Acceso usuarios
Bernard Manin
En la historia de las ideas polticas, tradicionalmente se han distinguido y enfrentado la concepcin antigua o republicana de la libertad, asociada a la participacin activa en lso asuntos pblicos, y la moderna o liberal, vinculada al desarrollo del intercambio econmico irrestricto. La oposicin entre ambas se ha fundado principalmente en la motivacin de la accin individial: los republicanos consideran que el ciudadano debe sacrificar su propio inters por el bien pblico, mientras que los liberales buscan proteger las actividades individiales contra cuialquier tipo de coaccin externa discrecional.Esto ha originado la oposicin entre virtud y comercio. Sin embargo, la confrontacin no es natural ni necesaria. COn base en una interpretacin ms profunda del concepto de virtud republicana desarrollado por Montesquieu, es posible demostrar que la repblica y el comercio no son antagnicos, como hasta ahora se ha establecido.
In the history of political thought, it has been traditionally distinguished and confronted the classic or republican conception of liberty, associated to active participacion of citizens in public affairs, and the mdoern or liberal notion, usually related to the development of free economic trade. Basically, the opposition between these two understandings has been based in the motivations of individual action: republicans consider that citizens should sacrifice their own interest to the common good, while liberals seek protection of individual activities against any kind of disctretional external coercion. This is the origin of the opposition between virtue and commerce. But the conforontation is neither natural nor necessary. Relying in a deeper interpretation of the concepto of republican virtue developed by Montesquieu, it can be stated that republic and commerce are not rivals, as it has been widely thought.
