Mixed constitution
| Number of rulers |
(good constitution) |
(bad shape) |
| One | monarchy | Tyranny |
| Some | aristocracy | oligarchy |
| All | Politics | democracy |
The term mixed constitution denotes a constitution in which elements of two or more so-called “good” forms of government are mixed ( democracy alias politics , aristocracy , monarchy ), whereby a new, composite, better form of government is created. This is superior to the pure (ie "unmixed") forms of government because of their stability.
General
Classical antiquity in particular gave rise to such theories, for example in Herodotus , Aristotle (as in his Politie ), Plato and Polybius . Furthermore, modern theorists have also designed state models based on the ancient mixed constitutional theory , for example Montesquieu with the mixed constitution based on powers. With the beginning of modernity, the ethical distinction between “good” and “bad” constitutional forms on the part of political philosophy ends.
Especially in antiquity, the principle of the mixed constitution was praised as the ideal form of constitution, as it guaranteed great political stability, and a. because it would be spared from the cycle of constitutions . The most important political thinker in the history of ideas in this regard was Aristotle, who worked out the idea of the mixed constitution. The Roman Republic was also described by Polybius as a mixed constitution in this context . The same applies to the similarly structured constitution of Carthage .
Whether there actually ever was a state with a mixed constitution is still highly controversial, although Rome or Sparta were and are often characterized as such. The US constitution is also regarded as a mixed constitution (see Federalist Article No. 40 ), in which the Founding Fathers explicitly resorted to Polybios. With the delegitimization of all non-democratic forms of state or government in the late modern period, the mixed constitutional theory disappeared from living political thought. In the still current theory of the separation of powers , its basic idea (of the division of political power in the state) lives on.
The mixed Roman constitution according to Polybius
| Constitutional body: |
classification: |
| monarchical element | |
| aristocratic element | |
| democratic element |
The Greek politician and historian Polybios traces the rise of Rome to the first world power of its time to its constitution in his " Historien " ( Book VI ) . This is particularly stable and brings harmony and peace within, which u. a. the powerful foreign policy of the Roman state. In the constitutional structure of the Roman Republic, the consulate was a monarchical, the senate an aristocratic element and in the rights of the people, exercised in various comitia , a democratic element of the state order emerged. It is important to note that in this analysis, on the one hand, he overlooks central features of the Roman official and social order, such as the principles of annuity and collegiality , the clientele or the role of the nobility .
Polybios' characterization of the Roman state as a mixed constitution is therefore only partially convincing. On the other hand, his argument has something of its own: The class struggles actually resulted in the participation of the people in rule, just as, given the position of the consuls, an exclusive concentration of state power in the Senate does not seem necessarily conclusive.
According to Polybius, the mixed constitution has three decisive advantages over an unmixed state system: First, that it can limit and control power in the state by counterbalancing every political force. Second, that in a state built in this way, all constitutional organs are forced to cooperate. Third, and this follows from the first two advantages, a mixed constitution is particularly stable . The example of Sparta showed this, while Athens and Thebes were counterexamples whose flourishing was based only on temporary political luck.
See also
literature
- Polybios: The Constitution of the Roman Republic. Histories, VI. Book. Translated and edited by Karl-Friedrich Eisen and Kai Brodersen . Reclam, Stuttgart 2012. ( Reclam's Universal Library 19012).
- Henning Ottmann : History of Political Thought. Volume II / 1: " The Romans ". Stuttgart, Weimar, 2002. pp. 52-69.
Individual evidence
- ^ Marshall Davies Lloyd (1998): Polybius and the Founding Fathers: the separation of powers. ( Full text online )
- ↑ See Ottmann, p. 59f.
- ↑ See Ottmann, p. 61f.