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A comprehensive study of Mill's theory of liberty, uncovering Mill's solution to the problem of democracy, the tyranny of the majority.

In this sequel to the bestselling text Cultural Studies , Chris Barker turns his attention to the significance and future of the field. He analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of cultural studies, providing students and practitioners with an authoritative diagnosis of the subject and a balanced prognosis, and investigates the boundaries of cultural studies elucidating the main underlying themes of study. Written with an understanding of classroom needs, this is the perfect teaching complement to Cultural Studies. It is a rich resource for seminar work and undergraduate and postgraduate thesis

Hanna Pitkin explains that Arendt's defense of collective political action tends to reify and mystify an opposing concept Arendt calls 'the Social'. Was Arendt actually right about the rise of 'the Social'? Does the deep-set global mass entertainment culture tend to sap action even when it purportedly celebrates it? And what can viewing publics and counter-publics tell us about the meaning and reception of 'the Social', especially in this massively online era? This article surveys different ways of thinking about the basic problem presented by American popular action cinema, and especially big-budget Hollywood action films, through an Arendtian lens. In presenting this overview, the article looks to reorient traditional philosophical concerns about screen violence and its censorship, and to offer a holistic reappraisal of 'the Social' and 'action' by placing democratic theory in closer dialogue with film studies.

This paper examines the discursive conditions that make war legal and legitimate. In the Post-World War II period, when countries do not declare war, the gap between legality and legitimacy has widened, and wars are often neither. While other studies of war-declaring typically focus on the relations between states, this paper focuses on relations between citizen and government. In the absence of discursive declarations of war, it is unclear whether citizens are able to consent to war-making decisions. The paper surveys communicative blockages and suggests areas in which improved communication could make war legal and legitimate.

Abstract
This article asks whether mass incarceration is a system and whether harsh treatment in that system is motivated by explicit and implicit racial bias. To describe this system, I adopt an alternative term, "penal regime," which has the benefit of permitting a more inclusive and systematic account of law enforcement, courts, and corrections. My analysis is based on the important fact that US penal regimes are democratic and, to be understood in context, must be tied to American punitive and racial attitudes as expressed through the discretion of elected officeholders. I find that a racial empathy gap explains some important problems with criminal justice, and I argue that protest speech about police conduct may cross the empathy gap in a manner that deserves significant theoretical attention and practical support.

AbstractIn an important 1984 paper, "The Moral Education Theory of Punishment," Jean Hampton argues that the practice of inflicting painful criminal punishments is justified only if punishment is morally educative. Hampton's suggestion forms the point of departure for this article on Dostoevsky'sCrime and Punishment. I show that Dostoevsky agrees with Hampton that punishment should aim at moral reform; however, Dostoevsky presents no evidence that self-punishment or legal punishment reliably cultivates respect for law, legal authority, oneself, or others as moral agents. Instead, Dostoevsky's post-Siberian writings are highly critical of Russian criminal justice, and emphasize that moral education comes through dialogue, reflection, and criticism. This highly individualized treatment may be experienced as painful, but it does not have to result from, and it may even be impeded by, legal "hard treatment."