The revolutions that swept across Europe in 1848 marked a turning-point in the history of political and social thought. They raised questions of democracy, nationhood, freedom and social cohesion that have remained among the key issues of modern politics, and still help to define the major ideological currents - liberalism, socialism, republicanism, anarchism, conservatism - in which these questions continue to be debated today. This collection of essays by internationally prominent historians of political thought examines the 1848 Revolutions in a pan-European perspective, and offers research on questions of state power, nationality, religion, the economy, poverty, labour, and freedom. Even where the revolutionary movements failed to achieve their explicit objectives of transforming the state and social relations, they set the agenda for subsequent regimes, and contributed to the shaping of modern European thought and institutions.
Introduction; 1. Lamartine, the Girondins and 1848 Jonathan Beecher; 2. The many revolutions of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon Edward Castleton; 3. French republicanism after 1848 Thomas C. Jones; 4. Socialist visions of direct democracy: the mid-century crisis of popular sovereignty, and the constitutional legacy of the Jacobins Anne-Sophie Chambost; 5. Working-class socialism in 1848 in France Samuel Hayat; 6. 1848 and British political thought on 'the principle of nationality' Georgios Varouxakis; 7. Christian socialism, class collaboration and British public life after 1848 Jonathan Parry; 8. On the 'absence of spirit': the legacy of the abstinence from revolution in Belgium Widukind De Ridder; 9. German republicans and socialists in the prelude to 1848 Douglas Moggach; 10. David Friedrich Strauss in 1848: an analysis of his 'theologico-political' speeches Norbert Waszek; 11. 1848 and German socialism Diana Siclovan; 12. Post-revolutionary politics: the case of the Prussian Ministry of State Anna Ross; 13. 'The goal of that pure and noble yearning': Friedrich Meinecke's visions of 1848 Duncan Kelly; 14. The nationality problem in the Habsburg monarchy and the revolutions of 1848: a reassessment Alan Sked; 15. National movements against nation states. Bohemia and Lombardy between the Habsburg empire, the German Confederation and Piedmont Axel Körner; 16. The political thought of a new constitutional monarchy: Piedmont after 1848 Maurizio Isabella; 17. Revolution, socialism, and the Slavic question: 1848 and Michael Bakunin Jean-Christophe Angaut; 18. Elusive signifiers: 1848 and the language of 'class struggle' Gareth Stedman Jones.
