Feudalism as a Militaristic Community

Discussion

Paul Mueller:

"Feudalism also developed as a kind of militaristic community. It was concerns about military order and community that captivated the attention of Machiavelli(1469–1527 AD). He was fascinated by the role of war and war-making in the state. Similarly, Grotius (1583–1645 AD) wrote his monumental works about international law and rights through the prism of just and unjust warfare. In fact, warfare seems remarkably prevalent in western Europe over the past thousand years or so—perhaps not so coincidentally, Nisbet observes.

Yet the military community is just one among many. The rise of the political community emerges, phoenix-like, from the ashes of kinship communities burned down by the stresses of war. Political community grows up right alongside the military community. But it has different goals and different characteristics.

Nisbet emphasizes the ideas of sovereignty, territory, citizenship, positive rights, and laws within political communities. Plato, Machiavelli, Bodin, and especially Hobbes and Rousseau saw their projects as defining and justifying the ideal political state in terms that transcend kinship and military force. Nisbet’s interpretation of these philosophers is quite remarkable and worth reading carefully even if you don’t read anything else in the book."

(https://www.theepochtimes.com/opinion/how-do-communities-form-exploring-social-philosophers-5920234)