Power, Passion, and Political Legitimacy
In this essay for The Atlantic, Elliot Ackerman reflects on the lives of Marie Antoinette and Mary Queen of Scots through the biographies of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, examining how questions of legitimacy, passion, political instability, and personal ambition continue to shape modern society.
Drawing connections between eighteenth-century Europe and contemporary American politics, Ackerman explores how private behavior, political perception, and emotional volatility can influence the course of nations and historical events.
The essay examines the collapse of political legitimacy, the fragility of public trust, and the dangers of allowing political passions to overwhelm institutional stability.
Stefan Zweig and the Psychology of Power
Rather than treating history as a sequence of dates and events, Ackerman highlights Zweig’s psychological approach to biography, focusing on the personalities, desires, fears, and insecurities that shaped Marie Antoinette and Mary Stuart during periods of profound political upheaval.
The piece explores how political systems can unravel when elites lose touch with public sentiment, when legitimacy becomes contested, and when emotional and personal dynamics begin driving affairs of state.
Ackerman also examines how themes from Zweig’s biographies resonate in the modern era, particularly during periods of polarization, institutional distrust, and political instability.
History and the Present Moment
The essay reflects on how modern democracies continue to wrestle with questions of legitimacy, public trust, populism, scandal, and political spectacle in ways that echo the crises faced by earlier societies.
By revisiting the stories of Marie Antoinette and Mary Queen of Scots, Ackerman explores the enduring relationship between human passion, political power, and historical change.
Read the Full Essay
This article originally appeared in The Atlantic.