The Commercial Republic & the Pluralist Critique of Marxism: An Analysis of Martin Diamond’s Interpretation of Federalist 10

Alan Gibson. "The Commercial Republic & the Pluralist Critique of Marxism: An Analysis of Martin Diamond's Interpretation of Federalist 10." Polity 25.4 (Summer 1993): 497-528.

Introduction:

Martin Diamond’s “commercial republic” interpretation of Federalist 10 is widely embraced by political scientists, especially Straussians, but this article challenges it. It argues that Madison was not a “commercial republican” and that his conception of political economy is not, as Diamond insists, implicit in Madison’s understanding of an extended republic. The author argues as well that Diamond misinterprets Madison’s understanding of the nature and purposes of representation and that he also systematically transforms Madison’s republican remedy for the problems of faction into the pluralist critique of Marxism. The author concludes by challenging Diamond’s claim that Madison’s political thought should be interpreted as a species of the “New Science of Politics.”