Political Thought

Rome contributed little to the literature of political thought. Roman political institutions and legal system, however, exerted a tremendous influence on political evolution; and for many centuries after her fall the idea of the state was based upon the institutions that Rome had established. Rome first appeared as a city-state, formed by a union of … Read more

The Sophist’s Philosophy. Traces of political thought appear in the earliest literature of the Greeks. Homer portrayed a patriarchal regime in which kings were descended from the gods, exercised despotic authority, and held the mass of the people in contempt. In Hesiod and the fragmentary writings of the Seven Sages, the support of monarchy was … Read more

Nature of Greek Political Thought. Perhaps the chief characteristic of Greek thought was its concern for first principles or the central rules controlling the universe. One early Greek philosopher, as evidence of this spirit, declared that he would rather discover one causal law than be king of Persia. The Greeks conceived the universe as the … Read more

Other factors were equally important in shaping Greek political thought. Foremost among these were a sense of community and a spirit of camaraderie which have few modern parallels. The lives of Athenians were not as compartmentalized as ours often are. Distinctions between public and private interests melted away into a common concern for the community. … Read more

Greek and Roman cities were political communities, which possessed the institutions required for autonomous collective decision-making. This remained a characteristic of ancient cities from one end of antiquity to the other, even if under monarchical or imperial rule the autonomy of poleis and civitates was somewhat more restricted. The Greek City-State Although the political ideas … Read more

Ancient Theory of International Relations. Certain principles of interstate relations may also be found in ancient literature or may be deduced from the external dealings of early peoples. Although the modern idea of international law among sovereign and independent states did not develop until the rise of national monarchies at the close of the Middle … Read more

Hebrew Political Thought. Like most Oriental peoples, the Jews held a theocratic conception of the state, believing that political authority was divine in origin and sanction; but they early reached the conception of a single deity, worshiped in common by all their tribes. Their god, Jehovah, was not associated with a particular place; on the … Read more

Chinese Political Thought. In many respects, the political thought of the Chinese resembled that of the Hindus rather than that of the other Oriental peoples. China was isolated, fairly free from warfare, and never united under a monarch powerful enough to crush freedom of thought and local independence. The worship of Heaven, the supreme deity, … Read more

Hindu Political Thought. India, with an area as extensive as Europe minus Russia, and with a large and diverse population, has had an active political history. The existence of autonomous oligarchic city-states is recorded in the earliest Hindu tradition. As early as the fourth century B.c. a Hindu empire was established which included a more … Read more