The Modern Omnipotent State

Abstract

This chapter examines the role of the state in the political theories of G.W.F. Hegel, Karl Marx and Franz Oppenheimer. Hegel holds that the state is the realization of an unfolding truth, and that history is the story of a mind or a spirit coming to understand itself. Hegel’s philosophy is criticized from a variety of standpoints, notably that it lacks any independent standpoint from which to criticize state action. Karl Marx’s approach to the state represents a significant improvement, in that states are shown to be historically contingent and dependent on varying levels technological progress, a finding that appears broadly true even if one rejects the Marxist synthesis overall. Franz Oppenheimer argues that the proper role of the state is to make itself unnecessary, and that the end of history takes the form of a “free citizenship,” in which no states exist at all.