Chapter 3: From The Republic to the Liberal Republic—History and Ideas
Chapter Summary Self-Study Questions Something to Consider Key Terms Resources
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Political institutions and processes are easily misunderstood without a grasp of the historical contexts in which they have developed. In fact, the particular historical events and forces responsible for the differing character of regimes that are otherwise quite similar (such as Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland; or Australia, Canada, and New Zealand) place limits on our ability to compare regimes. Nonetheless, on a broader level, generalizations are possible, and this chapter provides a rudimentary outline of the historical stages in the background of most of the liberal democracies with which this text is primarily concerned. While liberal democracy emerged in the most recent of the three periods discussed—modernity—its features are thrown into sharper relief by comparing modernity with the political institutions of feudalism that existed in the medieval period. The historical contexts of politics include the dialogue of political philosophers with each other across the centuries, a dialogue that begins in the earliest period discussed here—classical antiquity—where the diversity of regimes present in that period contributed ideas to later constitution designers. Some of these ideas were democracy, the rule of law, and legislatures. Particular attention is paid to the transition from the feudal period to modernity, which was facilitated by three developments: the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and the rise of the Market Economy. Together with the transformation of political authority from autocratic, personal rule, to the responsible, impersonal exercise of the rule of law, these events constituted the liberal revolution, which played out in vastly different ways in various regimes.
SELF-STUDY QUESTIONS
Multiple Choice
(Answer key below)
1. Which of the following are characteristic of Machiavellian thought?
a. That power should be used for impersonal ends
b. That reason is distinct from virtue
c. That politics is oriented towards the nation and state
d. All of the above
2. Who conceived of the state of nature as “nasty, brutish, and short”?
a. Locke
b. Plato
c. Augustine
d. Hobbes
3. Parliamentary government is characterized by which of the following?
a. Responsible government
b. The rule of law
c. Both
d. Neither
4. Which of the following typifies the conflict between reason and faith in the Enlightenment?
a. Hobbes
b. Galileo
c. Augustine
d. None of the above
5. Which of the following is NOT associated with the end of the feudal era?
a. The Information
b. The Enlightenment
c. The Market Economy
d. All of the above
[qa cat=”ch3mcak”]
Short Answer
(Click question to reveal answer)
[qa cat=”ch3ssq”]
SOMETHING TO CONSIDER
1. It has been much debated whether knowledge of our history, including our political history, can prepare us for the future. Are there ways in which this knowledge can assist us in the present?
2. To what degree does liberal democracy rest on assumptions about rational decision making and the progressive character of humanity that are not always confirmed by experience and/or observation?
3. Does political philosophy have any relevance for public political discourse today?
KEY TERMS
(Click term to reveal definition)
[qa cat=”ch3kt”]
RESOURCES
Primary Sources
Aristotle. The Politics. Trans. T. A. Sinclair. Penguin: Harmondsworth, 1962. Electronic copy of the Benjamin Jowett translation
Burke, Edmund. Reflections on the Revolution in France. Ed. Thomas Mahoney. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1955. Electronic Copy
Hobbes, Thomas. De Cive (The Citizen). Ed. Sterling Lamprecht. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1949. Electronic Copy
_______. Leviathan. Ed. C. B. Macpherson. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1968. Electronic Copy
Locke, John. Second Treatise of Government. Ed. Peter Laslett. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960. Electronic Copy
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract. Trans. & Ed. G. D. H. Cole. London: J. M. Dent & Sons, 1973. Electronic Copy
Chapter References
Fortin, Ernest. “Thomas Aquinas.” History of Political Philosophy. 3rd ed. Ed. Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. 248–275.
Fox, Robin. “The Kindness of Strangers.” Harper’s Magazine (November 2007): 15–21. Electronic Copy
Kreuzer, Marcus. “Historical Knowledge and Quantitative Analysis: The Case of the Origins of Proportional Representation.” American Political Science Review. 104.2 (2010): 369–392. Electronic Copy
Roberts, J. M. The Pelican History of the World. New York: Pelican, 1980. Brief biography of J. M. Roberts
Sinclair, T. A. A History of Greek Political Thought. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1959.
Further Readings
Boix, Carles. “Electoral Markets, Party Strategies, and Proportional Representation.” American Political Science Review. 104.2 (May 2010): 404–413. Electronic Copy
Hill, Christopher. Reformation to Industrial Revolution. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969.
See also The English Revolution 1640
McLean, Iain. “Political Science and History: Friends and Neighbours.” Political Studies. 58.2 (March 2010): 354–367. Electronic Copy
Norton, Anne. “Politics against History: Temporal Distortions in the Study of Politics.” Political Studies. 58.2 (March 2010): 340–353. Get Abstract
Raphael, D. D. Problems of Political Philosophy. Rev. ed. London: Macmillan, 1976.
Phillips, John H., and William S. Taylor. “The Great Reform Act of 1832 and the Political Modernization of England.” The American Historical Review. 100.2 (April 1995): 411–436. Get Abstract
Weale, Albert. “Political Theory and Practical Public Reasoning.” Political Studies. 58.2 (March 2010): 266–281. Get Abstract
Online Resources
Listen to 2004 Massey Lectures “A Short History of Progress” by Ronald Wright