Rethinking the Politics of Commercial Society The Edinburgh Review 1802}}}1832 [Hardcover]

This book explores the sources of modern British liberalism through a study of the Edinburgh Review.Explores the sources of modern political liberalism through a study of the Edinburgh Review, the most influential and controversial early nineteenth-century British periodical. Reveals how it served as the principal channel through which the Scottish Englightment and its doctrines of economic and political reform were popularized.Explores the sources of modern political liberalism through a study of the Edinburgh Review, the most influential and controversial early nineteenth-century British periodical. Reveals how it served as the principal channel through which the Scottish Englightment and its doctrines of economic and political reform were popularized.This book explores the sources of modern British liberalism through a study of the Edinburgh Review, the most influential and controversial early nineteenth-century British periodical. Founded by a group of young Scottish intellectuals in 1802, the Review served as a principal channel through which the ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment gained wider currency, and did much to popularize the doctrines of economic and political reform. As Dr Fontana shows in this lucid and keen analysis, the first thirty years in the life of the Review clearly display the new social and economic problems confronting European society in the aftermath of the French Revolution.Preface; Introduction; 1. Scottish theories of commercial society and the French Revolution; 2. Adam Smith's heritage: the Edinburgh reviewers and the Wealth of Nations; 3. The definition of political economy: political economy as a social science; 4. The Edinburgh reviewers and the Whig party; 5. Commercial society and its enemies: the debate on the First Reform Bill; Conclusion; Notes; Bibliography; Index.