Tracing the Shadow of Secrecy and Government Transparency in Eighteenth-Century France

Nicole Bauer

ISBN 10: 3031122380 / ISBN 13: 9783031122385

Published by Springer, 2023

About this Item

Tracing the Shadow of Secrecy and Government Transparency in Eighteenth-Century France | Nicole Bauer | Taschenbuch | ix | Englisch | 2023 | Springer | EAN 9783031122385 | Verantwortliche Person für die EU: Springer Verlag GmbH, Tiergartenstr. 17, 69121 Heidelberg, juergen[dot]hartmann[at]springer[dot]com | Anbieter: preigu.

Seller Inventory # 128028939

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Tracing the Shadow of Secrecy and Government Transparency in Eighteenth-Century France
• Publisher: Springer
• Publication Date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3031122380
• ISBN 13: 9783031122385
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 210W x 148H x 14D millimeters 210 millimeters width by 148 millimeters height by 14 millimeters depth
• Weight: 316 grams
• Seller catalogs:
  • Bücher

About this title

Synopsis

This book traces changing attitudes towards secrecy in eighteenth-century France, and explores the cultural origins of ideas surrounding government transparency. The idea of keeping secrets, both on the part of individuals and on the part of governments, came to be viewed with more suspicion as the century progressed. By the eve of the French Revolution, writers voicing concerns about corruption saw secrecy as part and parcel of despotism, and this shift went hand in hand with the rise of the idea of transparency. The author argues that the emphasis placed on government transparency, especially the mania for transparency that dominated the French Revolution, resulted from the surprising connections and confluence of changing attitudes towards honour, religious movements, rising nationalism, literature, and police practices. Exploring religious ideas that associated secrecy with darkness and wickedness, and proto-nationalist discourse that equated foreignness with secrecy, this book demonstrates how cultural shifts in eighteenth-century France influenced its politics. Covering the period of intense fear during the French Revolution and the paranoia of the Reign of Terror, the book highlights the complex interplay of culture and politics and provides insights into our attitudes towards secrecy today. 

About the Author

​Nicole Bauer is Assistant Professor of European History at the University of Tulsa in the USA. A cultural historian of early modern France, she is particularly interested in pulling threads from different directions to understand and uncover the cultural origins of political and social movements.