Thomas Fleiner Livres

After World War II, states evolved into ‘collective fortresses’ to safeguard competing ideological systems, primarily liberalism and communism. This led to intense debates about the nature of economic and social systems, and the role of the state in sustaining them. Central questions emerged regarding what constitutes an ‘ideologically acceptable’ state, the functions it should perform, and how to legitimize various regimes, including democratic, authoritarian, and totalitarian ones. However, following the fall of communism in Europe and the former Soviet Union, state and government scholarship underwent a significant transformation. The post-1989 era signaled a need for a profound shift in the state paradigm, suggesting that the nation-state had lost its purpose as a bastion of unquestioned sovereignty. The rise of a globalized world order challenged the ‘fortress state’ model rooted in European constitutionalism. As the foundations of the nation-state underwent structural changes, socio-economic and political reforms accompanied new constitutional designs. This ‘state in transition’ concept began to redefine the state paradigm, particularly for those countries moving from socialist regimes to liberal constitutional democracies.