Bonapartism

Painting of the coronation of Napoleon I Bonaparte in 1804

In Marxist thought, Bonapartism refers to a system where a counter-revolutionary dictatorship attempts to mediate between antagonistic class interests. Bonapartist regimes typically come into existence during times of revolution, where they appropriate revolutionary symbols while actually having reactionary goals. For this reason, Bonapartist regimes tend to characterize themselves as "neither left nor right," despite actually serving the right in practice. According to Vladimir Lenin, "Bonapartism is a form of government which grows out of the counter-revolutionary nature of the bourgeoisie, in the conditions of democratic changes and a democratic revolution."

The name of Bonapartism derives from the Bonaparte dynasty, which ruled France twice, first under Napoleon Bonaparte and then under his nephew Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte. It was on Louis-Napoleon that Karl Marx, a contemporary, wrote The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, which described the nature of Bonapartism in detail. Marx described how, when Louis-Napoleon became emperor, the bourgeois class surrendered some of its political power to the emperor so that it may continue to have social power, for "in order to save its purse it must forfeit the crown."

Outside of Marxist circles, "Bonapartism" also refers more specifically to the belief that the Bonaparte dynasty should rule France. "Bonapartism" in this sense would be a sub-category of monarchism.

Examples

Notable examples of Bonapartism include:

• The First French Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte
• The Second French Empire under Napoleon III
• The German Empire under Otto von Bismarck
• The Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin

See also

• Napoleon Bonaparte
• Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte
• Fascism