Book Review: The Terror of Natural Right
Book Review:
The Terror of Natural Right: Republicanism, the Cult of Nature, and the French Revolution
by Dan Edelstein. Published by University Press of Chicago, Illinois.
2009, 275 pages. (Links are to a paperback edition to be released o/a Nov
15; hard copy is available now)
Reviewed by CDR Youssef Aboul-Enein, MSC, USN
The Terror of Natural Right: Republicanism, the Cult of Nature, and the French Revolution |
Combating violent Islamist extremism and in particular its ideology requires
not only an understanding of the nuances between Islam, the religion, Islamist political
thought, and violent Islamist ideology, it also requires an understanding of the
nuances of secularism, republicanism and the democratic experience. I am always
surprised by how notions of what constitutes an Islamic state embodied by Ayatollah
Khomeini’s theories in Iran, Sayyid Qutb (the modern ideological founder of Sunni
violent Islamist extremism), and Abu Al Ala al-Mawdudi, the founder of Pakistan’s
experiment in Islamist governance have been shaped by the theories of French Revolution.
In addition, militant Islamist ideologues like to obscure the nuances differences
between the French and American experiences in the application of democracy, preferring
general stereotypes and generalities. Stanford University Assistant
Professor of French Dan Edelstein has written a highly technical and complex exploration
that attempts to explain how the French Revolutionary ideals were used to justify
the Reign of Terror (1793 to 1794) in France.
Edelstein proposes that the laws of nature in France became the law of the republic,
and the preservation of the republic led to legal justifications of violations of
the laws of nature and hence being designated “hostes humani generis,” (enemy
of the human race). Any activity deemed by the state as objectionable would
be prosecuted as a crime against nature. The Jacobins, fanatical supporters
of the revolution, used natural right arguments to bring about the terror, rationalizing
the murder of thousands by legal arguments, and political theories. King Louis
XVI would be guillotined, with Maximilien Robespierre labeling him a criminal against
humanity. In 1794, the Cult of the Supreme Being was created to force citizens
into compliance with natural rights and a revolutionary tribunal created to punish
those declared to be violators of natural law. Among the laws of nature created
was the preservation of the republic.
Applying the Jacque Rousseau’s social contract theories included his view that
society was rife with contradictions that can be resolved through the synthesis
of natural right and republican good. The National Convention that promulgated
the 1793 Constitution attempted to reconcile natural sociability with the virtue
of man, according to the book, and came up with a republic that would impose civic
virtue through violence. Ironically, Edelstein reminds readers that Robespierre,
the grand architect of the terror, began his political career as an opponent of
the death penalty. While he saw terror as designated sublime justice, his
fellow supporter Louis Saint Just defined terror as being opposed to justice.
Both would die together on the guillotine in 1794 ending the Reign of Terror.
Another revolutionary who would be executed upon the orders of Robespierre was Georges
Danton who argued that the power of mob needed to be controlled by state orchestrated
violence. The book highlights Danton’s rationale saying that it is in the
(National) Convention’s interest to take the lead in the exercise of terror so as
not to be overwhelmed by it.
The book also discusses how the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
would be a much more revered document than the French Constitution. The Constitution
in France was not given the status provided in the United States. The author
ends with a warning that legislation that creates new levels of hostility tore apart
France for a year, and to be mindful of this quote from Robespierre, “It is more
dangerous to wage war with the law, not the sword, in hand.” A complex and
serious read for those interested in the pathology of political violence, reasons
the French experience in democracy is different from the American, and even to begin
answering the questions critiquing France’s handling of immigrants and minorities
in the 21st century.
Commander Aboul-Enein is author of “Militant
Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat,” published this summer by
Naval Institute Press. He teaches a course part-time on Islam, Islamist Political
Theory, and Militant Islamist Ideology at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces
in Washington DC.