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Google圖書搜尋
Tracing the Shadow of Secrecy and Government Transparency in Eighteenth-Century France
Nicole Bauer
出版
Springer Nature
, 2022-11-30
主題
History / Europe / France
Political Science / History & Theory
History / Social History
Religion / History
Fiction / Gothic
History / Europe / General
History / General
Fiction / Horror
ISBN
3031122364
9783031122361
URL
http://books.google.com.hk/books?id=2wafEAAAQBAJ&hl=&source=gbs_api
EBook
SAMPLE
註釋
This book traces changing attitudes towards secrecy in eighteenth-century France, and explores the cultural origins of ideas surrounding government transparency. The idea of keeping secrets, both on the part of individuals and on the part of governments, came to be viewed with more suspicion as the century progressed. By the eve of the French Revolution, writers voicing concerns about corruption saw secrecy as part and parcel of despotism, and this shift went hand in hand with the rise of the idea of transparency. The author argues that the emphasis placed on government transparency, especially the mania for transparency that dominated the French Revolution, resulted from the surprising connections and confluence of changing attitudes towards honour, religious movements, rising nationalism, literature, and police practices. Exploring religious ideas that associated secrecy with darkness and wickedness, and proto-nationalist discourse that equated foreignness with secrecy, this book demonstrates how cultural shifts in eighteenth-century France influenced its politics. Covering the period of intense fear during the French Revolution and the paranoia of the Reign of Terror, the book highlights the complex interplay of culture and politics and provides insights into our attitudes towards secrecy today.