Geoff Kennedy

The ‘Republican Dilemma’ and the Changing Social Context of Republicanism in the Early Modern Period

This article relates the evolving relationship between republicanism and the problem of ‘empire’ to the changing social contexts within which republican political theory emerges in the early modern period. It is argued that the initial antagonism between republicanism and empire was a politically constituted dilemma that related to the specific configuration of economic and political power characteristic of pre-capitalist societies. With the development of capitalism in England in the early modern period, the problem of empire becomes partially resolved due to the way in which the separation of economic and political power under capitalism reconstitutes the nature of empire itself. This new social context — characterized by new social, economic and political relationships specific to an emerging capitalist context — laid the foundations for the resolution of the ‘republican dilemma’ of empire and the ideological establishment of the first ‘Republican Empire’ in 18th century America.

Cicero, Roman Republicanism and the Contested Meaning of Libertas

Despite growing interest in neo-Roman republicanism, few republicans examine the character of Roman republicanism, either in its constitutional practice, its social relations or in the works of its primary defenders. This article examines Ciceros two systematic dialogues of political philosophy – De Re Publica and De Legibus – in order to assess the status of liberty as ‘non-domination’ in these texts. It argues that, far from liberty as non-domination being the operative conceptual ideal in Ciceros republicanism, concordia along with equity as a form of proportionate equality that depends upon the recognition of substantive differences of status and power serves as the foundation of his republican political thought. This form of ordered liberty is offered as an alternative to the conception of liberty as a form of ‘non-domination’ that Cicero attributes to the democracies of ancient Greece and the populist project of popular reformers such as Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus.

The Neo-Liberal State

related to feminism, anti-racism, animal rights, and radical environmentalism for example, which are subsumed as part of the multitude. It is his singular focus on immaterial labor that is arguably the strongest evidence of Negri’s allegiance to Marxism and Leftist politics. Coupled with his astute merger of revolutionary force with postmodern sensibility, Goodbye Mr. Socialism is an ode to radical politics like no other and a must read for anyone on the Left.

Citizens to Lords: A Social History of Western Political Thought From Antiquity to the Middle Ages

This article seeks to contextualise Ellen Meiksins Wood’s recent survey of classical and medieval political thought within the context of some of the prevailing approaches to the history of political thought. After an initial elaboration of Wood’s ‘political-Marxist’ approach to issues of historical development and contextualisation, I emphasise what is significant about Wood’s specific contribution to the study of Greek, Roman and medieval political ideas in particular, as well as to the history of political thought in general.