CH5: REGIMES OF THE MODERN WORLD - THINKERS

Aristotle

advanced a classical typology of six forms of government classified according to how many rule and for whom

Jean Bodin

concluded that absolutism was the most defensible of regimes, as it established a sovereign who makes law but is not bound by those laws; indivisible sovereignty; absolute monarchs constrained by divine and natural law

Thomas Hobbes

portrayed sovereignty as a monopoly of coercive power, implying that the sovereign was entirely unconstrained

John Locke

argued that sovereignty resided with the people not the monarch; advocated a system of limited government to provide protection for natural rights

Montesquieu

attempted to develop a scientific study of human society; advocated a system of checks and balances in the form of separation of powers

Francis Fukuyama

claimed that the fall of the USSR marks the end of history; ideological debate had effectively ended with the worldwide triumph of Western liberal democracy