Rethinking the origins of the French Revolution
This long chapter considers the evolution of the debate on the origins of the French Revolution in the last fifty years. The debate proceeded by a series of redefinitions of key terms in the light of criticism and research. Such terms were 'capitalism', 'bourgeoisie', 'nobility', 'Enlightenment', 'revolution'. Notions of discourse and political culture from the 1970s and 1980s shifted the ground for debate. This chapter further argues, based on the author's research, that the notion of crisis and the redefinition of the early modern French state, are keys to further understanding of the inception of the revolutionary process.