Hegel and the representative constitution

Abstract

This thesis makes the case for reading G.W.F. Hegel’s Philosophy of Right from 1820 as a pertinent contribution to the public debate on the constitutional question in post-Napoleonic Germany. Its title is inspired by a term used by contemporaries to express their demand for constitutionalisation and some form of popular participation in government. While attempts at precise definition were undertaken, these constituted no more than bids for the prerogative of interpretation, and the exploration of that struggle lies at the heart of this work. Hegel undoubtedly embraced the single greatest political demand of the age and, in idiosyncratic fashion, accommodated it in the Philosophy of Right, thus making a characteristic contribution to the discourse on the representative constitution. By placing Hegel’s political thought in the context of contemporary discussions, this history of thinking about the state in the early nineteenth century humanises a thinker with a notorious reputation for obscurity and unearths the ideas of many lesser-known contemporaries. Sharpening our sense of possibility through a confrontation with the past and alternative ways of thinking, it encourages critical reflection on the nature of representation, the virtues required to perform it successfully, and the constitutional arrangements best suited to facilitate it.