Research Abstract |
In this project,I examined the anti-statist theories of Tocqueville and Lamennais.I chose them as among the most important representatives of anti-statist thought in I9th century France.By deciphering Tocoueville's unpublishe manuscripts,I found the idea of"bureaucratic tyranny" through which I could throw an original light on his idea of "administrative tyranmy" from the new points of view. According to his analysis, the fundamental structure of the modern state of France if characterized by its ultra-centralisation and highly centralized system of bureaucratic administration. This centralised system was recognized in the process of the transformation of the power system under the Ancien Regime.The bureaucratic phenomenon is characteristic of the modern state of France.The bureaucratic government has exerted great influence upon not only political life,but also social,economic,and cultural life. Lamennais critique of cetralized political system is constantly aggressive from the journal L'Avenir to the constitutional commttee of I848. According to his critical principles, the modern state of France has its centralized system through the gradual reduction of the local liberties . But in spite of his critique of statism,he could not recgnize the socialist state as a typical form of the centralized system,for his theory of liberty is not based upon the analysis of political power. In order to examine the currents of anti-statist thought,I have to analyse the thoughts of ultra-royalists as conservatives,Pierre Joseph Proudhon as socialist ,and George Sorel as anarcho-syndicalist.
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