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HOBBES AND LOCKE ON THE STATE

HOBBES AND LOCKE ON THE STATE

Onyeukwu Uchechukwu
Department of Political and Administrative Studies,
University of Port Harcourt, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
uchechukwu.onyeukwu@uniport.edu.ng

ABSTRACT
A fundamental question which has continued to occupy eminent space in political science is; what is the state?  Political thinkers are not united on one answer; whether it is on the origin of the state, the nature of the state or the end for which the state is established. The result of differences in opinion about what the state should be is that there are countless theories of the state. This paper examines how Hobbes and Locke conceptualise the state. It compares and contrasts the central elements of the Hobbesian and Lockean states. Using the comparative approach, the work finds that Hobbes and Locke agree that the state is the result of an agreement by humans who hitherto lived in a state of nature. It identifies that although Hobbes prefers an absolute state and Locke chooses a minimal state, their doctrines suggest that the end of the state, inter alia, is to ensure peace and security of lives and property.

Key Words: Hobbes, Locke, Absolute, Minimal, State

INTRODUCTION
          Thomas Hobbes and John Locke are social contract theorists. They recognise that before men agreed to govern themselves, they existed in a state of nature. The state of nature is that condition humans were in before the emergence of government. The history of the world is thus divided into two periods – the period before the state and the period after. Men realised that it was by refraining from harming others that their own lives were safe. They agreed to jointly set up a government – of one person or group of persons. Everybody submitted his right of self-preservation to the general will for protection.

          Hobbes’s state of nature is that of constant war of every man against every man. In this state, the laws of the jungle prevail, where only the fittest survive. Humans are naturally competitive and differ in their wants, needs, desires and inclinations. And because the desires of men are insatiable and the resources are limited, contradictions and war arise among them. This condition is made manifest due to the absence of a common power to keep men in awe (Hobbes, 1985).

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