Abstract: Although Max Weber did not complete the section on the development of modern states in the chapter of "Domination" in his Economy and Society,we can still reconstruct his views on the subject to a certain extent from his existing writings. The estate states emerged from the Western European feudal system constituted the starting point of the modern state. First,the estate assemblies composed by the estates and the princes constituted the predecessor of modern parliaments. Therefore,as a representative institution,it always retains the characteristics of aristocratic or elite politics. Secondly,in the process of employing various commissaries to intervene in local administration and judicial affairs,to combat the privileges of old estates,and to achieve centralization,the absolute monarchies had turned the modern patrimonial bureaucracy into a police state. In so doing it had also promoted the objectification of office and the rationalization of administration,making patrimonial bureaucracy the predecessor of modern bureaucracy. Since the 19th century,the parliamentary system and the bureaucracy have been reorganized and adapted to the system of modern state based on the principle of the separation of powers.
However,whether it was the transition from the patrimonial to the modern bureaucracy, or the daily operation of the modern bureaucracy,the participation of the leadership democracy was required. The latter,originated in the Greek city-states and the medieval cities,was converged into the modern state-building through the Puritan Revolution and the French Revolution. In the late 19th century,with the expansion of universal suffrage and the increasingly bureaucratization of political parties,political leaders who gained support from the people were able to go beyond the principle of the separation of powers and exercise dictatorial authority. This poses a lasting challenge to the parliamentary democracy and its concept of the rule of law. The tension between these three factors has been driving the further transformation of the modern state.

Key words: estates system, parliamentary system, bureaucracy, police state, leadership democracy