The politics of distinction and disobedience: Honor and the defense of liberty in Montesquieu

Elaborating Montesquieu's concept of honor illuminates a dimension of his l iberalism that has been neglected by prior commentary, and calls attention to a form of political motivation that has been overlooked in contemporary political theory. While honor avoids the anti-liberal tendencies of civic v irtue, it can motivate, better than self-interest does, the extraordinary a cts of courage and sacrifice sometimes needed to sustain individual liberti es. Following a brief account of how it fits into Montesquieu's typology of regimes, three features of honor are elaborated: its high ambitions; its m ix of reverence and reflexivity; and its partiality. The final section addr esses the relationship between honor and liberal democracy, arguing that de spite the tensions between them, liberal democracy needs honor in some form if it is to sustain itself over time.