The absence of a professional police force in the city of Rome in classical times is often identified as a major cause of the collapse of the Republic. But this alleged 'structural weakness' was not removed by the Emperor Augustus and his successors, and was in fact shared with other pre-modern states: a specialised police force is a modern invention. In this critical study of the system of law and order in ancient Rome in both Republican and Imperial periods, Wilfried Nippel identifies the mechanisms of self-regulation which operated as a stabilising force within Roman society. This case-study of ancient Rome has a comparative dimension and will interest legal historians of other pre-modern societies as well as ancient historians, anthropologists, sociologists and political scientists.

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Les discussions modernes sur l’esclavage antique ont été fortement influencées par les controverses, nées à la fin du xviiie siècle, autour de la question de l’esclavage dans les colonies européennes d’outre-mer et aux États-Unis. C’est à ce moment que l’inefficience du travail servile, par rapport au travail formellement libre, a été établie comme un dogme. Marx ainsi que Weber considèrent toujours l’esclavage dans une perspective d’histoire universelle. Marx focalise son intérêt sur l’esclavage contemporain en tant qu’anomalie au sein d’une économie capitaliste globale. Weber développe, quant à lui, une théorie synthétique de l’économie antique de manière à expliquer les particularités du capitalisme moderne par comparaison avec les systèmes économiques pré-modernes et non-européens. Cependant, tant Marx que Weber fondent leurs analyses sur des présupposés abolitionnistes qui ont été remis en question par les recherches sur l’esclavage depuis les années 1970.

Ancient and Modern Democracy is a comprehensive account of Athenian democracy as a subject of criticism, admiration and scholarly debate for 2,500 years, covering the features of Athenian democracy, its importance for the English, American and French revolutions and for the debates on democracy and political liberty from the nineteenth century to the present. Discussions were always in the context of contemporary constitutional problems. Time and again they made a connection with a long-established tradition, involving both dialogue with ancient sources and with earlier phases of the reception of Antiquity. They refer either to a common cultural legacy or to specific national traditions; they often involve a mixture of political and scholarly arguments. This book elucidates the complexity of considering and constructing systems of popular self-rule.

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