My Account Wish List
Advanced Search
Print - Close Window
www.greenwood.com/catalog/C3704.aspx
All Greenwood Products
The Genesis of the State
(Click to Enlarge)
This book is not currently available for purchase Online. Please call 1-800-225-5800 to backorder.
Martin Sicker
Book Code: C3704
ISBN: 0-275-93704-6
ISBN-13: 978-0-275-93704-1
176 pages, notes
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 10/16/1990
List Price: $91.95 (UK Sterling Price: £51.95)
Availability: Out of stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 5 1/2 x 8 1/4
Subjects: Reviews:
  • Sicker, author of The Judaic State (1988), has written an admirable little book that focuses on 'the basic question of the genesis of the state and political authority.' The book is not an historical analysis of how state originate, but a conceptual analysis of philosophies of political authority. In this vein, Sicker explores the tradition of political theory to reconstruct five paradigms of political authority, namely, Divine, Patriarchal, Organic, Force, and Consent Theory. Sicker's primary concern is with the formulation of 'the diverse notions of the state and its origins rather than with the exposition of the complete theory of the state any particular political philosopher or theorist.' The book is lucid, easy to read, and accessible to undergraduate students. An excellent addition to undergraduate libraries and valuable as a text for introductory political theory courses.
    —Choice
Description: Its existence is a reality of everyday life, yet the notion of the state is not well understood. How did the state originate and what is the source of its authority? This is the primary focus of Martin Sicker's Genesis of the State. Sicker does not consider this as just another academic question: The citizen's moral obligation to obey the state is intimately related to the legitimacy of the state's authority and the latter depends largely on its sources. This work examines several major approaches to the question of the genesis of political authority that are reflected in the works of a wide range of philosophers and thinkers throughout the ages. Sicker concludes his work with a serviceable contemporary answer. Sicker draws upon western and non-Western sources to illustrate the diverse formulations of theories on the genesis of the state. His intent is to promote insight into the true nature of the state and the basis for its intrusion into our individual and societal lives. Towards this effort, he discounts the conventional notion which treats the several theoretical formulations as overlapping developmental stages of political theory. Social contract, partriarchal, divine, force, and organic theories of the state are all still thriving in political practice if not in the academy. Sicker opens with a discussion of the definition of the state. Having established this common ground, subsequent chapters consider the several primary theoretical approaches to the genesis of the state and political authority.
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction
  • What Is the State?
  • The Origin of the State
  • The Divine Theory
  • The Patriarchal Theory
  • The Organic Theory
  • The Force Theory
  • The Consent Theory (I)
  • The Consent Theory (II)
  • Critique of the Consent Theory
  • Bibliography
  • Index
LC Card Number: 90-7375
LCC Class: GN492
Dewey Class: 320.1
All rights reserved. Copyright © 1999-2008 Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
88 Post Road West, Westport CT 06881, (203) 226-3571