Il nomos e il basileus nello stato costituzionale, oggi

This article is focused on the idea that there are some peculiar similarities between the ancient notions of law (nomos) and monocratic power (basileia), and the modern ones. Assuming this point of view, modernity —with its geometries of law and sovereignty— is an exception in the history of our civilization rather than the norm. Considering the ancient world, the most impressive result is that neither power nor law were as effective as their normative representations have been asserting. Modernity came close to the utopia of a well-ordered world, grounded on the role of law and power. Although, for some reason or another, today’s complex societies are very different from ancient ones, drastic changes in our global age can be better understood by using the heuristics of the categories raised within the Greek tradition —without falling into overly simplistic analogies.