This timeline spans approximately 1500 years: from the early thinkers through religious governance during the Middle Ages; the Reformation and Enlightenment; the disenchantment with monarchy and the rise of democracy. The ideas of seminal thinkers have shaped the concepts and processes with which we govern ourselves today. ;xNLx;Most political philosophers build on the works of their predecessors, crafting arguments for or against those ideas, or modifying them to incorporate and justify new insights. These insights profoundly affect our disciplines, our theoretical frameworks, and our views of the world and the role of social change in society. ;xNLx;Items in the timeline are color coded by category; the categories used in this timeline are: 1) Governance (green); 2) Public Policy (blue); 3) Policy Theory (light blue); 4) Public Administration (violet); 5) PA Theory (light purple); 6) Political Philosophers (yellow); and 7) Disciplinary Influences (khaki) - those intellectual influences that span disciplines.
The Charter of Liberties, also called the Coronation Charter, was a written proclamation by Henry I of England, issued upon his accession to the throne in 1100.
Magna Carta (Latin for Great Charter), also called Magna Carta Libertatum or The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, is an Angevin charter originally issued in Latin in the year 1215.
St. Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274) is historically known as a priest, but his influence on the political foundation of a democratic society is well documented in human history.
Marsilius of Padua (1275 – 1342) was an Italian scholar, trained in medicine who practiced a variety of professions. He was also an important 14th century political figure. His political treatise Defensor pacis is seen by some authorities as the most revolutionary political treatise written in the later Middle Ages.
William of Ockham (1287 – 1347) was an English Franciscan friar and scholastic philosopher and theologian, who is believed to have been born in Ockham, a small village in Surrey.
Christine de Pizan (1364 – c. 1430) was an Italian French late medieval author.
Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (1469 – 1527) was an Italian historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, humanist and writer based in Florence during the Renaissance.
Martin Luther (1483 – 1546) was a German monk, Catholic priest, professor of theology and seminal figure of a reform movement in 16th century Christianity, subsequently known as the Protestant Reformation.
Thomas Müntzer (1489 – 1525) was an early Reformation-era German theologian, who became a rebel leader during the Peasants' War.
John Calvin (1509 – 1564) was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism.
Jean Bodin (1530–1596) was a French jurist and political philosopher, member of the Parlement of Paris and professor of law in Toulouse. He is best known for his theory of sovereignty; he was also an influential writer on demonology.
Sir Francis Bacon, (1561 – 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator and author. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England.
Hugo Grotius (1583 – 1645), laid the foundations for international law, based on natural law.
Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679) was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy.
John Locke (1632 – 1704), known as the Father of Classical Liberalism.
The Treaty of Westphalia (1648) established nation-states in a world where every nation was governed either by an absolute monarch, tribal chief, or a theocratic hierarchy.
John Berkeley was one of the drafters of the Concession and Agreement, a document that provided freedom of religion in the Province of New Jersey. It was issued as a proclamation for the structure of the government for the colony written by the two proprietors, Berkeley and Sir George Carteret. Berkeley sold his share to a group of Quakers because of the political difficulties between New York Governor Richard Nicolls, Carteret, and himself. He effectively split New Jersey into two colonies: East Jersey, belonging to Carteret, and West Jersey. The colony was divided until 1702 when West Jersey went bankrupt and the colony was given back to the Crown and subsequently re-unified.
The Frame of Government of Pennsylvania was a constitution for the Province of Pennsylvania, a proprietary colony granted to William Penn by Charles II of England. The Frame of Government has lasting historical importance as an important step in the development of American and world democracy.
Charles-Louis de Secondat, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu (1689 – 1755), generally referred to as simply Montesquieu.
François-Marie Arouet (1694 – 1778), is known primarily by his nom de plume, Voltaire.
David Hume (1711 – 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of the 18th-century.
Adam Smith (1723 – 1790) was a Scottish moral philosopher and a pioneer of political economy.
Edmund Burke (1729 – 1797) was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher.
Thomas Paine (1737 – 1809) was an English-American political activist, author, political theorist and revolutionary.
Thomas Jefferson (1743 – 1826) was an American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776) and the third President of the United States (1801–1809).
Jeremy Bentham (1748 – 1832) was a British philosopher, jurist, and social reformer.
James Madison, Jr. (1751 – 1836) was an American statesman and political theorist, the fourth President of the United States (1809–1817).
William Godwin (1756 – 1836) was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist.
Henri de Saint-Simon (1760 – 1825) was a French early socialist theorist whose thought influenced the foundations of various 19th century philosophies; perhaps most notably Marxism, positivism and the discipline of sociology. He was born an aristocrat.
The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 founding states that established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America
The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. The Democratic Party evolved from Anti-Federalist factions that opposed the fiscal policies of Alexander Hamilton in the early 1790s.
John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) was a British philosopher and a political economist.
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805 –1859), was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America.
Auguste Comte (1798 – 1857), was a French philosopher.
Karl Marx (1818 – 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist.
The United States Republican Party is the second oldest existing political party in the U.S. after its great rival, the Democratic Party.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (1844 – 1900) was a German philologist, philosopher, cultural critic, poet, and composer.
John Dewey (1859 – 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform.
Wilson, W. (1887). The study of administration. Political Science Quarterly
Goodnow, F. J. (1900). Politics and administration: A study in government. New York: Russell & Russell.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869 – 1948), commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi or Bapu (Father of Nation), was the preeminent leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India. Employing non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for non-violence, civil rights, and freedom across the world.
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (1872 – 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic.
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Maximilian Karl Emil "Max" Weber (1864 – 1920) was a German sociologist, philosopher, and political economist whose ideas influenced social theory, social research, and the entire discipline of sociology. Weber is often cited, with Émile Durkheim and Karl Marx, as among the three founding architects of sociology.
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Sir Karl Raimund Popper, (1902 – 1994) was an Austro-British philosopher and professor at the London School of Economics.
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