SHORT NOTES ON MIXED GOVERNMENT AND CHECKS & BALANCES

AM | @agumack

"Checks and balances are our only security" — John Adams

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[1] Stability. "Emerge qui la nozione di stabilità, che da Polibio sarà strettamente associata al concetto di costituzione mista, l'unica in grado di assucirarla", writes Guiseppe Cambiano in his analysis of Plato and the mixed constitution (*). Recent events in Turkey and Kazakhstan are shaking the illusion of stability provided by the authoritarian nature of theses regimes. In my Index of Checks & Balances, Turkey is in position 124, closely followed by Kazakhstan at 126. No checks and balances here. Writing for Carnegie Europe, Luca Anceschi (@anceschistan) argues that "Kazakhstan’s illusions of stability, carefully propagated by regime propaganda for over twenty years, imploded in the first week of 2022" [see].

[2] Angels. In Federalist No. 51, James Madison famously wrote: "If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary". Last year I showed that this great piece of political writing was inspired by a passage in Esprit des Loix V.11 [see]. It turns out that a similar expression can be found in another of Madison's French sources. In Des droits et des devoirs du citoyen (1758), Gabriel Bonnot de Mably writes: "... même un ange ne peut remplir un emploi si étendu". I'm reading up on Mably in preparation for my annual blog post on Mariano Moreno and the May 25 Revolution in Río de la Plata [see].

[3] Tunisia. From Monsef Marzouki: "On 25 July 2021, after months of economic and public-health hardship induced by covid-19, major protests erupted against the Tunisian government. That same evening, President Kais Saied announced that he was dismissing Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, suspending parliament, rescinding the legal immunity of legislators, and presiding over their public prosecution. Ironically, Saied contended that he was taking these measures in the name of the 2014 Constitution, which prohibits such an unchecked concentration of powers" (†).

[4] Notes on Glenn Morrow: Plato and the cavalry. "[Plato] probably served in the cavalry; only rich young men could afford the equipment for this branch of the armed forces. There is evidence that these young cavaliers affected Spartan manners and a decided preference for the Spartan 'aristocratic' constitution" (p. 42). This seems to reinforce the view of the 'hippic' τό ψάλιον as the origin of the term check in the expression checks and balances. Morrow himself translates it as "bridle" (57 and 538). Nice! ("Sobre la expresión checks and balances", Contrapesos, 2021) [see].

(*) Guiseppe Cambiano: "Platone e il governo misto", in Domenico Felice (ed). Governo misto. Ricostruzione di una idea. Napoli: Liguori Editore, 2011, p. 12 [see].

(†) Monsef Marzouki: "Is Democracy Lost?", Journal of Democracy, Vol. 33, No. 1, January 22 (@Jodemocracy).

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