Liberalism under Siege: The Political Thought of the French Doctrinaires

Aurelian Craiutu

doi:10.5771/9780739151556

Summary

Liberalism under Siege: The Political Thought of the French Doctrinaries is a compelling examination of the French Doctrinaries, a largely neglected group of liberal thinkers in post-revolutionary France who were proponents of a nuanced sociological and historical approach to political theory. The first systematic interpretation of the French Doctrinaries' political writings to appear in English, Liberalism under Siege combines textual analysis and historical interpretation to explore the Doctrinaires' ideas on the French Revolution, democracy, political power, sovereignty of reason, publicity, capacity, and representative government. Aurelian Craiutu's detailed work is not only an argument for the reappraisal of the Bourbon Restoration as a golden age of political thought; it is also a passionate and persuasive addition to contemporary debates about the diversity of liberalism.

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Bibliographic data

Edition: 1/2003
Copyright Year: 2003
ISBN-Print: 978-0-7391-0657-0
ISBN-Online: 978-0-7391-5155-6
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 337
Product Type: Monograph

1. Contents No access
2. Foreword No access
3. Preface No access
4. Acknowledgments No access
1. A Strange and Unfair Neglect No access
2. Between Archaeology and Renovation No access
1. A Golden Age of Political Thought No access
2. Who Were the French Doctrinaires? No access
3. "Lord Guizot" No access
4. An Enigmatic Figure No access
5. Between Pragmatism and Opportunism No access
1. The Return of Clio No access
2. Pluralism, Liberty, and European Civilization No access
3. The Charter of 1814 No access
4. The Doctrinaires' ]uste Milieu No access
1. A Few Similarities and Differences No access
2. The Hidden Dialogue between Tocqueville and Guizot No access
3. A Classic Comparison: France and England No access
4. Democracy as État Social No access
5. In Lieu of Conclusion No access
1. Sovereignty in French Political Thought No access
2. Reason and Will No access
3. The Sovereignty of Reason and the Sovereignty of the People No access
4. A Surprising Affinity: Guizot and Cortés No access
5. The Institutional Implications of the Sovereignty of Reason No access
1. A New Way of Conceptualizing Political Power No access
2. The "New Means of Government" No access
3. The Doctrinaires' Liberalism of Government No access
1. Representative Government in an Eclectic Age No access
2. The "Principium et Fons" of Representative Government No access
3. Guizot's Early Views on Representative Government No access
4. The Word Representation Is a Metaphor" No access
1. The Goals of Representative Government No access
2. Political Capacity No access
3. The Triumph of the Middle Class No access
4. The Electoral Law of 1817 No access
5. Rights and Capacity No access
1. Public Opinion and Publicity: The Eighteenth-Century Background No access
2. Publicity, Elections, and Political Representation No access
3. Freedom of the Press No access
1. Summary No access
2. French Liberalism: An Oxymoron? No access
3. The Liberalism of the French Doctrinaires No access
4. Rethinking Liberalism No access
5. "Gray Is Beautiful" No access
Bibliography No access Pages 299 - 320
Index No access Pages 321 - 336
About the Author No access Pages 337 - 337