In this sense, the Protestant Reformation brought about a series of new ideas and
played a strong role. Out of the works the political ideas of which have exerted powerful
influence, one has revived classical theories of the social agreement and initiated the ideas
which were developing in the Western Europe over the next three centuries, placing the
power - citizen relationship upon a quite different theoretical bases.4
As a reaction to the
situation in France, where the religious war was raging, there appeared Jean Bodin's
theory of sovereignty, which still to date serves as a category, the postulates of which,
through the later interpreters, are referred to by many authors who oppose
decentralization and power sharing even though they have never heard of Bodin.