Political thought in the Dutch Republic

"What political theories did the Dutch develop in the seventeenth century, to describe and justify the existence of a republic that in one generation had grown conspicuously in wealth and power? In this book, the author shows the meaning of political philosophy for a new and surprisingly energetic state." "The first essay is a study of Dutch political theory in the seventeenth century and is based on an analysis of publications in law and philosophy dating from the 1660s to the 1690s. The second essay studies the Dutch concept of popular sovereignty in the early seventeenth century, whereas the third considers the Dutch seventeenth and eighteenth-century views on the nature of a republic. These three essays, previously published as independent articles, are brought together here for the first time in English. An introduction has been added in which the author places the original texts in a new perspective"--Book jacket.