Book contents
- The People’s Two Powers
- Ideas In Context
- The People’s Two Powers
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Translations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Rousseau’s Democracy
- Chapter 2 Representative Democracy during the French Revolution
- Chapter 3 The Liberal Response
- Chapter 4 Bonaparte and His Collaborators
- Chapter 5 The Liberal Response
- Chapter 6 Tocqueville’s Democracy
- Chapter 7 The First Theorists of Liberal Democracy
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
Epilogue
Liberal Democracy in the Twentieth Century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 February 2026
Book contents
- The People’s Two Powers
- Ideas In Context
- The People’s Two Powers
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Translations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Rousseau’s Democracy
- Chapter 2 Representative Democracy during the French Revolution
- Chapter 3 The Liberal Response
- Chapter 4 Bonaparte and His Collaborators
- Chapter 5 The Liberal Response
- Chapter 6 Tocqueville’s Democracy
- Chapter 7 The First Theorists of Liberal Democracy
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This epilogue explores the legacy of the idea of liberal democracy in twentieth century French thought and its impact on contemporary (liberal) democratic theory. After being pitted against “Caesarism” during the Second Empire, liberal democracy was redeployed to confront new adversaries: “totalitarianism” in the 1930s (Raymond Aron) and “populism” from the 1980s onward (Claude Lefort). In each of these periods, French liberals employed a two-pronged strategy: they criticized degenerate forms of democracy as corrupting popular sovereignty and manipulating public opinion. At the same time, beginning in the 1950s, French liberals redefined popular sovereignty as an abstraction to make it safe for liberal democracy, all the while championing a free public opinion as the best way to engage citizens in politics beyond elections. Today, democratic theorists in France (Pierre Rosanvallon) and elsewhere (Jürgen Habermas and Nadia Urbinati) continue to defend liberal democracy as the rule of public opinion.
Keywords
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The People's Two PowersPublic Opinion and Popular Sovereignty from Rousseau to Liberal Democracy, pp. 245 - 267Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
Accessibility standard: WCAG 2.2 AAA
Why this information is here
This section outlines the accessibility features of this content - including support for screen readers, full keyboard navigation and high-contrast display options. This may not be relevant for you.Accessibility Information
The HTML of this chapter
complies with version 2.2 of the
Web Content Accessibility Guidelines
(WCAG), offering more comprehensive accessibility measures for a broad range
of users and attains the highest
(AAA)
level of WCAG compliance, optimising the user experience by meeting the most extensive
accessibility guidelines.
Content Navigation
Table of contents navigation
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Allows you to navigate directly to chapters, sections, or non‐text items through a linked table of contents, reducing the need for extensive scrolling.
Index navigation
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.
Provides an interactive index, letting you go straight to where a term or subject appears in the text without manual searching.
Reading Order & Textual Equivalents
Single logical reading order
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
You will encounter all content (including footnotes, captions, etc.) in a clear, sequential flow, making it easier to follow with assistive tools like screen readers.
Short alternative textual descriptions
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
You get concise descriptions (for images, charts, or media clips), ensuring you do not miss crucial information when visual or audio elements are not accessible.
Visualised data also available as non-graphical data
You can access graphs or charts in a text or tabular format, so you are not excluded if you cannot process visual displays.
You can access graphs or charts in a text or tabular format, so you are not excluded if you cannot process visual displays.
Visual Accessibility
Use of colour is not sole means of conveying information
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
You will still understand key ideas or prompts without relying solely on colour, which is especially helpful if you have colour vision deficiencies.
Use of high contrast between text and background colour
You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.
You benefit from high‐contrast text, which improves legibility if you have low vision or if you are reading in less‐than‐ideal lighting conditions.