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This book sheds light on the unique aspects of 'communal liberalism' in Mme de Staël's writings and considers her contribution to nineteenth-century French liberal political thought. Focusing notably on the 'Considérations sur les principaux événements de la Révolution française', it examines the originality of Stael's liberal philosophy. Rather than contrasting liberalism with either multiculturalism or republicanism, the book argues that Staël's communal liberalism challenges the conventions of nineteenth-century political thought, notably through her assertion of the need to institutionalize an organic intermediary connecting the two spheres, an idea later advanced by thinkers such as Jürgen Habermas. Offering a critical reappraisal of Staël's multifaceted work, this book assesses the political impact of her work, arguing that the political influence of the 'Considérations' permeates the liberal historiography of the French Revolution up to the present day.
List of contents
Introduction.- Part 1: Germaine de Staël's Political Liberalism.- Invention of the Political Center as an Ideal: Staël and the Constitutional Monarchy (1789-1795).- Sentiment in Staëlian Political Liberalism: Letters on the Works and Character of J.-J. Rousseau.- Staël's Liberal Republicanism in Reaction to the Discourse on Social Dissolution (1795-1799).- The Role of Civility in Staëlian Political Liberalism.- A Liberal Interpretation of the French Revolution: Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution.- Part 2: Influence on Nineteenth-Century French Politics.- Reception of Considerations: The Hereditary Second Chamber.- Guizot's and Rémusat's Reactions to Considerations in 1818.- Barante's Moment: The Advent of Communal Liberalism in 1829.- Tocqueville and Communal Liberalism (1830-1851).- Democratizing Communal Liberalism under the Second Empire.- Part 3: Influence on the Nineteenth-Century LiberalHistoriography of the French Revolution.- Reception of Considerations: Left-Wing Historians' Refutation in the 1820s.- The Reception of Considerations: A Constitutional Historiography of the French Revolution (1818-1848).- A Constitutional Historiography of the French Revolution after 1848.- Britain in the Liberal Historiography of the French Revolution: Tocqueville and Quinet in Regard to Considerations.- Conclusion.
About the author
Chinatsu Takeda is Professor at the Faculty of Comparative Culture, Otsuma Women's University, Japan. She was Visiting Professor at the Institute of Social Science, the University of Tokyo (2011) and at Columbia University (2005). She has among other publications contributed to the
European Review of History and to the
Routledge Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Thought.
Summary
This book sheds light on the unique aspects of ‘communal liberalism’ in Mme de Staël’s writings and considers her contribution to nineteenth-century French liberal political thought. Focusing notably on the ‘Considérations sur les principaux événements de la Révolution française’, it examines the originality of Stael’s liberal philosophy. Rather than contrasting liberalism with either multiculturalism or republicanism, the book argues that Staël’s communal liberalism challenges the conventions of nineteenth-century political thought, notably through her assertion of the need to institutionalize an organic intermediary connecting the two spheres, an idea later advanced by thinkers such as Jürgen Habermas. Offering a critical reappraisal of Staël’s multifaceted work, this book assesses the political impact of her work, arguing that the political influence of the ‘Considérations’ permeates the liberal historiography of the French Revolution up to the present day.
