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The Dreyfus Affair and the Rise of Political Religion in France

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Why Religion? Towards a Critical Philosophy of Law, Peace and God

Part of the book series: Law and Religion in a Global Context ((LRGC,volume 2))

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Abstract

The accusation and conviction of Alfred Dreyfus was one of the most shameful events in the history of the European judiciary and a great political scandal, which took place in France at the end of the 19th century and absorbed people in the rest of Europe. Many key figures in the so call Dreyfus affair were opponents of the parliamentary values, human rights, secular republic and promoted the strong reactionary feelings especially in the army and clericals group. The conflict over the Dreyfus case to a large extent consolidated two opposing visions of the state—the reactionary and the republican one—as well as helped to establish their underlying ideological narratives. The clash of values revealed by the Dreyfus affair has left the French democratic landscape deeply divided into the secular, republican side and the conservative right advocating the public role and influence of religion and allied with the religious communities. Ultimately it has led to the replacement of the old principle l’Église au pouvoir by the French doctrine of laïcité and implement the French model of the separation of religion and public domain. This social division and its underlying ideological narratives have been dominating the European political life ever since and to a large extent shaped the modern democracies all over the continent.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The Affair has also continued to inspire analyses of various different phenomena as analogous in this or that respect to what the point of the Dreyfus case actually were—as e.g. Begley (2009).

  2. 2.

    Thomas (1961).

  3. 3.

    For more on the significance of the transparency in the operations of the public administration and the perils of its shortcomings, see Bogucka and Pietrzykowski (2012), pp. 188–194.

  4. 4.

    Reinach (1911).

  5. 5.

    Chapman (1972); the title includes important analyses of the legal and military issues of the Affair.

  6. 6.

    Albert (1972).

  7. 7.

    Cahm (1996).

  8. 8.

    Rémond (1982).

  9. 9.

    Mayer and Reberioux (1984).

  10. 10.

    Byrnes (1969).

  11. 11.

    Zola (1898).

  12. 12.

    Duclert (2006), Harris (2010b), p. 107.

  13. 13.

    Sternhell (1978).

  14. 14.

    Budzanowska (2014).

  15. 15.

    Wilson (1982).

  16. 16.

    Sternhell (1972).

  17. 17.

    Arendt (1973), p. 132.

  18. 18.

    Harris (2010a), p. 217.

  19. 19.

    Leblois (2011).

  20. 20.

    The secret service became “a common fake factory”, putting great efforts to maintain the accusation against Dreyfus; see Read (2013), p. 196.

  21. 21.

    On political neutrality as a value of public administration, see Bogucka and Pietrzykowski (2012), p. 200.

  22. 22.

    On the danger of turning state and law into the primary instrument of oppression as one of the key ideas behind the modern Western legal culture, see Pietrzykowski (2014).

  23. 23.

    Dansette (1965).

  24. 24.

    Capéran (1948).

  25. 25.

    Lecanuet (1930).

  26. 26.

    Ory and Sirinelli (1986).

  27. 27.

    Boussel (1960).

  28. 28.

    Cahm (1994).

  29. 29.

    Kedwark (1965).

  30. 30.

    Dansette (1948).

  31. 31.

    Mayeur (1991).

  32. 32.

    Olivesi and Nouschi (1995).

  33. 33.

    Lattes (1998).

  34. 34.

    See Footnote 8.

  35. 35.

    Rioux (1977).

  36. 36.

    Vandromme (1965).

  37. 37.

    Maurras (1906), p. 61.

  38. 38.

    Leo XIII (1892).

  39. 39.

    Chapman (1955).

  40. 40.

    Maurras (1909), p. 459.

  41. 41.

    Prévotat (2001).

  42. 42.

    Dimier (1926), pp. 85–86.

  43. 43.

    Maurras (1912), p. 58.

  44. 44.

    Juillard (1958).

  45. 45.

    Maurras(1906).

  46. 46.

    Maurras (1906), p. 60.

  47. 47.

    Maurras (1912), p. 60.

  48. 48.

    Maurras (1937).

  49. 49.

    Pègues (1913), p. 342.

  50. 50.

    Sorlin (1966).

  51. 51.

    Pope Pius XI (1927).

  52. 52.

    See Footnote 37.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland

    Anna Budzanowska & Tomasz Pietrzykowski

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  1. Anna Budzanowska
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  2. Tomasz Pietrzykowski
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Correspondence to Anna Budzanowska .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. State University of Applied Sciences in Wloclawek, Wloclawek, Poland

    Dawid Bunikowski

  2. School of Law, ITAM, Mexico City, Mexico

    Alberto Puppo

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Budzanowska, A., Pietrzykowski, T. (2020). The Dreyfus Affair and the Rise of Political Religion in France. In: Bunikowski, D., Puppo, A. (eds) Why Religion? Towards a Critical Philosophy of Law, Peace and God. Law and Religion in a Global Context, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35484-8_14

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