Sovranità e teoria dello Stato in Hobbes e Locke = Sovereignty and State Theory in Hobbes and Locke

This article preliminarily identifies the fundamental characteristics of political power, attributes, and limits of modern State sovereignty. These elements qualify political obligation as a legal relationship aimed at governance and rationalizing collective coexistence. The article then traces the development of the theory of the State by the two main English contractualists of the seventeenth century, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, and elucidates aspects concerning authority, freedom, rights, and their interrelations as outlined by the systems developed by both philosophers.