Reimagining politics after the Terror
Subtitle: the republican origins of French liberalism
By: Andrew Jainchill.
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Ithaca
Language: eng
Number of pages: 317
ISBN-13: 9780801446696
Subjects: Political culture -- France -- History; Liberalism -- France -- History; Republicanism -- France -- History; France -- History -- First Republic, 1792-1804
Description: "In the wake of the Terror, France's political and intellectual elites set out to refound the Republic and, in so doing, reimagined the nature of the political order. They argued vigorously over imperial expansion, constitutional power, personal liberty, and public morality. In Reimagining Politics after the Terror, Andrew Jainchill rewrites the history of the origins of French Liberalism by telling the story of France's under-appreciated "republican moment" during the tumultuous years between 1794 and Napoleon's declaration of a new French Empire in 1804." "Examining a wide range of political and theoretical debates, Jainchill offers a compelling reinterpretation of the political culture of post-Terror France and of the establishment of Napoleon's Consulate. He also provides new readings of works by the key architects of early French Liberalism, including Germaine de Stael, Benjamin Constant, and, in the epilogue, Alexis de Tocqueville. The political culture of the post-Terror period was decisively shaped by the classical republican tradition of the early modern Atlantic world and, as Jainchill persuasively argues, constituted France's "Machiavellian Moment." Out of this moment, a distinctly French version of liberalism began to take shape. Reimagining Politics after the Terror is essential reading for anyone concerned with the history of political thought, the origins and nature of French Liberalism, and the end of the French Revolution."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The Constitution of the Year III; title: The post-Terror discourse of moeurs; title: Liberal republicanism during the Directory; title: A republican empire? : debate on expansion, 1794-1799; title: Liberal authoritarianism and the Constitution of the Year VIII; title: Liberal republicanism and dissent against Bonaparte; title: Epilogue : the fate of French liberal republicanism.