Ideological Change: The Exhaustion of the Revolutionary Impetus

Abstract

Two hundred years after the French Revolution, that historic upheaval still remains an indispensable initial point of reference for an understanding of contemporary French politics. This is because it simultaneously symbolises both the unifying founding myth of the democratic republic and the divisive dualism between a revolutionary ‘Left’ and a counter-revolutionary ‘Right’. Their substance has subsequently changed but their forms have stubbornly survived intact. The Revolution’s long-term effect was to promote the cultural, social, political, administrative and economic integration of the country, proclaimed as realities long before they were achieved (if they can yet be said to be fully achieved). The creation of a unitary state — asserted to be ‘one and indivisible’ — entitled to wield legitimate power because it was based upon the sovereign popular will, was the principal instrument of unification. Administrative centralisation, military conscription and national education were intended to achieve uniformity, if not equality. Fraternity was celebrated in secular festivals, at which the nation worshipped itself and its national symbols, its flag and its anthem. Liberty was to be guaranteed to all by a constitutionally enshrined declaration of individual rights, as well as by the ability of all citizens to be represented in a National Assembly which would make laws that would apply to all.