French Literature Reviews - 2026
W. Nippel, Ancient Liberty, Modern Liberty.
History, Politics and Society
Wilfried Nippel, Ancient Liberty, Modern Liberty: The Foundations of Democracy from Antiquity to the Present Day
Translated by Olivier Mannoni
Toulouse: Presses universitaires du Mirail, coll. Tempus / Paris: Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme
2010, 325 pages
- ISBN: 978-2-8107-0127-8
- Price: 39 euros
Publisher's Presentation
Like a modern talisman, the concept of democracy is constantly invoked by politicians, journalists, and ordinary citizens alike. But how has it been shaped over the centuries? In what contexts, and through what transformations?
Wilfried Nippel traces the long evolution of this foundational political concept from fifth-century BC Athens to the recent European constitution. He takes the reader on a fascinating journey from Pericles' Greece to Republican Rome, onward to seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England and the United States, through Paris during the Reign of Terror, and into nineteenth- and twentieth-century Berlin—in short, across a series of pivotal historical moments where social actors invoked notions of democracy and liberty, drawing in subtle and complex ways upon the legacy of Greek antiquity.
This book offers a masterly fresco of the history of political ideas and practices. It is essential reading not only for specialists in political science and the social sciences, but for all readers eager to explore the multifaceted faces of democracy across the long sweep of history.
The Author:
Wilfried Nippel is Professor of Ancient History at Humboldt University of Berlin and a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. A specialist in historical anthropology and sociology and a leading figure in European classical studies, he is the author of numerous works on the Greek and Roman worlds. He has also published notable studies on various figures in nineteenth-century historiography and sociology (Weber, Droysen) and is currently writing a book dedicated to Humboldt.
The intellectual trajectory of democratic thought has long been defined by the shifting interpretation of classical models in subsequent political philosophy and institutional design. From the foundational civic ideals of classical Athens and Republican Rome to the turbulent debates of the English and American revolutions, the French Reign of Terror, and modern European constitutionalism, political actors have continually renegotiated the boundaries of freedom and popular sovereignty. Wilfried Nippel traces this long evolution from fifth-century BC Athens to the recent European constitution, examining how specific historical societies invoked the legacy of antiquity during pivotal moments of transformation.
Wilfried Nippel is Professor of Ancient History at Humboldt University of Berlin and a member of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. A specialist in historical anthropology and sociology and a leading figure in European classical studies, he is the author of numerous works on the Greek and Roman worlds. Readers interested in the history of political ideas and the long sweep of democracy may find this volume relevant.