On Power [Paperback]

Bertrand de Jouvenel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1993

Modern Political Philosophy

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a book that no serious scholar of political science or political philosophy can afford to ignore..." -- Angelo M Petroni of the Luigi Einaudi Center for Research in Torino, Italy.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 466 pages
• Publisher: Liberty Fund; Liberty Press Ed edition (October 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0865971137
• ISBN-13: 978-0865971134
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 1.1 x 5.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #396,184 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 40 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Profound critique and analysis on nature of political power January 29, 2004

By R. Setliff

Format:Paperback

~On Power: The Natural History of Its Growth~ chronicles the growth of political power throughout the ages and explains how the powers welded by modern Parliaments and Presidents would be the envy of medieval kings. Bertrand de Jouvenel has a colorful past and was once snared by the etatism of his native France. After WWII, he produced this astute and trenchant analysis of political power and tracing its natural history and growth through the ages. Political power has reached a crescendo in the past century. Monarchs of yesteryears could only dream of the power welded by Presidents and Parliaments. Bertrand opens with a chapter entitled the Minotaur (who is analogous to the Fuhrer Adolf Hitler) and proceeds to document and trace the growth of state power through the ages. He addresses varying theories of sovereignty and the resulting practical effects of those theories in practice. He astutely captures the corrupting influence of Rousseau with amazing clarity and iconoclastically tackles that sacrosanct creature 'democracy' which Bertrand de Jouvenel rightly characterizes democracy as a child of war. He fittingly features a chapter entitled 'Totalitarian Democracy' as the book comes to a close. When the rule of law was held in high esteem, then efforts were made to check and prevent the concentration of power. Nonetheless, the dubious theories about the 'general will,' or similar theories purporting an infallible will of the people, seemed to take hold and gave way to legitimizing a succession of demagogues and dictators with unbridled power. The era of demagogues usually climaxes into an age of total war as these powers clash swords. It was essentially when democracy become the ultimate end, and not the means, that it achieved its most repugnant manifestations and lead to a concentration of power unimaginable in previous centuries. Revolutionaries and demagogues like Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini and Hitler were the illegitimate sons of democracy and could all rightfully lay claim to being democrats.