Suchergebnisse

Introduces a collection of critical responses to Michael Hardt & Antonio Negri's Empire (2000), a text about globalization & multitude that contributes to academic interest in the global revolution against capital & on behalf of labor. Hardt & Negri's approach to politics, centered on economic production, is compared to Hannah Arendt's thought, which separates politics from economics. Hardt & Negri's postmodern republicanism, which sees the demise of boundaries, is then contrasted with Arendt's position, wherein the preservation of politics & freedom relies on such distinctions. The emancipatory potential of this breakdown in boundaries is evident in Hardt & Negri's thought on geographic changes, organizational changes in economic production, & changes in labor. While Hardt & Negri share with Arendt an idea of Foucauldian biopolitics, the former's normative conclusions for political life derived from this diverge sharply from the latter's. Three reasons are provided for why Hardt & Negri assess labor differently from Arendt: (1) Labor's value is beyond measure. (2) Labor provides the ontological basis for global democracy, for the emergence of multitude. (3) That labor is productive of life indicates its excessive value. Hardt & Negri's celebration of deterritorialization as the condition of possibility for absolute democracy, ie, the formation of the multitude, is illustrated via French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin's 14 Feb 2003 UN speech against the impending US invasion of Iraq. Analysis of the notion of the place (ie, the UN) from whence the political action (the speech) emanates suggests that Arendt's republicanism, which relies on the preservation of constituted forms of power, may mask authoritarianism. It is argued that Hardt & Negri wish to challenge all forms of constituted power. Some attention is then given to relating the thought of Niccolo Machiavelli & Antonio Gramsci to Hardt & Negri's work. J. Zendejas

The evolution of democratic perspectives regarding social protest & electoral action are discussed in relation to the development of the French Republican Party (FRP) in mid-nineteenth-century France. Although contemporary political theory strictly divides the arenas of electoral politics & social protest movements, it is argued that in historical & contemporary contexts characterized by social & political uncertainty, the boundaries between protest movements & electoral politics are often fluid & overlapping. In nineteenth-century France, early political parties often advanced their claims outside of the political arena & combined disruptive collective action with efforts to elect candidates. The actions of the early FRP also challenge the conception of development, which suggests that powerful social movements eventually evolve into formalized political institutions. Even during periods of increased formalization, the FRP maintained an antiinstitutional stance & emphasized the importance of collective action at the local level. Although the FRP eventually accepted formalized electoral politics & abandoned informal protest strategies, it is suggested that this acceptance was the result of complex institutional & ideological factors rather than an inevitable transition. T. Sevier

Examines the volatility characterizing Australia civic debate. Focus is on community debate during four significant historical periods: (1) 1840s-early 1850s when the colonies agitated for self-government & republicanism flourished briefly; (2) late 1880s-1890s, when a second-generation republicanism gave way to discussion of the Commonwealth; (3) 1960s, when Australia experienced a cultural reappraisal; & (4) 1980s-1990s. While there have always been sycophants at work in the debate, those with an imperial glint in their eyes, attention is given to their counters, citizens keen on articulating a distinctive Australian consciousness. J. Zendejas

A constitutional focus is applied to a consideration of the concept of "the people" & their role in Australia's evolving deliberative democracy in light of the persistence of the monarchy in the body politic. Following a brief explication of the concept of "the people" & their ambiguous position in the Australian constitutional landscape, a particular manifestation of the people is examined in terms of the constitutional notions of sovereignty & public trust. It is contended that these approaches offer an adequate understanding of the foundational role of the people; however, using this idea in other than an aspiration form foregrounds issues of political representation & democracy. Attention is given to Dicey's notions of parliamentary sovereignty & supreme court challenges to it, before addressing Australian republicanism & the public trust vis-a-vis the judiciary. J. Zendejas

Takes a French perspective to assess the lessons learned from the controversial "blue-black" conservative coalition government. The French government felt the Freedom Party's access to the government of an EU-member state was contrary to the values underlying European integration & French "Republicanism." It is argued that the conflict generated by Austria's "black-blue" coalition reflects discrepancies between the foreign view of Austria & debates occurring in that country, as well as confused French perceptions of Austria, & lack of a common understanding of a European value system. The influence on French perceptions of the debate within France about its own culture is explored. It is argued that the propagation of "symbolic fascism & Nazism" by the national-populist trend in Austria represents a betrayal of the Austrian cultural/political identity that has been formulated since 1945, & a challenge to French sensitivities. Prospects for the end of the Austria's coalition system & the reestablishment of democratic debate are discussed. 5 References. J. Lindroth

Examines the communitarian liberalism of Michael Sandel who argues that the main expressions of liberalism fail to consider the extent to which individuals are shaped by their communities. Sandel advocates a liberalism that inspires citizens to give priority to the common good. A review of his critique of the "deontological" liberalism of John Rawls notes that he rejects both Rawls's assumption of the "original position" as a mechanism for identifying sound principles of justice & his identification of the self with the ability to make individual choices about morality. Sandel believes "unencumbered selves in the original position" do not have the commitment needed for moral deliberation. His alternative conception of the communal self & its implications for political & social theory are described. Although Sandel's defense of civic republicanism is a welcome antidote to the procedural republic of contemporary liberalism, it is concluded that his failure to adequately theorize the concept of the common good gives the erroneous impression that it is simply a competitor of the good of individuals. J. Lindroth

Explores the causes & consequences of the failure of the Knights of Labor, drawing on a comparison with concurrent movements in the US; an event-history analysis of the Knights' collapse in NJ, 1879-1895; & a comparison of employer organizations & government tolerance for their actions in the late-19th-century US, France, & England. It is argued that failure was mainly due to the Knights' rapid growth & early successes, which resulted in a countermobilization of powerful employer associations. Unlike in France & England, these associations are shown to have had the benefit of rapid economic concentration & little state intervention. The Knights responded to this situation by reframing their conflict in terms of working-class republicanism to attract small employers to their side. It is suggested that this strategy failed, & the Knights were unable to innovate new strategies that would lead to a different outcome. This is attributed to a cognitive encumbrance in the organization, in which members blamed themselves for their failure. It is argued that the Knights' failure had two significant consequences for the subsequent labor movement: it strengthened employer collective identity & organizational abilities, & it indicated to workers the kinds of strategies & organizations likely to succeed in the future. 1 Table, 1 Appendix. D. M. Smith

Examines the impact of political disorder on the organization & composition of prisons in Ireland. Although the penal systems in British-ruled Northern Ireland & the independent South are operated by different governing bodies, their prison systems are strongly influenced by the desire to contain political disorder, especially militant Irish nationalism & republicanism. After a discussion of the various political movements that have shaped Irish penal policy before & since the British partition (1920/21), it is suggested that imprisonment remains the primary means of coping with political dissent in both regions. However, the counterterrorist policies & unlimited budget of the prison system in Northern Ireland have become increasingly unpopular, & developments in the 1990s evidence a shift toward privatization & business management of the prisons. The recent gains of the peace process suggest a future decline in the prison population due to a decrease in political prisoners. The South's prison system has also been under economic attack, a situation complicated by conflict between the Dept of Justice, prison managers, & the Prison Officers Assoc. Skyrocketing numbers of human immunodeficiency virus-positive, drug-addicted, & mentally ill prisoners highlight the need for an independent prison board & consideration of incarceration alternatives. 1 Table, 5 Figures, 76 References. T. Sevier

The article discusses the politicisation of international politics and its effects on the legitimacy of international institutions. It is argued that a more complex understanding of the interplay of institutional and non-institutional practices of resistance is needed and that one has to draw from theories of international relations as well as from approaches from democratic heory to better understand the developments and its effects on the legitimacy of international institutions. The article proceeds by, first, reconstructing how research in IR has responded to the emergence of civil society critique, focusing in particular on the debate about inclusion through liberal governance mechanisms and the discussion of the regulatory power of counter-hegemonic actors in critical theories; it then turns to democratic theoretical approaches, in which the concept of "opposition" becomes a cipher for legitimate critique, yet the value of opposition and its form is determined very differently in different lines of thought. Finally, it is shown that the debate on the politicisation of international relations would particularly benefit from a republican understanding of politics, since the analytical focus and normative impetus lies in the relation between the visibly controversial nature of order and the creation of sites for opinion formation in civil society.