5 - A Political Economy of the Body Politic

Summary

This chapter outlines a conception of the body politic as an organised plurality of actors governed by ordering principles that aim to achieve ‘correct proportions’ between various levels of agency and thereby ensure viability of the system over time. Fundamental dispositions in the body politic are directed towards mutual recognition rather than the mere pursuit of ‘influence’ through political power or economic wealth. This implies that actors are relational beings, embedded in relationships enabling them to organise social, political, and economic associations. The chapter discusses contractualism in political economy, considering its separation of economics from the body politic and its reduction of political economy to instrumental rationality and maximising choice. The contractualist approach is contrasted with a relational perspective that emphasises interlocking institutions that channel within the body politic existing social dispositions and interdependencies. The chapter also explores the implications for political economy of the latter view, building on the work of political and economic theorists of the Enlightenment such as Paolo Mattia Doria and Antonio Genovesi. Their approach is consistent with a non-contractualist view of the evolution of civil life which emphasizes the primacy of plural levels of aggregation and intermediate affiliations in the development of the body politic.