This article examines Constant's analysis of character during the French Revolution. During the late-1790s, Constant declared himself a “democrat”, but he worried that the Revolution was reinforcing character traits in France that would undermine stable liberal politics. He was especially concerned that the “revolutionary torrent” [his phrase] had unleashed violent passions that led to fanaticism, rebelliousness, and the search for vengeance. And, he was disturbed to see that, at the other extreme, the chaos of revolutionary violence had led others to (...) resignation, isolation, and a focus on narrow self-interest. In his search for a path between vengeance and fatigue, he encouraged sentiments like self-respect, compassion, and enthusiasm. (shrink)

David Wootton has written an engaging book about the emergence of the theory that all human action is self-interested and that believes societies should be structured in ways that satisfy our “insa...

Raymond Aron is best known for his intellectual sparring with Jean-Paul Sartre and for his stature as the pre-eminent Cold War liberal in France. He is credited with establishing an aut...

Revolutionary Thought after the Paris Commune, 1871–1885 by Julia Nicholls is an ambitious book about the thought of the revolutionary Left in France during the fifteen years after the defeat of th...

Structuralism and dependency theories emerged when the World Wars and the Great Depression revealed to Latin American thinkers the peculiar vulnerabilities of their national economies. These theori...

Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992) remains a controversial figure, applauded by those who support the late-twentieth-century turn to neoliberalism and criticized by those who see him as the poster-boy of...

Alan Kahan’s productive professional career has been devoted primarily to translating and writing about European liberals. A partial list would include: Aristocratic Liberalism: The Social and Poli...

Alexandre Rousselin (1773–1847) was an active participant in the Terror during the French Revolution, but miraculously survived to become the probable lover of Josephine de Beauharnais and a wealth...

The writings of Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859) need little introduction. De la Démocratie en Amérique, published almost two centuries ago, is still praised by historians, political theorists, an...