Varieties of Democracy in the French Revolution
Though the French Revolution had a major impact on how people have talked about democracy ever since, the word was not initially central to revolutionary discourse, though it became more central when interest shifted from making government legitimate towards making it effective. When legitimacy was the key concern, popular sovereignty was a more important concept (though not one favoured by all revolutionary thinkers). Emphasis on will as the basis of legitimacy encouraged the view that the legislature was the most legitimate organ. ‘Democracy’ gained importance during the Terror, as discussion focussed on the challenge of making any form of authority in practice prevail over the people. Representation of the people and surveillance of government by the people were both mooted as solutions. In France (as elsewhere) democracy gained new negative associations in the course of the revolution, because democracy was experienced more as a problem than as a solution.