Should We Abolish the State? Neo-Thomist Reflections on Peter Simpson’s Radical Proposal

Abstract In Political Illiberalism Peter Simpson argues that the modern state is necessarily despotic and should be replaced with something more like the classical city. Simpson’s account is informed by the thought of Aristotle (and, to a lesser degree, Aquinas). This paper first raises questions about the workability and prudence of Simpson’s proposal on its own, and then considers an alternative account of the state informed by Neo-Thomist political thinkers who are also Aristotelians. It concludes with some suggestions about the relationship between theory and practice in liberal politics.