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

• Book I of Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws

  - Lowenthal, David. “Book I of Montesquieu’s The Spirit of the Laws.” The American Political Science Review 53, no. 2 (June 1, 1959): 485–498.
  The Spirit of the Laws has a design or system, and only in its light are the parts fully intelligible. To uncover this design, we must begin by studying that apparently incoherent and alternately simplistic and obscure masterpiece of profound and benevolent… More

• Montesquieu and the History of French Laws by Iris Cox

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  Cox, Iris. Montesquieu and the History of French Laws. Oxford: Voltaire Foundation at the Taylor Institution, 1983.

• Montesquieu

  - Lowenthal, David. "Montesquieu." In History of Political Philosophy. 3rd ed., edited by Leo Strauss and Joseph Cropsey. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.

• Montesquieu

  - Shklar, Judith N. Montesquieu. Past Masters. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987.
  From the publisher: One of the most original political thinkers of the Enlightenment, Montesquieu utilized his passionate belief in toleration and the moral benefits of science to construct a naturalistic system of political science based on the study of… More

• The Modern Doctrine of Executive Power

  - Mansfield, Harvey C. “The Modern Doctrine of Executive Power.” Presidential Studies Quarterly 17, no. 2 (April 1, 1987): 237–252.
  When executive power is understood in its essential ambivalence between the weak, formal executive of theory and the strong, informal executive in practice, a quick history of the doctrine necessary to establish this ambivalence can be constructed: from… 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

• 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

• The Spirit of Separate Powers in Montesquieu

  - Krause, Sharon. “The Spirit of Separate Powers in Montesquieu.” The Review of Politics 62, no. 2 (April 1, 2000): 231–265.
  Montesquieu’s theory of separate powers is elaborated in a discussion of the constitution of England in Book XI, chapter 6 of The Spirit of the Laws, which is by far the most discussed section of that work. Many commentators have interpreted the English… More

• On the Politics of Faith and Reason: The Project of Enlightenment in Pierre Bayle and Montesquieu

  - Bartlett, Robert C. “On the Politics of Faith and Reason: The Project of Enlightenment in Pierre Bayle and Montesquieu.” The Journal of Politics 63, no. 1 (February 1, 2001): 1–28.
  This study seeks to contribute to our understanding of the original political goals of the Enlightenment, especially in its confrontation with the Bible as a source of political guidance. It consists primarily of an exegesis of two seminal works of the… More

• Natural Law, Natural Rights, and Classical Liberalism: On Montesquieu’s Critique of Hobbes

  - Zuckert, Michael. "Natural Law, Natural Rights, and Classical Liberalism: On Montesquieu's Critique of Hobbes." In Natural Law and Modern Moral Philosophy, edited by Ellen Frankel Paul, Fred D. Miller, Jr., and Jeffrey Paul. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
  Zuckert gives an account of Montesquieu’s conception of natural law and relation to Hobbes.

• The Uncertain Inevitability of Decline in Montesquieu

  - Krause, Sharon R. “The Uncertain Inevitability of Decline in Montesquieu.” Political Theory 30, no. 5 (October 1, 2002): 702–727.
  Krause examines Montesquieu’s understanding of regime decline.

• Liberalism with Honor

  - Krause, Sharon R. Liberalism with Honor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2002.
  From the publisher: Why do men and women sometimes risk everything to defend their liberties? What motivates principled opposition to the abuse of power? In Liberalism with Honor, Sharon Krause explores honor as a motive for risky and difficult forms of… More

• Montesquieu’s Complex Natural Right and Moderate Liberalism: The Roots of American Moderation

  - Carrese, Paul. “Montesquieu’s Complex Natural Right and Moderate Liberalism: The Roots of American Moderation.” Polity 36, no. 2 (January 1, 2004): 227–250.
  The diversity in twentieth-century scholarship on Montesquieu’s The Spirit of Laws helps to confirm his own appreciation for complexity, synthesis, and balance in both political theory and practice. This is the overlooked meaning of… 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

• The Design of Montesquieu’s “The Spirit of the Laws”: The Triumph of Freedom over Determinism

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  Samuel, Ana J. “The Design of Montesquieu’s ‘The Spirit of the Laws’: The Triumph of Freedom over Determinism.” The American Political Science Review 103, no. 2 (May 1, 2009): 305–321.
  One of the perennial puzzles of Montesquieu’s “The Spirit of the Laws” is whether it has a coherent design. Although the dominant line of thinking is that this work has no unified structure, another believes it to have some organizing… 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

• Montesquieu’s anti-Machiavellian Machiavellianism

  - Rahe, Paul A. “Montesquieu’s anti-Machiavellian Machiavellianism.” History of European Ideas 37, no. 2 (June 2011): 128–136.
  Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, mentions Niccolò Machiavelli by name in his extant works just a handful of times. That, however, he read him carefully and thoroughly time and again there can be no doubt, and it is also clear… More

• Was Montesquieu a Liberal?: The Spirit of the Laws in the History of Liberalism

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  Spector, Céline. "Was Montesquieu a Liberal?: The Spirit of the Laws in the History of Liberalism." In French Liberalism from Montesquieu to the Present Day, edited by Raf Geenens and Helena Rosenblatt. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.
  Spector examines whether Montesquieu was, indeed, a liberal.

• Montesquieu and the Discovery of the Social

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  Singer, Brian C. J. Montesquieu and the Discovery of the Social. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
  Montesquieu has often been considered the first social theorist. Today, when a number of authors have pronounced ‘the end of the social’, it is time to reconsider its beginnings. What did it mean to ‘discover the social’? What did it… More

Multimedia

• Iván Szelényi: Montesquieu

  - Iván Szelényi, "Foundations of Modern Social Theory," Yale Open Courses, Fall 2009.
  Professor Iván Szelényi’s lectures on Montesquieu from Yale’s “Foundations of Modern Social Theory,” available through Yale Open Courses. Fall 2009.