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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political ideologies > Liberalism & centre democratic ideologies
In recent years the concepts of individual autonomy and political liberalism have been the subjects of intense debate, but these discussions have occurred largely within separate academic disciplines. Autonomy and the Challenges to Liberalism contains for the first time new essays devoted to foundational questions regarding both the notion of the autonomous self and the nature and justification of liberalism. Written by leading figures in moral, legal and political theory, the volume covers inter alia the following topics: the nature of the self and its relation to autonomy, the social dimensions of autonomy and the political dynamics of respect and recognition, and the concept of autonomy underlying the principles of liberalism.
Just fifty years ago the literary critic Lionel Trilling spoke of liberalism as "not only the dominant but even the sole intellectual tradition" in American society. At the turn of the twentieth century this is clearly no longer the case, when conservative ideas have succeeded in many areas of public policy. Yet America's mainstream institutions-the media, the academy, popular culture, religion, the law-remain largely under the sway of a liberal ethos. In this incisive collection of essays which appeared originally in The New Criterion, nine distinguished critics and observers examine the origins and prospects of liberalism, from its roots in thinkers such as Rousseau and Mill to its troubled legacy in twentieth-century pursuits. They are cogent in explaining the compromising effects of liberalism in the moral and intellectual life of our culture, and seek to disentangle what is beneficent from what is destructive in its ideas. At a time when basic liberal assumptions about man and society are so deeply entrenched that they go largely unrecognized-and unexamined-The Betrayal of Liberalism offers a rewarding and enriching analysis. Its contributors include Roger Scruton, Keith Windschuttle, Hadley Arkes, Robert Conquest, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Robert Kagan, John Silber, John O'Sullivan, Hilton Kramer, and Roger Kimball.
On the one hand, inclusion constitutes a powerful framework of political agency, as people can gain access to forms of recognition granting legal protection and social visibility. On the other hand, inclusion requires their adherence to fixed matrices incorporating specific and limited forms of life. This opposition reflects a similar division within the academic field: between liberal advocates of inclusion and those who regard it as a form of assimilation, where differences are absorbed and tempered. Uncovering the deficiencies in both viewpoints, this book analyzes inclusion by attending to the active role of subjects looking for inclusion, and mobilizing inclusive processes. Inclusion is thus reconceived as an ongoing, engaging movement of category-production, according to which there is no straightforward opposition between effective inclusion and assimilation. The book thus draws the idea of inclusion out of this opposition in order to delineate a form of political connectedness based on smaller social networks of solidarity that, although entailing some sort of normativity, are nevertheless characterized by fluidity and proximity. In this way, inclusion comes to be more productively, and more plausibly, reframed: as a web in which inclusive processes appear as moments of the renegotiation and rearticulation of a subjectivity in constant flux.
The American national debt stands at $20.49 trillion as of January 2018, or roughly $63,000 for every person in the United States. The national debt has grown six-fold in the past 25 years, and borrowing only has accelerated in recent administrations. What are the factors driving such unrestrained borrowing? Is American fiscal policy different now than in an earlier era? Is there a moral dimension to public debt and, if so, how can that dimension be measured? Public Debt and the Common Good addresses these and other questions by looking to the fiscal policy of the American states. Drawing on classical themes and the longest quantitative review of state debt in the literature, James Odom expertly integrates institutional analysis with dimensions of culture to define the parameters of political freedom in a theoretically coherent way. In doing so, Odom argues that centralization and injustice, or the incapacity for the common good, can help explain state indebtedness. Contributing to ongoing scholarly debates on public debt theory, this book will be of interest to students, scholars, and practitioners who work at the intersection of political philosophy and economics, as well as those who specialize in state public policy, state politics, and federalism more generally.
This book on Relationality addresses our growing "crisis of connection" by foregrounding the multi-faceted ways in which we are interconnected with each other and the world in which we live. When Niobe Way and her collaborators first proclaimed such a "crisis" in their 2018 book The Crisis of Connection: Roots, Consequences, and Solutions, they could not have foreseen the extremes of isolation and disconnection that Covid-19 would unleash just a couple of years later. Importantly, what such experiences of impaired and compromised relationality impress upon us-now more powerfully than ever-is just how fundamentally we are intertwined with each other and the world we inhabit. The ten scholarly chapters assembled here, combined with ten specially commissioned poems, emphasise the significance of these relational entanglements. They draw on a range of thinkers (with Emmanuel Levinas playing a particularly prominent role) to bring relationality into conversation with an array of contemporary paradigms and areas of political concern: the Anthropocene, post-humanism, neoliberalism, disability studies, and postcolonialism (to name but a few). Tracing the various challenges and opportunities associated with our relational existence, they collectively consider the role relationality plays, or might play, in our increasingly less-than-relational lives. The chapters and poems in this book were originally published as a special issue of Angelaki.
Neoliberalism has had a major impact on schooling and education in the Developing World, with social repercussions that have affected the salaries of teachers, the number and type of potential students, the availability of education, the cost of education, and more. This edited collection argues that the privatization of public services and the capitalization and commodification of education have resulted in the establishment of competitive markets that are marked by selection, exclusion and inequality. The contributors - academics and organization/social movement activists - examine aspects of neoliberal arguments focusing on low- and middle-income countries (including Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, China, Pakistan, India, Turkey, Burkina Faso, Mozambique and South Africa), and suggest where they fall short. Their arguments center around the assumption that education is not a commodity to be bought and sold, as education and the capitalist market hold opposing goals, motivations, methods, and standards of excellence.
Since the Enlightenment, liberalism as a concept has been foundational for European identity and politics, even as it has been increasingly interrogated and contested. This comprehensive study takes a fresh look at the diverse understandings and interpretations of the idea of liberalism in Europe, encompassing not just the familiar movements, doctrines, and political parties that fall under the heading of "liberal" but also the intertwined historical currents of thought behind them. Here we find not an abstract, universalized liberalism, but a complex and overlapping configuration of liberalisms tied to diverse linguistic, temporal, and political contexts.
The first true intellectual biography of Thomas Paine, this book establishes the origins of his beliefs and their influence on his activism. For the past century, scholars have been studying Paine in piecemeal fashion; studies of limited scope focused on the minutiae of Paine's life and career, but no clear portrait had existed to know how the pieces fitted together. This "is" the complete picture. Who he was, what he believed, why he believed, and how his beliefs and personal history are reflected in his political activism - not just in the American Revolution, but also the French Revolution.
Toward a Global Thin Community reexamines aspects of the liberal-communitarian debate. While critical of both traditions, this book argues that a coherent form of communitarianism is the only plausible option for citizens today. Using the theories of Frederich Nietzsche and Michael Foucault, Olssen shows how we can overcome traditional problems with communitarianism by using an ethic of survival that he identifies in the writings of Nietzsche and others to provide a normative framework for twenty-first century politics at both national and global levels. Thin communitarianism seeks to surmount traditional liberal objections associated with Hegel and Marx, and to safeguard liberty and difference by applying a robust idea of democracy. This work examines many different themes within the debate, including liberal autonomy, totalitarianism, and multiculturalism. It also considers the work of liberal writers such as Frederic Hayek, Karl Popper, and Isaiah Berlin.
Thomas Paine, defender of freedom, independence, and rational common sense during America's turbulent revolutionary period, offers insights into religion which ring sharply true more than two centuries later. This unabridged edition of "The Age of Reason" sets forth Paine's provocative observations on the place of religion in society.
NATO, an organisation brought together to function as an anti-communist alliance, faced existential questions after the unexpected collapse of the USSR at the beginning of the 1990s. Intervention in the conflict in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995 gave it a renewed sense of purpose and a redefining of its core mission. Abe argues that an impetus for this change was the norm dilemma that the conflict in Bosnia represented. On the one hand a state which oversaw the massacre of its civilians was in breach of international norms, but on the other hand intervention by outside states would breach the norms of sovereign integrity and non-use of force. NATO, as an international governance organisation, thus became a vehicle for avoiding this kind of dilemma. A detailed case study of NATO during the Bosnian war, this book explores how the differing views and preferences among the Western states on the intervention in Bosnia were reconciled as they agreed on the outline of NATO's reform. It examines detailed decision-making processes in Britain, France, Germany and the USA. In particular Abe analyses why conflicting norms led to an emphasis on conflict prevention capacity, rather than simply on armed intervention capacity.
The capability approach to social justice construes a person's well-being in terms of the substantive freedoms people have reason to value beyond mere utility or access to resources. In this book John Alexander engages with the rapidly growing body of literature on the capability approach in economics, inequality and poverty measurement, and development studies, paying particular attention to Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum's collaborative work on the capability approach in normative economics, social ethics and political philosophy. Through a critical discussion of Sen and Nussbaum's literature, the book develops a unified vision of the capability approach embodied in the ideal of creating the greatest possible condition for the realization of basic capabilities for all and assesses it as a political theory arguing that capabilities are necessary but not sufficient for overcoming conditions of domination.
German ordoliberalism originated at the end of the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) in a context of hyper-inflation, depression, mass unemployment and social unrest. For ordoliberalism, a free economy is premised on a sound political, legal, social and moral framework to secure its cohesion. The role of the state is to ensure a liberal economic order. Ordoliberalism is a contested account of post-neoliberal political economy: some argue that it offers a more restrained and socially just market order; others, in complete contrast, that is a form of authoritarian liberalism and that it is the theoretical foundation for the austerity politics that the EU has actively promoted in recent years. Foucault discusses ordoliberalism at length in The Birth of Biopolitics, and Bonefeld's book provides a thought-provoking companion to those lectures by offering a more comprehensive investigation of the theoretical foundation of ordoliberal thought and its historical and theoretical contexts.
This book argues that the institutions of law, and the structures of legal thought, are to be understood by reference to a moral ideal. The idea of law is an ideal of freedom, or independence from the power of others. The moral value and justificatory force of law are not contingent upon circumstance, but intrinsic to its character as law. Doctrinal legal arguments are shaped by rival conceptions of the conditions for realisation of the idea of law. In making these claims, the author rejects the viewpoint of much contemporary legal theory, and seeks to move jurisprudence closer to an older tradition of philosophical reflection upon law, exemplified by Hobbes and Kant. Modern analytical jurisprudence has tended to view these older philosophies as confused precisely in so far as they equate an understanding of law's nature with a revelation of its moral basis. According to most contemporary legal theorists, the understanding and analysis of existing institutions is quite distinct from any enterprise of moral reflection. But the relationship between ideals and practices is much more intimate than this approach would suggest. Some institutions can be properly understood only when they are viewed as imperfect attempts to realise moral or political ideals; and some ideals can be conceived only by reference to their expression in institutions.
This ambitious work provides a history and critique of neoliberalism, both as a body of ideas and as a political practice. It is an original and compelling contribution to the neoliberalism debate. The Neoliberal Paradox challenges the standard interpretations of neoliberalism that focus on limited government and free markets. Instead, Ray Kiely reveals the ways in which the neoliberal project is reliant on state power. The history and application of neoliberalism is discussed from the Austrian and ordo-liberal schools in the 1930s and the Chicago School after 1945, through to developments such as the New Right and the third way, before finally considering the impacts of the financial crisis of 2008, the rise of Trump and Brexit. By exploring the full breadth of neoliberal theory and practice, in addition to the arguments of key thinkers, Kiely explores how neoliberalism has renewed itself in times of crises and turns his gaze towards the future. This book will provide a stimulating read for academics and advanced students in the fields of politics, human geography and sociology, in addition to those working in the public sector.
The notion that we are experiencing a change in times, whereby an old global order is giving way to a new one, has been gaining legitimacy in international debates. As US power is waning, the argument goes, so is the set of liberal norms, rules and institutions around which the Unites States organised its global supremacy. Ideational contests, power shifts, regional fragmentation, and socio-economic turmoil paint a broad picture of complex and often inter-related challenges that fuel contestation of the liberal order, both as a normative project and as an emanation of US power. Major players - China and India, Europe and Russia, and the United States itself - are all engaged in a process of global repositioning, most notably in areas where the liberal project has only fragile roots and order is contested: Eastern Europe and the Caucasus, the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. This volume aims to provide critical frames of reference for understanding whether geopolitical and ideational contestations will eventually bring the US-centred liberal order down or lead to a process of adjustment and transformation. The chapters in this book were originally published in a special issue in The International Spectator.
Reflecting current understanding of the complexities of sexual activity among persons with chronic mental illness, the text draws upon the collective wisdom and experience of experts from a variety of settings. Clinicians, advocates, consumers, researchers, legal experts, and administrators all contribute to document the concerns about sexual behavior and the consequent health risks for this at-risk population. The research presented here is particularly timely in view of recent emphases on patient choice, recovery, and advocacy, and can be used to provide guidance to clinicians, mental health administrators, policymakers, advocates, and researchers.
Nineteenth-century Russian intellectuals were faced with a dilemma. They had to choose between modernizing their country, thus imitating the West, or reaffirming what was perceived as their country's own values and thereby risk remaining socially underdeveloped and unable to compete with Western powers. Scholars have argued that this led to the emergence of an anti-Western, anti-modern ethnic nationalism. In this innovative book, Susanna Rabow-Edling shows that there was another solution to the conflicting agendas of modernization and cultural authenticity - a Russian liberal nationalism. This nationalism took various forms during the long nineteenth century, but aimed to promote reforms through a combination of liberalism, nationalism and imperialism.
In this, one of Dewey's most accessible works, he surveys the history of liberal thought from John Locke to John Stuart Mill, in his search to find the core of liberalism for today's world. While liberals of all stripes have held to some very basic values -- liberty, individuality, and the critical use of intelligence -- earlier forms of liberalism restricted the state function to protecting its citizens while allowing free reign to socioeconomic forces. But, as society matures, so must liberalism as it reaches out to redefine itself in a world where government must play a role in creating an environment in which citizens can achieve their potential. Dewey's advocacy of a positive role for government -- a new liberalism -- nevertheless finds him rejecting radical Marxists and fascists who would use violence and revolution rather than democratic methods to aid the citizenry.
Critics of globalization often portray neoliberalism as an extremist laissez-faire political-economic philosophy that rejects any sort of government intervention in the domestic economy. Like most over-used terms, it is more complicated than this introductory sentence suggests. This volume, prefaced by Eric Helliener, seeks to move beyond these caricature depictions and definitions as well as the emotional rhetoric that has unfortunately dominated both the scholastic and political debate on neoliberalism and global market-oriented reform. This book emphasizes that there are in fact a variety of neoliberalisms that share a common emphasis on market-oriented approaches. Beyond this however, its usages and applications appear much more varied according to the cultural, economic, political, and social context in which it is used. A host of eminent contributors, including Douglass C. North, Arthur T. Denzau, Thomas D. Willett, Mark Blyth, Colin Hay, Craig Parsons, and others provide a rigorous assessment of the significance of neoliberal ideas on economic policy. Through their detailed international case studies, the contributors to this book show how varied its impact has in fact been and the result is a book that will stimulate further debate in this most controversial of subject matters. Accreditation Ravi K. Roy is a Research Scholar at the Claremont Institute for Economic Policy Studies. Arthur T. Denzau is Professor of Economics at Claremont Graduate University. He is also a Research Associate at the Center for American Business at Washington University (St. Louis). Thomas D. Willett is Horton Professor of Economics at Claremont Graduate University. He is also Director of the ClaremontInstitute for Economic Policy Studies.
Richard Cobden (1804-1865) rose from humble beginnings to become the leading advocate of nineteenth-century free-trade and liberalism. As a fierce opponent of the Corn Laws and promoter of international trade he rapidly became an influential figure on the national stage, whose name became a byword for political and economic reform. Yet, despite the familiarity with which contemporaries and historians refer to 'Cobdenism', his ideals and beliefs are not always easy to identify and classify in a coherent way. Indeed, as this volume makes clear, the variety, diversity and malleability of the 'Cobdenite project' attest to the lack of a strict dogma and highlight Cobden's underlying pragmatism. Divided into five sections, this collection of essays offers a timely reassessment of Cobden's career, its impact and legacy in the two hundred years since his birth. Beginning with an investigation into the intellectual and cultural background to his emergence as a national political figure, the volume then looks at Cobden's impact of the making of Victorian liberal politics.The third section develops many insights from Cobden's European Tour of 1846-47 which was in many ways a defining moment not only in the making of Cobden's liberalism but in the making of liberal Europe. Section four broadens the theme of Cobden's contemporary international impact, including his contribution to the debate on internationalism, India, the empire and the American Civil War; whilst the final section opens up the theme of Cobden's contested legacy, the variety of interpretations of Cobden's ideas and how their influence on late nineteenth and early twentieth century politics. Offering a broad yet coherent investigation of the 'Cobdenite project' by leading international scholars, this volume provides a fascinating insight into one of the nineteenth century's most important figures whose ideas still resonate today.
This collection of papers, published between 1976 and 2003, traces
the innovative connections which the eminent group analyst Dennis
Brown made between medicine and psychoanalysis. They reveal his
important insights into how the principles of group analysis can
improve our understanding of philosophy and ethics, and trace the
development of trans-cultural dimensions of group analysis.
Ever since the publication in 1974 of Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia, libertarianism has been much discussed within political philosophy, science and economy circles. Yet libertarianism has been so strongly identified with Nozick's version of it that little attention has been devoted to other than Nozick's ideas and arguments. While Nozick's version of libertarianism has preoccupied the academic discussion Nozick himself did not respond to the many criticisms raised and yet other defenders of libertarianism have not remained silent. Jan Narveson, Loren Lomasky, Eric Mack, Douglas Rasmussen, Douglas Den Uyl and many others have contributed impressive arguments of their own in support of the libertarian idea that a political system is just when it successfully secures the rights of individuals understood within the Lockean classical liberal tradition. In this book Tibor R. Machan analyses the state of the debate on libertarianism post Nozick. Going far beyond the often cursory treatment of libertarianism in major books and other publications he examines closely the alternative non-Nozickian defenses of libertarianism that have been advanced and, by applying these arguments to innumerable policy areas in the field, Machan achieves a new visibility and prominence for libertarianism.
A sweeping intellectual history that will make us rethink postwar
politics and culture, When America Was Great profiles the thinkers
and writers who crafted a new American liberal tradition in a
conservative era -- from historians Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and C.
Vann Woodward, to economist John Kenneth Galbraith and theologian
Reinhold Niebuhr.
The first true intellectual biography of Thomas Paine, this book establishes the origins of his beliefs and their influence on his activism. For the past century, scholars have been studying Paine in piecemeal fashion; studies of limited scope focused on the minutiae of Paine's life and career, but no clear portrait had existed to know how the pieces fitted together. This is the complete picture. Who he was, what he believed, why he believed, and how his beliefs and personal history are reflected in his political activism - not just in the American Revolution, but also the French Revolution. |
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