scholarly journals Feasibility of reforms regarding their reaches: An outline of an impossibility theorem

2003 ◽  
Vol 44 (159) ◽  
pp. 7-19
Author(s):  
Ljubomir Madzar
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Initial Position ◽  
Impossibility Theorem ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Institutional Changes ◽  
Standard Argument ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Run Up ◽  
The One ◽  
The French Revolution

Reform endeavors run up against various sorts of constraints. A major set of constraints is the one derived from the lack of information and knowledge. This category of constraints is inextricably linked with the size of the reform undertakings. The architects of reforms do not have the knowledge needed for designing big institutional changes. Moreover, the big changes take the system far a field from its initial position, the one to be overcome by the reform process. Both features generate two distinct types of uncertainty which are sources of potential hazards and could easily produce the breakdown of the system as a whole with well-known disastrous consequences. This reasoning turns down to the standard argument of feasibility and (there- fore) desirability of the Popper-like piecemeal engineering. Another important issue is the necessity/desirability of preserving old institutions while the new ones are being built lest institutional vacua be developed with disastrous consequences. The argument is analogous to the tenor of the Burke critique of the French Revolution. The upshot of the analysis is that quick implementation of the far-reaching changes is not to be expected and that the going criticisms of the alleged sluggishness of reforms are to some extent ill-advised.

Echoes of the French Revolution in the Rhineland, 1830–1849

1989 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Sperber
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Economic Effects ◽  
Left Bank ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
Grand Duchy ◽  
The French Revolution

Of all the regions of Central Europe, the Rhineland was the one most affected by the French Revolution. The area on the left bank of the Rhine belonged for almost two full decades to the First French Republic and the Napoleonic Empire; parts of the right bank were, for a shorter period, under the rule of the Napoleonic satellite state, the Grand Duchy of Berg. In studying these unusual circumstances, historians have sometimes focused on short-term political implications, asking how the Rhenish population of the 1790s responded to the Jacobin regime. They have also studied the long-term social and economic effects of the revolutionary legislation and the secularization of church lands.

The French Revolution Revisited

1989 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 264-282
Author(s):  
François Furet
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Interpretation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
The One ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
The French Revolution

I SHOULD LIKE TO START WITH AN EXTREMELY SIMPLE STATEment about the French Revolution. This is that there are many historical arguments among historians on many subjects, but that none of these arguments is so intense and so heated as the one which takes place in every generation about the French Revolution. It is as though the historical interpretation of this particular subject and the arguments of specialists directly reflect the political struggles and the gamble for power. It is true that we are all aware today that there are no unbiased historical interpretations: the selection of facts which provide the raw material for the historian's work is already the result of a choice, even although that choice is not an explicit one. To some extent, history is always the result of a relationship between the present and the past and more specifically between the characteristics of an individual and the vast realm of his possible roots in the past. But, nevertheless, even within this relative framework, not all the themes of history are equally relevant to the present interests of the historian and to the passions of his public.

FAVIER'S HEIRS: THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AND THE SECRET DU ROI

1998 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
GARY SAVAGE
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Political Climate ◽  
Profound Influence ◽  
Marie Antoinette ◽  
Revolutionary Politics ◽  
The One ◽  
Unofficial Diplomacy ◽  
The French Revolution

In contrast to the prevailing historiographical consensus, this essay will seek to demonstrate that there was a widespread and persistent concern with foreign policy in the early years of the French Revolution, the product of the interplay between inherited diplomatic assumptions on the one hand and revolutionary politics and values on the other. In particular, it will show how and why public opinion in France after 1789 abandoned its pre-revolutionary concern with Britain, Russia, and the global balance of commercial power in favour of Austria, the émigrés, and the security of the frontiers. In this light, considerable attention will be given to the development of Austrophobia in the period. Rooted in traditional French distrust of the Habsburg dynasty and reinforced by widespread opposition to the Austrian alliance of 1756, this would find its most virulent expression in the popular myth of a sinister counter-revolutionary ‘Austrian committee’ headed by Marie-Antoinette. The argument of the essay will turn upon the links between the emergence of that myth and the popularization of the ideas of Louis XV's unofficial diplomacy – the secret du roi – and its outspoken apologist Jean-Louis Favier. Adopted by various disciples after his death in 1784, Favier's ideas gained in popularity as the menace of counter-revolutionary invasion – aroused in particular by the emperor's reoccupation of the Austrian Netherlands in July 1790 – began to dominate the popular forums of revolutionary politics. They would ultimately help to generate a political climate in which the Brissotins could engineer an almost universally popular declaration of war against Austria less than two years after the revolutionaries had declared peace and friendship to the entire world. From this perspective, the growth of Austrophobia between 1789 and 1792 and its profound influence on the development of revolutionary foreign policy might usefully be described as the triumph of ‘Favier's heirs’.

scholarly journals Mulheres do Povo e Espaço Público na Revolução Francesa: Uma Análise Através de Imagens

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
Amanda De Queirós Cruz
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Europe ◽  
The One ◽  
The French Revolution

Este artigo tem como objetivo compreender a participação política feminina, principalmente das mulheres das camadas populares, durante a Revolução Francesa, e também a origem, os usos do termo femmes tricoteuses e quem eram as mulheres caracterizadas como tricoteuses. Para isso, faz uma análise de fontes documentais imagéticas do período disponíveis no acervo da Bibliothèque Nationale de France, comparando com a produção historiográfica sobre as mulheres na Europa Moderna – principalmente no recorte França do século XVIII -, Iluminismo e Revolução Francesa. Ademais, utiliza como arcabouço teórico-metodológico o capítulo intitulado “A Revolução Francesa: um relato através de imagens” de Michel Vovelle.Palavras-chave: História das mulheres; Iluminismo; Revolução Francesa. AbstractThis article aims to comprehend feminine political participation, mainly the one of lower classes women, during the French Revolution. Also it aims to comprehend the origin, uses of term femmes tricoteuses and who were the women characterized as tricoteuses. For this purpose, The article present an analysis of image sources of the period available in the collection of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, compare images with historiography  productions about women in Modern Europe – mainly in France in the 18th century -, Enlightenment and French Revolution. Besides, it uses as theoretical-methodological support Michel Vovelle’s chapter  “A Revolução Francesa: um relato através de imagens”.Keywords: History of women; Enlightenment; French Revolution.

America: Democracy Native and Imported

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. R. Palmer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Indigenous Movements ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The French Revolution ◽  
The Revolution

This chapter first discusses the impact of the French Revolution on the United States. The development was twofold. On the one hand, there was an acceleration of indigenous movements. On the other, there was an influence that was unquestionably foreign. The latter presented itself especially with the war that began in Europe in 1792, and with the clash of armed ideologies that the war brought with it. The warring powers in Europe, which for Americans meant the governments of France and Great Britain, attempted to make use of the United States for their own advantage. Different groups of Americans, for their own domestic purposes, were likewise eager to exploit the power and prestige of either England or France. The chapter then turns to the impact of the Revolution on the “other” Americas.

Militant Democracy and Fundamental Rights, I

1937 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karl Loewenstein
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Political Organization ◽  
Constitutional Government ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The French Revolution

Fascism a World Movement. Fascism is no longer an isolated incident in the individual history of a few countries. It has developed into a universal movement which in its seemingly irresistible surge is comparable to the rising of European liberalism against absolutism after the French Revolution. In one form or another, it covers today more areas and peoples in Europe and elsewhere than are still faithful to constitutional government. Fascism's pattern of political organization presents a variety of shades. One-party-controlled dictatorships rule outright in Italy, Germany, Turkey, and, if Franco wins, also Spain. The so-called “authoritarian” states may be classified as belonging to the one-party or multiple-party type. To the one-party authoritarian group, without genuine representative institutions, adhere at present Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, and Portugal; while Hungary, Rumania, Yugoslavia, Latvia, and Lithuania may be classed together as authoritarian states of the multiple-party type, with a semblance of parliamentary institutions.

The French Revolution Revisited

1981 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Furet
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
French Society ◽  
Common People ◽  
Historical Interpretation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
The One ◽  
Selection Of ◽  
The French Revolution

I SHOULD LIKE TO START WITH AN EXTREMELY SIMPLE STATEment about the French Revolution. This is that there are many historical arguments among historians on many subjects, but that none of these arguments is so intense and so heated as the one which takes place in every generation about the French Revolution. It is as though the historical interpretation of this particular subject and the arguments of specialists directly reflect the political struggles and the gamble for power. It is true that we are all aware today that there are no unbiased historical interpretations: the selection of facts which provide the raw material for the historian's work is already the result of a choice, even although that choice is not an explicit one. To some extent, history is always the result of a relationship between the present and the past and more specifically between the characteristics of an individual and the vast realm of his possible roots in the past. But, nevertheless, even within this relative framework, not all the themes of history are equally relevant to the present interests of the historian and to the passions of his public. The subject of Clovis, for example, and of the Frankish invasions was of burning interest in the eighteenth century, because historians of that era thought that the Frankish invasions were the source of the division between the nobility and the common people: the conquerors having evolved into the nobility and the conquered having become the commoners. Today, the Germanic invasions are no longer considered to contain or reveal any secret about French society: they have become once again a subject for historiography, left to scholars and to the arguments of specialists.

Psychotherapy in Mental Hospital Practice

1940 ◽  
Vol 86 (364) ◽  
pp. 928-952 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Bierer
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Mental Hospital ◽  
General Medicine ◽  
The Other ◽  
Hospital Practice ◽  
Mental Patients ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Therapeutic Results ◽  
The One ◽  
The French Revolution

In no other branch of medicine have doctors appeared so nihilistic or so defeatist as in the domain of psychiatry. It seems to me questionable whether this is due to the disparity in the therapeutic results between psychiatry on the one hand and general medicine on the other. In general medicine it is frequently forgotten that the really specific remedies at our disposal are so few that they can be counted on the fingers of one hand. If, on the other hand, we remember that as late as the time of the French Revolution mental patients were kept in chains, and that to-day in modern hospitals we see impressive results with such specific treatments as malarial therapy, then it must be admitted that the psychiatrist is not the only nihilist; but that this also applies to representatives of other branches of general medicine.

Revolution, Rigor, and Rigor Mortis

1967 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-108
Author(s):  
Stephen S. Willoughby
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Education ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Charles Dickens ◽  
Rigor Mortis ◽  
Two Cities ◽  
The One ◽  
The French Revolution

When I first heard the recent changes in mathematics education described as a Revolution, my feeling was that the word was too harsh and implied too much violence I preferred to omit the “R.” Perhaps this is because the word “Revolution” always brings to mind the French Revolution and Charles Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities in which, for some reason, I always identified myself with Sidney Carton (the one who lost his head over a girl).

scholarly journals The Flight of Louis XVI. to Varennes. a Criticism of Carlyle

1886 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-341
Author(s):  
Oscar Browning
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
Historical Novel ◽  
The Other ◽  
Careful Examination ◽  
History Of ◽  
Louis Xvi ◽  
The One ◽  
The French Revolution ◽  
The Revolution

The arrest of Louis XVI. during his flight from Paris to Montmédy was one of the most important events in the history of the French Revolution, and probably one of the most important in the history of France. It also forms one of the best known and most admired portions of Carlyle's history of the Revolution. It occupies a whole book of the second volume, fifty-four pages of the Library edition. It may therefore be taken as a fair specimen of Carlyle's style, both in its strength and in its weakness. A careful examination of his narrative from a purely prosaic standpoint will throw light on his manner of composition. It may be said that it is un-gracious to criticise in the petty details of fact a narrative which has stirred so many hearts by its tragic pathos, and which in its broad outlines is consistent with the truth. But here lies the whole distinction between the historical poem and the historical novel on the one side, and history proper on the other. Carlyle would have said, if he had been asked, that his one object in writing history was to tell the truth. It is for this reason that he multiplies fact upon fact and detail upon detail, until he has brought the scene vividly before the eyes of the reader. His accuracy can be trusted where he has visited the scenes which he describes, and where he is not carried away by preconceived prejudices or ideas.In history truth is always more tragic and more moving than fiction.

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