Ensemblance

Is esprit de corps the secret engine of history?

• Unveils the hidden and conflicting ideologies at stake behind the concept of esprit de corps and its contemporary uses
• Focuses on the discursive uses of esprit de corps in various transnational contexts and in the long term, from 1700 to present times
• Combines intellectual history, cultural history, philosophy, history of ideas, discourse analysis, political theory and labour history
• Offers a fresh look into the modern dialectics of individualism and collectivism, structure and agency, laissez-faire and corporatism
• Deepens our understanding of the history of corporate capitalism and its military influences, as well as to understand the current revival of occidental nationalism

Esprit de corps has played a significant role in the cultural and political history of the last 300 years. Through several historical case studies, Luis de Miranda shows how this phrase acts as a combat concept with a clear societal impact. He also reveals how interconnected, yet distinct, French, English and American modern intellectual and political thought is. In the end, this is a cautionary analysis of past and current ideologies of ultra-unified human ensembles, a recurrent historical and theoretical fabulation the author calls ‘ensemblance’.