About the Author Eric Voegelin (1901-1985) was one of the most original and influential philosophers of our time. Born in Cologne, Germany, he studied at the University of Vienna, where he became a professor of political science in the Faculty of Law. In 1938, he and his wife, fleeing Hitler, emigrated to the United States. They became American citizens in 1944. Voegelin spent much of his career at Louisiana State University, the University of Munich, and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. During his lifetime he published many books and more than one hundred articles. "The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin" will make available in a uniform edition all of Voegelin's major writings. About the Editor Gilbert Weiss is Research Associate at the Research Center: Discourse, Politics, Identity at the University of Vienna. Erika Weinzierl is Professor Emeritus for Contemporary History at the University of Vienna. A specialist in Austrian and recent European history, she is the author or editor of numerous books and scholarly articl

Published in Vienna in 1936, Voegelin's work offers a critical examination of the most prominent European theories of state and constitutional law of the period, and provides a political and historical analysis of the Austrian situation. A critique of Kelsen's pure theory of law lies at its heart.