Ideology on trial: Testing a theory of revolutionary political culture

Abstract

In the past decade, François Furet has exerted a profound impact on scholarship of the French Revolution. Particularly influential has been Furet's thesis, best expressed in his Penser la révolution française, that the Terror can be ascribed to properties inherent in revolutionary ideology. Furet's theories, however, remain more asserted than proved. The purpose of this paper, then, is to perform a needed empirical test of Furet's theses, using a body of evidence, namely the 'opinions' produced during the trial of King Louis XVI, which are particularly well suited to this purpose. Ultimately, the findings of this paper are not favourable to Furet's theses concerning revolutionary ideology and the Terror, and support an alternative model for understanding the interaction between revolutionary political culture and political action.