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24. Political Theory / B. Nature of a State / 2. State Legitimacy / a. Sovereignty

[rightful power over citizens]

12 ideas
Hobbes says the people voluntarily give up their sovereignty, in a contract with a ruler [Hobbes, by Oksala]
Sovereignty must include the power to make people submit to it [Spinoza]
People accept the right to be commanded, because they themselves wish to command [Rousseau]
Rousseau insists that popular sovereignty needs a means of expressing consent [Rousseau, by Oksala]
Sovereignty is the exercise of the general will, which can never be delegated [Rousseau]
Just as people control their limbs, the general-will state has total control of its members [Rousseau]
Political laws are fundamental, as they firmly organise the state - but they could still be changed [Rousseau]
The sovereignty does not appoint the leaders [Rousseau]
States only have full authority if they heed the claims of human fellowship [Green,TH]
Liberal state legitimacy is based on a belief in justice, not in some conception of the good life [Kymlicka]
Nowadays sovereignty (once the basis of a state) has become relative [Reybrouck]
Unjust institutions may be seen as just; are they legitimate if just but seen as unjust? [Tuckness/Wolf]