Between 1750 and 1861 in Italy, the term ‘democracy’ underwent a crucial change in meaning and in use. This change affected both the perception of democracy as a political model and as a form of government as well as the value assigned therein. In the space of a century, at least three different phases can be singled out in the relationship existing between Italian political thought and the democratic experience seen as a whole in historical and theoretical terms. Between 1750 and 1790 the word ‘democracy’ was prevalently used, for better or worse, in reference to classical antiquity and the relevant term was really ‘republic’: a republican ideal was slowly trying to free itself from its aristocratic features to adapt to the modern commercial society and to a more egalitarian and individualist concept. Beginning in 1790, probably with the help of Edmund Burke’s invectives against the French Revolution, the term democracy began to be used, above all by adversaries, with a prevalently negative connotation and precisely in reference to the developments of the above mentioned event. This use was reinforced when the Jacobins took possession of the term and matched it with a model that was to end tragically with the ‘Terror’, but would not cease to hold great charm for its Italian supporters, up to and beyond the conclusion of the Revolutionary Triennium in 1799. This mirror-like choice of the same term by opposing political positions, radical and reactionary, lasted until 1835 and throughout those years caused the moderate supporters of democratic reforms to rely on the concept of ‘representative government’ instead. It was Tocqueville’s masterpiece on America, published in the same year, that permanently reintroduced democracy at the centre of the Euro-Atlantic debate, whether conceived as a form of government or as a ‘social state’. In Italy, the term ‘democracy’ therefore began to acquire a number of different shades of meanings with liberal to socialist variants. However, particularly after 1848, the term became a given essential in the process of national Unification, which ended in 1861.

From Republic to Representative Democracy: Some Observations on the Use of the Word ‘Democracy’ in Italian Political Thought between 1750 and 1861

LENCI, MAURO
2011-01-01

Abstract

Between 1750 and 1861 in Italy, the term ‘democracy’ underwent a crucial change in meaning and in use. This change affected both the perception of democracy as a political model and as a form of government as well as the value assigned therein. In the space of a century, at least three different phases can be singled out in the relationship existing between Italian political thought and the democratic experience seen as a whole in historical and theoretical terms. Between 1750 and 1790 the word ‘democracy’ was prevalently used, for better or worse, in reference to classical antiquity and the relevant term was really ‘republic’: a republican ideal was slowly trying to free itself from its aristocratic features to adapt to the modern commercial society and to a more egalitarian and individualist concept. Beginning in 1790, probably with the help of Edmund Burke’s invectives against the French Revolution, the term democracy began to be used, above all by adversaries, with a prevalently negative connotation and precisely in reference to the developments of the above mentioned event. This use was reinforced when the Jacobins took possession of the term and matched it with a model that was to end tragically with the ‘Terror’, but would not cease to hold great charm for its Italian supporters, up to and beyond the conclusion of the Revolutionary Triennium in 1799. This mirror-like choice of the same term by opposing political positions, radical and reactionary, lasted until 1835 and throughout those years caused the moderate supporters of democratic reforms to rely on the concept of ‘representative government’ instead. It was Tocqueville’s masterpiece on America, published in the same year, that permanently reintroduced democracy at the centre of the Euro-Atlantic debate, whether conceived as a form of government or as a ‘social state’. In Italy, the term ‘democracy’ therefore began to acquire a number of different shades of meanings with liberal to socialist variants. However, particularly after 1848, the term became a given essential in the process of national Unification, which ended in 1861.
2011
Lenci, Mauro
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/146980
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