~The first version of this new conception of the separation of powers was presented at the 2014 World Congress of the International Political Science Association in Montreal. I developed and deepened it in the consecutive months. I had the opportunity to devote some extra time on this work at St Andrews University where I enjoyed a special...

In contrast to the optimism of the 1990s, the horizon of the new century looks rather gloomy, as far as the cause of free, stable, liberal, and constitutionally solid democracies is concerned. The former optimism was based mainly on the fall of dictatorships, on economic growth (especially in relatively well-ordered states), and on the increasingly efficient protection of human rights. However,...

~The doctrine of the separation of powers undoubtedly belongs to the most formative theories of Western political thought. Its history is usually told by referring to the most outstanding classic authors, beginning with Aristotle, with a special emphasis on John Locke, culminating first in Montesquieu’s formulation of it, and then preserving...

~What is good or right about the separation of powers? This question is practically never asked in a straightforward manner, even though, as we have seen, many authors do suggest more or less explicit answers to this question. Explicitness in and of normative justification is not just a theoretical concern of philosophers. In politics, it is often...

~Neither liberty, nor impartiality, nor functionality, nor justice alone proved to be sufficient for grounding the principle of the separation of powers though each of them (and a...

~In Chapter 3 it was argued that the principle of the separation of powers should and can be derived from a political theory that starts with the concept of a political society. In particular, the concept of political order was shown to have descriptive and normative aspects alike and it was argued that it entails two specific requirements, that of...

~The relational conception of the principle of the separation of powers offers an account of what are the main responsibilities of the legislative, the executive, and the judicial branches of government in maintaining the idea of articulated government, serving the basic order of the commonwealth. These three branches have often thought to be an...

~The separation of powers principle enjoys a unique authority in mainstream Western political and constitutional-legal theory. It has a respectable history: a number of classic authors praised and recommended it for the purposes of protecting private and public liberty. Countless constitutions have incorporated it either explicitly or implicitly. In...

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~Zoltán Balázs is a professor of political science at the Corvinus University, Budapest, Hungary, and a research fellow of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest. His research interests include theories of power, political phenomenology, political theory in literature, and the thought of Aurel Kolnai. Besides publishing...