Thirty years after Hannah Arendt’s death, the author is considered one of the best political theorists of the 20th century. Hannah Arendt main contribution to political theory is her concept of action and its role in the redefinition of the political realm, in particular, the way it has inserted the idea of new beginning into modern politics. Many authors have already pointed out the Athenian inspiration of Hannah Arendt’s concept of the political. In this article, it is shown that Hannah Arendt has been inspired not only by the Greek tradition but also by a Roman tradition concern with the issue of institutionalization of political action. However, the text shows that both dimensions instead of being complementary stand in a tension within her oeuvre and that this tension only finds a partial solution in the Arendtian writings on the American revolution.
Hannah Arendt; Action; Foundation; Authority