Liberalism under Siege; The Political Thought of the French Doctrinaires

by Aurelian Craiutu

Liberalism under Siege: The Political Thought of the French Doctrinaries is a compelling examination of the French Doctrinaries, a largely neglected group of liberal thinkers in post-revolutionary France who were proponents of a nuanced sociological and historical approach to political theory. The first systematic interpretation of the French Doctrinaries' political writings to appear in English, Liberalism under Siege combines textual analysis and historical interpretation to explore the Doctrinaires' ideas on the French Revolution, democracy, political power, sovereignty of reason, publicity, capacity, and representative government. Aurelian Craiutu's detailed work is not only an argument for the reappraisal of the Bourbon Restoration as a golden age of political thought; it is also a passionate and persuasive addition to contemporary debates about the diversity of liberalism.

Genres: History

356 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

assistant professor
department of political science

Reviews

[David Montgomery · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting but fairly technical attempt to rescue from "obscurity" a brand of political philosophy that was prominent in France from 1814 to 1848: the "elitist liberalism" of the so-called Doctrinaires. Craiutu, in chapters that function like separate essays, breaks down various aspects of the Doctrinaires' theories, from their view of universal suffrage (very skeptical) to their opinion on social equality (much more optimistic) to their thoughts on freedom of the press (supportive with some caveats) or the origins of political authority (too complicated to summarize here). The star of the book is the most prominent of the Doctrinaires, François Guizot, who would later get a chance to put his philosophy into action as France's prime minister, at least until he botched things so bad he was driven into exile by a revolution.

The book is interesting and provocative, but only to a specialist audience, those already interested in political theory or 19th Century French history or both. Though the Doctrinaires are largely forgotten, some of the ideological currents they tapped into seem to have heirs, but Craiutu's work (which praises the Doctrinaires from a certain distance) is a tough introduction to the topic for a lay reader. I hope, however, to be able to produce a popularized version for an upcoming episode of my French history podcast, The Siècle .