The Republican Moment(s) in Modern France
| DOI | 10.1177/1474885107074353 |
| Date | 01 April 2007 |
| Published date | 01 April 2007 |
| Author | K. Steven Vincent |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
The Republican Moment(s) in
Modern France
K. Steven Vincent North Carolina State University
Jean-Fabien Spitz Le Moment républicain en France. Paris: Gallimard, 2005. 526 pp.,
E27.50.
The republican tradition has enjoyed an impressive history in modern western political
thought. Since the Renaissance humanists, who re-established Greek and Roman authors
as political authorities, and who defended a political ideology that praised public participa-
tion in politics and communal self-government (free from imperial control and
ecclesiastical jurisdiction), republican themes have been an important strain in European
political reflections. In early-modern France, republican themes were situated within a
wider discussion that focused on sovereignty, constitutionalism, and absolutism. The
dominant political debate revolved around varying conceptions of monarchy: between
those who viewed the future of France as best served by a strong centralized monarchy
unhampered by privileged bodies (the thèse royale) and those who saw the salvation of
France in a monarchy whose power was limited by autonomous noble and corporate
bodies (the thèse nobiliaire). To persons with an overriding interest in the nature of monar-
chy, republicanism probably seemed, at least on the surface, of marginal value. Ancient
republican models appeared to be inadequate for large modern states, threatened as these
were by monarchies with growing bureaucracies and strong armies. And the surviving
modern republics like Venice or the United Provinces scarcely looked like viable proto-
types for an ambitious modern state. Nonetheless, republican themes became increasingly
common in French culture during the 18th century. Republican themes were used to attack
the pathologies of the absolutist state, and to diagnose the problems of French society, as
when celebrations of republican ‘virtue’ were used to question the mœurs of the court and,
more broadly, elite society. Interest in the viability of a large republic grew following the
revolution in the American colonies, but no prominent thinker argued that the republic
was a reasonable model for a major European power with a centuries-old divine right
monarchy like France.
Republicanism moved to centre stage during the Revolution, especially following the
King’s failed attempt to flee the country in June 1791 – ‘the flight to Varennes’. The idea
of a French Republic, previously limited to extremists, quickly gained popularity.
Historians and political theorists recently have focused on the growing importance of
239
review article
Contact address: K. Steven Vincent, Professor and Director of Graduate Programs,
Department of History, North Carolina State University, Box 8108, Raleigh,
NC 27695-8108, USA.
Email: steven_vincent@ncsu.edu
EJPT
European Journal
of Political Theory
© SAGE Publications Ltd,
London, Thousand Oaks
and New Delhi
issn 1474-8851, 6(2)239–248
[DOI: 10.1177/1474885107074353]
To continue reading
Request your trial