Sieyès grounded historical nationhood in works and functions, not law alone

Evidence

If a nation is to survive, if its law is to be applied and if its legislature is to be recognized (not only abroad, or by other nations, but also within the nation itself), if its survival and prosperity are to be not only a formal precondition for its juridical existence, but also a historical precondition for its existence # history, then there must be something else, other preconditions. Sieyés now turns his attention to these other preconditions. They are in a sense the substantive preconditions for the existence of the nation, and Sieyés divides them into two groups. The first are what he calls “works,” or first, agriculture; second, handicrafts and industry; third, trade; and, fourth, the liberal arts. But in addition to these “works,” there must also be what he calls “functions”: the army, justice, the church, and the administration. … “Works” and “functions”; we would no doubt use the more accurate terms “functions” and “apparatuses” to describe these two sets of historical prerequisites for nationhood. The important point is, however, that it is at this level of functions and apparatuses that the nation’s historical conditions of existence are defined. — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 234

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the second, substantive stratum of Sieyès’s definition: works (agriculture, industry, trade, arts) and functions (army, justice, church, administration).
• XREF: connects to: Sieyès defined the nation vertically via its capability to form a State, not horizontally.; Sieyès inverted prior theory by making works precede the nation juridically — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 234; Sieyès defined the nation by law and legislature rather than king or kinship — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 233 (+1 more)

Related

• Sieyès defined the nation vertically via its capability to form a State, not horizontally. (similarity 0.93)
• Sieyès inverted prior theory by making works precede the nation juridically (similarity 0.89)
• Sieyès defined the nation by law and legislature rather than king or kinship (similarity 0.83)
• Sieyés makes explicit law plus a legislature the formal precondition for nationhood. (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• The nation emerges as a new subject of history distinct from the State #expands (0.80) — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 158