Montesquieu’s principles of action are honor, virtue, and fear

Evidence

Therefore what the definition of governments always needed was what Montesquieu called a “principle of action” which, different in each form of government, would inspire government and citizens alike in their public activity and serve as a criterion, beyond the merely negative yardstick of lawfulness, for judging all action in public affairs. Such guiding principles and criteria of action are, according to Montesquieu, honor in a monarchy, virtue in a republic and fear in a tyranny. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1054

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Montesquieu defined civic liberty as the tranquility from trusting fellow citizens — Philip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and…, 359