Description
Book SynopsisA re-examination of both the traditional theories of western democracy and the stereotypical accounts of oriental despotism. The author draws on archaeological evidence as well as more recent historical material and provides a new interpretation of the origins of contemporary political thought.
Trade Review'Patricia Springborg takes as the centre of her history of Western politics kingship instead of the city state, Egypt and Mesopotamia instead of Greece and Rome, and obliges us to look at the Greco-Roman West in a Hellenistic and Nilotic perspective. The result is a brilliant inversion of what she considers to be a perversion of history, and may well become a classic of post-liberal or neo-liberal thinking.'
J. G. A. Pocock, Johns Hopkins University 'A bold book ... Western Republicanism and the Oriental Prince is a call to modern historiography to be more open-minded on the one hand, and more sceptical on the other.' Times Higher Education Supplement
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements.
Introduction.
Part I. The Greek Polis Versus the 'Great King':.
1. Pluralistic Structures and State Power.
2. Greeks and Barbarians, Freedom and Slavery.
3. Ionian Historia and Kulturgeschichte.
4. Polybius, on Monarchy, Freedom and Tyranny.
5. Patronage, Magnificence and Title to Rule.
6. Plato and the Egyptian Story.
7. Hesiod and Oriental Cosmogonies.
8. Foundation Myths and their Modes.
9. Philological Evidence: Gods, Goddesses and Place Names.
10. Herodotus, Diodorus, Isocrates and the Historical Record.
Part II. Renaissance Republicanism and the Eastern Marcher Lord: 1. Republic and Empire.
2. Aristotelian Republicanism or Renaissance Platonism?.
3. The Roman Legacy: Justice, Peace, Harmony and Grandezza.
4. Machiavelli on Hellenistic Expansionism and Economic Needs.
5. Machiavelli, the Marcher Lords and War.
6. Machiavelli and Polybius on the Predatory and Personalistic State.
7. Polybius and Machiavelli on Patronage and Corruption.
8. The Islamic Mirrors of Princes.
9. Ibn Khaldun and the Cycle of Regimes.
10. La Serenissima and the Sublime Porte.
Conclusion.
References.
