Krause, Sharon. “The Politics of Distinction and Disobedience: Honor and the Defense of Liberty in Montesquieu.” Polity 31, no. 3 (April 1, 1999): 469–499.

Elaborating Montesquieu’s concept of honor illuminates a dimension of his liberalism that has been neglected by prior commentary, and calls attention to a form of political motivation that has been overlooked in contemporary political theory. While honor avoids the anti-liberal tendencies of civic virtue, it can motivate, better than self-interest does, the extraordinary acts of courage and sacrifice sometimes needed to sustain individual liberties. Following a brief account of how it fits into Montesquieu’s typology of regimes, three features of honor are elaborated: its high ambitions; its mix of reverence and reflexivity; and its partiality. The final section addresses the relationship between honor and liberal democracy, arguing that despite the tensions between them, liberal democracy needs honor in some form if it is to sustain itself over time.

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