Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) is best known for his development of the concept of sovereignty, which was treated most clearly in his great work, Leviathan.

Whilst Hobbes was not the first theorist of sovereignty, he remains perhaps the most thorough exponent of the concept. His accounts of morality and religion, as well as of government, are set out in a way that precludes legitimate challenge to the sovereign's authority: and the soovereign, whether monarchical or republican or parliamentary, ...