Between The Traditional State And The Modern State

The emergence of absolutist states was based on feudal society,and was a transition process from decentralized sovereignty to centralized power in modern Europe.Absolutist states were a key turning point in the transition from European feudalism to capitalism.For Anderson,the most important feature of feudalism lies in the political realm,that is,the fragmentation of state power,which brought two results to medieval Europe.First,the internal conflicts and contradictions of feudalism;second,autonomous cities and capitalism have gained room for growth.The economic and social crisis in Europe that began in the 14 th century was an important social background for the emergence of absolutist states.The revival of Roman law and military wars between states promoted the emergence of absolutist states.Public authority was strengthened to form a unified power center.A centralized absolutist state system was established.Perry Anderson believes that although the absolutist states in Western and Eastern Europe all present similar national structural features,there are differences between them.He proposed a "typology" of absolutist states,which divided two pedigrees of absolutist states in Eastern Europe and absolutist states in Western Europe,and distinguished six types of absolutist states within the two pedigrees.Because of the difference between the relationship between the nobility and the state,the development of autonomous cities,and the influence of military warfare,he believes that the concentration of power in Western Europe promotes the transition from Western Europe to modern states,while the harsher absolutism in Eastern Europe has caused the social transformation of Eastern Europe to suffer.difficult.Perry Anderson defined the feudal attributes of an absolutist state.He believed that an absolutist state was the result of the concentration of feudal politics and legal power at the national level,and classified it into the category of a traditional state.On the other hand,he also recognized the absolute doctrine constitutes a new political order.Absolutist states still safeguard the interests of the nobles in essence.However,in the face of changes in the social structure,if absolutism is to complete its task of protecting the nobles,it must obtain a certain degree of political independence and form a set of rules.The national order,which is different from the traditional feudal states,enabled Europe to quickly move towards a modern state after the destruction of the absolutist state.Perry Anderson’s research on absolutist states presents two important characteristics.First,he adopted a top-down "state-centered theory" research path,emphasizing the important role of the state in social transformation;Research is not just a single,linear path from low to high,it should be a combination of unity and diversity,which is of great significance for us to understand the social traditions of different states.But Anderson’s theory also has certain problems,such as overemphasizing the tendency of state-centeredness and the limitations of Western-centered theory.