Introduction

Peter Adamson: American history has shown how difficult it is to maintain a stable separation of powers. He says Jean Bodar would have said that it is more than practical, it's conceptually impossible. In his pioneering work of political theory, the six books of the Commonwealth, Bodar envisioned the best constitution as a monarchy with checks on its power and an aristocracy.Adamson: There are two complementary ways to explain why Bodar moved towards a more absolutist position in his six books.