The Republic

The Republic

There are three basic political types or forms: republics, monarchies, and despotism. Prior to Montesquieu, despotism was seen not as a type of political regime but as, at best, the corruption of a regime type. For the forms of power appeared inconceivable outside the laws that sustain them—and despotism is lawless. By granting despotism full categorical dignity, Montesquieu produces a revolution in the conception of power. Not only does he separate power from positive law, but he suggests that, left to itself, power seeks to overcome the restrictions of the law in pursuit of its own unlimited dominion. ...