On Revolution

Arendt asserts that the French Revolution failed, while the American Revolution succeeded. However, she also acknowledges that the French Revolution was far more influential in shaping later revolutions, and believes that modern American democracy has lost something of its original character. What are the strengths and weaknesses of her assessment?

Analyze the differences between “public happiness” and private welfare. What role did each of these spheres play in conceptions of freedom and democracy in the French and American Revolutions? What are the similarities and differences between the French and American conceptions of “public happiness”?

Arendt believes that Rousseau’s concept of the “general will” negatively affected the course of the French Revolution by crushing the opportunity to foster a more vibrant pluralism. What is the relationship between “general will” and revolutionary idealism more broadly? In your view, are “general will” and pluralism inherently opposed to one another, or is there a means of reconciling them?