Abstract
No part of ancient political theory has had a greater influence on political theory and practice in modern times than the theory of the mixed constitution. In what follows I reconstruct this fundamental ideal as it figures in Aristotle, who in Politics devotes much attention to the social and economic foundations of various constitutions, presenting the mixture between oligarchy and democracy, i.e., the polity, as a “middle” constitution characterized by the lack of any excessive difference in wealth between the rich and the poor. I will accordingly focus on the following closely related problems posed by Aristotle: (1) How is it possible to prevent a class struggle resulting from a divide in the population between a group of excessively rich and a large mass of excessively poor? (2) What makes a middle constitution more stable? (3) What is the political virtue of any governmental agency or ruling class in the polity? (4) Under what principles or criteria can the polity be held up as the best form of political association, rather than as the best constitution in the absolute?
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