Abstract:
Maximilien Robespierre was the most influential and central figure of the French Revolution. He was the proponent and founder of the concept of “Reign of Terror” (Testa, 156). The factors that distinguish French Revolution from various other revolutions of the modern times entail the presence, influence and domination of Maximilien Robespierre.
Termed as the incorruptible, he set the status quo upside down, killing and demolishing anyone and anything that stood in the way of blood bath in form of revolution that had headed towards the French Society.
The French revolution took place amidst an environment and society that was structured upon inequality, oppression, gulf and divide and victimization of the commoners on many fronts. The events that formally took place in July 1789 were a result of events and oppression that had been in practice since the last two centuries. The monarchy that was in place was completely inefficient, distant and disjoint from the masses and the issues faced by the French society. The nobles were occupied in merry making and various other malpractices and functions. The economy was in shambles, people’s living standards were depleted with regard to the basic rights and facilities. Amidst all this one event that led to the uprising was that of the National Assembly session calling. It was being called for the first time since 1614. The government that was in place was sham democratic and institutional, in actual and practicality the King was the individual who would make the final decision and he was under the influence of his courtiers.
Another characteristic element of the French revolution as the invention and introduction of the novel tool of guillotine. This tool was not known before and was first of its kind. The guillotine resulted in beheading of the French in large numbers leading up to thousands by the end of the revolution. The impact of the guillotine was so severe that even the King and Queen suffered death at the hands of guillotine. The use of guillotine as a legal sanctioning entity and a force created a lot of stir and debate in the society (Kropotkin, 433).
Justification of the actions and philosophy undertaken by Robespierre:
Maximilien Robespierre justified his actions through the ideas that the overall progress of the revolution was too slow. It was not reflective of the true spirit of the revolution. It lagged behind in terms of the people’s agony, their aspirations and wishes they had from the revolution. According to him and his principles, the people had suffered extreme hardships, inequality and injustice and they deserved a far better future and this was possible only through incorporation of a total demolition of the ruling elite and all those that stood in favor of the status quo and opposed the acts of revolution.
The Émigrés (Fremont-Barnes, 215) that took support and assistance from the outside sources as well as those in the country that were against the revolution led to further severity in the actions and principles of Maximilien Robespierre. They were using the foreign force, diplomacy and assistance in various forms to thwart the impact of the revolution. Robespierre on the other hand was hell bent in ensuring that the true purpose of the revolution is achieved and people get what they deserve in form of a free and liberated society where there is equality, liberty and fraternity amongst the masses and each citizen, regardless of being a bourgeoisie or the noble is equally accountable for any action and word spoken with regard to the other person and the associated rights and privileges.
Under the principle of equality every member of the society should have a right to becoming a legislator, a decision maker and at the same time this right must not come at the cost of the rights and privileges of the any other individual and free citizen of the French society (Thiers, 433).
With regard to the principle of liberty, each individual must have the absolute freedom and liberty with regard to their owner, property and live. They must not be forced into any kind of practices like the ancient days of the Ancient Regime where they young ones would be forced into training and long years of military services at the expense of the nobles and clergy who enjoyed immunity and exemption from any kind of training and in turn spent their lives in lavish manners.
Robespierre principles and doctrine:
Robespierre gave the concept of Principles of Revolutionary Government that encompassed various principles that would be based upon the governing principles and handling the affairs of France in the post monarchy era. Three of these principles were Equality, Liberty and Fraternity. The call and slogan for these three principles came in the background of the past events and happenings where the French society was divided into three distinct classes, these three classes resulted in an imbalance in the sphere and activities of the society. The society was dissected into three estates in the form of commoners, nobles and clergy. The first class was the most oppressed one and was under the burden of all kinds of taxation and turbulences.
Under the principles and slogan of Equality, Liberty and Fraternity (Hanson, 196), the people from all the classes were equal citizens. The nobles had no extra privileges over the commoners nor did the commoners had to suffer any extra burden of taxation, training or any other restriction and unjust rule that had been in practice in past in the French society prior to the French Revolution.
Terror as a tool:
The principles incorporated the excessive use of force and slaughter of the rivals and opponents. Any one who stood in the way of revolution was destined to face the consequences of guillotine. However the people that carried the mindset similar to Maximilian Robespierre advocated the continuation of the usage of guillotine and this constituted the basic principle of the Reign of Terror.
Law of Suspects was another point of discomfort in the society. According to this law and rule anyone termed a suspect and considered as a hindrance in the way of the revolution was bound to taste the guillotine. Establishment of the revolutionary tribunals during the era of Robespierre incorporated the overall concept and mindset that was active in those days. The tribunal in span of around five months between September 1793 and February 1794 heard the cases of treason, and obstruction of the revolution against hundreds of French citizens. In the entire event of these five months around two hundred and thirty men and around thirty women were sentenced to death through the infamous tool of the guillotine that had taken up the place of any other form of human killing in the days of French Revolution.
Co-relation to other times and other philosophies:
Nearly all the revolutions and movements based on the principle of equality and justice in the society advocated the civil liberty and public rights. However the methods of operations have been different. All the revolutions have advocated the equality, liberty and fraternity and this was the core slogan of the French Revolution as well. However usage of the forces and tools such as guillotine and Reign of terror as a principle and doctrine has raised concerns and issues with regard to the execution and transfer of the revolution from a peaceful transition to a violent one that was characteristic of French revolution. French revolution is remembered as one of the bloody revolution in modern times.
Part 2:
Democracy is the people’s government that is representative of their aspirations and wishes. However there might be many accounts and events that may lead to imbalance and strangulation of the normal activities and events in the social sphere within a society. The imbalance in terms of the earnings, the spendings and economic activity may lead to disparity in the class system in the society that is governed on the principles of capitalism. Although a free concept and far better than the concepts of the socialist policies that are based upon the absence of the own possession, the element of monopoly presence and potential exploitation of the market by the ordinary people leads to the negative trends within the democratic society that is based upon the concepts of capitalism.
The distance between the rulers and ruled often gives rise to the revolutionary and violent ideas in the different societies. For example the past has shown many events and incidents of nationalistic movements and uprising against the elected democratic governments that demand the restoration of the original constitution and original policies that are based upon the principles of equality of the masses and equal opportunities for the people.
Taliban are another force that have come to forth in the last decade of the 20th century. Most notably in the Asian bloc and the Muslim countries. In countries like Afghanistan, Libya and Pakistan the Taliban have emerged as forces that challenge the mere existence of democracy.
Terming it the western form of democracy the Taliban and similar factions demand the true installation of the constitutional accords and principles that would translate the true spirit according to the religious aspirations of the people, the region and the country in totality.
With regard to the democracy and its inefficient operations on account of globalization are the poverty in the spheres of society. For example the globalization trend advocates and demands one currency spread such as the European Union’s brought up policy of Euro. With the inflations and deprecating economies back home, it is nearly impossible to implement it and this in turn gives rise to disparity and artificial establishment of the global concepts in societies that are far from being truly democratic.
The potential lack of true representation of the people’s problems in form of the lack of the representatives makes up for one debating issue and problem that is being contested in different parts of the world against the democracy. Democracy being the most prevalent form of the government in the world with over greater percentages of people believing and considering it as the true form of government, yet the factors and percentages of disparity such as injustice, poverty, hunger, crime, and terrorism along with various other social deviances and discrepancies lead to question the existence of democracy and gives rise to revolutionary movements. The Arab spring that came about in the Middle East and Western part of Asia was a reaction to the lack of true democracy within the given states. The sham democracy is one of the major factors that has given rise to the revolutionary and violent movements such as Arab springs and Taliban uprising. The core example of the Syrian regime that terms itself democratic yet is anything but democratic makes up revolt and discontent within the society. For example it is the Bashar Al Asad regime that has been in power for more than a decade and it is actually a continuation of the policies of the AlaWatee family and the Hafiz Al Asad regime that came into power through the force of military intervention (Minahan, 82). Similarly Egypt had taste of military dictator turning themselves into civilian dictators and then leading on to rule for multiple decades, all these and the presence of sham democracy within the different countries gives rise to the revolutionary movements in form of the nationalistic movement, Taliban movement and various other similar accounts.
In the economic sphere the concept of interest is strongly negated by the revolutionary forces such as Taliban and other pro religious factions who demand complete abolishment of the institute of interest from the Eastern economic and banking system. This is the core idea advocated by them. However the points have been negated by various proponents, scholars, sociologists on the account of the fact that there are Muslim countries that have the Western form of democracy within, yet the means and businesses of the banking and economic system are held through the Islamic mode of economic practices.
In the case of Taliban, they advocate the spread and installation of a system that would be based on the principles of equality, social justice and economic balancing. They even advocate the overthrow of the lesser enemies which they term are installed through the western influence and the western form of democracy. The form of government and representation advocated by the Taliban and other extremist forces include the element of religion in their principles and guidelines. This comes in contrast to the secular outlook adopted by various countries such as Turkey. The two differ with regard to the concept of separation of the pillar of politics and religion as two separate forces, while the Taliban term it as an integral part and all the decisions are subject to be made in the line and light of religious aspirations.
The sole aim of revolution is to bring about a form of government that is representative of the people’s wishes and choices. Democracy certainly is one of these and there cannot be any better form of government that this. The need is the fact of transforming it into a good form of governance based on welfare state that depicts the religious, cultural, historical and ideological aims and aspirations of the people in different parts of the world.
References:
Fremont-Barnes, Gregory. Encyclopedia of the Age of Political Revolutions and New Ideologies, 1760-1815: A-L. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007.Press.
Hanson, Paul R. Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution. Scarecrow Press, 2004.
Kropotkin, Peter. The Great French Revolution, 1789-1793. Cosimo, Inc, 2009.Press.
Minahan, James. Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: A-C. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2002.Press.
Thiers, Adolphe. The history of the French revolution, Volumes 1-2 (Google eBook). Carey and Hart, 1847.Press.
Testa, David W. Del. Government Leaders, Military Rulers, and Political Activists. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2001.Press.
