Scholars@Duke
Genevieve Rousseliere

Genevieve Rousseliere

Associate Professor of Political Science
Political Science

Selected Publications

Sharing Freedom: Republicanism and Exclusion in Revolutionary France

Book · January 1, 2024 The French have long self-identified as champions of universal emancipation, yet the republicanism they adopted has often been faulted for being exclusionary – of women, foreigners, and religious and ethnic minorities. Can republicanism be an attractive al ... Full text Cite

Can Popular Sovereignty Be Represented? Jacobinism from Radical Democracy to Populism

Journal Article American Journal of Political Science · July 1, 2021 Contemporary studies mostly understand populism as a reaction to the failures of representative liberal democracies. Yet populism existed at the very inception of modern democracy before it became liberal. I contend that, during the French Revolution, conf ... Full text Cite

Fénelon, a conservative mind?

Journal Article European Journal of Political Theory · July 2021 In his excellent new book, Hanley presents an engaging interpretation of Fénelon’s political thought as modern and moderate. While I salute the revival of the work of this important and forgotten author, and I concur with Hanley to see him as a co ... Full text Cite

Rousseau's theory of value and the case of women

Journal Article European Journal of Philosophy · June 1, 2021 In Emile, Rousseau claims that the value of women ought to be determined by the opinion that men have of them. Women, contrary to commodities and men, escape what I call Rousseau's “dual theory of value.” According to the latter, the apparent value of comm ... Full text Cite

Republicanism and the future of democracy

Book · January 1, 2019 Democracies are in crisis. Can republican theory contribute to reforming our political norms and institutions? The ʼneo-republican turn’ has seen scholars using the classical republican tradition in reconstructing and developing a vision of public life as a ... Full text Cite

On political responsibility in post-revolutionary times: Kant and Constant's debate on lying

Journal Article European Journal of Political Theory · April 1, 2018 In “On a Supposed Right to Lie from Philanthropy,” Kant holds the seemingly untenable position that lying is always prohibited, even if the lie is addressed to a murderer in an attempt to save the life of an innocent man. This article argues that Kant's po ... Full text Cite

Rousseau on Freedom in Commercial Society

Journal Article American Journal of Political Science · March 1, 2016 Rousseau consistently declares that commercial society prevents us from being free because it makes us dependent on others and on endless desires in ways we cannot control. Yet, in Emile, Rousseau makes the surprising claim that it is possible for an elite ... Full text Cite