Justice in the Premodern State

admin — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 09:20:57 +0000

Shifting the focus from “Who makes the decision?” to “How is a given decision made?” subjects the process of governing to the power of procedures and, in this way, limits the rulers. This process is carried out through written regulations, without the ruler’s right to decide being called into question. The creation of statutes governing how rulers make decisions has been known since antiquity and has gone through different variations, according to the specificities of the countries and the cultural characteristics of the societies in which they have functioned.

When, in today’s complex world, we are gripped by political fear of the future and we fall into extremes or pessimism, it is important to remind ourselves that we can easily control the power and governments of the countries in which we live. Public discontent on social networks and mass protests for several weeks alone are sufficient for us to change our government. Only a few generations in the history of human civilization have had this comfortable relationship with the government. In the historical perspective, people have improved the condition of their states and political organizations primarily, if not entirely, as a result of crises, wars, or catastrophic decisions by inadequate rulers. Today we have the chance to improve our countries without the help of crises and cataclysms.

In our day, power is fragile, and our rulers are paper tigers who disintegrate into tiny pieces with each more serious flurry of public discontent. That is, the presence in elected political positions of people who are visibly inadequate, or even completely devoid of intellect, should not worry us. We must, however, be horrified by a situation in which people stop putting pressure on those in power. Or when they let the rulers govern without any control.

Buy and learn more:

The New American Polity eBook on Amazon

[Paperback]

Fear and the State – Controlling the Fear

admin — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 08:50:54 +0000

Fear of the strong, of the one in power, is the longest existing political emotion in human history. This fear is hardwired into our genes. Whole social systems have been built through its institutionalization in regulations. Entire eras of human history have been dominated by it. Every form of slavery is based on this kind of fear. Every form of unlimited power, of subordination and restriction of an individual or group of people, is based on a fear of the ruler and the state.

Power is inextricably linked to fear. It has created the most stable human emotion, and with it, the most important political instinct – that of survival. In historical perspective, the degree and form of fear of the ruler determine the differences between the disenfranchised person, the subject, and the citizen. The disenfranchised knows no other protection against arbitrariness than the benevolence of the ruler. The subject – outside of modern constitutional monarchies – exists in a world of hierarchy and institutionalized inequality. He depends on an authority that is formally limited by customs and norms, but not subject to control by any institution or collective body. The only way for the subject to reduce his degree of fear of the government, aside from the benevolence of the ruler, is to rely on his status, on custom, or on traditions.

The citizen is the first type of human being in whom fear is a function of the application and interpretation of words written on a piece of paper by a formally independent court, and not of the will of the ruler.

Buy and learn more:

The New American Polity eBook on Amazon

[Paperback]

political fear – The New American State

Justice in the Premodern State

Fear and the State – Controlling the Fear