Bonapartism
Document Type
Dictionary entry
Source Publication
The Blackwell dictionary of modern social thought
Edition
2nd ed.
Publication Date
1-1-2003
First Page
50
Last Page
51
Publisher
Blackwell Publishers
Abstract
A type of rule, epitomized by the regimes of Napoleon I and III, in which Civl society and representative political institutions are subordinated to military-police power. The Bonapartist regime is installed through coup d'état, a consequence of the prior disintegration of republican institutions and of social turmoil. The leader at its head claims to express directly the indivisible will of the sovereign People, and attempts, but is unable, to establish a dynasty. Exceptional measures are legitimated by mass plebiscite. This bald definition, however, fails to convey the term's range of inflections, and also the conceptual sophistication it has on occasion received, particularly in Marxist thought.
Publisher Statement
Copyright ©2003 Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
Additional Information
ISBN of the source publication: 9780631221647
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Baehr, P. (2003). Bonapartism. In W. Outhwaite (Ed.), The Blackwell dictionary of modern social thought (2nd ed.) (pp. 50-51). United States: Blackwell Publishers.