On sedition. Law and Conflit in the Early Modern Age

The two classical concepts of secession (secessio) and sedition (seditio) define the theoretical field of the relationship between politics and war and, more generally, between law and conflict. This paper analyzes the question of politics and conflict in Machiavelli and Spinoza, contending that their political theories shatter the foundations upon which all the dogmas of modern political thought rely. Rather than constructing a political theory of neutralization of social conflict, like many other early modern philosophers, Machiavelli and Spinoza think about the relationship between politics and conflict as complex and 'recursive'. Outside any dialectical scheme of construction or synthesis, they both think about politics through conflict and resistance, as well as the law as the expression of the conflictual life of societies. Through the argument of the 'citizen' army, moreover, they think about the citizen both as a soldier and as a subject of conflict.