Centralization of power in leveller political literature: a government that secures individual rights or the projection of an unrestrained power?

Abstract

Abstract: The objective of this article is to study the political literature of a movement known as Levellers, recognized for their important political activity in England during the 1640s and 1650s. The aim is to analyse how in the texts published by some of the most prominent members of this group we can illustrate some ideas that are related to political centralization, framed within Modern State theories. This is a perspective that has not been fully studied in current research on this group. The purpose is to show how some of their political projections, and especially the role they grant to Parliament, can be assimilated into the processes of political centralization linked to the conceptualization of Modern State sovereignty. In this way, the intention is not only to offer a new perspective on the study of this movement’s political ideas, but also to consider the projection of centralized political power in relation to other issues present in Leveller ideology, such as political representation, the limits of government, the defence of individual liberties, and citizen participation, among others.