A01=Joshua Bandoch
aristocracy
Aurelian Craiutu
Author_Joshua Bandoch
best political order
Category=JPA
Celine Spector
change
clergy
climate
commerce
conquest
constitution
De l'Espirit des lois
democracy
despotism
economics
England
Enlightenment
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
esprit
fear
governance
government
Holland
honor
Judith N Shklar
Judith Shklar
law
laws
luxury
Michael Zuckert
morals
Of the Spirit of the Laws
Paul A Rahe
Paul Rahe
politics
prosperity
security
Thomas Pangle
universalism
variation of societies
virtue
Product details
- ISBN 9781580469029
- Weight: 508g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 15 Nov 2017
- Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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A critical reexamination of Montesquieu's political science, revealing the primacy of place in the development of the best political order.
Many Enlightenment thinkers sought to discover the right political order for all times and all places, and scholars often view Montesquieu as working within this project. In this reassessment of Montesquieu's political thought, Joshua Bandoch finds that Montesquieu broke from this ideal and, by taking into account the variation of societies, offered a more fruitful approach to the study of politics.
Through a careful reading of Montesquieu's political writings, Bandoch shows that for Montesquieu the politics, economics, and morals of a society must fit a particular place and its people. As long as states commit to pursuing security, liberty, and prosperity, states can -- indeed, should -- define and advance these goals in their own particular ways. Montesquieu saw that the circumstances of a place -- its religion, commerce, laws, institutions, physical environment, and mores -- determine the best political order for that place. In this sense, Montesquieu is the great innovator of what Bandoch calls the "politics of place." This new reading of Montesquieu also provides fresh insights into the American founding, which Montesquieu so heavily influenced. Instead of having discerned the "right" political order, Bandoch argues, the Founders instituted a good political order, of which there are numerous versions.
Joshua Bandoch earned his PhD in political science from the University of Notre Dame. He has taught at Brown University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
JOSHUA BANDOCH is a postdoctoral research fellow at the American Democracy Forum at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
