Understanding Modern State-Research On Gianfranco Poggi’s Thoughts Of Modern State

The state is one of the indispensable concepts in political science,moreover,theories on state are important parts of the basic theories of political thoughts.Giving that Gianfranco Poggi’s thoughts of modern state are pretty valuable,this paper aims to present the contributions of Poggi’s academic work to enhance our knowledge and insights of modern state.In Poggi’s view,the modern state is a complex set of institutional arrangements for rule operating through the continuous and regulated activities of individuals acting as occupants of offices.The modern state could be taken as an institutional system to accumulate and exercise political power.As a specific form of the institutionalization of political power,the history of state formation generally has been going along with series of process of institutionalizing political power,besides,the history of state formation is also going through dramatic transition and development of institutions involved in state.Poggi conceptualizes three main aspects of the institutionalization of political power: the depersonalization of political power,the formalization of political power,and the integration of political power.Poggi divides the evolution of European modern states into five phases: feudalism,hierarchical states,absolutist states,constitutional states and liberal democracies,picturing a clear track of evolution of state institution in the interactive level of sociology and history.In this process of evolution,political power is increasingly concentrated in state,the activities of state are gradually divided,and the exercise of state power is restricted and supervised by society.As a result,the rule of state encounters publicity much more.Through the analysis of the historical evolution of modern state and the analysis of the differentiation and expansion of activities of liberal democratic state in twentieth century,Poggi argues that the modern state has become the dominant form of the institutionalization of political power on a global scale because the institutional arrangement of modern state ensures the concentration and penetration of political power and makes the exercise of political power in accordance with rationality.The concentration of political power ensures the unity of the state,the penetration of political power ensures that the state’s will could be implemented to society effectively.The concentration and penetration of political power is a important part of state capacity.The exercise of political power in accordance with rationality could either restrict or guide the exercise of the enhanced state capacity to ensure that the activities of state could be carried out to promote the communal interests of the state and society.