2 - Security, Liberty, and Prosperity as Particularistic Political Goals

Summary

The politics of place affirms that all societies should be secure, free, and prosperous. These are universal goods in the sense that all states should establish and preserve them. The inclusion of prosperity in this list of Montesquieu's overarching goods is important, as scholars have barely treated prosperity in Montesquieu's thought. The three goods remain particularistic, though, because states should achieve and define them differently. That states should achieve these goods in their own way is unsurprising, given Montesquieu's insistence that myriad variables shape societies, and that these variables change over time. The claim that states can define these terms differently may appear more surprising at first glance. We will see, though, that Montesquieu thinks leeway is necessary when defining security, liberty, and prosperity. Still, the politics of place is not equivalent to relativism. Montesquieu is emphatic that not all political, economic, social, and moral orders are equally good, and that some are categorically bad. Montesquieu judges a state's goodness based on the extent to which it upholds these three goods. He singles out despotic orders as especially terrible. The politics of place is not the politics of any-old-place.

In this chapter, we will examine Montesquieu's particularistic understanding of security, liberty, and prosperity. We will investigate what he means by these key terms. We will identify general institutions and practices he finds conducive to achieving these ends, both generally speaking and within certain states. Montesquieu makes some recommendations that are universal in character but not in practice. For example, he thinks that all states need structural checks on various powers so that no person or group acquires too much power, but he contends that these checks should vary across time and place based on a careful study of a state's circumstances.

Security, liberty, and prosperity are Montesquieu's highest political goods. He views them as necessary for the establishment of a good political order. Only with all three goods can individuals live well and flourish. All three are necessary because being secure and free, but not prosperous, for example, means that a state still has significant work to do before its citizens can achieve their goals.