La democrazia alla prova. Pierre Rosanvallon e la storia concettuale del politico

The publication of Pour une histoire conceptuelle du politique. Leçon inaugurale au Collège de France faite le jeudi 28 mars 2002 (Paris, Seuil, 2003) offers us the occasion to reflect upon the historiographical approach and the theoretical reflection of Pierre Rosanvallon. In these pages we seek to shed light upon the methodological originality of conceptual political history, an originality which is derived above all from the understanding of politics as an historical process constituted by the continuous and contradictory interaction between society’s view of itself and social practices. The discussion of the close ties between a rigorous and problematic historiographical research and the questions posed by the present society, highlighting in particular his desire to contribute to the establishment of a new political culture for the reformist left, will serve to briefly outline the path Pierre Rosanvallon takes to arrive at his own definition of politics as well as to delineate the structure of an historiographical method adapted to the understanding of the political domain. To be presented in the final section are the applications of this historiographical approach in Rosanvallon’s works concerning the history of French democracy.

Andrea Lanza, La democrazia alla prova. Pierre Rosanvallon e la storia concettuale del politico in "TEORIA POLITICA" 2/2004, pp , DOI: