6533b853fe1ef96bd12ace14

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Gagner la guerre des idées : Publius et la nature du républicanisme

subject

description

This text deals with the specificities of Publius rationale under both the time and the electoral constraints of the ratification debates. Far from being concerned with idle intellectual speculation, the authors of the Federalist Papers faced a political context that was so hostile to their views that the imperative for them was to create legitimacy for their proposal. Publius thus adjusted his views so that the new constitution would be constantly highlighted as an “elective” system where the content of “republicanism” was both altered and improved. His innovative ideas have nonetheless a limit in that they take the form of a “political recipe”—meant to answer specific objections. This format paved the way for the constant use of the Federalist Papers as a reservoir of catchwords for ideological and nationalist reasons.