Astérion, n°31/2024

Addressing the issue of the esprit de corps means considering interpersonal relationships of solidarity and the unity of the body politic from a genetic approach, which, beyond matters of law and foundation, can highlight the mechanisms that preside over their constitution. The esprit de corps has an ambivalent reputation: a source of corporatism and special interest which, sometimes from within the State apparatus itself, distorts the spirit that should animate the great bodies of the State and guarantee their loyalty. It also appears to be a condition of permanence, stability, unity, power and cohesion of social groups. This ambivalence, if it is recognised, allows us to address the political question without axiological presuppositions and to question in political matters not so much 'what should be' as 'how it works', noting that it never quite works. Rereading certain moments in the modern history of political ideas in this light implies an entirely different understanding of the relationship between individuals, the State and its institutions. Far from being based on moral or legal rationality, the loyalty of the members of a group is based, above all, on affect and imagination, which explains not only the seditious or factious potential of constituted bodies but also their precariousness.