Misplaced Pages

#551448

73-694: The Land Board was founded on January 16, 1990. Its name at that time was the Estonian National Land Board and it started its work under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture. Since June 3, 1991 the Land Board has been operating under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Environment. The Land Board was established with the objective to ensure a more efficient management and use of land, organise geodetic and cartographic activities, establish

146-481: A Latinization of the Greek πολιτικός ( politikos ) from πολίτης ( polites , 'citizen') and πόλις ( polis , 'city'). There are several ways in which approaching politics has been conceptualized. Adrian Leftwich has differentiated views of politics based on how extensive or limited their perception of what accounts as 'political' is. The extensive view sees politics as present across

219-503: A royal house . A few of the smaller states survived, such as the independent principalities of Liechtenstein , Andorra , Monaco , and the republic of San Marino . Most theories see the nation state as a 19th-century European phenomenon, facilitated by developments such as state-mandated education, mass literacy , and mass media . However, historians also note the early emergence of a relatively unified state and identity in Portugal and

292-555: A time of peace and prosperity , which allowed the rise of the so-called Hundred Schools of Thought , the most influential of which was that of Confucius . His thinking was firmly based in traditional Chinese worldview, which saw the values of loyalty, duty, and respect as paramount. He believed that people and society can be improved by reciprocal treatment through moral example set by a leader embodying these virtues, as society would then respond to such good leaders by emulating them. He encapsulated this by saying that: "If your desire

365-727: A consequence, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels became the first theorists of Socialism and Communism . Their ideas were further developed by Vladimir Lenin , leading to the ideology of Leninism . Under Joseph Stalin these ideas would be further developed into Marxism-Leninism and put into practice in the Soviet Union and later the Eastern Bloc . During the Cold War , this line of thought would further result in Maoism , Ho Chi Minh Thought , Hoxhaism and Titoism . As industrialisation enabled

438-434: A federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism ). In a federation, the self-governing status of the component states, as well as the division of power between them and the central government, is typically constitutionally entrenched and may not be altered by a unilateral decision of either party,

511-787: A political entity that has monopoly on violence within its territory, while the Montevideo Convention holds that states need to have a defined territory; a permanent population; a government; and a capacity to enter into international relations. A stateless society is a society that is not governed by a state . In stateless societies, there is little concentration of authority ; most positions of authority that do exist are very limited in power and are generally not permanently held positions; and social bodies that resolve disputes through predefined rules tend to be small. Stateless societies are highly variable in economic organization and cultural practices. While stateless societies were

584-522: A result of political campaigns by nationalists , during the 19th century. In both cases, the territory was previously divided among other states, some of them very small. Liberal ideas of free trade played a role in German unification, which was preceded by a customs union , the Zollverein . National self-determination was a key aspect of United States President Woodrow Wilson 's Fourteen Points , leading to

657-539: A result of some shared rational interest. The theories largely focus on the development of agriculture, and the population and organizational pressure that followed and resulted in state formation. One of the most prominent theories of early and primary state formation is the hydraulic hypothesis , which contends that the state was a result of the need to build and maintain large-scale irrigation projects. Conflict theories of state formation regard conflict and dominance of some population over another population as key to

730-461: A state-of-nature theory that directly complements his conception of how political development occurs and how it can be founded through contractual obligation. Locke stood to refute Sir Robert Filmer 's paternally founded political theory in favor of a natural system based on nature in a particular given system. During the Enlightenment period, new theories about what the human was and is and about

803-466: Is a political system that operates for corrupt ends. When corruption is embedded in political culture, this may be referred to as patrimonialism or neopatrimonialism . A form of government that is built on corruption is called a kleptocracy ('rule of thieves'). History of political thought The history of political thought encompasses the chronology and the substantive and methodological changes of human political thought . The study of

SECTION 10

#1732898447552

876-686: Is an influential work of this period that refuted the thesis, after the First Sack of Rome , that the Christian view could be realized on Earth at all – a view many Christian Romans held. In the Medieval period, political philosophy in Europe was heavily influenced by Christian thinking. It had much in common with Islamic attitudes in that the Western church similarly subordinated philosophy to theology . Perhaps

949-417: Is based on the use of power, irrespective of the ends being pursued. Agonism argues that politics essentially comes down to conflict between conflicting interests. Political scientist Elmer Schattschneider argued that "at the root of all politics is the universal language of conflict", while for Carl Schmitt the essence of politics is the distinction of 'friend' from 'foe'. This is in direct contrast to

1022-552: Is closely linked to ethics , and is at its extreme in utopian thinking. For example, according to Hannah Arendt , the view of Aristotle was that, "to be political…meant that everything was decided through words and persuasion and not through violence"; while according to Bernard Crick , "politics is the way in which free societies are governed. Politics is politics, and other forms of rule are something else." In contrast, for realists, represented by those such as Niccolò Machiavelli , Thomas Hobbes , and Harold Lasswell , politics

1095-598: Is continually being written by the legislative and judiciary branch of government; this is just one of those cases in which the nature of the circumstances determines the form of government that is most appropriate. England did set the fashion of written constitutions during the Civil War but after the Restoration abandoned them to be taken up later by the American Colonies after their emancipation and then France after

1168-437: Is embedded in a particular political culture. Lucian Pye 's definition is that, "Political culture is the set of attitudes, beliefs, and sentiments, which give order and meaning to a political process and which provide the underlying assumptions and rules that govern behavior in the political system." Trust is a major factor in political culture, as its level determines the capacity of the state to function. Postmaterialism

1241-405: Is exercised on a wide range of social levels, from clans and tribes of traditional societies, through modern local governments , companies and institutions up to sovereign states , to the international level . In modern nation states , people often form political parties to represent their ideas. Members of a party often agree to take the same position on many issues and agree to support

1314-581: Is for good, the people will be good. The moral character of the ruler is the wind; the moral character of those beneath him is the grass. When the wind blows, the grass bends." For this to work, however, society had to be ordered hierarchically, modeled after the patriarchal family. and headed by an absolute sovereign. However, Confucius also believed the state should employ a meritocratic class of administrators and advisers, recruited by civil service exams . Among later Chinese thinkers, Mozi agreed with his ideas of meritocracy and leading by example, but opposed

1387-411: Is methodologically diverse and appropriates many methods originating in psychology , social research , and cognitive neuroscience . Approaches include positivism , interpretivism , rational choice theory , behavioralism , structuralism , post-structuralism , realism , institutionalism , and pluralism . Political science, as one of the social sciences , uses methods and techniques that relate to

1460-572: Is not limited to modern institutions of government . Frans de Waal argued that chimpanzees engage in politics through "social manipulation to secure and maintain influential positions". Early human forms of social organization—bands and tribes—lacked centralized political structures. These are sometimes referred to as stateless societies . In ancient history, civilizations did not have definite boundaries as states have today, and their borders could be more accurately described as frontiers . Early dynastic Sumer , and early dynastic Egypt were

1533-426: Is the best form a state can take. These fundamental questions involved a distinction between the concepts of 'state' and 'government'. It was decided that 'state' would refer to a set of enduring institutions through which power would be distributed and its use justified. The term 'government' would refer to a specific group of people who occupied the state at any given time, and created the laws and ordinances by which

SECTION 20

#1732898447552

1606-632: Is the degree to which a political culture is concerned with issues which are not of immediate physical or material concern, such as human rights and environmentalism . Religion has also an impact on political culture. Political corruption is the use of powers for illegitimate private gain, conducted by government officials or their network contacts. Forms of political corruption include bribery , cronyism , nepotism , and political patronage . Forms of political patronage, in turn, includes clientelism , earmarking , pork barreling , slush funds , and spoils systems ; as well as political machines , which

1679-418: Is the science of comparison and teaching of different types of constitutions , political actors, legislature and associated fields. International relations deals with the interaction between nation-states as well as intergovernmental and transnational organizations. Political philosophy is more concerned with contributions of various classical and contemporary thinkers and philosophers. Political science

1752-710: The Dutch Republic . Scholars such as Steven Weber , David Woodward , Michel Foucault , and Jeremy Black have advanced the hypothesis that the nation state did not arise out of political ingenuity or an unknown undetermined source, nor was it an accident of history or political invention. Rather, the nation state is an inadvertent byproduct of 15th-century intellectual discoveries in political economy , capitalism , mercantilism , political geography , and geography combined with cartography and advances in map-making technologies . Some nation states, such as Germany and Italy , came into existence at least partly as

1825-492: The Ehl-i Sunna and Shia in the 7th and 8th centuries had a genuine political character. The 14th century Arab scholar Ibn Khaldun is considered one of the greatest political theorists. The British philosopher-anthropologist Ernest Gellner considered Ibn Khaldun's definition of government , "an institution which prevents injustice other than such as it commits itself", the best in the history of political theory. During

1898-578: The Magna Carta introduced the concept of constitutional rights , such as habeas corpus . The rise of Islam , based on both the Qur'an and Muhammad , strongly altered the power balances and perceptions of origin of power in the Mediterranean region. Early Islamic philosophy emphasized an inexorable link between science and religion , and the process of ijtihad to find truth - in effect all philosophy

1971-639: The Medici family. At any rate, Machiavelli presents a pragmatic and somewhat consequentialist view of politics, whereby good and evil are mere means used to bring about an end, i.e. the maintenance of political authority. Thomas Hobbes , well known for his theory of the social contract , goes on to expand this view at the start of the 17th century during the English Renaissance . John Locke in particular exemplified this new age of political theory with his work Two Treatises of Government . In it Locke proposes

2044-557: The Renaissance secular political philosophy began to emerge after about a century of theological political thought in Europe. One of the most influential works during this burgeoning period was Niccolò Machiavelli 's The Prince , written between 1511 and 1512 and published in 1532, after Machiavelli's death. That work, as well as The Discourses , a rigorous analysis of the classical period , did much to influence modern political thought in

2117-656: The Revolution and the rest of Europe including the European colonies. Constitutions often set out separation of powers , dividing the government into the executive , the legislature , and the judiciary (together referred to as the trias politica), in order to achieve checks and balances within the state. Additional independent branches may also be created, including civil service commissions , election commissions , and supreme audit institutions . Political culture describes how culture impacts politics. Every political system

2190-710: The Uruk period and Predynastic Egypt respectively around approximately 3000 BC. Early dynastic Egypt was based around the Nile River in the north-east of Africa , the kingdom's boundaries being based around the Nile and stretching to areas where oases existed. Early dynastic Sumer was located in southern Mesopotamia , with its borders extending from the Persian Gulf to parts of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. Egyptians, Romans, and

2263-502: The World Trade Organization . The study of politics is called political science , It comprises numerous subfields, namely three: Comparative politics , international relations and political philosophy . Political science is related to, and draws upon, the fields of economics , law , sociology , history , philosophy , geography , psychology , psychiatry , anthropology , and neurosciences . Comparative politics

Estonian Land Board - Misplaced Pages Continue

2336-647: The first civilizations to define their borders . Moreover, up to the 12th century, many people lived in non-state societies. These range from relatively egalitarian bands and tribes to complex and highly stratified chiefdoms . There are a number of different theories and hypotheses regarding early state formation that seek generalizations to explain why the state developed in some places but not others. Other scholars believe that generalizations are unhelpful and that each case of early state formation should be treated on its own. Voluntary theories contend that diverse groups of people came together to form states as

2409-613: The "core" terms of the Qur'an, i.e. ibada, din, rab and ilah- is taken as the basis of an analysis. Hence, not only the ideas of the Muslim political philosophers but also many other jurists and ulama posed political ideas and theories. For example, the ideas of the Khawarij in the very early years of Islamic history on Khilafa and Ummah , or that of Shia Islam on the concept of Imamah are considered proofs of political thought. The clashes between

2482-917: The 18th century, the classic non-national states were the multinational empires : the Austrian Empire , Kingdom of France , Kingdom of Hungary , the Russian Empire , the Spanish Empire , the Ottoman Empire , and the British Empire . Such empires also existed in Asia, Africa, and the Americas; in the Muslim world , immediately after the death of Muhammad in 632, Caliphates were established, which developed into multi-ethnic transnational empires. The multinational empire

2555-571: The 4th century granted citizenship rights to their free population; in Athens these rights were combined with a directly democratic form of government that was to have a long afterlife in political thought and history. The Peace of Westphalia (1648) is considered by political scientists to be the beginning of the modern international system, in which external powers should avoid interfering in another country's domestic affairs. The principle of non-interference in other countries' domestic affairs

2628-562: The Greeks were the first people known to have explicitly formulated a political philosophy of the state, and to have rationally analyzed political institutions. Prior to this, states were described and justified in terms of religious myths. Several important political innovations of classical antiquity came from the Greek city-states ( polis ) and the Roman Republic . The Greek city-states before

2701-552: The West. A minority (including Jean-Jacques Rousseau ) would interpret The Prince as satire meant to imply the Medici after their recapture of Florence and their subsequent expulsion of Machiavelli from Florence. Though the work was written for the Medici family in order to perhaps influence them to free him from exile, Machiavelli supported the Republic of Florence rather than the oligarchy of

2774-484: The cities') is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups , or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of status or resources . The branch of social science that studies politics and government is referred to as political science . Politics may be used positively in the context of a "political solution" which is compromising and non-violent, or descriptively as "the art or science of government", but

2847-551: The concept of the guild was subordinated to the theory of free trade , and Roman Catholic dominance of theology was increasingly challenged by Protestant churches subordinate to each nation-state , which also (in a fashion the Roman Catholic Church often decried angrily) preached in the vulgar or native language of each region. These ideas did not spread to cultures outside of Europe until considerably later. The Industrial Revolution changed societies dramatically. As

2920-678: The definition of reality and the way it was perceived, along with the discovery of other societies in the Americas, and the changing needs of political societies (especially in the wake of the English Civil War , the American Revolution and the French Revolution ) led to new questions and insights by such thinkers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau , Montesquieu and John Locke . These theorists were driven by two basic questions: one, by what right or need do people form states; and two, what

2993-430: The degree of horizontal integration between the legislature , the executive , the judiciary , and other independent institutions. The source of power determines the difference between democracies , oligarchies , and autocracies . In a democracy, political legitimacy is based on popular sovereignty . Forms of democracy include representative democracy , direct democracy , and demarchy . These are separated by

Estonian Land Board - Misplaced Pages Continue

3066-679: The dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Ottoman Empire after the First World War , while the Russian Empire became the Soviet Union after the Russian Civil War . Decolonization lead to the creation of new nation states in place of multinational empires in the Third World . Political globalization began in the 20th century through intergovernmental organizations and supranational unions . The League of Nations

3139-630: The establishment of geodetic networks, organising geological mapping, mapping of the Estonian territory, providing national topographic data and maps to the society) Director General is Tambet Tiits . Deputy Directors General are Anne Toom and Artu Ellmann . This article about politics in Estonia is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Politics This is an accepted version of this page Politics (from Ancient Greek πολιτικά ( politiká )  'affairs of

3212-549: The family-model of governance with the belief that it would be nepotistic . Mencius , however, championed his ideas later on. An alternative Chinese philosophy called Legalism argued that instead of virtue, authoritarian discipline was crucial for the governance of the state. The origins of European political thought are in ancient Rome and Greece. Starting in approximately 600 BCE, thinkers in these societies began to consider questions of how to organize societies, as part of their more broad considerations of ethics and how to live

3285-561: The form of early Chinese philosophy ), and in ancient India (where the Arthashastra represents an early treatise on governance and politics). Another notable non-Western school of political thought emerged in the 7th century, when the spread of Islam rapidly expanded the outreach of Islamic political philosophy . The study of the history of political thought has inspired academic journals, and has been furthered by university programs. From around 770 BCE, China began to experience

3358-427: The formation of states. In contrast with voluntary theories, these arguments believe that people do not voluntarily agree to create a state to maximize benefits, but that states form due to some form of oppression by one group over others. Some theories in turn argue that warfare was critical for state formation. The first states of sorts were those of early dynastic Sumer and early dynastic Egypt , which arose from

3431-451: The good life. In the intellectual golden age of the fifth-century Athenian democracy , Plato had the freedom to develop his ideas, although he nevertheless despised democracy , alongside all other then existing form of government . This was because Plato believed that the state should promote the virtues necessary for good living, but thought the existing political arrangements of monarchy , oligarchy , and democracy all promoted

3504-738: The history of political thought represents an intersection of various academic disciplines, such as philosophy , law , history and political science . Many histories of Western political thought trace its origins to ancient Greece (specifically to Athenian democracy and Ancient Greek philosophy ). The political philosophy of thinkers such as Socrates , Plato , and Aristotle are traditionally elevated as exceptionally important and influential in such works. Non-Western traditions and histories of political thought have, by comparison, often been underrepresented in academic research. Such non-Western traditions of political thought have been identified, among others, in ancient China (specifically in

3577-597: The interactions through which values are authoritatively allocated for a society." Each political system is embedded in a society with its own political culture, and they in turn shape their societies through public policy . The interactions between different political systems are the basis for global politics . Forms of government can be classified by several ways. In terms of the structure of power , there are monarchies (including constitutional monarchies ) and republics (usually presidential , semi-presidential , or parliamentary ). The separation of powers describes

3650-571: The interests of the people in power, who were ignorant of those virtues, and instead would only pursue honour and wealth , leading to conflict and injustice. To correct this, Plato proposed in the Republic for philosopher kings , who would know how to achieve the good life, to be in power instead. In India , Chanakya ( c.  4th century BCE ) offered in Arthashastra practical advice on how to run government. He also believed that virtue in

3723-524: The kinds of inquiries sought: primary sources such as historical documents and official records, secondary sources such as scholarly journal articles, survey research, statistical analysis , case studies , experimental research , and model building. The political system defines the process for making official government decisions. It is usually compared to the legal system , economic system , cultural system , and other social systems . According to David Easton , "A political system can be designated as

SECTION 50

#1732898447552

3796-497: The land cadastre, organise land assessment and supervise the enforcement of land tax, issue licences for land readjustment activities, solve land disputes, etc. With years the implementation of national land policy and provision of spatial data have become the Land Board's main fields of activities, which in their turn can be subdivided into four: • Implementation of national land policy (execution of land reform, administration of state-owned lands, acquisition of immovable properties

3869-453: The leader and the merit of their advisers were important. Furthermore, he also argued that the end justifies the means , and that after using the best means available to defeat their enemies, rulers should "substitute [their] virtues for the defeated enemy's vices, and where the enemy was good [they] shall be twice as good". Prior to him, Manu wrote about similar topics in his Manusmriti. The early- Christian philosophy of Augustine of Hippo

3942-445: The more co-operative views of politics by Aristotle and Crick. However, a more mixed view between these extremes is provided by Irish political scientist Michael Laver, who noted that: Politics is about the characteristic blend of conflict and co-operation that can be found so often in human interactions. Pure conflict is war. Pure co-operation is true love. Politics is a mixture of both. The history of politics spans human history and

4015-526: The most influential political philosopher of medieval Europe was St Thomas Aquinas , who helped reintroduce Aristotle 's works, which, with the exception of the Politics , which was translated directly from Greek to Latin by William of Moerbeke , had only been preserved by Muslim scholars, along with the commentaries of Averroes . Aquinas's use of them set the agenda for scholastic political philosophy, which dominated European thought for centuries. In 1215,

4088-710: The name of Aristotle 's classic work, Politiká , which introduced the Ancient Greek term politiká ( Πολιτικά , 'affairs of the cities') . In the mid-15th century, Aristotle's composition would be rendered in Early Modern English as Polettiques [ sic ], which would become Politics in Modern English . The singular politic first attested in English in 1430, coming from Middle French politique —itself taking from politicus ,

4161-413: The norm in human prehistory, few stateless societies exist today; almost the entire global population resides within the jurisdiction of a sovereign state . In some regions nominal state authorities may be very weak and wield little or no actual power . Over the course of history most stateless peoples have been integrated into the state-based societies around them . Some political philosophies consider

4234-515: The people, the government included, would be bound. This conceptual distinction continues to operate in political science , although some political scientists, philosophers, historians and cultural anthropologists have argued that most political action in any given society occurs outside of its state, and that there are societies that are not organized into states which nevertheless must be considered in political terms. Political and economic relations were drastically influenced by these theories as

4307-464: The personal is political ", which disputes the distinction between private and public issues. Politics may also be defined by the use of power, as has been argued by Robert A. Dahl . Some perspectives on politics view it empirically as an exercise of power, while others see it as a social function with a normative basis. This distinction has been called the difference between political moralism and political realism . For moralists, politics

4380-482: The same changes to law and the same leaders. An election is usually a competition between different parties. A political system is a framework which defines acceptable political methods within a society. The history of political thought can be traced back to early antiquity, with seminal works such as Plato 's Republic , Aristotle 's Politics , Confucius 's political manuscripts and Chanakya 's Arthashastra . The English word politics has its roots in

4453-400: The sphere of human social relations, while the limited view restricts it to certain contexts. For example, in a more restrictive way, politics may be viewed as primarily about governance , while a feminist perspective could argue that sites which have been viewed traditionally as non-political, should indeed be viewed as political as well. This latter position is encapsulated in the slogan "

SECTION 60

#1732898447552

4526-423: The state undesirable, and thus consider the formation of a stateless society a goal to be achieved. A central tenet of anarchism is the advocacy of society without states. The type of society sought for varies significantly between anarchist schools of thought , ranging from extreme individualism to complete collectivism . In Marxism , Marx's theory of the state considers that in a post-capitalist society

4599-441: The state, an undesirable institution, would be unnecessary and wither away . A related concept is that of stateless communism , a phrase sometimes used to describe Marx's anticipated post-capitalist society. Constitutions are written documents that specify and limit the powers of the different branches of government. Although a constitution is a written document, there is also an unwritten constitution. The unwritten constitution

4672-621: The states or the federal political body. Federations were formed first in Switzerland, then in the United States in 1776, in Canada in 1867 and in Germany in 1871 and in 1901, Australia . Compared to a federation , a confederation has less centralized power. All the above forms of government are variations of the same basic polity , the sovereign state . The state has been defined by Max Weber as

4745-548: The use of which is restricted due to nature conservation requirements, protection of state interests in planning processes) • Maintenance of land cadastre (management of cadastral data and guaranteeing their availability to the public, organising land surveying and control of surveying quality, organising land assessment) • Geoinformatics (management of spatial data, provision of spatial data services and coordination of geoinformation related activities) • Capture and management of geodetic, geological and topographic data (organising

4818-557: The very sources of Islam , i.e. the Qur'an and the Sunnah , the words and practices of Muhammad. However, in the Western thought, it is generally supposed that it was a specific area peculiar merely to the great philosophers of Islam: al-Kindi (Alkindus), al-Farabi (Abunaser), İbn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Bajjah (Avempace), Ibn Rushd (Averroes), and Ibn Khaldun . The political conceptions of Islam such as kudrah, sultan, ummah, simaa -and even

4891-776: The way decisions are made, whether by elected representatives, referendums , or by citizen juries . Democracies can be either republics or constitutional monarchies. Oligarchy is a power structure where a minority rules. These may be in the form of anocracy , aristocracy , ergatocracy , geniocracy , gerontocracy , kakistocracy , kleptocracy , meritocracy , noocracy , particracy , plutocracy , stratocracy , technocracy , theocracy , or timocracy . Autocracies are either dictatorships (including military dictatorships ) or absolute monarchies . In terms of level of vertical integration, political systems can be divided into (from least to most integrated) confederations , federations , and unitary states . A federation (also known as

4964-587: The word often also carries a negative connotation. The concept has been defined in various ways, and different approaches have fundamentally differing views on whether it should be used extensively or in a limited way, empirically or normatively, and on whether conflict or co-operation is more essential to it. A variety of methods are deployed in politics, which include promoting one's own political views among people, negotiation with other political subjects, making laws , and exercising internal and external force , including warfare against adversaries. Politics

5037-553: Was " political " as it had real implications for governance. This view was challenged by the Mutazilite philosophers, who held a more Greek view and were supported by secular aristocracy who sought freedom of action independent of the Caliphate . By the late medieval period, however, the Asharite view of Islam had in general triumphed. Islamic political philosophy , was, indeed, rooted in

5110-437: Was an absolute monarchy ruled by a king, emperor or sultan . The population belonged to many ethnic groups, and they spoke many languages. The empire was dominated by one ethnic group, and their language was usually the language of public administration. The ruling dynasty was usually, but not always, from that group. Some of the smaller European states were not so ethnically diverse, but were also dynastic states, ruled by

5183-591: Was by and large a rewrite of Plato in a Christian context. The main change that Christianity wrought was to moderate the Stoicism and theory of justice of the Roman world, and emphasize the role of the state in applying mercy as a moral example . Augustine also preached that one was not a member of his or her city, but was either a citizen of the City of God (Civitas Dei) or the City of Man (Civitas Terrena). Augustine's City of God

5256-724: Was founded after World War I , and after World War II it was replaced by the United Nations . Various international treaties have been signed through it. Regional integration has been pursued by the African Union , ASEAN , the European Union , and Mercosur . International political institutions on the international level include the International Criminal Court , the International Monetary Fund , and

5329-540: Was laid out in the mid-18th century by Swiss jurist Emer de Vattel . States became the primary institutional agents in an interstate system of relations. The Peace of Westphalia is said to have ended attempts to impose supranational authority on European states. The "Westphalian" doctrine of states as independent agents was bolstered by the rise in 19th century thought of nationalism , under which legitimate states were assumed to correspond to nations —groups of people united by language and culture. In Europe , during

#551448