ABSTRACT
The modern state emerged from the feudal order. The case of the history of political thought is different, because there things often happen with greater clarity than they happen in the real world of politics. Changes in ideas do signal shifts of political practice, and the world of political practice is so varied at any particular time that it might well be a matter of luck if a thinker does spot in the present what the future is going to be like. Seen from the perspective of contemporary states, medieval forms of rule look essentially amateurish and messy. Every medieval society was a patchwork of different forms of rule. In the slightly technical language of political theory, it is possible that civil association is not enough, and that the state may have to be rearranged on the basis of social association.
