The states monopoly on the use of force: the early modern territorial state

Abstract

The subject of this chapter is the early modern territorial state as the basis of the modern state. It starts with an overview of the cultural, medial and religious framework in which an early modernity was about to emerge, then goes on to describe the centralization of political power and the corresponding legal concept of sovereignty. It concludes with a sketch of the scholarly literacy debate that - from Machiavelli to Hobbes - accompanied the evolution of the early modern state.