Suchergebnisse

A review essay on a book by Agnes Heller, Beyond Justice (Basil Blackwell, 1987 [see IRPS No. 44/88c01005; also see listing in IRPS No. 52]). In this work the philosophical issues in the debate over justice between neocommunitarians & rights-oriented liberals receive a broad historical analysis. Heller argues that a comprehensive, ethical-political concept of justice, fusing moral & legal norms, is neither possible nor desirable today because of: (1) the absence of an overarching definition of the good; (2) the dissolution of totalizing worldviews heralded by cultural modernity; & (3) the openness of all norms to critical reflection. However, Heller's call for a revision of the discourse ethic is based on a one-sided interpretation, her consequent claims are broader & less defensible, & her system tends to refuse the morality & justice she elsewhere differentiates. It is concluded that the book points squarely in the direction of democratic legitimacy grounded by the discourse ethic. J. White

The breakdown of Marxism's revolutionary self-confidence can be understood as a result of its theoretical weaknesses. The works of Claus Offe, Jurgen Habermas, & Alain Touraine attempt a more adequate critical theory, one that can deal with the problems of contemporary society. However, each of their approaches can be shown to be incomplete. What is essential to a critical stratification theory is a theory of civil society, which would show a means to the creation of a socialist & pluralist civil society able to transform society & the state. W. H. Stoddard.

An overview is presented of Herbert Marcuse's work & its relevance to US society. This work is based on an orthodox Marxist analysis, including such elements as the theory of SC, the theory of revolution, the theory of the primacy of labor & the economy, & the critique of civil society. These presuppositions blinded Marcuse both to some of the merits of civil society & to some alternative possibilities for the transformation of US society. At the same time, the spirit of his work is favorable to an investigation in these directions. W. H. Stoddard.

'Populism and Civil Society' is the most serious systematic empirically informed analysis of the threat of contemporary populism to constitutional democracy available today. Cohen and Arato look into the causes, logic, dynamic and consequences of the contemporary populist surge and try to offer alternatives to it that are not tantamount to returning to the status quo ante, but instead takes seriously the critiques populists lay at the door of contemporary oligarchic democracies.

Populism and Civil Society is the most serious systematic empirically informed analysis of the threat of contemporary populism to constitutional democracy available today. Cohen and Arato look into the causes, logic, dynamic and consequences of the contemporary populist surge and try to offer alternatives to it that are not tantamount to returning to the status quo ante, but instead takes seriously the critiques populists lay at the door of contemporary oligarchic democracies.

Table of Contents -- Introduction, by Jean L. Cohen -- Part I: Freedom of Religion or Human Rights -- 1. Religious Freedom and the Fate of Secularism, by Samuel Moyn -- 2. Religion: Ally, Threat, or Just Religion?, by Anne Phillips -- 3. Regulating Religion Beyond Borders: The Case of FGM/C, by Yasmine Ergas -- 4. Pluralism vs. Pluralism: Islam and Christianity in the European Court of Human Rights, by Christian Joppke -- Part II: Non-Establishments and Freedom of Religion -- 5. Rethinking Political Secularism and the American Model of Constitutional Dualism, by Jean L. Cohen

Incorporating philosophical, legal, historical, political, and sociological perspectives, this collection identifies the connections between religion and the state that are compatible with the liberal, republican, and democratic principles of constitutional democracy and assesses the success of their implementation in the birthplace of political secularism: the United States and Western Europe

Incorporating philosophical, legal, historical, political, and sociological perspectives, this collection identifies the connections between religion and the state that are compatible with the liberal, republican, and democratic principles of constitutional democracy and assesses the success of their implementation in the birthplace of political secularism: the United States and Western Europe.

Two important aspects of the West German Green Party (GP) are discussed: the of issues it raises, & the diverse groups from which it draws support It has provided the only meaningful opposition in West German politics since the Great Coalition of 1966 (Christian Democratic Union & Social Democratic Party). Because the GP consists of many different age & occupational groups, its political unity is extremely fragile; there are two distinct wings: the fundamentalists, who are either ecological or leftist, including the realists-moderates, whose support of ecological issues is more conservative than that of the fundamentalists; & the socialists. The GP's stand on military issues encompasses: antimodern wishful thinking that the modern state would simply disappear, reunification of Germany, & an entirely new power base in Europe. Success for the GP will have to be on a cultural level, measured retrospectively in terms of its effect, rather than its physical survival. In any case, the GP has brought many social issues to the forefront of West German political life. A. Darroch.