ABSTRACT
The word 'order' allows, in politics, for a two-step definition: generic and political order. Political order also comes up as a pattern of regularity, this time, however, filled with achievements giving it a specifically political character: it promotes goals or values, it establishes rules and institutions. A warning must be issued before we start: we should not mistake the models conceived by philosophers for the real state of affairs; we should not replace the history of institutions with the history of political philosophy. The Aristotelian and the contractarian model have dominated Western thought, but other positions are also important. The existence of neurotic fear – as well as the use made of it by fear-mongers and charlatans in order to bring confusion among the public and make them prone to populist and dictatorial leaders – has misled some authors to see only this side of the coin and to try to expel fear from politics altogether.
