Invention of the Modern Republic

Why are republics the most common form of political organization, and the one most readily associated with modern democracy, when until the late eighteenth-century it was generally believed that republics could function only in small urban territories with considerable ethical and political cohesion? In The Invention of the Modern Republic a team of highly distinguished historians of ideas answers this question, and examines the origins of republican governments in America and Europe. These essays explain why from 1776 onwards republics took the place of monarchies as the dominant form of government in the modern world. Given the renewed interest in the functioning and evolution of democratic institutions (especially in their relation with market economies) the issues discussed in The Invention of the Modern Republic have a powerful contemporary resonance.

"This is a very able edited and well-written book, not constrained by the enterprise which it defines. The authors illuminate in a great many ways the history they have chosen to tell." J.G.A. Pocock, Times Literary Supplement, "This is a fascinating work.... Assuredly, it is a stimulating collection of scholarly essays on the intellectual history of the republic and republican ideology." Ken Hendrickson, Social History, "With the renewed interest indemocratic institutions and the ever growing passion to export democracy throughout the international community, The Invention of the Modern Republic is both timely and instructive. The Invention of the Modern Republic makes a significant contribution to our understanding of this type of regime. I highly recommend it to your attention." David A. Freeman, The European Studies Journal