sovereign. Justice required absolute obligation to lawful contracts and submission to punishment for breaches. Critics argued this stripped justice of moral content and natural law foundations.
John Locke linked justice closely with natural rights and moral law. Governments were obligated to treat people equally and impartially in upholding natural rights. Locke acknowledged equality in creation but accepted appropriation of property and differences in industriousness. Critics highlighted how this justified expropriation from indigenous peoples under colonialism.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau advocated a radical egalitarianism. He argued that schemes of social rank and accumulation of private property fostered domination, competition, and vice. True freedom meant living collectively guided by the general will where distinctions of wealth and status disappeared. Critics saw this as coercively homogenizing.
John Stuart Mill endorsed equality of rights and opportunities. He championed redistribution of wealth and income to provide everyone the material basis for self-improvement, not enforced equality of outcomes. Critics argued this neglected how poverty and marginalization undermined meaningful freedom.
Immanuel Kant saw justice as rooted in reason and human dignity. Fairness required that society treat all persons as ends, not means, respecting their rational capacities. Laws should be universally applicable. Critics questioned whether true impartiality was feasible.
These foundational theories made equality central to modern political thought. They deeply impacted later significant schools of liberal, socialist, and Marxist thought. Debates continue today over issues like reconciling equality with liberty, the grounds and implications of human equality, and how to define and realize economic and social justice.
Visions of Democracy
The early modern period planted the seeds of modern representative democracy. Thinkers developed notions of popular sovereignty, political equality, majority rule, separation of powers, and representative government that resonated through later democratic thought and practice.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s vision of direct democracy guided by the general will of citizens pursuing the common good inspired later radical democratic traditions. He saw representative government as tending towards factionalism and corruption. However, critics argued that mass democracy threatened individual liberties and minorities.
John Locke advocated legislative power vested in periodic assemblies, executive power in a separate magistrate, and federative power dealing with foreign relations. This separation of powers aimed to prevent tyranny and safeguard the rule of law. Critics noted that property qualifications often severely limited the franchise under such systems.
Baron de Montesquieu extended Locke’s separation of powers theory in The Spirit of Laws (1748). He endorsed a mixed constitutional government balancing monarchical, aristocratic, and democratic elements so no single branch dominated. Many Founding Fathers later adapted this model. Critics argued that liberal checks and balances often simply entrenched elite interests against popular impulses.
John Stuart Mill endorsed representative government as protecting liberty while navigating the dangers of tyranny of the majority under mass democracy. He advocated extensive suffrage regardless of property ownership and advocated proportional representation of minorities. Later critics argued Mill’s model excluded women and colonial subjects from proposed liberties and participation.
These foundational theories contributed core concepts of modern democracy such as representation, separation of powers, constitutionalism, and majority rule bounded by individual rights. Debates persist today over issues like factions versus common good visions, representative versus participatory models, liberalism versus radical democracy, and ideal systems versus democratization as a process.
Legacy and Enduring Relevance
The political concepts developed by early modern theorists still form the foundation of contemporary political thought and discourse. Their seminal ideas continue to shape how we think about human nature, liberty and rights, political legitimacy, justice, sovereignty, constitutionalism, democracy, and more.
However, modern society and politics look very different from the 17th and 18th century contexts these philosophies emerged from. Criticisms have been made of their limited scope of application, contradictions, cultural biases, and basis in now outdated knowledge. Feminist theory, postcolonial theory, race critical theory, and perspectives from outside the Western canon have challenged aspects of their universal pretensions.
Nonetheless, engaging deeply with these foundational texts and concepts remains indispensable for understanding political ideas, traditions, and debates that evolved from them. Much contemporary political discourse invokes the rhetoric and reasoning popularized by early modern texts, even if reinterpreted through contemporary lenses. Many terms and frameworks we use as reference points for political analysis today originated with the pioneers of modern political theory.
Through both their insights and flaws, foundational works of early modern political thought reveal much about Western approaches to theorizing politics. Questions and tensions raised centuries ago often endure in revised forms. These texts illuminate how basic conceptual building blocks of modern politics were originally formulated and justified in radically different historical contexts. Understanding their origins better contextualizes present day discussion and debate. Our politics today continues to be profoundly shaped by the ideas and theories first espoused by the seminal thinkers of early modernity.
Conclusion
This extensive article has explored the foundational concepts, texts, and thinkers of early modern Western political theory. Beginning with the state of nature and social contract theories of seminal philosophers like Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau, we have examined the origins of crucial ideas like popular sovereignty, political legitimacy, rights, justice, constitutionalism, and democracy. The concepts and debates originated by these pivotal figures continue to shape political thought today, even as their theories have required adaptation to changing knowledge and different contexts. Through their enduring influence and the criticisms they have provoked, the early modern political theorists remain essential for appreciating the backgrounds
References
Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan. Edited by J.C.A. Gaskin, Oxford University Press, 1996.
Kant, Immanuel. Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals. Edited by Mary Gregor and Jens Timmermann, Cambridge University Press, 2012.
Locke, John. Two Treatises of Government. Edited by Peter Laslett, Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Mill, John Stuart. Utilitarianism. Edited by Roger Crisp, Oxford University Press, 1998.
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. A Discourse on Inequality. Translated by Maurice Cranston, Penguin Books, 1984.
Lamont, Julian and Christi Favor. “Distributive Justice.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2017. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/justice-distributive/. Accessed 7 Sept 2022.
