The Evolution of the European States : Paradigms of State Organisation

Abstract

States are the result of cultural evolution. With this in mind, the book summarises the research of five university professors on the development of European states, with a special emphasis on the Hungarian state. The authors justify the thesis that group and individual political interests have been and continue to be the driving force behind the development of states, which are not independent of each other. According to this view, in different historical periods, the assertion of interests by political interest groups with similar patterns became a force that shaped public power and the state. Exploring the group interests behind state development demystifies the reference to “state interests” or “great power interests”, ideological, economic or political values. The thesis of the research and the essays in this volume can shed a different light on historical phenomena such as the transatlantic alliance, Europe, the European Union or Central Europe. Further reflection on the book may also reveal to the reader the real drivers of the political sovereignty disputes that are still taking place today between international organisations and nation states.