Madison’s Notes: Plato the Lawgiver: On Ancient Constitutionalism with Melissa Lane

Podcast: The Ricochet Superfeed · Ricochet

Opublikowano: 2026-10-28

What keeps political power aimed at the good of those it governs? Melissa Lane, Class of 1943 Professor of Politics at Princeton, joins host Ryan Shinkel to discuss her book Of Rule and Office: Plato’s Ideas of the Political (Princeton UP, 2026). She distinguishes rule, any hierarchical relationship of direction, from office, which is bound by term limits, eligibility requirements, limited powers, and accountability. Lane argues that the Republic, far from Karl Popper’s vision of unconstrained power, is a book about constitutional design: its very title, Politeia, meant a city’s offices and laws, and Plato surrounds his ru...