Article
French
ID: <
10.4000/ahrf.828>
·
DOI: <
10.4000/ahrf.828>
Abstract
Barère, a Proponent of a New Brand of Republican Opportunism vis-à-vis the Directoire ExécutifIn Year V, shortly before the Germinal elections, Barère while in hiding published his reflections on government and the modus operandi of the Directoire. For one who had been a member of the Committee of Public Safety at the height of the Terror, building a republic required a strong form of government, with a powerful executive arm. This was a constant concern of the Pyrenean deputy who in 1815 was again a member of the House during the Hundred Days and reiterated the need for a clear definition of executive power. This very constancy transcends the debate over the supposed or real chameleon-like behaviour of Barère and reveals a new brand of republican opportunism. The intangible republican was in favour of a republican « golden mean », characterized by a strong and structured executive apparatus, in sharp contrast with a generation of politicians forever wary of the executive. By opting for a republic of the centre, Barère showed he belonged to a current of opinion which, from the summer of 1791 to the autumn of 1799, legitimized the brutal use of the prerogatives of executive power in the promotion and defence of the constitution or the republic. These men, who had followed different roads and were finally united by Bonaparte, were the inventors of what I choose to call the republic of the « extreme centre ».