Abstract
The book critically assesses the notions of the modern state, the state's legitimacy and the crises of the modern state. The approach of Staatswissenschaften and "continental" political philosophy is put into contrast with the approach of the Public Choice Theory (or Political Economy) and philosophical anarchism.
Leitmotif is the emphasis on the symmetry of assumptions in the analysis of the state: the state should not be conceived as a self-supporting leviathan towering above society, but as a social phenomenon arising from and embedded in general social phenomena; and as a moral phenomenon whose moral relevance is derived from general moral principles. Public Choice and philosophical anarchism are usually perceived as "destructive" to the key concepts of Staatswissenschften: sovereignty, will of the people, ideal representation, legitimacy and political obligation.
Alas, the "(re)constructive" potential and significance of both paradigms is underrated, especially in the context of the "crises of the modern state". The generally applicable toolkit offered by Political Economy (methodological individualism, behavioral symmetry, market/coordination failure, spontaneous order, incentives-matter, institutions-matter) seems more and more appealing compared to the uphill struggle of the classical, narrow model of the state with the increasingly complex and polycentric features of the world.
It seems that the colossal weight of the modern state results to a large extent from the fragility of the classical staatswissenschafliches model built on the porcelain feet of strong (if not outright fictional) assumptions and concepts. Consequently, the perceived crisis of the modern state might very well be more a crisis in (and of) theory rather than an actual crisis "out there".
Almost paradoxically, approaches distinctively pessimistic regarding the notion of the state as a sovereign and completely legitimate entity are at the same time relatively optimistic regarding the robustness of the "political market" and social order under the "postmodern" circumstances. Political theory which does not insist on theoretical colossality of Leviathan is more open not only towards possibility of non-state solutions to social problems, but also towards viability of the state as such.