The National Democratic State[1]
The longstanding conflict over temporal power between popes and kings in the West ultimately saw the kings emerge victorious, as the Church could not find a balance between spiritual and temporal power. This rift was unavoidable, and in the struggle between the hidden divine will and the increasingly prevalent popular will, religion had to relinquish its claim to temporal authority, leaving to Caesar what belonged to Caesar, and to the world what was worldly. It could then focus on maintaining its claims to universal unity and justifying its institutional existence based on divine and spiritual domains.
As cities grew, trade and craftsmanship flourished, and new inventions emerged, society entered a novel phase that challenged many existing institutions. The rise of commerce and craftsmanship disrupted the independent system and self-sufficient families, while urban migration liberated serfs from dependence on landowners. Gunpowder's invention rendered noble knights obsolete, as humorously depicted by Cervantes in "Don Quixote." Furthermore, the creation of paper and printing increased access to knowledge and stimulated people's thoughts and emotions. These factors collectively gave rise to the middle class, weakened landowning feudal lords' influence, and bolstered the power of kings.
The newfound sense of shared values, interests, and connections with various aspects of life made communities more aware of their identities and provided them with means for expressing their desires. This marked the onset of nationalism's development. Ordinary individuals ceased to be beholden solely to royalty, whose interests they served while living under their exclusive protection. Simultaneously, the king's connection with his subjects was limited to his relationship with local rulers. However, ordinary people began developing their own convictions and aspirations. These aspirations gravitated toward the king as a symbol of state unity as well as unified power, interest, and populace. Due to their inherent nature, both public interests and that of the king were fundamentally opposed to those of domineering feudal aristocracies who sought control but thwarted the ever-growing self-awareness of public determination.
The struggle for power between the monarchy and feudal lords was both concealed and open. Each time a dispute arose between these two institutions, the public sided with the former. Ultimately, the monarchy gained full control and reconciled with religion during an era of religious chaos. Kings claimed divine right, as exemplified by Louis XIV's statement: "I am the State." However, nationalism did not merely suppress the feudal lords' power and concentrate it in the king's hands, whose rule became increasingly autocratic and repressive. Instead, it pursued its ultimate purpose: to affirm that sovereignty originated from the people and that the state existed for the people, not the other way around - the foundational principle of nationalism.
The democratic state is intrinsically national because it relies on a collective will rooted in shared socio-economic experiences, rather than external ideologies or artificial desires. The state embodies this will. Representing people is a national democratic principle unknown to previous states. The democratic state does not reflect historical events, age-old traditions, divine will or lost grandeur; rather, it represents people's interests living similar lives as shown through an active consensus.
This new element—the nationalist factor—led to the formation of collective consciousness and public opinion, transforming the state's definition from a tyrannical ruling entity into a sovereign self-governing community (Muttahad). Political representation allowed this community to implement this emerging concept by separating legislative from executive powers while ensuring legislative supremacy since it represented people's will both towards the king (the central authority) and executive powers (those capable of enforcing authority).
The path towards this objective was lengthy and fraught with challenges. Monarchs clung to their beliefs in divine right and unlimited power. The conflict evolved from internal state disputes between kings and nobility to battles between kings and the newfound force that had previously supported them. Over time, arising nationalism claimed its rights from monarchies, either suppressing them or reducing them to merely limited constitutional monarchies. Consequently, true sovereignty vested in the people, and the state became selected by them.
Entering the state prepared for the emergence of national communities, but nationalism introduced new characteristics and entitlements that former memberships lacked. Nationalism is beyond the state's command. It cannot be bestowed upon remote territories and populations by states, as emperors did in Rome. Nationalism is an inherent right for each person within a nation because they were born into it.
A unique feature of a national state is its inability to merge populations within its jurisdiction. Nowadays, a national state must confront the desires of its own people (its nationalism) and those of other nations. Should the state's domain surpass that of the nation, it transforms into an empire or a colonial power, as evidenced by the current Great Powers.