Lecture – A New World: The French Revolution and the Rights of Man

A New World: The French Revolution and the Rights of Man

Dr Ultán Gillen (Teesside University)

7.30pm Free

The French Revolution inaugurated the modern political era, not least in making the concept of rights central to political thought and political struggle. This talk examines how the concept of the Rights of Man became so central to the French Revolution. The talk examines the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen of August 1789, the Revolution’s first attempt to define the rights of man and how those rights should shape political institutions. It follows debates over these concepts as the Revolution developed, and discusses the legacy of the French Revolution in the debate over human rights that continues to this day.