Dados is one of the most widely-read social sciences journals in Latin America. Created in 1966, it publishes innovative works, originating from academic research, by Brazilian and foreign authors. Edited by IESP-UERJ, it aims to reconcile scientific rigor and academic excellence with an emphasis on public debate based on the analysis of substantive issues of society and politics.
Dados vol. 53 n. 1 Rio de Janeiro 2010
Abstract
The article seeks to retrace the theoretical approaches to the problem of exceptionality of power, i.e., the manifestation of sovereign power within a limited government with shared power - as in the tradition of mixed Constitution (longstanding in political thinking) - in the 17th and 18th centuries. Already present in authors like Machiavelli, Harrington, and Locke, the debate bifurcated between England and France in the early 18th century. The specificities of English politics led it to consecrate a tradition of mixed Constitutionalism in which the discretionary element lost relevance in the political system as a whole. In France, on the other hand, the unpopularity of the nobility and the centrality of sovereignty as a concept disaccredited formulas that compromised with the discretionary nature of power. This bifurcation contributed to the formation of two distinct patterns of Constitutional government: the Anglo-Saxon and the French/Continental.
Keywords: state, sovereignty, Constitution, state of exception
DOI: 10.1590/S0011-52582010000100003
Between the Leviathan and the Behemoth: sovereignty, constitution, and exceptionality in 17th and 18th centuries political debate
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