Science of government

The Enlightenment discipline treating forms, principles, and design of government as a systematic study -- the label Jefferson himself uses ('in the science of government Montesquieu's spirit of laws is generally recommended') for the field defined by Montesquieu, Locke's Two Treatises, and their successors. Distinct from ancient political philosophy: the post-print discipline is organized around comparative-constitutional works of the 17th-18th centuries.