Bertrand de Jouvenel
French political philosopher, economist, and futurist, best known for On Power (Du Pouvoir), his analysis of the growth of the modern state and its implications for liberty; author of The Ethics of Redistribution, an early participant in the Mont Pelerin Society, and founder of the futurist journal Futuribles.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. On Power
The Natural History of Its Growth
A historical inquiry into the rise of centralized authority, tracing how sovereign power steadily expands by dismantling intermediary institutions and legitimizing each advance through appeals to security, welfare, and popular will. It contends that even democracies tend toward despotism via taxation, bureaucracy, and war mobilization, gradually subordinating society to administrative control, and warns that only robust intermediary bodies and vigilant citizens can restrain power’s inherent drive to grow.
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