Mikkel Thorup is Associate Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and the History of Ideas, University of Aarhus, Denmark. His previous publications include An Intellectual History of Terror: War, Violence and the State (Routledge, 2010).Holger Ross Lauritsen is a PhD Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy and the History of Ideas, University of Aarhus, Denmark.

In an age where revolutions are sweeping the Middle East, it seems as good a time as any to reconsider the principles on which revolutions are grounded. This reason alone is sufficient to reconsider Jean-Jacques Rousseau's relationship to the French Revolution and political change. But these essays also invite students of Rousseau to consider his works more generally. While this volume does not answer once and for all the timeless questions raised by his political thought, one at least takes a few steps toward a more sophisticated political philosophy through engaging its essays.

• Introduction \ Part I: Democracy and Violence \ 1. Why Rousseau Mistrusts Revolutions: Rousseau's Paradoxical Conservatism Blaise Bachofen \ 2. The General Will and National Conscioussness: Radical Requirements of Democratic Legitimacy in the Writing of Rousseau and Fanon Jane Anna Gordon \ 3. Rousseau and the Terror: A Reassessment Julian Bourg \ 4. Arbitrariness and Freedom: Hegel on Rousseau and Revolution Angelica Nuzzo \ Part II: Philosophy and Political Change \ 5. Reverse Revolution: The Paradox of Rousseau's Authorship Fayçal Falaky \ 6. The General Will Between Conservation and Revolution Holger Ross Lauritsen \ 7. Rousseau and Revolution in the Making of a Modern Political Culture: Denmark 1750-1850 Holger Ross Lauritsen \ Part III: Revolution and History \ 8. Creation, Destruction and Continuity of Order Christiane Mossin \ 9. Rousseau and the Revolutions of the Earth: Remarks on a Natural Metaphor Antoine Hatzenberger \ 10. The Revolutionary Return of the Orator: Public Space and the Spoken Word in the Work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau Masano Yamashita \ 11. Rousseau, the Revolution and the Republic Masano Yamashita \ Index.