The Polycentric Republic: A Theory of Civil Order for Free and Diverse Societies

The Polycentric Republic presents a compelling and innovative critique of modern social contract theory. It reveals how the social contract theory systematically neglects the interests and prerogatives of non-State associations and legitimates an imposing sovereign State that jeopardizes the freedom and integrity of communities and associations under its rule.

Drawing on neo-Aristotelian virtue ethics, institutional theory, and political history, the author invites us to reimagine civil order in a way that is more friendly to the diverse interests and prerogatives of non-State communities and organizations, from churches, schools, and universities to farming co-ops, businesses, villages, and towns. Building on MacIntyre’s diagnosis of the moral and institutional failures of the modern State, this book offers a historically informed and institutionally rigorous critique of the pathologies of sovereign power. In addition, it proposes a novel reinterpretation of federalism as a complex, emergent order created through bottom-up, inter-group cooperation constrained by the rule of law but consistent with a wide variety of independent communities and ways of life.

The Polycentric Republic is essential reading for anyone interested in rethinking State-centric approaches to governance and civil order and exploring the merits of non-Statist, pluralist approaches, be they citizens, policymakers, or students of political science, political philosophy, law, or political economy.

David Thunder is a research fellow in political philosophy at the University of Navarra’s Institute for Culture and Society in Pamplona, Spain. He has held several research and teaching positions, including Visiting Assistant Professor in Political Theory at Bucknell University (2006–2007) and Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Princeton University’s James Madison Program (2008–2009). David earned his BA and MA in philosophy at University College Dublin and his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Notre Dame. His research explores the social and institutional conditions under which human beings can realize meaningful and flourishing lives in highly complex and interconnected social orders. His work has been published in academic journals such as the American Journal of Political Science, Political Theory, and the Journal of Business Ethics. He is the author of Citizenship and the Pursuit of the Worthy Life (2014), editor of The Ethics of Citizenship in the 21st Century (2017), and co-editor with Pablo Paniagua of Polycentric Governance and the Good Society (2024).