Abstract
The Bonapartist régime claimed to have united France and healed the wounds of a decade of revolutionary discord. The seizure of power in Brumaire, it was argued, was justified by the need to restore order and effective government, and to prevent any further degeneration into factionalism. Bonaparte claimed that he stood above political factions, and popular sovereignty was in theory exercised directly through the First Consul, undivided and undiminished. Were these claims legitimate? The lack of any genuine political opposition during most of the Empire certainly makes it appear that order and reconciliation had been achieved.
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Notes
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© 1994 Martyn Lyons
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Lyons, M. (1994). Opposition: the Politics of Nostalgia. In: Napoleon Bonaparte and the Legacy of the French Revolution. European Studies. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23436-3_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23436-3_10
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