Abstract

GOOSEN, Danie. On the republican idea: an exercise in remembrance. Historia [online]. 2010, vol.55, n.2, pp.182-203. ISSN 2309-8392.

In essence the article is nothing but a brief exercise in what can be referred to as a politics of remembrance with regard to the republican tradition of Afrikaners. The aim of this brief exercise is not to argue that Afrikaners as cultural-historical community can respond to the many crises it faces with a mere return to their republican tradition. Rather, the aim of such a politics of remembrance is to keep the question about the meaning of the republican tradition alive. In the first section the meaning of the concept "politics of remembrance" is discussed. In the following sections, the focus shifts to three important characteristics of the republican tradition: firstly, the way in which the republican tradition represents the relationship between the whole and its parts (with specific reference to the American and French republican traditions); secondly, the republican idea of freedom (as distinguished from the liberal idea of freedom); and lastly a republican representation of the relationship between politics and religion (in other words, the theological-political problem).

Keywords : American republicanism; Aristotle; centralism; freedom; French republicanism; liberal tradition; nostalgia; participation; pluralism; federalism; remembrance; republican tradition; sound judgement; theological-political problem; tragic; unity and plurality; virtues.

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