The Power of the Polybian Anacyclosis in the Constitutional Period of USA
Abstract
One of the central features of the United States’ Constitution is the separation of powers. The division of responsibilities into legislative, executive and judicial branches is only possible through a system of checks and balances. The Founding Fathers proposed this principle and a mixed government for the new republic as powerful weapons to prevent the threat of “anacyclosis”, the natural degeneration of the three simple forms of government. Polybius’s explanation of “anacyclosis”, found in Book VI of the Histories, had a decisive influence as we can see in the Constitutional Debates.
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