Maurice AGULHON - The Conquest of Liberty

Pouvoirs n°84 - La liberté - janvier 1998 - p.5-13

Liberty, understood as the opposite of submission to authority, is now a universally-accepted concept. This does not mean, however, that conflicts do not emerge among its advocates. The author deals with the last two centuries of French history and a single issue : what should we think of the contribution of the French Revolution ? Did it fashion our national culture in a way that is rather dangerous for, or, on the contrary, rather favorable to liberty ? In opposition to François Furet, with whom he was linked by a long history of controversial debate, the author favors the second approach, and insists on a theoretical problem raised by the explanation of history, namely the need to determine the relative influence of ideological debates and of the concrete action of social and political forces. Résumé

Référence électonique : Maurice AGULHON, "The Conquest of Liberty", Pouvoirs, revue française d’études constitutionnelles et politiques, n°84, 1998, p.5-13. Consulté le 02-06-2012. URL : http://www.revue-pouvoirs.fr/The-Conquest-of-Liberty.html