Representative democracy: debates in the French Revolution

• Grant number: 24/13603-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: November 01, 2024
• Status: Discontinued
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - Political Theory
• Principal Investigator: Felipe Freller
• Grantee: Laura Farah Feitoza
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/22052-7 - Representation and Sovereignty in Sieyès' Political Thought, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

This project proposes an analysis of how the question of democracy and representation appears in the thought of three authors and actors of the French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre, Thomas Paine and Abbé Sieyès. In this context, democracy starts to be presented positively, and these authors are crucial to this change. Furthermore, in the thinking of Paine and Robespierre, the term democracy is designed to include representation. We intend to use the foundations of the Cambridge School methods to understand the relationship between the concepts of democracy and representation in the three authors. In addition, regarding Robespierre, we intend to explore the possible tension between the positive evaluation of representative democracy and his Rousseauian inspiration, since Rousseau was critical of representation.