Michael Levin

TL;DR: Hegel saw history as the gradual process of the realization of freedom and each age gave rise to an optimum social structure representing the latest stage in this development as mentioned in this paper. But this teleological approach allowed Hegel to assess political life from two points of view: he was in a position, on the one hand, to criticize existing institutions in so far as they failed to attain the optimum for the age, an optimum which had already been revealed elsewhere in a more advanced society.

TL;DR: The Ancien Regimes of pre-modern Europe had sometimes based their claims to legitimacy on the notion of the divine right of kings or else, less explicitly, relied on inert traditionalism as its own justification.

TL;DR: The failure of the German bourgeoisie to develop a strong bourgeois class meant that Germany's pattern of development differed markedly from the general theory outlined in Part One of the Manifesto as discussed by the authors.

TL;DR: The franchise changes outlined in the last chapter clearly show the same general trend in the four countries under consideration as mentioned in this paper, which is a response to certain basic social changes in western societies, as well as an accompanying philosophical shift concerning notions of sovereignty, legitimacy and citizenship.

TL;DR: The United States Constitution of 1787 as discussed by the authors was the first modern political revolution in American history, and it was based on the French Revolution and the American colonies' decision to secede from the British Empire in 1776.