Country is the people, people are the country

Which is superior, the country or the people? This debate has been going on since ancient times. To govern a country well, one must first have a very good understanding of the relationship between the country and its people, and develop the right view about the people.

In Western politics, the state is above the people. In the theoretical vision of many modern Western political thinkers, the people are often treated as an indispensable force to maintain the functioning of society; as a tool to maintain the regime of the ruling class.

Niccolo Machiavelli, Montesquieu, David Hume, William Hamilton, James Madison and many other Western thinkers expressed their fear and antipathy toward the people. For them, the people carry the pejorative colors of disorder, ignorance, blind obedience, irrationality, disorganization and violence, and hence they believed the masses are mere tools or means that can be used to meet the ends.