ABSTRACT
Out of the struggles of feudal and imperial government emerged a renewed emphasis on ‘the people’ as the basis and the object of good government, as seen in Florence and Venice. The idea of a republic (or a thing of the people) and the uses of representation can be found in ancient times too, but they became crucial to modern government. This means exploring the conceptual development and practical uses of these principles. We find that representation, which underpins contemporary ‘democracies’, was not originally meant to be democratic at all. This chapter also looks at the reformation of government amid the revolutionary over-turning of an unpopular government, in particular at two of the most important post-World War II revolutions: in China and in Iran. The overturning of government requires the re-creation of government, but the consequences are not always for the better. Out of these ‘things made from people’, however, emerged a contemporary concept of rights.
