Annelien De Dijn
Biographic Data
| ID | 3090666 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Annelien De Dijn |
| GIVEN NAMES | Annelien |
| FAMILY NAME | De Dijn |
| SIGNATURE | DE DIJN A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Amsterdam |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 42 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2002 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Equality’s Contested History
This essay reviews Darrin McMahon’s Equality: The History of an Elusive Idea, a longue durée history of thinking about equality from the dawn of humanity to the twenty-first century. Compared with older work on the topic, notably Lynn Hunt’s Inventing Human Rights and Siep Stuurman’s The Invention of Humanity, McMahon’s book offers a starkly different view of the long history of equality. Challenging these earlier upbeat narratives about the emer…
Samuel Moyn. Liberalism Against Itself
“Cold War liberalism was a catastrophe—for liberalism.” That is how Samuel Moyn opens his latest book, Liberalism Against Itself, pithily summarizing its main message. In the following pages, Moyn gives us a swift overview of Cold War liberalism’s key thinkers, with chapters on Judith Shklar, Isaiah Berlin, and Karl Popper, as well as on lesser lights like Gertrude Himmelfarb and Lionel Trilling. This cast of characters is used to illuminate key …
Material conditions and human freedom
Rethinking Liberty before Liberalism
Opens up new histories of freedom and republicanism by building on Quentin Skinner's ground-breaking Liberty before Liberalism nearly twenty five years after its initial publication. Leading historians and philosophers reveal the neo-Roman conception of liberty that Skinner unearthed as a normative and historical hermeneutic tool of enormous, ongoing power. The volume thinks with neo-Romanism to offer reinterpretations of individual thinkers, suc…
Rethinking Liberty Before Liberalism
Freedom
Rousseau and Republicanism
Rousseau was arguably one of the most important and influential of eighteenth-century republican thinkers. However, contemporary republican theorists, most notably Philip Pettit, have written him out of the republican canon by describing Rousseau as a “populist” rather than a republican. I argue that this miscasting of Rousseau is not just historically incorrect but that it has also led to a weakening of contemporary republican political theory. …
The Ethos of Democracy
James Kloppenberg's Toward Democracy is a monumental achievement. To start with, Kloppenberg's breadth and depth of knowledge are awe-inspiring. He begins his story in the late sixteenth century, at the height of the religious wars in France, with the philosopher Michel de Montaigne, who rejected democracy because he did not believe ordinary people were capable of the self-restraint it required. Kloppenberg ends his narrative three hundred years …
Was Montesquieu a Liberal Republican
This paper sets out to criticize Thomas Pangle's and Paul Rahe's reading ofThe Spirit of the Lawsas a contribution to liberal republicanism, arguing instead that Montesquieu's text is better understood as a defense of liberal monarchism. Pangle's and Rahe's interpretation ofThe Spirit of the Lawsas an unequivocal defense of the English modern republic is wrongheaded. Montesquieu in fact spent much more of his time and energy outlining another and…
From the Enlightenment to the Terror
Dan Edelstein is a prolific author. In less than two years he has produced not one but two books. His first, The Terror of Natural Right: Republicanism, the Cult of Nature, and the French Revolution , was published by The University of Chicago Press in October 2009. Its Irish twin, The Enlightenment: A Genealogy , appeared with the same press in the fall of 2010. Each of these books deals with a much-studied subject—respectively the Terror and th…
The Politics of Enlightenment
According to the textbook version of history, the Enlightenment played a crucial role in the creation of the modern, liberal democracies of the West. Ever since this view - which we might describe as the modernization thesis - was first formulated by Peter Gay, it has been repeatedly criticized as misguided: a myth. Yet, as this paper shows, it continues to survive in postwar historiography, in particular in the Anglophone world. Indeed, Gay's mo…
A Third ‘Democracy in America’
Tocqueville on America after 1840: Letters and Other Writings, A. Craiutu, J. Jennings (Eds.), Cambridge University Press (2009). Tocqueville's letters are immensely enjoyable to read. Contrary to
On Political Liberty
This essay draws attention to the importance of Montesquieu’s earliest and unpublished writings on liberty for our understanding of the famous eleventh book of the Spirit of the Laws. Montesquieu’s investigation of the nature and preconditions of liberty, the author argues, was much more polemical than it is usually assumed. As an analysis of his notebooks shows, Montesquieu set out to wrest control over the concept of liberty from the republican…
Liberalism and republicanism in the French Revolution
A. Jainchill, Reimagining Politics After the Terror: The Republican Origins of French Liberalism, Cornell University Press (2008). On 27 July 1794, Maximilien Robespierre stood up to address the Na
Conflicted Americanism
The Intellectual Origins of Tocqueville's l'Ancien Régime Et La Révolution
This essay shows that the central core of Tocqueville's book, its condemnation of the centralist state of the Old Regime, can be placed in a specific tradition in French political thought—the legitimist critique of centralization. Long before the publication of L'Ancien Régime et la Révolution , the legitimists had made the problem of centralization into one of their central themes, and they had come to attribute all of France's ills to the centr…
Balancing the Constitution
After the defeat of Napoleon, representative institutions were introduced in many European states. In France, as in other countries, this new institution was modelled on the English example: a bicameral legislature with an elective and a hereditary chamber. However, the Chamber of Peers failed to live up to its model: it soon became clear that it did not behave as an independent, aristocratic chamber capable of holding the balance between the kin…
Aristocratic Liberalism in Post-Revolutionary France
This article investigates the nature and prevalence of aristocratic liberalism in post-revolutionary France. Defenders of the aristocracy, it argues, departed from a specific conception of liberty, which can be distinguished both from a purely negative definition of liberty as the ability to do what one wanted to do, and from a republican conception of liberty as something that could be guaranteed through self-government alone. To legitimate the …
A pragmatic conservatism. Montesquieu and the framing of the Belgian constitution (1830–1831)
In 1830, members of the Belgian National Congress asserted that they would not attempt to create an ideal constitution. Rather, they wanted to frame a constitution which would take the existing order into account, which would be adapted to Belgian manners and customs. Their ‘pragmatic conservatism’, as it can be described in distinction to Burke's juridical conservatism, was to an important degree inspired by the writings of Montesquieu. Both the…
The Politics of Enlightenment
According to the textbook version of history, the Enlightenment played a crucial role in the creation of the modern, liberal democracies of the West. Ever since this view - which we might describe as the modernization thesis - was first formulated by Peter Gay, it has been repeatedly criticized as misguided: a myth. Yet, as this paper shows, it continues to survive in postwar historiography, in particular in the Anglophone world. Indeed, Gay's mo…
Was Montesquieu a Liberal Republican
This paper sets out to criticize Thomas Pangle's and Paul Rahe's reading ofThe Spirit of the Lawsas a contribution to liberal republicanism, arguing instead that Montesquieu's text is better understood as a defense of liberal monarchism. Pangle's and Rahe's interpretation ofThe Spirit of the Lawsas an unequivocal defense of the English modern republic is wrongheaded. Montesquieu in fact spent much more of his time and energy outlining another and…
Rousseau and Republicanism
Rousseau was arguably one of the most important and influential of eighteenth-century republican thinkers. However, contemporary republican theorists, most notably Philip Pettit, have written him out of the republican canon by describing Rousseau as a “populist” rather than a republican. I argue that this miscasting of Rousseau is not just historically incorrect but that it has also led to a weakening of contemporary republican political theory. …
On Political Liberty
This essay draws attention to the importance of Montesquieu’s earliest and unpublished writings on liberty for our understanding of the famous eleventh book of the Spirit of the Laws. Montesquieu’s investigation of the nature and preconditions of liberty, the author argues, was much more polemical than it is usually assumed. As an analysis of his notebooks shows, Montesquieu set out to wrest control over the concept of liberty from the republican…
Balancing the Constitution
After the defeat of Napoleon, representative institutions were introduced in many European states. In France, as in other countries, this new institution was modelled on the English example: a bicameral legislature with an elective and a hereditary chamber. However, the Chamber of Peers failed to live up to its model: it soon became clear that it did not behave as an independent, aristocratic chamber capable of holding the balance between the kin…
Aristocratic Liberalism in Post-Revolutionary France
This article investigates the nature and prevalence of aristocratic liberalism in post-revolutionary France. Defenders of the aristocracy, it argues, departed from a specific conception of liberty, which can be distinguished both from a purely negative definition of liberty as the ability to do what one wanted to do, and from a republican conception of liberty as something that could be guaranteed through self-government alone. To legitimate the …
Material conditions and human freedom
Liberalism and republicanism in the French Revolution
A. Jainchill, Reimagining Politics After the Terror: The Republican Origins of French Liberalism, Cornell University Press (2008). On 27 July 1794, Maximilien Robespierre stood up to address the Na
A pragmatic conservatism. Montesquieu and the framing of the Belgian constitution (1830–1831)
In 1830, members of the Belgian National Congress asserted that they would not attempt to create an ideal constitution. Rather, they wanted to frame a constitution which would take the existing order into account, which would be adapted to Belgian manners and customs. Their ‘pragmatic conservatism’, as it can be described in distinction to Burke's juridical conservatism, was to an important degree inspired by the writings of Montesquieu. Both the…
Balancing the Constitution
After the defeat of Napoleon, representative institutions were introduced in many European states. In France, as in other countries, this new institution was modelled on the English example: a bicameral legislature with an elective and a hereditary chamber. However, the Chamber of Peers failed to live up to its model: it soon became clear that it did not behave as an independent, aristocratic chamber capable of holding the balance between the kin…
Aristocratic Liberalism in Post-Revolutionary France
This article investigates the nature and prevalence of aristocratic liberalism in post-revolutionary France. Defenders of the aristocracy, it argues, departed from a specific conception of liberty, which can be distinguished both from a purely negative definition of liberty as the ability to do what one wanted to do, and from a republican conception of liberty as something that could be guaranteed through self-government alone. To legitimate the …
The Intellectual Origins of Tocqueville's l'Ancien Régime Et La Révolution
This essay shows that the central core of Tocqueville's book, its condemnation of the centralist state of the Old Regime, can be placed in a specific tradition in French political thought—the legitimist critique of centralization. Long before the publication of L'Ancien Régime et la Révolution , the legitimists had made the problem of centralization into one of their central themes, and they had come to attribute all of France's ills to the centr…
Conflicted Americanism
Liberalism and republicanism in the French Revolution
A. Jainchill, Reimagining Politics After the Terror: The Republican Origins of French Liberalism, Cornell University Press (2008). On 27 July 1794, Maximilien Robespierre stood up to address the Na
A Third ‘Democracy in America’
Tocqueville on America after 1840: Letters and Other Writings, A. Craiutu, J. Jennings (Eds.), Cambridge University Press (2009). Tocqueville's letters are immensely enjoyable to read. Contrary to
On Political Liberty
This essay draws attention to the importance of Montesquieu’s earliest and unpublished writings on liberty for our understanding of the famous eleventh book of the Spirit of the Laws. Montesquieu’s investigation of the nature and preconditions of liberty, the author argues, was much more polemical than it is usually assumed. As an analysis of his notebooks shows, Montesquieu set out to wrest control over the concept of liberty from the republican…
The Politics of Enlightenment
According to the textbook version of history, the Enlightenment played a crucial role in the creation of the modern, liberal democracies of the West. Ever since this view - which we might describe as the modernization thesis - was first formulated by Peter Gay, it has been repeatedly criticized as misguided: a myth. Yet, as this paper shows, it continues to survive in postwar historiography, in particular in the Anglophone world. Indeed, Gay's mo…
From the Enlightenment to the Terror
Dan Edelstein is a prolific author. In less than two years he has produced not one but two books. His first, The Terror of Natural Right: Republicanism, the Cult of Nature, and the French Revolution , was published by The University of Chicago Press in October 2009. Its Irish twin, The Enlightenment: A Genealogy , appeared with the same press in the fall of 2010. Each of these books deals with a much-studied subject—respectively the Terror and th…
Was Montesquieu a Liberal Republican
This paper sets out to criticize Thomas Pangle's and Paul Rahe's reading ofThe Spirit of the Lawsas a contribution to liberal republicanism, arguing instead that Montesquieu's text is better understood as a defense of liberal monarchism. Pangle's and Rahe's interpretation ofThe Spirit of the Lawsas an unequivocal defense of the English modern republic is wrongheaded. Montesquieu in fact spent much more of his time and energy outlining another and…
The Ethos of Democracy
James Kloppenberg's Toward Democracy is a monumental achievement. To start with, Kloppenberg's breadth and depth of knowledge are awe-inspiring. He begins his story in the late sixteenth century, at the height of the religious wars in France, with the philosopher Michel de Montaigne, who rejected democracy because he did not believe ordinary people were capable of the self-restraint it required. Kloppenberg ends his narrative three hundred years …
Rousseau and Republicanism
Rousseau was arguably one of the most important and influential of eighteenth-century republican thinkers. However, contemporary republican theorists, most notably Philip Pettit, have written him out of the republican canon by describing Rousseau as a “populist” rather than a republican. I argue that this miscasting of Rousseau is not just historically incorrect but that it has also led to a weakening of contemporary republican political theory. …
Freedom
Rethinking Liberty before Liberalism
Opens up new histories of freedom and republicanism by building on Quentin Skinner's ground-breaking Liberty before Liberalism nearly twenty five years after its initial publication. Leading historians and philosophers reveal the neo-Roman conception of liberty that Skinner unearthed as a normative and historical hermeneutic tool of enormous, ongoing power. The volume thinks with neo-Romanism to offer reinterpretations of individual thinkers, suc…
Rethinking Liberty Before Liberalism
Material conditions and human freedom
Equality’s Contested History
This essay reviews Darrin McMahon’s Equality: The History of an Elusive Idea, a longue durée history of thinking about equality from the dawn of humanity to the twenty-first century. Compared with older work on the topic, notably Lynn Hunt’s Inventing Human Rights and Siep Stuurman’s The Invention of Humanity, McMahon’s book offers a starkly different view of the long history of equality. Challenging these earlier upbeat narratives about the emer…
Samuel Moyn. Liberalism Against Itself
“Cold War liberalism was a catastrophe—for liberalism.” That is how Samuel Moyn opens his latest book, Liberalism Against Itself, pithily summarizing its main message. In the following pages, Moyn gives us a swift overview of Cold War liberalism’s key thinkers, with chapters on Judith Shklar, Isaiah Berlin, and Karl Popper, as well as on lesser lights like Gertrude Himmelfarb and Lionel Trilling. This cast of characters is used to illuminate key …
Political science (17 works) · Law (15 works) · Politics (14 works) · Law (12 works) · Philosophy (12 works) · Political Theory and Influence (12 works) · History (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · American Constitutional Law and Politics (8 works) · European Political History Analysis (8 works)