Dégeler la Révolution: Welfare State, Property, and Sovereignty in Antoine-Louis de Saint-Just’s Manuscript De la Nature

Abstract

The aim of this essay is to analyze the distinctive formulation of concepts such as social state, property, and sovereignty in Saint-Just’s manuscript De la Nature. The starting point lies in the overturning of the natural law logic of the social contract through the concept of social state. On this basis, the essay seeks to identify the implications of this framework for other notions within the revolutionary political lexicon, highlighting both its institutional consequences and its affinities with the demands of popular revolutionary factions.