Synopsis
An early-modern treatise founding the modern concept of sovereignty as the supreme, indivisible, perpetual power that defines and orders the state.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Public domainSovereignty is the absolute and perpetual power to make law for all without being bound by it, and this single supreme authority is what constitutes a commonwealth.
It gives Western political thought its enduring definition of sovereignty as undivided supreme authority, anchoring the modern state.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with Carl Schmitt, Political Theology.
Reading note
Read selectively for the core definition of sovereignty; Bodin still binds the sovereign by divine and natural law, so 'absolute' is qualified.
Best paired with
Carl Schmitt, Political Theology