Political Power, Contract and Civil Society: from Hobbes to Locke

Abstract

This article has the purpose of approaching the main postulates that gave form and constitution to the political theories of Hobbes and Locke concerning, respectively, the construction of modern State and civil society. From a comparative analysis, It attempts to show the way that political power is legitimated from order or consensus, under an rational normative structure of universal nature, and for this reason, anarchy, conflict and social expressions that can change the dynamics of the public life, ought to be excluded.