What are the major theories of the origins of the state which do you find most convincing and why?

Terms in this set (4)

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Which of the four historical theories of the origins of the state best accounts for feudalism?
How did the Enlightenment influence the constitution?
Did the founding fathers believe in limited government?
Force Theory
Evolutionary Theory
Divine Right Theory
Social Contract Theory

Force Theory. the state was born of force.
Evolutionary Theory. The state developed naturally out of the early family.
Divine Right Theory. God had created the state and that God had created had given those of royal birth a “divine right” to rule.

Which of the four historical theories of the origins of the state best accounts for feudalism?

The force theory best accounts for feudalism.

What influenced the development of our government institutions?

What influenced the development of our government institutions? Historical concepts of law and limited government, Enlightened ideas, and the failure of a weak national government.

How did the Founding Fathers create a limited government?

The U.S. Constitution achieved limited government through a separation of powers: “horizontal” separation of powers distributed power among branches of government (the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary, each of which provide a check on the powers of the other); “vertical” separation of powers (federalism) …

How did the Enlightenment influence the constitution?

Ideas in the constitution came from several different Enlightenment thinkers. Montesquieu’s ideas were also used in the US constitution. Montesquieu believed in the separation of power with checks and balances. Checks and balances are put in place to ensure that no one branch of government has too much power.

Did the founding fathers believe in limited government?

The Founders distrusted strong governments. Their own experience and study of history taught them that overly powerful governments turned oppressive. But they also knew a government was necessary, in fact, a stronger one than what they had at the beginning of our nation.

What are the 4 theories of origin of state?

There are four major theories of how government originates: evolutionary, force, divine right, and social contract.

What are the lasting impacts of the Enlightenment on the United States constitution?

Montesquieu’s ideas were also used in the US constitution. Montesquieu believed in the separation of power with checks and balances. Checks and balances are put in place to ensure that no one branch of government has too much power. Rosseau’s ideas are present in the constitution by the concept of direct democracy.

The question about the origin of the state and organized government has been discussed for centuries. There is no concrete evidence to support any of the proposed theories, it all just remains as speculation.

Each of these most accepted theories do agree that the state must have certain basic elements: territory, population, government and sovereignty.

Force Theory

This theory proposes that the origin of state is developed through the use of force. One person or a small group of people claim control over the population in a specific area by force.

Once the rule is well established the state is established. This theory is generally a result of war. One example: Adolf Hitler and his control over Germany that led to the attempted control of Europe, as well as the mass genocide of the Jewish population.

Evolutionary Theory

This theory states that the state evolved over time, starting with the primitive family. One person in the family was determined to be the leader of the family. On a primitive level, a basic government was formed.

Over decades, the family became a clan and a clan became a tribe. The state was identified when the tribe settled in a designated area and claimed it as their own.

Divine Right Theory

The divine right theory holds that God created the state. God gave certain individuals of royal birth the divine right to rule. Since God divinely ordained its rulers and they were accountable to God, the population obeyed the ruler as they were required to obey God.

This theory existed in many countries such as England and Europe throughout the Middle Ages.

In the social contract theory, a specific population within a given designated area gave up as much power to a government as needed to promote the well-being of all. Specifically, the community population and the leader have a contract. The state has power and authority over the territory.

The community receives certain services such as a safe, crime-free area in which to live and keep their rights protected.

This theory was developed in the 17th and 18th centuries by philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. The U.S. political system is based on the social contract theory.

There are four major theories of how government originates: evolutionary, force, divine right, and social contract.

According to evolutionary theory, government originates from a family or clan-bound structure, which can explain the formation of the world's first political structures. These earliest and very loosely formed governments were the result of a shift from hunter-gatherer societies to more settled agricultural societies. As families joined to form clans and clans joined to form villages, the need for leaders and a central organizational structure developed. These leaders helped determine how to address still unfamiliar issues, such as water rights for crop irrigation and the distribution of other resources. They also provided an increased sense of safety and security for the society. In many early societies, these first states developed monarchies, with rule based on membership in a ruling family. In modern times, some governments continue to be led by a succession of members from the same family. For example, in the monarchy of Saudi Arabia, the king has been descended from the Āl Saʿūd family since 1744.

The force theory is the idea that government originates from taking control of the state by force and is often found in a dictatorship—a type of government characterized by one-person or one-party authoritarian rule. Historically, this has been achieved in some cases through forcible invasion or occupation when a more dominant people or state takes control of the political system of a less powerful people or state, imposing its governmental system on that group. New governments can also be formed by force during revolutions or coups within a country. A coup is the overthrow of an established government, and the resulting leader or dictator is most often a military figure. An example of the force theory occurred in Cuba in 1959, when revolutionary Fidel Castro and a small force of guerrilla soldiers defeated the national army and took control of the government. In some cases, governments created by force take on some characteristics of a monarchy, with government power handed down within the dictator's family. Examples are the Assad regime in Syria and the Kim regime in North Korea.

With the divine right theory, government originates with power vested in an individual by God or gods. Generally, monarchs lead governments of this type. This theory was followed in ancient times, including by the ancient Egyptians and Maya. The idea of divine right experienced a resurgence in western Europe in the 16th to the 18th centuries, when King James I of England, several French monarchs, and other rulers asserted that their authority came directly from God—and thus could not be challenged. Russian czars, such as Peter the Great, believed their autocratic rule was God-given, and they used their power to gain territory, wage war, and impose taxation on their subjects.

The social contract theory of government was the result of centuries of frustration with the unchecked power of monarchs. Under this theory, government is a kind of contract in which those in power have responsibility toward those they govern and the governed respect the power of the governing individuals. There are various versions of the social contract theory, ranging from an emphasis on maintaining a peaceful social order to a focus on using individual free will to determine what is best for the public good, or that which benefits all people in a society. Although the social contract theory has numerous variations, at its core is the idea that government is an agreement between those who govern and those who are governed. The founders of the United States drew heavily on social contract theory in the construction of both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. In doing so, they formed a democracy, which literally means "rule by the people."