Description
Book SynopsisThis volume explores the relevance of decline within the republican tradition. While scholarship on republicanism thrives, the idea of decline, which has been prominent in republican theory since antiquity, has received relatively little attention. The essays in this volume take a broad cultural perspective and study a wide variety of authors and (con)texts to situate decline among the key concepts in the history of republicanism. Most contributions focus on the Dutch Republic during the Age of Enlightenment and Revolutions, the area of expertise of Wyger Velema, to whom this volume is dedicated. Other case studies include early modern Spain and Venice, the German Enlightenment, and the Weimar Republic. Contributors are: Remieg Aerts, Hans Erich Bödeker, Wiep van Bunge, Lisa Kattenberg, Wessel Krul, Matthijs Lok, Alessandro Metlica, Ida Nijenhuis, Eleá de la Porte, Jan Rotmans, Niek van Sas, Freya Sierhuis, and Lina Weber.
Table of ContentsPreface Notes on Editors Notes on Contributors 1 Introduction: Republican Decline in Context Joris Oddens, Mart Rutjes, and Arthur Weststeijn 2 Trends and Transitions in Dutch Commercial Republicanism, 1600–1800 Ida Nijenhuis 3 Becoming Spinoza: On the Failure of the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus Wiep van Bunge 4 Republicanism and Slavery in Dutch Intellectual Culture, 1600–1800 Freya Sierhuis 5 The Problem of National Debt in Dutch Republican Thought: Joan Derk van der Capellen and Elie Luzac Lina Weber 6 Polite Batavians: The Uses of the Past in Late-Eighteenth-Century Dutch Spectators Eleá de la Porte 7 Vulnerable Virtue: The Enlightened Pessimism of Dutch Revolutionaries at the End of the Eighteenth Century Jan Rotmans 8 A Republican Patriot on His Own Pedestal: Joan Hendrik Swildens (1746–1809) Niek van Sas 9 The Demise of Dutch Republicanism in the Nineteenth Century Remieg Aerts 10 Braving the Batavians: Classical Models and Countering Rebellion in the Spanish Empire Lisa Kattenberg 11 Reshaping the Republican Ritual: The Entry of the Procurators of St Mark in Early Modern Venice Alessandro Metlica 12 Greek Political Models in the German Enlightenment Press Hans Erich Bödeker 13 The European Republic from the Enlightenment to the Counter-Revolution Matthijs Lok 14 Conservatism, Republicanism, and Romanticism: Thomas Mann’s “Conversion” to Democracy in 1922 Wessel Krul Index
