One of the most valuable foundational books of political thought: “The Republic,” in which justice is achieved as Plato envisioned it about four decades before Christ.

The book, translated into Arabic by Hanna Khabbaz, is a philosophical-political dialogue in which Plato presents his vision of the ideal state, or the Socratic utopia. Socrates is the main interlocutor, surrounded by several characters with whom he argues and who argue with him. As the debate escalates, the features of Plato's imagined Republic emerge. In Plato's Republic, each member of society belongs to a specific class and works in a specific field of expertise. A balance is achieved between the three forces that make up society: the rational, the angry, and the appetitive. While attempting to define the just ruler and contrast him with the despotic ruler, he divides governments into four types: aristocracy, oligarchy, democracy, and despotism. On the one hand, he declares his inclination towards constitutional monarchy, and on the other hand, he acknowledges that absolute justice remains elusive.