Dictatorship in History and Theory: Bonapartism, Caesarism, and Totalitarianism

Publications of the German Historical Institute

by Peter Baehr (Editor), Melvin Richter (Editor)

Bringing together the work of historians and political theorists to examine the complex relationships among nineteenth century democracy, nationalism, and authoritarianism, this study pays special attention to the careers of Napoleon I and III, and of Bismarck. An important contribution is consideration of not only the momentous episodes of coup d'etat, revolution, and imperial foundation which the Napoleonic era heralded, but also the contested political language with which these events were described and assessed. Political thinkers were faced with a battery of new terms--"Bonapartism," "Caesarism," and "Imperialism" etc...--with which to define their era.

Genres: Politics, History, Biography

324 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Peter Baehr is Chair Professor of Social Theory at Lingnan University. Before coming to Hong Kong in 2000, he worked at universities in Canada and Britain. He teaches and writes mainly in the areas of social/ political thought, political culture, and mass emergency. Peter Baehr’s work has been translated into Chinese, Danish, Farsi, French, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese and Portuguese. Aside from his position at Lingnan University, Baehr is Raymond Aron Fellow at Boston University, and an Honorary Fellow of the University of Edinburgh. He is President of the History of Sociology Research Committee of the International Sociological Association, and sits as an international editor on eight journals. Baehr’s books are published by Cambridge University Press, Cornell University Press, Transaction, Penguin and Stanford University Press.

Reviews

[Colm Gillis · Rating 3 out of 5]

A series of essays examining the question of dictatorship and especially that of popular dictatorship, e.g. that of Napoleon or Caesar. Essays are grouped together in different categories. The ones on Bonapartism arent that great while those on 20th century and ancient Roman dictatorships are more interesting. Overall the essays are a little bit pedantic and difficult to read. Contributions by John McCormick and Claude Nicolet are worth reading.