Book Review: The Terror of Natural Right

Book Review: 

The Terror of Natural Right: Republicanism, the Cult of Nature, and the French Revolution

by Dan Edelstein.  Published by University Press of Chicago, Illinois. 

2009, 275 pages.  (Links are to a paperback edition to be released o/a Nov

15; hard copy is available now)

Reviewed by CDR Youssef Aboul-Enein, MSC, USN

Combating violent Islamist extremism and in particular its ideology requires

not only an understanding of the nuances between Islam, the religion, Islamist political

thought, and violent Islamist ideology, it also requires an understanding of the

nuances of secularism, republicanism and the democratic experience.  I am always

surprised by how notions of what constitutes an Islamic state embodied by Ayatollah

Khomeini's theories in Iran, Sayyid Qutb (the modern ideological founder of Sunni

violent Islamist extremism), and Abu Al Ala al-Mawdudi, the founder of Pakistan's

experiment in Islamist governance have been shaped by the theories of French Revolution. 

In addition, militant Islamist ideologues like to obscure the nuances differences

between the French and American experiences in the application of democracy, preferring

general stereotypes and generalities.   Stanford University Assistant

Professor of French Dan Edelstein has written a highly technical and complex exploration

that attempts to explain how the French Revolutionary ideals were used to justify

the Reign of Terror (1793 to 1794) in France.

Edelstein proposes that the laws of nature in France became the law of the republic,

and the preservation of the republic led to legal justifications of violations of

the laws of nature and hence being designated "hostes humani generis," (enemy

of the human race).  Any activity deemed by the state as objectionable would

be prosecuted as a crime against nature.  The Jacobins, fanatical supporters

of the revolution, used natural right arguments to bring about the terror, rationalizing

the murder of thousands by legal arguments, and political theories.  King Louis

XVI would be guillotined, with Maximilien Robespierre labeling him a criminal against

humanity.  In 1794, the Cult of the Supreme Being was created to force citizens

into compliance with natural rights and a revolutionary tribunal created to punish

those declared to be violators of natural law.  Among the laws of nature created

was the preservation of the republic.

Applying the Jacque Rousseau's social contract theories included his view that

society was rife with contradictions that can be resolved through the synthesis

of natural right and republican good.  The National Convention that promulgated

the 1793 Constitution attempted to reconcile natural sociability with the virtue

of man, according to the book, and came up with a republic that would impose civic

virtue through violence.  Ironically, Edelstein reminds readers that Robespierre,

the grand architect of the terror, began his political career as an opponent of

the death penalty.  While he saw terror as designated sublime justice, his

fellow supporter Louis Saint Just defined terror as being opposed to justice. 

Both would die together on the guillotine in 1794 ending the Reign of Terror. 

Another revolutionary who would be executed upon the orders of Robespierre was Georges

Danton who argued that the power of mob needed to be controlled by state orchestrated

violence.  The book highlights Danton's rationale saying that it is in the

(National) Convention's interest to take the lead in the exercise of terror so as

not to be overwhelmed by it.

The book also discusses how the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

would be a much more revered document than the French Constitution.  The Constitution

in France was not given the status provided in the United States.  The author

ends with a warning that legislation that creates new levels of hostility tore apart

France for a year, and to be mindful of this quote from Robespierre, "It is more

dangerous to wage war with the law, not the sword, in hand."  A complex and

serious read for those interested in the pathology of political violence, reasons

the French experience in democracy is different from the American, and even to begin

answering the questions critiquing France's handling of immigrants and minorities

in the 21^st century.

Commander Aboul-Enein is author of "Militant

Islamist Ideology: Understanding the Global Threat," published this summer by

Naval Institute Press.  He teaches a course part-time on Islam, Islamist Political

Theory, and Militant Islamist Ideology at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces

in Washington DC.