Geneviève Rousselière: The Politics of Self-Destruction. Rousseau on Political Economy

In the twenty-first century, the ecological and social depredations of unbridled economic growth have become a matter of global public concern. Yet in the eighteenth century, the revolution in global commerce and the birth of political economy were celebrated as the start of an unprecedented era of freedom, abundance, and happiness for all. The Politics of Self-Destruction explores the ideas of an eighteenth-century dissenter, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who warned against this early triumph, arguing that people in commercial societies, in their endless quest for happiness, only manage to orchestrate their own destruction. Rousseau critically analyses the key tenets of this vision of political economy and shows how unregulated economic exchange undermines human control over life. While Rousseau is skeptical that self-destruction can be avoided, he does suggest how we might be able to slow it down. 

Short Bio:

Geneviève Rousselière is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Duke University. Her work focuses on the history of modern political thought, political economy, republicanism and feminism. Her book Sharing Freedom. Republicanism and Exclusion in Revolutionary France was published in 2024 by Cambridge University Press.