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Universal Suffrage as Counter‐Revolution? Electoral Mobilisation under the Second Republic in F rance, 1848–1851
Author(s) -
Crook Malcolm
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of historical sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.186
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-6443
pISSN - 0952-1909
DOI - 10.1111/johs.12035
Subject(s) - suffrage , universal suffrage , political science , democracy , turnout , political economy , voting , law , economic history , economics , politics
The advent of mass, male suffrage in F rance in 1848 is usually regarded as a great success. There was a huge turnout in elections for a Constituent Assembly, but the outcome disappointed republicans, who failed to win a majority and blamed a backward peasantry. This paper suggests that the electoral system was at fault rather than the electorate. A hastily devised procedure, based on collective voting and the absence of declared candidatures, enabled notables to dominate the new regime. Radicals revised their tactics with some success in 1849, but soon succumbed to the plebiscitary democracy of L ouis‐ N apoleon. Universal suffrage might well mean counter‐revolution.