Monarchisms in the Age of Enlightenment

In recent decades, historians of early-modern European political thought have tended to neglect the concept of monarchy and monarchism, focusing instead on the development of republicanism during this period. Monarchisms in the Age of Enlightenmentaims to correct this imbalance by illustrating that many thinkers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in fact, saw monarchy as a solution to the instability, chaos, and even violence of experiments with republican government. Editors Hans Blom, John Christian Laursen, and Luisa Simonutti have brought together outstanding scholars in the field to correct many of the misleading stereotypes about monarchy, and to explore the variety and dynamism of this form of government, in early-modern Europe. Contributors explore four major themes: monarchisms in the political thought of Spinoza, Bayle, Fénelon, Hume, and Montesquieu; enlightened Christian and millenarian monarchisms; defending and resisting absolute monarchy; and, finally, reflections on the British monarchy. Fascinating and timely, Monarchisms in the Age of Enlightenmentwill be of interest to historians, political theorists, political philosophers, and political scientists.

Hans Blom is a professor in the Department of Social Science at Erasmus University, Rotterdam. John Christian Laursen is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Riverside. Luisa Simonutti is a research associate at the Istituto per la Storia del Pensiero Filosofico e Scientifico Moderno û CNR, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Ferrara.