Today, most people consider a republic to be a form of government that stands in opposition to a monarchy. In the first case, people elect their rulers, in the second, tsars or kings transfer power to their heirs. However, from the time of Cicero until the American Revolution in 1776 or even the French Revolution in 1789, monarchy was seen as a form of republic. Many questions arise here.
The republican idea has occupied a central place in public discussions since the early 1980s. This book, by contemporary French philosopher Serge Audier, offers a historical and conceptual analysis to clarify the deeper meaning of this idea. The Republic, which is a key concept of Ancient Rome (res publica - “public affair”), re-emerges in the Renaissance and begins to embody political freedom capable of resisting arbitrariness.
This essay, written by one of the world's leading historians, represents an important contribution to scholarship. In the first part, the author seeks to retrieve from oblivion and rehabilitate the neo-Roman theory of free citizens and free states, as it was developed in early modern England. The analysis turns into a convincing apology for the nature, goals and objectives of intellectual history and the history of ideas.
From the 14th Century to the Beginning of the 16th Century This book is devoted to the socio-political development of Pskov before its annexation in 1510 by the Muscovy. The book challenges the ideas that are widespread in previous historiography about Pskov repeating the socio-political system of Novgorod.
This book is needed, first of all, so that research on the history of the concept of res publica becomes available to a wider academic community. Latin scholars will be comfortable reading such works in German or French in the original, but this translation makes them accessible to anyone interested in the classical republican tradition.