| Legitimacy and Power Politics: The American and French Revolutions in International Political Culture Subjects: Sovereignty; Legitimacy of governments; Enlightenment; United States -- History -- Revolution 1775–1783; France -- History -- Revolution 1789–1799; This book examines the causes and consequences of a major transformation in both domestic and international politics: the shift from dynastically legitimated monarchical sovereignty to popularly legitimated national sovereignty. It analyzes the impact of Enlightenment discourse on politics in eighteenth-century Europe and the United States, showing how that discourse facilitated new authority struggles in Old Regime Europe, shaped the American and French Revolutions, and influenced the relationships between the revolutionary regimes and the international system. Mlada Bukovansky is Assistant Professor of Government at Smith College. |