The Virtues of Violence - Democracy Against Disintegration in Modern France (Paperback)

If democracy liberates individuals from their inherited bonds, what can reunite them into a sovereign people? In The Virtues of Violence, Kevin Duong argues that one particular answer captivated modern French thinkers: popular violence as social regeneration. In this tradition of political theory, the people's violence was not a sign of anarchy or disorder. Instead, it manifested a redemptive power capable of binding and repairing a society on the cusp of social disintegration. This was not a fringe view of French democracy at the time, but central to its momentous development. Duong analyzes the recurring role of the people's redemptive violence across four historical moments: the French Revolution, the imperial conquest of Algeria, the Paris Commune, and the years leading up to World War I. Bringing together democratic theory and intellectual history, he reveals how political thinkers across the spectrum proclaimed that violence by the people could repair the social fabric, even as they experienced democratization as social disintegration. The path from an anarchic multitude to an organized democratic society required the virtuous expression of violence by the people-not its prohibition. Duong's book urges us to reject accounts that view redemptive violence as an antidemocratic pathology. It challenges the long-held view that popular violence is a sign of anarchy or disorder. As shocking and unsettling as redemptive violence could be, it appealed to thinkers across the spectrum, because it answered a fundamental dilemma of political modernity: how to replace the severed bonds of the old regime with a superior democratic social bond. The Virtues of Violence argues we do not properly understand modern democracy unless we can understand why popular redemptive violence could be invoked on its behalf.

General

Imprint:	Oxford UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	July 2022
Authors:	Kevin Duong (Assistant Professor of Political Science)
Dimensions:	235 x 155 x 16mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	256
ISBN-13:	978-0-19-765715-7
Categories:	Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political science & theory Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Interdisciplinary studies > Cultural studies > History of ideas, intellectual history Books > Humanities > History > European history > General Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political structure & processes > Democracy Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > International relations > Embargos & sanctions Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political activism > Revolutions & coups Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social issues > Violence in society > General Books > History > European history > General Promotions
LSN:	0-19-765715-X
Barcode:	9780197657157

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