“LE ROI GOVERNE PAR LUI-MÈME”: THE STATE VIEW FOR THE MAIN AUTHORS OF SOCIOLOGY AND GENERAL THEORY OF THE STATE

Abstract

This paper analyzes the vision of the State from a qualitative and comparative doctrinal methodology, contrasting the ideas of the main thinkers of Classical and Contemporary Sociology with the thought of the main authors of the General Theory of the State (GTS). The research reviews the perspectives of Durkheim, who sees the State as an "organ of social thought" and a moral agent, and of Marx, who considers it an instrument of class domination and a committee for managing the affairs of the bourgeoisie. In contrast, it analyzes Weber, whose vision of the State is defined by the monopoly of the legitimate use of physical coercion. The GTS, with its classical authors such as Jellinek and Kelsen, for example, has a more formal and normative approach, focusing on elements like people, territory, and sovereignty, and on the hierarchy of legal norms. This work enables an analogy between the sociological and legal visions, demonstrating that they share the essence of the State as a controlling, regulating, and protective force that prevails over an organized human group.