Embracing liberalism: Germaine de Staël's farewell to republicanism

Abstract

Recent studies in the history of modern political thought increasingly have been turning to the writings of Germaine de Stael. Intriguingly, this revival of interest in a body of thought long neglected by students of political ideas has been marked by a stark dualism. For some, she helps reconsider the character of republicanism. For others, her work clarifies the birth of continental, especially French, liberalism. Each version claims Stael as one of its canonical or foundational figures. How might we come to terms with such different appraisals? Although her texts are both republican and liberal, they appear so not at the same time but in a sequence characterized by an internal trajectory, a movement from an originally republican to, ultimately, a decidedly liberal stance. First a republican, she increasingly distanced herself from this tradition to become a liberal. It is this shift we seek to understand. The challenge is to appreciate when, why, and how she said farewell to republicanism and embraced liberalism. We do so by identifying a moment of inflection in Stael's orientation. Unlike others who ask us to choose between a republican or a liberal Stael, Lucien Jaume and Marcel Gauchet also focus on her intellectual transition and political transformation. Our analysis, though, differs from theirs. Jaume's account attributes changes in Stael's thought to both biographical and theoretical causes. He identifies her disenchantment with Bonaparte, whose coup d'etat revealed immanent authoritarian and despotic possibilities in the newborn republic.