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The Society of Tomorrow

In this vision of a future society, the Belgian laissez-faire economist Molinari suggests how many, if not most, public goods could be provided by the free market or by radically decentralized local governments.

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Discourses Concerning Government

Written in response to Sir Robert Filmer’s Patriarcha (1680), the Discourses Concerning Government is a classic defense of republicanism and popular government. Sidney rejected Filmer’s theories of royal absolutism and divine right of kings, insisting that title to rule should be based on merit rather than birth; and republics, he thought, were more likely to honor merit than were monarchies.

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The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates

Written during the English Revolution, Milton’s pamphlet argues that there exists a voluntary contract between free men and their rulers, and that if a ruler becomes a tyrant then the people have the right to depose him if the ordinary magistrates have not done so.

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Patriarcha, or the Natural Power of Kings

In the aftermath of the English Revolution which saw the execution of a king and the creation of a Commonwealth and the restoration of the monarchy, Filmer wrote a solid defense of the divine right of kings which in turn prompted John Locke to write a riposte - part 1 of the Two Treatises of Government.

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Three Lectures on the Transmission of Precious Metals

In a rather grumpy “advertisement” Senior tells us that he rather unwillingly had to give a formal lecture as Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University and have it published. The books contains a lecture on the transmission of gold in international trade and 2 lectures on attempts by protectionists and mercantilists to restrict this.

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