The Mandate to Rule: An Introduction

This article presents two themes, the authority of kings and the mandate of the people. Monarchical authority is viewed at the confluence between consecration, contentions among the governing classes, and the impact of foreign powers. The popular mandate is examined in terms of the diminution of royal power, the demonstration effects of other countries, and the intellectual mobilization that leads to a reorganization of authority. The study will examine England, France, Germany, Russia, and Japan from the early formation of kingship to the Bolshevik conception of a popular mandate in the 1930s. The article explores the pedagogic, methodological, and theoretical orientation of this kind of comparative study.