Codifying Solidarity? Solon's Law on Stasis and Non-Essentialist Conceptions of Solidarity

This paper examines how solidarity can be sustained and institutionalized within non-essentialist frameworks that reject identity, sameness or cohesion as solidarity's foundation. While contemporary theories increasingly conceptualize solidarity as a dynamic and contingent practice enacted across difference, they often struggle to articulate how solidary commitments endure over time. By way of an idea-historical excursus, this paper proposes to read Solon's law on stasis as a codification of solidarity. Focusing on its conceptual structure, the paper traces how the law institutionalizes solidarity by requiring participation and engagement in moments of political division. On this basis, it outlines three features of institutions of solidarity: the rejection of essence as a ground, a durability compatible with latency and reactivation, and the sanctioning of withdrawal rather than dissent. From this perspective, solidarity may endure not through consensus or identity, but through an institutionalized commitment between political rivals to continue shaping the political community.