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Program

Research Programs: Summer Stipends

Period of Performance

7/1/1978 - 8/31/1978

Funding Totals

$2,500.00 (approved)
$2,500.00 (awarded)

Benjamin Constant on Political Legitimacy

FAIN: FT-13857-78

Stephen T. Holmes
University of Chicago (Chicago, IL 60637-5418)

A study of the sources of Benjamin Constant's theory of political legitimacy. Research will be carried out on Constant's arguments in favor of the view that an unchanging political principle has different connotations and consequences in different historical situations. The impact of enlightenment views on "public virtue," years of revolution, the Terror and Napoleon on Constant's repudiation of despotism-meshing "returns to antiquity" will be analyzed.