This volume addresses the political traditions that flourished in regions traditionally neglected by Atlantic history, but which are nevertheless indispensable for a comprehensive interpretation of political modernity. The history of political liberty simply cannot be reconstructed without taking into account the role of the Atlantic as a space for the circulation of ideas. The different chapters trace the origins of the Atlantic notions of liberty in the crisis of the colonial world, in the diverse processes that led to independence from the metropolis, and in the subsequent efforts to build a constitutional order. The book takes an innovative approach by putting together experiences of the English, Portuguese, and Spanish Atlantic and by dealing with political ideas as discursive and socially embedded practices.
Francisco Colom González, Ph.D., is Research Professor at the Spanish National Research Council. He has authored and edited several monographs on political theory and intellectual history, including
Relatos de nación. La construcción de las identidades en el mundo hispánico (2005).
Angel Rivero, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Political Science at the Autonomous University of Madrid. He has extensively written on political philosophy, ideologies and nationalism. His latest book is
La constitución de la nación (2011), which won the
1808 Bicentenary Award.
Contributors: Cicero Araujo, Rubem Barboza Filho, Francisco Colom González, Michel Ducharme, José María Hernández Losada, Gabriela Nunes Ferreira, Anthony Pagden, Angel Rivero, and Ambrosio Velasco
The book is mainly addressed to students taking courses on Political Science, Atlantic history, Intellectual History, Political Philosophy, and Latin American Studies.