Adam Ferguson on the Perils of popular factions and demagogues in a Roman Mirror

Skjonsberg, Max ORCID: 0000-0001-7106-3728 (2019) Adam Ferguson on the Perils of popular factions and demagogues in a Roman Mirror. HISTORY OF EUROPEAN IDEAS, 45 (6). pp. 842-865.

Text Max Skjönsberg - Adam Ferguson on the Perils of Popular Factions and Demagogues in a Roman Mirror, HEI, March 2019.docx - Author Accepted Manuscript Download (115kB)

Abstract

For the Scottish Enlightenment thinker Adam Ferguson (1723–1816) and many of his time, the history of the Roman Republic furnished the best case study for discussions of internal threats to a mixed system of government. These included factionalism, popular discontent, and the rise of demagogues seeking to concentrate power in their own hands. Ferguson has sometimes been interpreted as a ‘Machiavellian’ who celebrated the legacy of Rome and in particular the value of civic discord. By contrast, this article argues that he is better understood as a disciple of Montesquieu, who viewed Rome as an anachronistic and dangerous ideal in the eighteenth century, the era of the civilized and commercial monarchy. The greatest fear of Ferguson was military despotism, which he believed was the likely outcome of democratic chaos produced by the levelling instincts of the ‘common’ people and demagogues prepared to harness their discontent. In such a scenario, a legitimate order in a mixed government would be turned into a faction putting the constitutional balance at risk, undermining intermediary powers, and ending liberty for all.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Adam Ferguson, constitutionalism, empire, faction, Montesquieu, party, political representation, the Roman Republic, the Scottish Enlightenment
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	18 Feb 2020 16:25
Last Modified:	19 Jan 2023 00:02
DOI:	10.1080/01916599.2019.1601466
Related URLs:	Author Publisher
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3075591