Liberty: the role of an idea in two revolutions

Abstract

This piece of work will attempt to analyse the role of ideas in implementing political change. This is done by examining the question, what role has the philosophical idea of Liberty played in revolutions? The dissertation will explore this question with reference to the French and American Revolutions respectively, and attempt to answer it by drawing on constructive and interpretive approaches of the French and American Revolution. This will be accomplished by first introducing and defining the different theories of causes of revolutions, and then evaluating key texts and theories addressing the role of liberty in both the American and French Revolution. Subsequently, the main philosophers’ concepts of liberty will carefully be studied in order to be traced, analysed, and evaluated as a driving force in key primary documents of each revolution. This paper concludes that the idea of liberty played a crucial role in both revolutions, since it had a unifying contribution to the societies, which compliments Sewell’s theoretical approach to revolutions.