Enthusiasm has long been perceived as a fundamental danger to democratic politics. Many have regarded it as a source of threatening instabilities, hoping instead for a more sober and moderate democratic politics. Yet this book shows that we should not eschew political enthusiasm. In democracies, enthusiasm works to help political actors identify and foster progressive changes. We feel enthusiasm at precisely those moments of new beginnings, when politics takes on new shapes and novel structures. This book traces the changing ways enthusiasm has been understood politically in modern Western political thought. By tracing the way this crucial emotional energy is made manifest in political actions this book sheds light on the way enthusiasm has been understood by political scientists, philosophers, and political activists, as well as its implications for contemporary democratic politics today. -- .

Book Information
ISBN 9781526156914
Author Andrew Poe
Format Hardback
Page Count 240
Imprint Manchester University Press
Publisher Manchester University Press