My latest article for Liberty Fund is now out: “The Political Philosophy of Tolkien.”

J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings presents several societies with different approaches to government. The most prominent include the idyllic Shire, the grand realm of Gondor, the hardy kingdom of Rohan, and the absolute dictatorship of Mordor. Looking at them gives strong indications of his views of government. In addition, we have his own words on the kind of governance he favored.

The most detailed description of a governmental structure is that of the Shire, the home of the Hobbits. …