ABSTRACT
This paper aims to analyze the effects of sans-culottes movement and that of politicization of the public sphere during the French Revolution on Rousseau ideologization. Thus, the mobilization of Parisian people represented the real material reference for all discussions on popular sovereignty and expression of popular will. The front line was produced by different interpretations on the legitimacy, opportunity, and possible effects of such mobilization on European Nations’ destinies and their constitutional assets. The development of such debates produced confrontations and scissions within the Jacobinist movement. Jacobinism radicalization was conceived and developed “in the name of Jean-Jacques”. The echo of Jacobinist identification with Rousseau still reverberates in our imaginary. Thus, this experience is still influencing (even unconsciously) our way of thinking politics. That is the reason why Rousseau comes back on public discussion in times of crisis.
Keywords
Jean-Jacques Rousseau; Maximilien de Robespierre; people; French Revolution; Jacobinism; representative democracy