Hannah Arendt

On Revolution
Faber Sarah
Margani Dennyz
Tosti Mattia

Hannah Arendt

Born in 1906

1933, forced to leave Germany

because of Anti-Semitism

Part of lively intellectual circle in

New York

Most important works : The

Origins of Totalitarianism and
The Human Condition

On Revolution
Published in 1963
Main focus is on the
analysis of revolutions, in
particular the French and
the American
Arendts main goal was to
determine the spirit of
revolution

Wars and revolutions

Wars
-Oldest political phenomena originally never
connected with the concept of liberty.
Revolutions
-Recent political phenomena born after
modern age.
-Connected with the concept of liberty

Wars and revolutions

The author identifies 4 trends of war useful to
understand and interpret revolutions :
1. Change in political meaning of military
2. Concept of survival
3. Change in nature of war
4. Interaction between war and revolution

Interaction between war

and revolution
Intensification in the interaction
between the two
More emphasis on revolutions
than on war.
Historically interdependent
Both are political phenomena
different from the rest impossible
outside the domain of violence.

The Political theory on the matter is relevant only if

1) Glorifies violence
-Anti-politics

2) Justifies violence
- state of nature
- concept that each beginning its always connected with
violence and
crime
cain abel
Romulus and Remus
Revolutions

Meaning of revolution
Origins of the term
1) Machiavelli: spiritual father of revolutions
because:
-Political period : Italian renaissance
- Interest in political change
- Emphasis on use of violence

Never used the term revolution:

mutatio rerum

2) Copernico: De rivolutionibus orbium caelestium

-meaning: designates a regular lawfully motion of the stars
beyond the influence of man.

3) Glorious Revolution
-When the term was used in its political sense, but still with
its astrological meaning

4) American and the French revolution

- Initially managed as a restoration of an old
order of things that had been disturbed and
violated either by a colonial government or by a
monarch.
- Where are the elements of a new beginning
characteristic of the modern meaning of
revolution ?
American revolution: movement was not
revolutionary but it lead to a revolution.
French revolution: at the beginning conceived
as a a restoration and after the initial phase we
can find element of pathos of something new

The Social Question

Historical shift
1) Before Modern Age

-distinction between rulers/ruled , powerful/powerless was

inevitable in the structure of a state.
2) After Modern Age
-started questioning if poverty is inherent in human nature
after colonial experience America: symbol of society
without poverty.
greatest influence of the American Revolution on the French
Revolution was not the bill of rights but welfare

Social problem and the

French Revolution
Poverty: state of permanent necessity
freedom and poverty are incompatible - Karl Marx

France
1) State was overcharged of economic problems
Biggest mistake to interpret necessity in political terms
2) Revolution inspired, supported and then suffocated by
necessity.

3) Heavy historical tradition

4) Role of compassion
The only force that can unify differrent social classesMontesquieu
Emphasis on people rather than on institutions.
opened the doors of politics to the poor.
5) Hunting the hypocrite.
reign of terror double fear

Social problem and the

American Revolution
1) Revolution inspired not by social needs but by
political needs.
2) Hidden social problem
400.000 blacks vs 1.850.000 white
No condemn on the state that reserves for a section
of society ignorance and poverty.
Necessity didnt suffocate the revolution

3) Emphasis on political institutions

New government Division of power
Liberty through long lasting institutions.
4) Hunting of hypocrites took place after the revolution
with ink rather than with blood.

Prerequisites for
revolution

Revolutions are impossible in states where the authority

of the body politic is truly intact

Need of a sufficient number of men who are prepared for

its collapse

Notion of Freedom
In the French Revolution

Presence of Mass-Poverty and Social Question during the

revolution

Tennis Court Oath was a first attempt to bring an end to the

Etats gnrals

French citizens didnt have any experience in the

field of Freedom

No opportunity to discuss a constitution

Notion of Freedom
In the American Revolution

The creation of the Constitution created Freedom

Numerous facts caused the success of the American revolution

such as:
- Luck (no Mass-poverty and Social Question that was dominant)
- Experience (organization of the colonies)

Presence of Town Hall Meetings, where Americans

held debates, and political discussions

The Constitution
Constitution and foundation of a state are
two correlative conjunctions

Constitutional assemblies became the

hallmark of revolutions

The Constitution in the

United States

War of Independence with the British Crown

Founding of a new government and a

Constitution

The American revolutionaries based themselves

on Montesquieu's doctrine of separation of
powers

John Adams: The great art of law-giving

consists in () and in constituting the legislative
a perfect balance against the executive power

Introduction of the check and balance system

The Constitution in the

United States
Differences with the French Revolution
An important part of the declaration of the Rights of
man and the citizen came to play in the course of the
French Revolution
These rights were assumed not to indicate the
limitations of all lawful government but on the contrary
to be its foundation
Contrast to the United States, where the but the
source of all laws should be the Constitution, and not
the people themselves.

Novus Ordo Seclorum

Problem: legitimization of power
Ancien Rgime divine power grants
legitimacy to monarch

Stable government must

originate from a superior
authority

Solutions
FRENCH REVOLUTION

Robespierre found a superior authority in religion (or

how he sometimes defined it a continuous appeal
to justice)

His desperate solution was the creation of the cult of

the Supreme Being

Peculiar given secularization was trying to do the

opposite.

Solutions
AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Roman political institution: senate potestas in

populo, auctoritas in senatu

American government separation of authority from

legislative power

Revolutionary
principles
Other issue for granting stability was that of
maintaining alive the principles that moved
the two revolutions:
public freedom
public happiness (individual happiness of
the masses)
public accountability (active participation in
public life)

Freedom
REVOLUTION FREEDOM

Invasion of public sphere by

private
sphere:
Freedom is now intended as
freedom of speech, of
opinion and freedom to
participate actively in public
administration.

Revolutionary
traditions
FRANCE
Civil councils and societs populaires:

Revolutionary institutions in which freedom could be

expressed

Civil councils held a slice of legislative powers, each

independent one from another

Reign of terror
In order to stop the streak of violence
brought by revolution Robespierre
attempted successfully to centralize
governmental powers. In this process civil
councils were crushed
for the simple fact that
their existence was
in
opposition with a
centralized
source of power.

Revolutionary
traditions
AMERICA
French experience
ACTION: violence and rebellion freedom
violence

Jefferson identified in freedom different

principles
ACTION: administration freedom

Jeffersons heritage
Ideal republican government
Conceived by Jefferson with the division of the
country in constituencies, smaller individual
republics in which every man could become
an active member of the government