The Popular Element in Medieval Political Thought: A Necessary Evil or a Political Good?

• In Event: Populism and Privilege in the Middle Ages

Abstract

This paper will look at how republican writers in the Middles Ages treated the notion of the popular or democratic element in a mixed constitution. Do they, like Aristotle, treat it as a necessary compromise to the riot-prone masses and a check on elite corruption? Or do they step outside the Aristotelian tradition in suggesting that popular political participation can be a good in its own right? Was there a truly populist political ideology in the Middle Ages?

Author

• Mary Elizabeth Sullivan, University of Central Arkansas