第5章 王権 n.12 - 制限つきの革命
現代の主要な革命運動は私人の経済的権力に対する社会主義と共産主義の攻撃である。我々はここにおいて,たとえば,キリスト教(ローマン・カトリック)や新教(プロテスタンティズ)や政治的民主主義の勃興において例証されるような運動の共通の特徴を見つけることを期待してよいかも知れない。しかし,この問題については,後のほうで言及することにする。 |
Chapter V: Kingly Power, n.12All these, however, were limited revolutions ; those which were more thoroughgoing involved greater difficulties. The substitution of the republican form of government for hereditary monarchy, where it has been sudden, has usually led to various kinds of trouble, since a new constitution has no hold over men's mental habits, and will only be respected, broadly speaking, in so far as it accords with self-interest. Ambitious men, therefore, will seek to become dictators, and will only desist after a considerable period of failure. If there is no such period, a republican constitution will fail to acquire that hold over men's thoughts that is necessary for stability. The United States is almost the only example of a new republic which has been stable from the beginning.The chief revolutionary movement of our time is the attack of Socialism and Communism upon the economic power of private persons. We may expect to find here the common characteristics of such movements, as exemplified, for example, in the rise of Christianity, of Protestantism, and of political democracy. But on this subject I shall have more to say at a later stage. |