Major Works

• On the Spirit of the Laws

  - Recommended edition: Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, baron de. The Spirit of the Laws. Edited and translated by Anne M. Cohler, Basia C. Miller, and Harold Stone. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1989.
  Excerpt from the recommended edition: I began by examining men, and I believed that, amidst the infinite diversity of laws and mores, they were not led by their fancies alone. I have set down the principles, and I have seen particular cases conform to them as… More

Other Works

• A Defence of the Spirit of Laws. To which are added, Some Explanations

  - Montesquieu, Charles de Secondat, baron de. "A Defence of the Spirit of Laws. To which are added, Some Explanations." Vol. 4 of The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu. London: T. Evans, 1777.
  Excerpt: Though the Spirit of Laws is intirely a work relating to politics and civil law, the Author has had frequent occasion, in the course of that work, to mention the Christian religion. He has done it in such a manner, as fully to shew its dignity; and… More

Commentary

• Commerce, Power and Justice: Montesquieu on International Politics

  - Rosow, Stephen J. “Commerce, Power and Justice: Montesquieu on International Politics.” The Review of Politics 46, no. 3 (July 1, 1984): 346–366.
  In this essay Montesquieu’s reflections on international politics are interpreted as a more-or-less coherent whole rooted in his understanding of the structural changes in European history from antiquity to the eighteenth century. Montesquieu’s… More

• Virtue, Commerce, and History: Essays on Political Thought and History, Chiefly in the Eighteenth Century

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  Pocock, J. G. A. Virtue, Commerce, and History: Essays on Political Thought and History, Chiefly in the Eighteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.
  From the publisher: A collection of essays from one of the leading figures in the study of the history of political thought. Includes essays concerned principally with the history of British political thought in the 18th century, several of which have been… More

• Montesquieu’s Philosophy of Liberalism: A Commentary on the Spirit of the Laws

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  Pangle, Thomas L. Montesquieu’s Philosophy of Liberalism: a Commentary on the Spirit of the Laws. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.
  From the publisher: This first comprehensive commentary on The Spirit of the Laws uncovers and explicates the plan of Montesquieu’s famous but baffling treatise. Pangle brings to light Montesquieu’s rethinking of the philosophical groundwork of… More

• Fearing Monarchs and Merchants: Montesquieu’s Two Theories of Despotism

  - Boesche, Roger. “Fearing Monarchs and Merchants: Montesquieu’s Two Theories of Despotism.” The Western Political Quarterly 43, no. 4 (December 1, 1990): 741–761.
  Although he did not invent the word despotism, Montesquieu more than any other author established it in our lexicon of political and politicized words. When we examine Montesquieu’s concept of despotism, however, we see an attack on two forces… More

• Confronting the Constitution: The Challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudianism, Pragmatism, Existentialism

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  Bloom, Allan David, and Steven J Kautz. Confronting the Constitution: The Challenge to Locke, Montesquieu, Jefferson, and the Federalists from Utilitarianism, Historicism, Marxism, Freudianism, Pragmatism, Existentialism. Washington, D.C.: AEI Press, 1990.
  The 17 essays in this volume examine first the precepts of the Founding Fathers and their mentors. Then the most significant preconstitutional ideas are outlined, together with analyses of how they harmonize with the Constitution and how they undermine it.

• The Passions and the Interests: Political Arguments for Capitalism before Its Triumph

  - Hirschman, Albert O. The Passions and the Interests: Political Arguments for Capitalism before Its Triumph. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.
  In this volume, Albert Hirschman reconstructs the intellectual climate of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to illuminate the intricate ideological transformation that occurred, wherein the pursuit of material interests –so long condemned as the… More

• The City of Man

  - Manent, Pierre. The City of Man. Translated by Marc A. LePain. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
  From the publisher: The “City of God” or the “City of Man”? This is the choice St. Augustine offered 1500 years ago–and according to Pierre Manent the modern West has decisively and irreversibly chosen the latter. In this subtle… More

• Montesquieu’s Science of Politics: Essays on The Spirit of the Laws

  - Carrithers, David W., Michael A. Mosher, and Paul A. Rahe, eds. Montesquieu’s Science of Politics: Essays on The Spirit of Laws. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001.
  From the publisher: Montesquieu’s The Spirit of Laws is one of a handful of classic works of political philosophy deserving a fresh reading every generation. The product of immense erudition, Montesquieu’s treatise has captured since its first… More

• The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition

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  Pocock, J. G. A. The Machiavellian Moment: Florentine Political Thought and the Atlantic Republican Tradition. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2003.
  From the publisher: The Machiavellian Moment is a classic study of the consequences for modern historical and social consciousness of the ideal of the classical republic revived by Machiavelli and other thinkers of Renaissance Italy. J.G.A. Pocock suggests… More

• Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu

  - Carrithers, David W., ed. Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu. International Library of Essays in the History of Social and Political Thought Series. Burlington, VT: Ashgate Press, 2009.
  From the publisher: The French philosopher Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) was a political and social thinker of enormous depth, range, originality, and influence. The essays by eminent scholars reprinted in this volume explore… More

• Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect

  - Rahe, Paul Anthony. Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift: Montesquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009.
  From the publisher: In 1989, the Cold War abruptly ended and it seemed as if the world was at last safe for democracy. But a spirit of uneasiness, discontent, and world-weariness soon arose and has persisted in Europe, in America, and elsewhere for two… More

• Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty: War, Religion, Commerce, Climate, Terrain, Technology, Uneasiness of Mind, the Spirit of Political Vigilance, and the Foundations of the Modern Republic

  - Rahe, Paul Anthony. Montesquieu and the Logic of Liberty: War, Religion, Commerce, Climate, Terrain, Technology, Uneasiness of Mind, the Spirit of Political Vigilance, and the Foundations of the Modern Republic. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010.
  From the publisher: This fresh examination of the works of Montesquieu seeks to understand the shortcomings of the modern democratic state in light of this great political thinker’s insightful critique of commercial republicanism. The western democracies’… More

• The Theological Basis of Liberal Modernity in Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws

  - Pangle, Thomas L. The Theological Basis of Liberal Modernity in Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws. Chicago: The Univ. of Chicago Press, 2010.
  From the publisher: The Spirit of the Laws—Montesquieu’s huge, complex, and enormously influential work—is considered one of the central texts of the Enlightenment, laying the foundation for the liberally democratic political regimes that were to… More

• Democratic International Relations: Montesquieu and the Theoretical Foundations of Democratic Peace Theory

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  Patapan, Haig. “Democratic International Relations: Montesquieu and the Theoretical Foundations of Democratic Peace Theory.” Australian Journal of International Affairs 66, no. 3 (2012): 313–329.
  The article examines the extent to which Montesquieu’s doux commerce thesis, which claims that commerce leads to softening of manners and therefore favours international peace, presents a challenge to democratic peace theory. It argues that… More

• Montesquieu and Modern Republicanism

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  Douglass, Robin. “Montesquieu and Modern Republicanism.” Political Studies 60, no. 3 (2012): 703–719.
  In this article I explore Montesquieu’s discussion of republics and the constitution of England in order to question the extent to which he should be accorded a central place in a tradition of modern republicanism. This involves challenging Paul… More