The German council movements brought down the German monarchy, founded several short-lived council republics and dramatically transformed European politics. This text reconstructs how participants in the German council movements struggled for a democratic socialist society.
Abstract This article draws on archival research to recover the legacy of Luise Kautsky – journalist, editor, translator, politician and wife of Karl Kautsky – who has been overlooked as a leading member of the socialist movement. First, by adopting a feminist historical lens to reveal the unacknowledged intellectual labour of women, the article reassesses Luise Kautsky's relationship to Karl Kautsky and his writings. The evidence suggests that Luise Kautsky was essential to the development, editing and dissemination of the work of Karl Kautsky. Second, the article claims Luise Kautsky played an invaluable practical role as the hub of an international network of socialist scholars and activists, acting as mediator, translator and middle point through her extensive correspondence and by hosting members of this network at her house. Finally, the article recovers her labour as a writer, editor and translator and calls for renewed attention to her as an independent figure of historical analysis.
In response to the republican revival of the ideal of freedom as non-domination, a number of 'radical', 'labour' and 'workplace' republicans have criticised the limitations of Philip Pettit's account of freedom and government. This article proposes that the missing link in these debates is the relationship between republicanism and socialism. Seeking to bring this connection back into view in historical and theoretical terms, the article draws from contemporary radical republicans and the writings of Karl Kautsky and Rosa Luxemburg to propose a socialist republican theory of freedom and government. This consists of a conception of freedom as collective autonomy and a participatory democratic vision of a decentralised state with parliamentary institutions, the rule of law, worker-controlled workplaces, community-directed investment and a political culture of solidarity and public-spiritedness. This theory of socialist republicanism seeks to overcome the weaknesses and limitations of each respective independent theory and should appeal to republicans and socialists alike.
This article addresses the crucial role political principles play in Hannah Arendt's account of political action and judgment. It proposes a new interpretive framework for understanding their political logic and the varied contexts within which they appear in Arendt's work. Principles can be understood according to three distinct perspectives from which they inspire, guide and organise political action. Reading Montesquieu alongside Kant, Arendt claims that principles operate according to a logic of exemplarity. Political action carries within itself and exemplifies a more general principle, which nevertheless cannot be determined as a rule. It does not establish a universal law according to which future action could be determined, but it does attempt to embody and exemplify a more general standard against which future action could be judged. Arendt argues that attending to the importance of principles in politics offers new possibilities for returning to the past and transforming contemporary practices.
This thesis examines Hannah Arendt's argument for a council democracy and its relevance for contemporary democratic practices. References to the councils in Arendt's work are often ignored or dismissed by her interpreters as a utopian commitment. Against the tendency to neglect this aspect of her thought, I argue that the councils play a crucial role in her work as the institutional embodiment of her principle of political freedom. Tracing the development of the council concept in Arendt's thought, I offer a significant reinterpretation of her political theory as situated within the radical democratic tradition of Rosa Luxemburg. I contend that Arendt's key contribution to democratic theory is her championing of a federal system of participatory and empowered councils as the central political institutions of a council republic. Arendt's argument for a council democracy draws from historical examples of councils from the French Revolution to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. However, Arendt mischaracterises the nature of the councils and the intentions of council delegates. She inserts them in the framework of her own political categories and disregards the delegates' socialist ideology and socio-economic concerns. Arendt's distortion of the councils gives rise to the need for a historical re-examination of their political practices. I return to the political struggles of the post-First World War council movements in Germany and Russia in order to place the councils in historical perspective and challenge the biases of Arendt's account. My analysis reveals that the councils were concerned with both political and economic affairs. I revise Arendt's depiction in arguing that the councils were transformative organs of democratisation that sought to introduce democratic conditions into all spheres of social organisation. Situating the councils in relation to contemporary democratic practices, my principal argument is that they offer a critical perspective on the limits of current liberal democratic regimes. Although the councils do not present a model that could be replicated today, council delegates engaged in significant political practices that are instructive for current attempts at political transformation. In particular, they reveal the insufficiencies of electoral institutions for enabling widespread political participation and holding elites accountable. I argue that the historical significance of the councils is their exemplary role as institutions through which working-class forces organised to restrain elites, dismantle hierarchical systems and equalise power between citizens.
Introduction:The eighteenth century and the Middle Ages --The Norman Yoke : feudal law --The Norman Yoke : canon law --Daniel Leonard and the modern British Empire --Is there a British Empire? --Imperial origins : Wales, Ireland, and America --Empire by consent --Conclusion.
Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- CONTENTS -- List of Figures, Tables, and Maps -- List of Acronyms -- Preface -- 1 Introduction: In Search of Global Governance -- PART 1 Schools of Thought The Foundations of International Order and Organization -- 2 The Classical Schools of Thought -- 3 "Peace Plans," "Reformers," and "Realists"-Thinkers of the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Centuries -- 4 Modern International Theory and the Idealist/Realist Debate -- PART 2 Manifestations of International Order -- 5 From the World of Ideas to the Real World -- 6 Architects of International Order: States, Markets, and Civil Society -- 7 International Organizations and the Management of International Change -- 8 Conclusion: The "New World Order" and the Future of International Organizations -- Appendix: List of International Organizations by Location and Year of Founding -- Bibliography -- Index
This article contributes to scholarship on the relationship between political parties and social movements by proposing the concept of 'party-driven movements' to understand the formation of a new hybrid model within existing political parties in majoritarian systems. In our two case studies – Momentum's relationship with the UK Labour Party and the Bernie Sanders-inspired 'Our Revolution' with the US Democratic Party – we highlight the conditions under which they emerge and their key characteristics. We analyse how party-driven movements express an ambivalence in terms of strategy (working inside and outside the party), political aims (aiming to transform the party and society) and organisation (in the desire to maintain autonomy while participating within party structures). Our analysis suggests that such party-driven movements provide a potential answer to political parties' alienation from civil society and may thus be a more enduring feature of Anglo-American majoritarian party systems than the current literature suggests.
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The mainstreaming of far-right extremism online and how to counter it : a case study on UK, US and French elections / Jacob Davey, Erin Marie Saltman and Jonathan Birdwell -- Populisms in Europe : leftist, rightist, centrist and paternalist-nationalist challengers / Zsolt Enyedi and Martin Mölder -- Populist nationalism and ontological security : the construction of moral antagonisms in the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Belgium / Joseph Lacey -- Left, right, but no in-between : explaining American polarisation and post-factualism under President Trump / Christopher Sebastian Parker, Sebastian Mayer and Nicole Buckley -- Trumping Uup Trump : the Tea Party's invisible influence on the 2016 rlection / Kristin Haltinner -- "Ni droite, Ni gauche, Français!" : far right populism and the future of left/right politics / Marta Lorimer -- Populist radical right mainstreaming and challenges to democracy in an enlarged Europe / Bartek Pytlas -- The weight of negativity : the impact of immigration perceptions on the Brexit vote / Sarah Harrison -- From soft to hard Brexit : UKIP's not so invisible influence on the Eurosceptic radicalisation of the Conservative Party since 2015 / Agnès Alexandre-Collier -- So close, yet so far : the French Front National and Les Républicains (2007-2017) / Florence Haegel and Nonna Mayer -- There's something about Marine : strategies against the far right in the 2017 French presidential elections / Lise Esther Herman and James Muldoon