Reconciling Politics and Society: Republicanism in Nineteenth Century Political Thought in France, America and Britain

Dates: September 26-27, 2008
Call for Proposals Deadline: August 1, 2008
Location: University of Oxford, UK
Website: www.politics.ox.ac.uk/research/conferences/  

In the past twenty years, there has been a surge of intellectual interest in republicanism. In many cases this interest is driven by a belief that lessons can be drawn from the classical republican tradition that will help with current political problems.  Contemporary proponents of republicanism in political theory view dominant liberal and neo-liberal ideologies as lacking the resources to combat civic apathy and sustain a healthy democracy, and they maintain that the classical republican emphasis on the common good, civic virtue and active citizenship should be recovered.  However, critics point out that classical republicanism made little space for many of the features of contemporary societies, such as commerce, industrialisation, civil society and the importance of the private sphere, and thus raise doubts about how far this tradition can be drawn on to develop a public philosophy for today.

Attempts to theorise the relationship between society and politics formed an important part of nineteenth-century political and social thought, especially in Britain, France and America in response to developments in political economy and in reaction to the French Revolution and its legacy for republicanism. In large part, recent advocates of republicanism tend to either suggest that concerns about society, commerce and private forms of liberty stemmed from the growing influence of liberalism which supplanted republican themes and questions, leaving no conceptual space for republican values, or they assimilate certain nineteenth-century authors, such as Tocqueville, into the republican tradition they advocate. The aim of this conference is to explore how far growing interest in commerce and society supplanted republican themes and values and to examine the suggestion that if republicanism reappears in the nineteenth century it was largely unaltered. 

It is our sense that the political thought of the nineteenth century offers a wealth of material for thinking about these issues, particularly as work on republicanism after the 1790s tends to taper off.  Speakers at the conference will take up these issues from the angles of intellectual history and political theory, exploring the problems and possibilities that nineteenth-century thought offers on questions of reconciling politics and society and on the overlaps and tensions between republicanism and prominent ideologies that emerge during this period, from liberalism to socialism to anarchism.

Confirmed speakers: 

*  Professor Nadia Urbinati, Columbia University, ‘The Debate Over the Ancients and the Achievement of Modern Democracy’ 

*  Dr. Richard Whatmore, University of Sussex, ‘Modern Republicanism and Political Economy in the Aftermath of the French Revolution’ 

*  Professor Daniel Walker Howe, University of California Los Angeles, University of Oxford, Emeritus, ‘The Communications Revolution of the 19th Century and Its Consequences for American Republicanism’ 

*  Professor Jean-Fabien Spitz, Paris 1, ‘Louis Blanc’s Republican Career’ 

*  Professor James Kloppenberg, Harvard University, ‘Tocqueville and the American Whigs’ 

*  Professor John Burrow, University of Oxford, Emeritus, ‘Republicanism and Victorian Histories’ 

*  Dr. Stuart White, University of Oxford, ‘Communitarian Anarchism: A Reinvention of Classical Republicanism?’

*  Dr. Karma Nabulsi, ‘Three Models of Republicanism: Godefroy Cavaignac, Armand Carrel, Philipppe Buonarroti’

*  Dr. Duncan Bell, University of Cambridge, ‘Liberalism, Republicanism and the Justification of Empire’

*  Dr. Duncan Kelly, University of Cambridge, ‘Republicanism and Resentment’

Conference organizers are Dr. Mark Philp, Oriel College, Oxford, Dr. Julia Skorupska, St. Hugh’s College, Oxford, and Miss Jessica Kimpell, Hertford College, Oxford. 

We still have space in the programme for a few papers, and we welcome paper proposals especially from graduate students and post-docs.  If you would like to submit a proposal please send an abstract of no more than 650 words to julia.skorupska@politics.ox.ac.uk by August 1st.   To register to attend the conference, please visit its web site at the Department of Politics and International Relations: http://www.politics.ox.ac.uk/research/conferences/. 

The cost of attending is £10 (students) to £20, which includes two lunches and refreshments.  Spaces are limited so we advise you to register early.