Depoliticisation Before Neoliberalism: Contesting the Boundaries of the Political in Modern Europe

This book analyses processes of depoliticisation in modern Europe from the emergence of a distinct ‘political’ sphere in the late eighteenth century until the present day. Drawing on case studies from across the continent, it demonstrates that depoliticisation has played an integral part in the contestation of modern politics since its inception. Developing a novel conceptual framework, the authors argue that depoliticisation is much more than a simple negation of politics. Rather than an anonymous and amorphous process, depoliticisation often presents an express, actor-driven effort, with modes and forms no less varied than the more familiar manifestations of politicisation. Consequently, the chapters encompass a whole range of depoliticising discursive strategies, performative practices, and institutional rearrangements, playing out across different regime types, from revolutionary orders and representative governments with limited franchises to mass democracies and totalitarian dictatorships. Illustrating how historical actors understood ‘the political’ and in which ways they intervened to renegotiate its boundaries, this book seeks to enhance our understanding of modern politics and pose questions that still resonate today. At a time when the boundaries of the political are once more heavily contested, this book offers thought-provoking insights that will appeal to scholars of history, political science, and sociology, as well as to activists and political practitioners.

Adriejan van Veen is Assistant Professor of Political History at Radboud University Nijmegen, in the Netherlands. He specialises in the political culture of the Netherlands and Western Europe in the modern age. Specifically, Adriejan is interested in the history of political and societal organisation, and the theory and practice of such concepts as political representation and depoliticisation.

Theo Jung is Professor of Modern History at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, in Germany, where he specialises in the history of European culture and politics during the long nineteenth century. His research focuses on structures and moments of political interaction, historical temporalities, and the history of various social practices.