Entre el mito Bátavo y el mito de Venecia: identidad nacional y republicanismo en la Holanda de Espinosa

Abstract

The present paper opposes two ways of legitimizing the political systems: the appeal to the history and to the national identity and to emphasize the institutional mechanisms. For it centres on the Holland of the XVIIth century where they face the batavian myth and the myth of Venice; the first one reconstructs a mythical history that carries the love of the Dutches back to the freedom to the time of the revolt of the batavians against the Roman empire; the second one emphasizes in the institutional mechanisms that assured to the republic of Venice her maintenance in the time: asuitable scale of power, systems of voting secretes; etc. It ends up by being argued in favour of the second procedure, for his major rationality and capacity of adjustment opposite to the historical - mythical justifications of difficult control and scanty flexibility for the negotiation.