Between the mid-eighteenth and the mid-nineteenth century, the idea of
dictatorship changed drastically, leaving back the ancient Roman
paradigm and opening the way to a rule with extraordinary powers and
which was unlimited in time. While the French Revolution produced an
acceleration of history and created new narratives of dictatorship, with
Napoleon Bonaparte as its most iconic embodiment, the Latin American
struggle for independence witnessed an unprecedented concentration of
rulers seeking those new nations' sovereignty through dictatorial rule.
Starting from the assumption that the age of revolution was one of
dictators too, this book aims at exploring how this new type of rulers
whose authority was no longer based on dynastic succession or religious
consecration sought legitimacy. By unveiling the role of emotions -
hope, fear and nostalgia - in the making of a new paradigm of rule and
focusing on the narratives legitimizing and de-legitimizing
dictatorship, this study goes beyond traditional conceptual history. For
this purpose, different sources such as libels, history treatises,
encyclopedias, plays, poems, librettos, but also visual material will be
resorted to.
This book is essential reading for scholars and students of modern
history, the history of emotions, intellectual history, global history,
cultural studies and political science.
