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Overview
With its unique blend of political history and theory, this book is a welcome addition to the Politics, Culture and Society in the New Europe series. Nick Hewlett begins his fascinating study with a discussion of the various ways in which the concept of democracy has been interpreted. He goes on to trace the effect of France's revolutionary tradition on the theory and practice of democracy since the Enlightenment, looking in particular at both republican and direct democracy.Synopsis
Hewlett (French studies, Oxford Brookes U., UK) mixes democratic theory with more concrete analysis of politics and history in his discussion of France. Strongly influenced by the Marxist and quasi- Marxist analysis of such figures as Gramsci and early Habermas, he places the weakly democratic nature of politics in France in the context of a time in which capital stands in a very powerful position in regards to labor. Over the course of six chapters, he discusses the importance of the Enlightenment and the legacy of the French revolution for the tension between the involvement of the people in politics versus capitalist desired depoliticization; the relationship between conflict, coercion, violence, and democracy; the institutions of the official political system; the recent emergence of French intellectuals attempting to promote liberalism over leftist radical democratic interpretations of politics; and critiques of conventional French political science. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR