Rousseau's Constitutionalism: Austerity and Republican Freedom

by Eoin Daly

Overview

Despite Rousseau's legacy to political thought, his contribution as a constitutional theorist is underexplored. Drawing on his constitutional designs for Corsica and Poland, this book argues that Rousseau's constitutionalism is defined chiefly by its socially directive character. His constitutional projects are not aimed, primarily, at coordinating and containing state power in the familiar liberal-democratic sense. Instead, they are aimed at fostering the social conditions in which a fuller sense of freedom - understood broadly as non-domination - can be realised across all social domains. And in turn, since Rousseau views domination as being deeply embedded in complex social practices, his constitutionalism is aimed at fostering a radical austerity - social, economic and cultural - as its foil. In locating Rousseau's constitutional projects within his social and political theory of servitude and domination, this book will challenge the predominant focus and orientation of contemporary republican theory. Leading republican thinkers have drawn on the historical republican canon to articulate a model of constitutionalism which is, on the whole, 'liberal' in focus and orientation. This book will argue that the more communitarian orientation of Rousseau's constitutionalism - that is, its socially-directive focus - stems from a sophisticated and compelling account of the sources of unfreedom in complex societies, sources which are ignored or downplayed by the neo-republican literature. Rousseau embraces a communitarian social politics as part of his constitutional project precisely because, pessimistically, he views domination as being deeply embedded in the social relations of the liberal order.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781509933136
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/31/2019
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.41(d)

About the Author

Eoin Daly is Lecturer in Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements v

Introduction: Rousseau's Austerity and Rousseau's Constitutions 1

I Rousseau as a Constitutional Theorist 1

II Rousseau's Constitutional Projects 4

III Outline of Chapters 10

1 The Constitution of Freedom 13

I Introduction 13

II Freedom and Domination in Republican and Liberal Traditions 14

A Domination and Unfreedom in Hobbes and Rousseau 18

III (Re)constituting Freedom 21

IV Situating Rousseau's (Un)freedom 27

V Rousseau as a Republican Outlier 29

VI Constitutionalising Rousseau's Freedom 36

2 The Constitution of Autarky 37

I Introduction 37

II Commerce and Autarky in Corsica and Poland 38

III Commerce, Virtue and Corruption 44

A Republican Politics for the Moderns 47

B The Morality of Commerce: Constitutional Translations, Republican Adaptations 49

C Rousseau's Rejection of the Republican Compromise with Commerce 52

D The Destructive Force of Commercial Society 53

IV Rousseau's Concept of Constitutionalism 62

V Autarky between Realism and Utopia 66

VI Conclusion 71

3 The Constitution of Symbol and Ritual 73

I Introduction 73

II Symbolism and Ritualism in Contemporary Constitutional Thought 74

III Rituals and Symbols in Corsica and Poland 76

IV The Political Function of Symbols and Rituals 78

V The Radical Scope of Rousseau's Civic Ritualism 83

VI Culture and Domination in the Early-modern World 85

VII Culture and Aesthetics under Austerity 90

VIII Civic Ritualism and Constitutional Design: Contemporary Problems 96

IX Conclusion 102

4 The Constitution of Deliberation 105

I Introduction 105

II Rousseau on Deliberation, Dissensus, Dissent 106

III Deliberation and Non-domination 108

IV Deliberation as Domination 111

A Rousseau as Critical Discourse Theorist 114

V Deliberation under Republican Austerity 119

VI Deliberation and Difference 123

VII Neo-republican Blindspots 125

5 The Constitution of Judgment 131

I Introduction 131

II Legislation and Judgment in Rousseau's Constitutional Projects 132

III The Paradox of Judicial Power under the General Will 134

IV Principled Adjudication and the General Will 137

V Adjudication under Republican Austerity 139

VI Complexity, Differentiation and Symbolic Power 143

VII Conclusion 146

Bibliography 149

Index 157

Editorial Reviews

"... one need have no interest in Rousseau per se to enjoy and profit from this book, a perceptive and timely reminder of the insidious ways in which a seemingly egalitarian or democratic society can be riven by unseen, internalised forms of domination." --Books Ireland

From the Publisher