Videos

Professor Aurelian Craiutu discusses François Guizot’s The history of the origins of representative governments in Europe and the History pof civilization in Europe
(video from the Liberty Fund)

The French political philosopher and historian François Guizot (1787–1874) was one of the French Doctrinaires, thinkers who sought to avoid the interpretations of the Revolution advanced by either extreme of Left or Right. He argued that in order to understand the nature of political institutions it is necessary to study first the society, its composition, mores, and the relation between various classes. At the very center of his theory lies the principle of the sovereignty of reason. In “The History of the Representative Government in Europe,” Aurelian Craiutu,  Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, writes in the Introduction: “A cursory look at the table of contents shows the originality of this unusual book: it combines lengthy narrative chapters full of historical details with theoretical chapters in which Guizot reflects on the principles, goals, and institutions of representative government.”

Émission, produite en 1988, diffusée à la télévision.

Colloque François Guizot 1987.