“Through a skilled analysis of a very rich amount of sources and literature, from the ancient classics to contemporary writers and scholars, Ferenc Hörcher claims that because of the variety of the strong roots of the European cities they could return to be sustainable self-governing communities.”

Mario Ascheri, Roma Tre University

Hörcher’s approach could be described as historical, as he walks the reader through a narrow history of experience, thought, and practice of European polis life. His distinction between the urbs and the civitas undergirds the analysis of life in the European city, be it twentieth century Buda, ancient Athens, or early modern Geneva. The urbs are pivotal to understanding the aims and conventions of city life. They provide a window into the civitas. For it is the latter that expresses itself, for better or worse, in the former… Hörcher’s tour starts in contemporary Buda and works backwards through Renaissance Florence, Venice, and Siena, the Germanic cities of the Holy Roman Empire, medieval Europe, to Plato’s and Aristotle’s Athens. The latter isn’t, by any means, meant to be a climax. Hörcher is no Whig historian in reverse. Rather, his conviction is that by looking for patterns of practice, conduct, and understanding in the cities of Europe, we ought to be able to discern wisdom for today.

Kirk Center