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30 - The State

from Part III. A - The State

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2025

By
Anna-Bettina Kaiser
Edited by
Richard Bellamy  and
Jeff King
Richard Bellamy
Affiliation:
University College London
Jeff King
Affiliation:
University College London
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Summary

There have been more than 400 years of research surrounding the state, but its concept remains iridescent and varies between different legal cultures. This contribution asks why and how the concept of the state evolved in continental Europe and examines why the term did not enter the legal terminology of England and later the US. It introduces four influential concepts of the state from the constitutional theory of the 19th and 20th century and shows how these concepts have set the paths on which debate around the state still moves today. Finally, the chapter revisits the most famous critiques of the concept, to then answer the central question surrounding the “state” in constitutional theory: what use does the concept retain today.

Keywords

concept of the stateHobbesBodinHegelJellinekKelsenSchmittGeneral Theory of the Stateadministrative stateconstitution
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory , pp. 523 - 536
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

Recommended Reading

Dyson, K. (2009). The State Tradition in Western Europe. A Study of an Idea and Institution, 2nd edn., Colchester: ECPR Press.Google Scholar
Emerson, B. (2019). The Public’s Law: Origins and Architecture of Progressive Democracy, New York: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grimm, D. (1986). The Modern State: Continental Traditions. In Kaufmann, F.-X., Majone, G., and Ostrom, V., eds., Guidance, Control, and Evaluation in the Public Sector. Berlin & New York: Walter de Gruyter, pp. 89–109.Google Scholar
Jellinek, G. (1914). Allgemeine Staatslehre, 3rd edn., Berlin: O. Häring.Google Scholar
Levy, J. D., Leibfried, S., & Nullmeier, F. (2015). Changing Perspectives on the State. In Leibfried, S., Huber, E. and Lange, M. et al., eds., The Oxford Handbook of Transformations of the State. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 33–58.Google Scholar
Loughlin, M. (2022). Against Constitutionalism, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
McLean, J. (2012). Searching for the State in British Legal Thought. Competing Conceptions of the Public Sphere, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Möllers, C. (2011b). Staat als Argument, 2nd edn, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck.Google Scholar
Poggi, G. (1990). The State. Its Nature, Development and Prospects, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Skinner, Q. (2009). A Genealogy of the Modern State, Proceedings of the British Academy, 162, pp. 325–370.Google Scholar
Troper, M. (1994). Pour une théorie juridique de l’Etat, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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  • The State
  • Edited by Richard Bellamy, University College London, Jeff King, University College London
  • Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory
  • Online publication: 27 March 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108868143.035
Available formats
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  • The State
  • Edited by Richard Bellamy, University College London, Jeff King, University College London
  • Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory
  • Online publication: 27 March 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108868143.035
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The State
  • Edited by Richard Bellamy, University College London, Jeff King, University College London
  • Book: The Cambridge Handbook of Constitutional Theory
  • Online publication: 27 March 2025
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108868143.035
Available formats
×