Post tag : Montesquieu
-
The Conflicting Orientations of the Early American Republic
Is the economy a driving force behind democracy or its gravedigger? – Article 3 American independence and the adoption of the federal Constitution constitute two successive and distinct moments in the birth of the United States. From the resolutions of the First Continental Congress in 1774, through the Declaration of Independence in 1776, to the Constitution…
-
Modern Conceptions and Practices of Political Liberty and Equality
Is the economy a driving force behind democracy or its gravedigger? – Article 2 Political liberty and equality are the two cardinal principles of contemporary democracies. Their meaning may seem familiar, yet it is far from self-evident. Liberty may refer, among other things, to independence from domination, protection against arbitrary power, participation in collective government,…
-
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…