How debates over secrecy and transparency in politics during the
eighteenth century shaped modern democracy  Does democracy
die in darkness, as the saying suggests? This book reveals that
modern democracy was born in secrecy, despite the widespread
conviction that transparency was its very essence.  In
the years preceding the American and French revolutions, state
secrecy came to be seen as despotic—an instrument of monarchy.
But as revolutionaries sought to fashion representative government,
they faced a dilemma. In a context where gaining public trust
seemed to demand transparency, was secrecy ever legitimate? Whether
in Philadelphia or Paris, establishing popular sovereignty required
navigating between an ideological imperative to eradicate secrets
from the state and a practical need to limit transparency in
government. The fight over this—dividing revolutionaries and
vexing founders—would determine the nature of the world’s first
representative democracies.  Unveiling modern democracy’s
surprisingly shadowy origins, Carter reshapes our understanding of
how government by and for the people emerged during the Age of
Revolutions.
General
Imprint: |
Yale University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
The Lewis Walpole Series in Eighteenth-Century Culture and History |
Release date: |
2024 |
Authors: |
Katlyn Marie Carter
|
Dimensions: |
235 x 156mm (L x W) |
Pages: |
392 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-300-24692-6 |
Categories: |
Books
|
LSN: |
0-300-24692-7 |
Barcode: |
9780300246926 |
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