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One of our most influential political theorists offers a boundary-breaking--and liberating--perspective on the meaning of life in the internet age Human beings have taken one thing for granted since our earliest days: we are bodily creatures dealing with one another on a face-to-face basis. The internet has shattered this fundamental feature of human existence. We are suddenly living our lives in two worlds at once--shifting endlessly from virtual to physical reality as we reach out to others. Worse yet, we are developing different personal identities in our two worlds. We say and do things in virtual reality that flatly contradict our face-to-face commitments to family, friends, and fellow-workers--and vice versa. The Postmodern Predicament explores these dilemmas at each phase of the life cycle, beginning at the moment a young child picks up a cell phone. The existentialist tradition of the twentieth century provides a precious perspective on our postmodern dilemmas. Thinkers and doers like Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre considered the fragmentation of modern life as a central source of contemporary anxieties. Like them, Ackerman views the challenges of the internet age as a political, no less than personal, problem--and proposes concrete reforms that that could mobilize broad-based support for democracy against demagogic assaults on its very foundations.

Introduction: Pathways -- Part One. Constitutional revolutions: Constitutionalizing revolution? -- Movement-party constitutionalism: India -- Struggling for supremacy: South Africa -- From the French Resistance to the Fourth Republic -- Constitutional revolution in Italy -- A progress report? -- Part Two. Elaborations: De Gaulle's republic: the outsider returns -- Reconstructing the Fifth Republic -- Solidarity's triumph in Poland -- Solidarity's collapse: the perils of presidentialism -- The race against time: Burma and i\Israel -- Constitutionalizing charisma in Iran -- American exceptionalism?

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Confronting the Twentieth Century -- Part I. Defining the Canon -- 1. Are We a Nation? -- 2. The Living Constitution -- 3. The Assassin's Bullet -- 4. The New Deal Transformed -- 5. The Turning Point -- 6. Erasure by Judiciary? -- Part II. Landmarks of Reconstruction -- 7. Spheres of Humiliation -- 8. Spheres of Calculation -- 9. Technocracy in the Workplace -- 10. The Breakthrough of 1968 -- Part III. Dilemmas of Judicial Leadership -- 11. Brown's Fate -- 12. The Switch in Time -- 13. Spheres of Intimacy -- 14. Betrayal? -- Notes -- Index.

Intro -- CONTENTS -- PART ONE The People's President -- Introduction: America on the Brink -- 1. The Original Misunderstanding -- 2. John Marshall for President -- 3. Jefferson Counts Himself In -- 4. On the Brink -- 5. What Went Right? -- PART TWO The People and the Court -- Introduction: Constitutional Brinksmanship -- 6. Federalist Counterattack -- 7. Republican Triumph -- 8. Marbury v. Stuart -- 9. Presidential Purge -- 10. Synthesis -- 11. Reverberations -- DOCUMENTS -- Horatius's Presidential Knot -- Judge Bassett's Protest -- Notes -- Acknowledgments -- Index.

Since 1989, the Cold War has ended, new nations have emerged in Eastern Europe, and revolutionary struggles to establish liberal ideals have been waged against repressive governments throughout the world. Will the promise of liberalism be realized? What can liberals do to make the most of their opportunities and construct enduring forms of political order?In this important and timely book, a leading political theorist discusses the possibility of liberal democracy in Western and Eastern Europe and offers practical suggestions for its realization. Bruce Ackerman begins by sketching the challenges faced a Western Europe free for the first time in half a century to determine its own fate without the constant intervention of the United States and the Soviet Union. Unless decisive steps are taken, this moment of promise can degenerate into a new cycle of nationalist power struggle. Revolutionary action is now required to build the foundations of a democratic federal Europe-a union strong enough to keep the peace and to combat the threat of local tyrannies.Ackerman next considers Eastern Europe and discusses fundamental problems overlooked in the rush to build market economies there. He points out that leading countries-including Poland, Hungary, and Russia-have yet to establish new constitutions, contenting themselves instead with hasty amendments to old Communist documents. This is a great mistake, says Ackerman, for there is an urgent need to constitutionalize liberal revolution, and the window of opportunity for doing this is far smaller than many people realize. Neither judicial efforts to punish collaborators with the old regimes and to redress wrongs done to their victims nor the judicial activism now sweeping Eastern Europe should take priority over the formulation of democratically legitimated constitutions. Ackerman concludes by considering the impact of 1989 on South Africa, Latin America, and the United States, exploring how decisive liberal action throughout the world can help to expand the range of functioning constitutional democracies and recover liberalism's lost revolutionary heritage

Terrorist attacks regularly trigger the enactment of repressive laws, setting in motion a vicious cycle that threatens to devastate civil liberties over the twenty-first century. In this clear-sighted book, Bruce Ackerman peers into the future and presents an intuitive, practical alternative. He proposes an "emergency constitution" that enables government to take extraordinary actions to prevent a second strike in the short run while prohibiting permanent measures that destroy our freedom over the longer run.Ackerman's "emergency constitution" exposes the dangers lurking behind the popular notion that we are fighting a "war" on terror. He criticizes court opinions that have adopted the war framework, showing how they uncritically accept extreme presidential claims to sweeping powers. Instead of expanding the authority of the commander in chief, the courts should encourage new forms of checks and balances that allow for decisive, but carefully controlled, presidential action during emergencies. In making his case, Ackerman explores emergency provisions in constitutions of nations ranging from France to South Africa, retaining aspects that work and adapting others. He shows that no country today is well equipped to both fend off terrorists and preserve fundamental liberties, drawing particular attention to recent British reactions to terrorist attacks. Written for thoughtful citizens throughout the world, this book is democracy's constitutional reply to political excess in the sinister era of terrorism

Terrorist attacks regularly trigger the enactment of repressive laws, setting in motion a vicious cycle that threatens to devastate civil liberties over the twenty-first century. In this book, Bruce Ackerman peers into the future and presents a practical alternative. He proposes an ʺemergency constitutionʺ that enables government to take extraordinary actions to prevent a second strike in the short run while prohibiting permanent measures that destroy our freedom over the longer run. Ackerman's ʺemergency constitutionʺ exposes the dangers lurking behind the popular notion that we are fighting a ʺwarʺ on terror. He criticizes court opinions that have adopted the war framework, showing how they uncritically accept extreme presidential claims to sweeping powers. Instead of expanding the authority of the commander in chief, the courts should encourage new forms of checks and balances that allow for decisive, but carefully controlled, presidential action during emergencies. In making his case, Ackerman explores emergency provisions in constitutions of nations ranging from France to South Africa, borrowing some useful aspects and adapting others. He shows that no country today is well equipped to both fend off terrorists and preserve fundamental liberties, drawing particular attention to recent British reactions to terrorist attacks: Book jacket.