History Commons^™

The Steward In Statesmanship: Taking Responsibility For The Most Important Things, Timothy L. Simpson

Commonwealth Review of Political Science

Even though the American Framers self-consciously designed a system of government that did not depend on an enlightened statesman being at the helm, this paper argues that they believed statesmanship was not only compatible with republican government, but that it could act as a kind of antidote to some of the ailments most likely to afflict it. Scholars today generally dispute this suggestion. They m:gne that statesmanship is, in several important respects, positively antithetical to important democratic ideals. Having surveyed those objections, this paper argues that the contemporary understanding is flawed because it rests on a misconception of democracy and …