3 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
Ronald Dworkin was an American-British legal and political philosopher who argued that law is inherently moral and that rights are 'trumps' that override utilitarian calculations.
Montesquieu's 1748 comparative analysis of laws and governments across cultures — arguing for the separation of powers (executive, legislative, judicial) and that political systems must suit the climate, terrain, and customs of their population — the most influential political text on the American Constitution.
James Madison's Federalist No. 51 — the canonical defense of the Constitution's separation of powers and system of checks and balances, built on the premise that ambition must be made to counteract ambition.