Theorizing The Ideal Sovereign

Delogu examines how biographical writings on kings contributed to nascent ideas of nationhood, exerted pressure upon traditional ideals of kingship, and ultimately redefined the theoretical and practical bases of medieval kingship.

Theorizing the Ideal Sovereign, examines the ways in which vernacular biographies of kings from the later French Middle Ages reflected and contributed to transformations in late-medieval political and philosophical thought. Using a lens of literary analysis for works that have more often been read as historical source documents, Daisy Delogu demonstrates how theories of kingship evolved in the period of the "rediscovery" of Aristotle, the rise of the vernacular as a language of ethics and philosophy, and the Hundred Years' War. By means of a series of close readings of Jean de Joinville's Vie de Saint Louis, Guillaume de Machaut's Prise d'Alixandre, and Christine de Pizan's biography of Charles V, Delogu examines the ways in which biographical writings on kings could advance precise political aims. She also shows how these texts contributed to nascent ideas of nationhood, exerted pressure upon traditional ideals of kingship, and ultimately redefined the theoretical and practical bases of medieval kingship. This study of vernacular kings's lives illuminates the important role that literary works played in shaping ideas more traditionally discussed in legal, historical, or institutional terms. Theorizing the Ideal Sovereign restores late medieval kings's lives to ethical and political conversations of which they were an integral part, and revives the lively interaction between texts and readers that formed the basis for medieval reading experiences.

Sovereignty is the vital organizing principle of modern international law. This book examines the origins of that principle in the legal and political thought of its most influential theorist, Jean Bodin (1529/30-1596). As the author argues in this study, Bodin's most lasting theoretical contribution was his thesis that sovereignty must be conceptualized as an indivisible bundle of legal rights constitutive of statehood. While these uniform 'rights of sovereignty' licensed all states to exercise numerous exclusive powers, including the absolute power to 'absolve' and release its citizens from legal duties, they were ultimately derived from, and therefore limited by, the law of nations. The book explores Bodin's creative synthesis of classical sources in philosophy, history, and the medieval legal science of Roman and canon law in crafting the rules governing state-centric politics. The Right of Sovereignty is the first book in English on Bodin's legal and political theory to be published in nearly a half-century and surveys themes overlooked in modern Bodin scholarship: empire, war, conquest, slavery, citizenship, commerce, territory, refugees, and treaty obligations. It will interest specialists in political theory and the history of modern political thought, as well as legal history, the philosophy of law, and international law.

This volume is a sequel to the author's earlier work on the development of European theories of sovereignity and constitutionalism. Professor Franklin here explains a major innovation associated with the English Civil Wars. It was only now, he shows, that there finally emerged a theory of sovereignity and resistance that was fully compatible with a mixed constitution. The new conception of resistance in a mixed constitution was to enter the main tradition via Locke, who stood alone among major writers of the 1680s in holding that the effect of tyranny by any constituted power, even by the King alone, was entire dissolution of the government and the reversion of power to the general community. When this familiar position is read against the background of preceding constitutionalist theory, the Second Treatise reveals a new dimension of novelty and historical significance.

Examining the origins of the principle of sovereignty in the legal and political thought of Jean Bodin, this book explores his creative synthesis of classical sources in philosophy, history and the medieval legal science of Roman and canon law in crafting the rules governing state-centric politics.

Equality is the endangered species of political ideals. Even left-of-center politicians reject equality as an ideal: government must combat poverty, they say, but need not strive that its citizens be equal in any dimension. In his new book Ronald Dworkin insists, to the contrary, that equality is the indispensable virtue of democratic sovereignty. A legitimate government must treat all its citizens as equals, that is, with equal respect and concern, and, since the economic distribution that any society achieves is mainly the consequence of its system of law and policy, that requirement imposes serious egalitarian constraints on that distribution. What distribution of a nation's wealth is demanded by equal concern for all? Dworkin draws upon two fundamental humanist principles--first, it is of equal objective importance that all human lives flourish, and second, each person is responsible for defining and achieving the flourishing of his or her own life--to ground his well-known thesis that true equality means equality in the value of the resources that each person commands, not in the success he or she achieves. Equality, freedom, and individual responsibility are therefore not in conflict, but flow from and into one another as facets of the same humanist conception of life and politics. Since no abstract political theory can be understood except in the context of actual and complex political issues, Dworkin develops his thesis by applying it to heated contemporary controversies about the distribution of health care, unemployment benefits, campaign finance reform, affirmative action, assisted suicide, and genetic engineering.

Bertrand de Jouvenel examines the relationship between the distribution of power and the creation of an ethical society.