Republicanism [Hardcover]

Maurizio Viroli (Author), Antony Shugaar (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 11, 2001

A provocative new study of the political ideals that should guide a republic

At the beginning of a new century, there is renewed interest in the traditions and ideas that have inspired political republicanism. Maurizio Viroli, who has written extensively on democracy and nationalism, stresses that republicanism is a political ideal for citizens everywhere who are committed to the work of sustaining civic virtue. He explores republicanism's commitment to a rule of law administered on behalf of all citizens equally, to liberty, and to the repudiation of monarchy, aristocracy, and all discriminatory state formations.

Viroli traces the story of political republicanism from its origins with Aristotle and in classical Rome to its renaissance with Machiavelli, then to its great flowering in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with Locke, Kant, Rousseau, Tom Paine, and the Founding Fathers. He concludes with an impassioned evocation of the power of the republican ideal in our own time. We can derive from it, he suggests, a form of wisdom and strength that protects civic democracy and enriches private life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this slim volume, Viroli (Niccolo's Smile) bemoans the general "decline in civic consciousness" that has marked recent decades, and by giving a history of the theory and practice of republicanism, he reflects upon ways to resuscitate civic concerns. Focusing largely on Renaissance writers, Viroli seeks to define and explain republicanism as a richly lived tradition rather than an ideal theory (which was how writers who fashioned the subsequent liberal tradition understood it). It's most accurate "to regard both liberal and democratic theory as provinces of republicanism, based in its classical form on the two principles of the rule of law and popular sovereignty," Viroli writes. Later, however, he bases his distinction of republicanism from liberalism on differing concepts of liberty: freedom from domination (with the help of self-made law) vs. freedom from interference (including that of law). Viroli's underexplained shifts like this and underdeveloped yet repetitive statements can be frustrating, but gradually some truly provocative ideas emerge, like the notion of republican patriotism as a passion vital for preserving self-government and created through participating in the self-creating life of a republic. No such patriotism is possible, according to republican theory, among subjects of an absolute ruler (a conviction that stands in striking contrast to the supposedly natural ethno-nationalist passions developed in the 19th century under the name of patriotism). If Viroli is sometimes maddeningly fragmentary or repetitive, it may be because he is struggling insistently to excavate a meaningful but obscured indeed, almost buried tradition from its modern descendants.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Maurizio Viroli has written many works on political philosophy, including Niccolo's Smile: A Biography of Machiavelli (FSG, 2000). A professor of politics at Princeton University, he lives in Princeton, New Jersey, and Forli, Italy.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Hill and Wang; 1st edition (February 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 080908077X
• ISBN-13: 978-0809080779
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,165,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reviving republican politics, May 15, 2002

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politicalthought.com - See all my reviews

This review is from: Republicanism (Hardcover)

Maurizio Viroli's book is a brief and engaging read, animated with a hopeful faith that the republican tradition has relevance in contemporary politics. Like Poe's purloined letter, Viroli would have us see the republican tradition as an overlooked political possibility. Viroli's task, therefore, is to bring out the distinct shape of republican thought from the more familiar trappings of contemporary liberalism. But secondly, he must make clear what has been lost in setting aside republicanism and enlist us in his revival of republican politics.

Viroli argues we should see liberalism as a derivation of the republican tradition not as a necessary successor. He calls liberalism an "impoverished or incoherent republicanism, but not an alternative to republicanism". What liberalism has lost, Viroli argues, is a conception of liberty that takes account of forms of domination that limit individual freedom. He also argues that republican patriotism offers a means of energizing civic life that liberalism lacks. This republican form of patriotism, however, remains distinct from the faults of nationalism or ethnic chauvinism (an argument made more fully in Viroli's earlier book, For Love of Country).

To a large degree, the theoretical points Viroli makes regarding republicanism are drawn from two other recent books, Philip Petit's Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government, and Quentin Skinner's Liberty Before Liberalism. Interested readers would do well to address those two books prior to taking up Viroli. But Viroli brings spirit to this revival of republican thought and his book adds a myriad of illustrative examples of republican thinking from the history of Italian political thought. The pages are animated by the hope that the republican tradition might make a return to the peninsula that has given the world so many great republican theorists (the book was originally written in Italian for an Italian audience) and it is here, in the practical advice for animating republican politics that Viroli demonstrates ingenuity in his use of history and argument. "Contemporary republican theorists should learn from the wisdom of their classical forerunners and think of disputes over political liberty as conflicts between partisan interests and conceptions, not as philosophical debates whose goal it is to ascertain or demonstrate the truth. ... Evaluations of all political actions tend to be partisan, subjective, driven by passions; disputes in the real world are neither scientific nor philosophical but, rather, rhetorical in the classical sense of the term." One hopes that the next evolution in Viroli's work will bring us more of this practical, rhetorical argument for the practice of republican politics, inspired (but not overwhelmed) by the history of republican thought, and thus succeed at even greater persuasion as to the virtues of contemporary republicanism. ~ J. D. Petersen

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Quick-read in Civic Consciousness, April 26, 2006

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Readalots (South Texas, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Republicanism (Hardcover)

I picked up a copy of Maurizio Viroli's "Republicanism" a few weeks ago in the Princeton U. bookstore. It has been a very interesting read, about the nature of republic, from an Italian (whose nation produced the likes of Caesar, Cicero, Medici, Machiavelli, Borgia, and Victor Emmanuel).

The book's 124 pages is a quick-read in civic consciousness. (I read the entire book on the brief journey home from the bookstore.) Viroli firmly documents his discussion with 12 pages of endnotes.

Viroli's analysis is refreshing and provocative. Avoiding contemporary North American political jargon he offers a different look at "direct participatory democracy". He suggests that all political theory is founded upon basic moral claims. These claims are the sovereign society's choices.

He suggests that republican theory is a desire to be free of dependence while non-republican theory (Viroli labels "liberal") begins with freedom from interference (or capabilities of performance). He believes that absolute republicanism is impossible (emancipation, he says, requires dominance).

Civic virtue (whose highest form is love of country) is the basic necessity of republicanism. This "patriotism" (as independent self-governing) is much different from "nationalism" (which reflect a collective will of dependence). Viroli sees ultimate problems with republics: they can be maneuvered to served unjust and irrational causes, steering them away from morality. Non-republics may lead to national common dependence and domination (or extreme restraint and restriction), which is capable of manipulating moral principles.

Viroli proposes other socio-political ideas through the book (liberty, revenge, glory, equality, freedom, democracy, etc.). It is an interesting and informative read.

"Republicanism" offers a significant political reflection for the 21st century. It could be well used for teaching politics and is a good gift candidate. It is highly recommended to all students of political science, sociology, and history.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A work of few words but powerful insights, October 21, 2006

By 

Shawn S. Sullivan (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Republicanism (Hardcover)

Maurizio Viroli ends "Republicanism" with an insightful, if very pessimistic, view of a contemporty malaise. "Democratic institutions today are suffering a serious malaise, a lack of passion, commitment, or loyalty that affects different democratic counstires differently but affects them all . . . Republicanism should propose itself in democratic multicultural countries as a new political vision of a civic ethos that reconnects the words 'liberty' and 'responsiblitity'.

Certainly this book, filled with concepts and ideas, can be read and viewed differtly and for many good reasons. A refresher course on what true Republicanism is. A background for students of U.S. history into the theory and theorists that influenced our own form of government. My own sence of this terrific discourse was that our own politics could be greatly influenced if read by pundits and politicians, party leader and voters alike. Step back. Think. Read. What are our guiding pricipals and what form of government do we want. What are we willing to give up in terms of priviledge and liberty for the "greater good" and what IS that greater good.

While this book was written by and Italian for Italians its application is truly universal. It is short. It is packed with ideas. Many, myself included, should read much, if not all, of it twice to comprehend the arguments. Whatever your politics, this book forces you to think about the greater, and more philosophical, aspects of any form of government or power.