To Speak for the People: Public Opinion and the Problem of Legitimacy in the French Revolution [Paperback]

Jon Cowans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 6, 2001 | ISBN-10: 0415929725 | ISBN-13: 978-0415929721 | Edition: 1

Although there is now a great deal of literature on the concept of public opinion in the 18th century France, it is almost entirely devoted to the pre-revolutionary years. No book has tackled the concept of public opinion in the French Revolution itself. To Speak for the People is a lucid and innovative study that finally fills this gap. Historian Jon Cowans adds a strong and genuinely original voice to the historical debate over the problem of legitimacy during the Revolution drawing on the works of such luminaries as Jurgen Habermas, Keith Baker, Francois Furet, and Nancy Fraser. He then examines the uses of terms such as "public opinion," 'the public," and "the people" in political debates during the Revolution and analyses those terms' changing meaning and the role they played in attempts to secure political authority. While shedding new light on the Revolution itself, the book raises broader issues by addressing the problem of legitimacy that has haunted all revolutionary and democratic governments throughout the modern period.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This excellent book is the first legitimate study of the meanings of 'public opinion' in the French Revolution and the rhetorical force with which the term could be deployed. It adds substantially to our knowledge of the political discourse of the Revolution and of the history of one of the key concepts in modern politics.
–Keith Baker, Stanford University

This timely study significantly contributes to continuing conversations among historians about the emergence of a public sphere at the end of the eighteenth century. Cowans masterfully guides us through the constructions and deployment of public opinion as an instrument of political legitimization and delegitimization.
–Darline Gay Levine, New York University

Informed by the work of Jurgen Habermas and Keith Baker, Jon Cowans extends the study of public opinion and its linguistic context into the revolutionary era itself. The author demonstrates the remarkable change in the concept of public opinion during the revolution by examining the language of speeches in the various assemblies, deliberations of the Jacobin Club in Paris, and commentary in assorted contemporary publications..
–American Historical Review, Kenneth Margerison, Southwest Texas State University

About the Author

Jon Cowans is a graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He received his Ph.D. in History at Stanford University. He has published articles on French political culture, cultural politics, and memory in French Historical Studies, the Journal of Contemporary History, and History and Memory. He teaches in the History Department of Rutgers University and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (June 6, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415929725
• ISBN-13: 978-0415929721
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,133,728 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Public opinion is a democratic invention., September 10, 2001

By 

Sonho Kim (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: To Speak for the People: Public Opinion and the Problem of Legitimacy in the French Revolution (Paperback)

Some scholars of public opinion regard public opinion as an ahistorical category. They define public opinion as a force or reputation which influence on the people's conducts (i.e., Noelle-Neumann, even historian Paul Veyne who studied Roman Empire), or on the king's policy against people (i.e., Lowell). Thus, they say that public opinion has existed over there and over time; even in monarchy, king was subject to public reputation. Unfortunately, this kind of idea continuously lingers in current research on public opinion whose analytical object is representative democracy.

In reality, it may be possible that people's idea, opinion, and public expression influenced on those of other people, or of governmental bodies. But, in mentality, public opinion is a peculiar historical phenomenon which emerged with the rise of democratic governance. As Cowans (2001) points out, it is just opinions that have an influence or pressure on the conducts of the people, but it was not public opinion (opinion publique). The transformation of opinion from a pejorative term to a rather positive one is due to opinion's marriage with the qualifier public (Ozouf). The marriage was not, however, made possible not only by the expansion of people's power-namely, the rise of the bourgeois public sphere , as Habermas argues, but also, and more significantly, by the change of political elite's mentality. Methodologically, thus, the origin of public opinion should be found in the discourse (rhetoric) of political elites rather than in hard facts. And the historical studies of French Revolution may provide many insights into our conceptions of public opinion.