Category : Politics
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From Antiquity to the Dawn of Modern Revolutions: Did Commerce Foster Equality?
In Antiquity, the wealth of states rested first and foremost on agriculture.1 While commerce contributed to collective enrichment, it operated within social frameworks shaped by religion and politics. Military victories, for their part, provided booty, slaves and, in cases of conquest, new sources of revenue. By the late Middle Ages, commerce had acquired civic respectability…
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Is the economy a driving force behind democracy or its gravedigger?
In ancient Greece, the economy was not conceived as a sphere separate from politics,1 itself closely bound up with religion. It appeared in the form of practices — agriculture, craftsmanship, mining, and so on — embedded in the life of the city. Even though trade contributed, for example, to Athenian wealth, it was not regarded…
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How Interests and Values Rose and Virtue Declined (16th–18th Centuries)
In The Passions and the Interests (1977), the historian Albert O. Hirschman shows how, in the 17th and 18th centuries, the concept of interest established itself as the pivot of justificatory frameworks in political economy.1 His enquiry draws in particular on 17th-century moral philosophy, as well as on Montesquieu, Hume, and Smith. Building on those…
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Trump is a Symptom, not the Disease
Since the inauguration of Trump’s second term a year ago, the world has shifted: instead of making America great again, his arbitrary and often violent measures have made the country look increasingly hateful, turning the American dream into a nightmare. By acting like a tyrant, he improves the Democrats’ chances of winning the 2026 midterms.…
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Utility, Work, Distribution: a New Grammar of the Social (19th Century)
At the Origins of the Valorisation of the Economy (15th–19th Centuries) – Article 5/5 During the eighteenth century, Great Britain conferred an unprecedented status on the economy. The development of credit and investment projects, the gradual emergence of a manufacturing industry and a consumer society, the expansion of an increasingly integrated domestic and colonial market—all…
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Interests as the driving forces of social recomposition in eighteenth-century Great Britain
At the Origins of the Valorisation of the Economy (15th–19th Centuries) – Article 4 In eighteenth-century Great Britain, the word “interest” condenses heterogeneous realities that we now distinguish in order to avoid confusion. First, there is financial interest, an instrumental category and the primary one etymologically, which designates the temporal cost of a debt. It…
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1789: Sovereignty and the Impossible Harmony of Interests
Robert Darnton’s The Revolutionary Temper offers a vivid picture of the moral climate that preceded 1789. He uncovers the accumulated resentment of ordinary people against the Crown, the nobility, and the clergy—a resentment sharpened by hunger and humiliation. Yet emotions, however intense, do not by themselves make a revolution. They ignite revolt, not political transformation.…
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Berlin’s new stance towards Beijing shows how the global balance of power is shifting
In a « Le Monde » article about tensions between Berlin and Beijing, the journalist writes: “The paradigm shift in international trade, where the strategic dominance of resources and raw materials, sensitive technologies and markets has replaced the rules of free trade, has deteriorated the position of German companies.”1 This raises a question: did strategic domination of…
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Western Authoritarianisms or the Denial of a Global Evolution
Protectionist vs. Neoliberal Authoritarianisms Since his second inauguration as President of the United States, D. Trump has dominated the news, particularly due to his brutal attitude and arbitrary decisions that endanger American democracy, which is based on the existence of checks and balances. In this context, it is ironic to hear Vice President J.D. Vance…
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On the Role of Technical Culture in Innovation and the Limits of Innovation Today
Technical Culture as a Factor in the First Industrial Revolution In Power and Progress, Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson provide a detailed account of how technological advancements have rarely benefited the entire population. Their fascinating investigation, spanning from the Neolithic era to the present day, supports the idea—dating back at least to Rousseau—that inequalities increased…