Suchergebnisse

The book aspires to show the inherent paradoxes of the "pure idea" of freedom and its foreignness, and possible contrariety, revealed in and by some specific historical-political contexts, to freedom as practice of human liberation. This theme is looked at mainly through the prism of Kant's moral and political philosophy, which—by way of critical engagement with it—offers a particularly propitious vantage point for its exploration and elaboration. Kant's Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason, with its dramatic juxtaposition and conjoining of freedom with evil, along with its emphasis on "radical evil" and, at the same time, its dismissal of "diabolic evil" (as something applicable to and practicable by humans) is particularly seminal in this respect. The book furnishes a political-philosophical reading of the paradoxes of Kant's account of freedom and culminates in showing what they reveal and allow us to come to grips with politics in "real life", in particular the politics of great revolutions.

Examines Russian postcommunism as a postmodern condition in which the implosion & parody of modern institutions control the country's economic & political transformation. The first example of parody & implosion occurred on the geopolitical level, when, during the post-Soviet reconfiguration of borders, states wanting to maintain dependency were forced to become separate republics, while those seeking independence were repressed. The second occurred on the economic level, when the decentralization of Soviet-owned property designed to spur economic efficiency & growth resulted in the complete market collapse of 1998. State attempts to use market-oriented reforms to establish wage labor resulted instead in a new form of serf labor when wages were deferred by private industries. Russia's contemporary politics is now defined by the postmodern standards of ironic detachment, shifting coalitions, ideological pastiche, fragmentation, & ephemeral issue-based alliances. It is concluded that the Russian government must abandon its all-market economic approach & attune itself to existent civil society. D. Bajo

Der Börsenkrach vom August 1998 hat den Traum von einer modernisierenden Transition in Russland endgültig platzen lassen. Nach der Implosion des Sowjet-Kommunismus ist in Russland ein Post-Kommunismus entstanden, der eine spezifische Variante der Postmoderne darstellt. Das Hineinschlittern in die Postmoderne bedeutete den Zusammenbruch des modernen Lebens und die Transformation der öffentlichen Sphäre in eine Welt der Simulation. Eine politische Agenda zur De-Postmodernisierung existiert auch bei der Opposition nicht. Wenn auch eine Rückkehr zum Kommunismus ausgeschlossen erscheint, so wird es doch auch keine spontane Entwicklung zu einem produktiven Kapitalismus und keine prozedurale Demokratisierung geben. Der kulturell-ideologische Kampf gegen den russischen Postmodernismus und die Schließung der Zukunft muss eröffnet werden. (ICE)