Formal Rationalization
Howard G. Brown · Oxford University Press eBooks · 1993
Abstract This chapter examines the role of the French Revolution in reforming the French state through democracy and bureaucracy. These reforms were achieved between 1792 and 1799 when bureaucracy's role shifted from being a strictly executive tool to being a source of continuity, stability, and even legitimacy for the state. All of this was made possible by the people's acceptance of national sovereignty, representative democracy, and legal-rational authority as the bases of state power.