Reversals of freedom in servitude Claude Lefort, reader of La Boétie
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Abstract
Together with Miguel Abensour, Claude Lefort was one of a rare breed of political theorists who recognised the importance of the Discourse on Voluntary Servitude as a classic. He advocated its reading in 1977, in the path of Camille Desmoulins, Constant, Guizot, Michelet, Quinet, and Orwell. However, he was particularly keen to put it to the test of historical experience in order to try to understand the phenomenon of totalitarianism. According to Lefort, totalitarianism arose from a reversal of democracy, and so La Boétie is used to question the very institution of democracy. The contemporary nature of the question explored by La Boétie is due to the risk of freedom reverting to servitude, which has taken place throughout modern democracy. In particular it questions the dynamic paradox of escaping from freedom, something from which contemporary populist authoritarianism benefits.
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