Volker Sellin – författare

The year 2014 saw the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's downfall - and the restauration of the French monarchy under the house of Bourbon. With this as a starting point, Volker Sellin shows how the European monarchies restored and prolonged their reigns by giving their countries constitutions. This new angle results in an astonishing history of the 19th century in Europe from Spain to Russia.

Benjamin Constant distinguished two kinds of government: unlawful government based on violence, and legitimate government based on the general will. In Europe monarchy was for over a thousand years considered the natural form of legitimate government. The sources of its legitimacy were the dynastic principle, religion, and the ability to protect against foreign aggression. At the end of the eighteenth century the revolutions in America and France called into question the traditional legitimacy of monarchy, but Volker Sellin shows that in response to this challenge monarchy opened up new sources of legitimacy by concluding alliances with constitutionalism, nationalism, and social reform. In some cases the age of revolution brought on a new type of leader, basing his claim to power on charisma.

Der Sturz Napoleons jährt sich 2014 zum zweihundertsten Mal; und ebenso die Restauration der französischen Monarchie unter den Bourbonen. Was bedeutet aber überhaupt "Restauration"? Volker Sellin löst den Begriff aus der Fixierung auf das Epochenjahr 1814 und interpretiert Restauration übergreifend als eine Politik der Konsolidierung der von der Revolution bedrohten Monarchien durch den Erlass von Verfassungen. Europäisch vergleichend von Spanien bis Russland entwirft er auf dieser Grundlage eine überraschende Geschichte des 19. Jahrhunderts.