Walter Lippmann: The Prophet of Liberalism and the Road not Taken

2019 ◽  
Vol 139 (2-4) ◽  
pp. 349-364
Author(s):  
Eric Schliesser
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Spiritual Transformation ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Historical Time ◽  
The Road ◽  
Walter Lippmann ◽  
The Way

This article shows how in The Good Society Walter Lippmann argues that the very idea of a liberalism worth having is a spiritual project: it involves a spiritual transformation over extended historical time even if the true destination is unknown or uncertain. Along the way, I argue that Lippmann is also acutely aware of the dangers of theorizing that merely affirms an imperfect (or worse) status quo. He is, thus, attractive for those who wish to revive liberalism. In addition, Lippmann’s sensitivity to the role of power and technological change generates a potentially important philosophy of law. This article sketches his understanding of a liberalism that embraces a “spirit of adaptation” without too much deference to a status quo. The second part shows that despite his sensitivity to the risks of demagogues in politics, Lippmann did not turn away from democratic politics. In particular, he has an attractive conception of the vital nature of a pluralist politics inherent to liberalism. Along the way the key limitation of Lippmann’s political philosophy is diagnosed: his depoliticized, juridical conception of political representation and legislation.

Political representation: the view from France

2019 ◽  
pp. 89-103
Author(s):  
Raf Geenens
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Collective Decision ◽  
The Self ◽  
Collective Decision Making ◽  
Self Image ◽  
Claude Lefort ◽  
Mutual Relations ◽  
The Way

It is now widely accepted that political representation is not merely a passive, ‘mirroring’ process, but that the process of political representation plays a constitutive role in the construction of citizens’ ideas and preferences. This chapter argues that French political philosophy points to an even more fundamental role for power and representation in the construction (or the ‘constitution’) of society and the self-image of its members. It focuses on a key argument of political theorist, Claude Lefort, who maintained that the specificity of a society is determined by the way power is organized and symbolically represented in that society. On this account, the importance of political representation goes far beyond the formation of opinions and the process of collective decision making. The organization and representation of power is instead seen as a key determinant of society’s self-understanding and of the way citizens within that society understand themselves and their mutual relations.

Could the Internet be a safety-net for democracy in crisis?

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigi Ceccarini
Keyword(s):  
Political Representation ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Social Evaluation

AbstractDemocratic politics does not meet the expectations of citizens who have gradually become more critical towards representative politics and the political elite that represent them. From these well-known considerations and social evaluation spread among the citizenry, this paper focuses on political representation and the concept of citizenship in the age of the Internet. After discussing the positive and negative aspects of digital disintermediation (and hence neo-intermediation), this study concentrates on the potentialities of the role of the Internet, with its ambiguities, and monitoring of citizens' engagement as a possible safety-net for representative democracies in crisis worldwide.

Political Representation in Leader Democracy

2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 358-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
András Körösényi
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Public Office

AbstractThe essay focuses on the neglected problem of democratic politics, i.e. on the role of leadership. Although in democracies public office holders are controlled to a certain extent, leaders still have wide room for political manoeuvre and decide without any ‘instruction’ of the citizens. Re-working Weber's and Schumpeter's theory, the author aims to build the model of leader democracy. He highlights the major traits of it in a comparison with the deliberative and the aggregative–utilitarian concepts of democratic theory. The theory of leader democracy is applied to the problem of representation, which, in contrast to mechanical mirroring, gains a new, dynamic and qualitative meaning.

Sovereignty, networks, and norms

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-567
Author(s):  
Stephen Deets
Keyword(s):  
Native American ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
The State ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Ethnic Mobilization ◽  
Proper Role ◽  
The Way

Despite considerable scholarly work on ethnic mobilization, less attention has been paid to explicitly examining how differing notions of the state undergird our analysis and normative approaches. As the title of Ted Gurr's Peoples versus States reminds us, the state is central to these processes. Similarly, there seems to be widespread, yet little discussed, disagreement on the proper role of politics in ethno-politics. In other words, at what point do we shrug our shoulders and say, “minority X lost this political fight and that's the way democratic politics functions”? The three books here focus on vastly different topics (international minority rights norms, Native American struggles, and the Holy Roman Empire's decline), but in reading them together it is striking how their notions of the state and politics lead us to varying conclusions about the possibilities for minorities.

The torture convention, rendition and Kant's critique of ‘pseudo-politics’

2010 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 195-214
Author(s):  
HOWARD WILLIAMS
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Convention Against Torture ◽  
Kantian View ◽  
Ordinary Morality ◽  
The Way

AbstractBy what standards ought we to judge politicians? The article addresses the question in the light of the treatment of two controversial issues in contemporary world politics: the implementation of the 1984 UN Convention against Torture; and the post 9/11 rendition of terrorist suspects to US authorities by European governments. Their treatment brings out the way in which the role of political leaders is popularly conceived and understood. This conventional understanding is contrasted with the role recommended by Kant's political philosophy. An answer to the question depends on how we conceive politics in the first place. If politics is seen as a ‘free for all’ where all strategies can be canvassed then the response will be entirely different from a situation where we consider ourselves bound by rules of legitimacy and its attendant problems of morality and law. The article represents a rejection of certain received accounts of politics and approval of a Kantian view. The account of politics which in one respect or another tries to drive a wedge between politics and ordinary morality is seen as inferior to a Kantian concept of politics which is always conditioned by morality.

Reflection on education equity in Vietnam: Teachers' and students' voices in an English tourism programme

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-155
Author(s):  
Giang Nguyen Hoang Le
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Road ◽  
Professional Experiences ◽  
Unfair Treatment ◽  
Vietnamese Higher Education ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
The Status ◽  
Higher Education Internationalization

Abstract In this article context, I recall my memories as a Vietnamese English for Tourism Purposes (ETP) programme teacher and a student who grappled with many inequities in the nationwide process of internationalization of higher education. The equity-related issues include the teacher's unpreparedness with the adoption of foreign curriculum, the teacher's lack of recognition of the local cultures, and the unfair treatment of the Vietnamese ETP interns in the workplace. I write this article in the role of a narrator, sharing my personal and professional experiences to give the status quo of ETP education in Vietnam and the various nuances that help unpack the realities of this situation. This reflective article intends to picture the inequities in Vietnamese higher education internationalization that both Vietnamese students and teachers encounter and to pave the road for further discussions to construct future scholarship and research.

scholarly journals Studi Islam Inklusif dan Universal: Epistemologi Scholar Sebagai Outsider Pemeluk Agama

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 159
Author(s):  
Henry Teddy
Keyword(s):  
Interdisciplinary Approach ◽  
Muslim World ◽  
Philosophical Method ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Normative Approach ◽  
The Road ◽  
Entire Universe ◽  
Epistemological Basis ◽  
The Way

Studi tentang Islam dengan pendekatan yang normatif menjadikan kajian tentangnya sebagai kajian yang terbatas bahkan kerap tertutup. Studi Islam yang berperspektif teologi apologeticcenderung menghasilkan pemikiran yang provokatif sehingga tertutup jalan bagi mereka yang non muslim atau outsider berproses dalam studi Islam itu sendiri. Akan tetapi ketika dibuka jalan bagi Studi Islam yang ilmiah dengan pendekatan interdisipliner, Inklusiflah kesempatan para outsider melibatkan diri dalam studi Islam. Namun pertanyaan yang belum selesai adalah apakah keInklusifan dalam Islamic Studiesdibangun dengan basis epistemologi yang kuat. Apa dasar epistemologis dari Islamic Studies sehingga keInklusifan yang dimaksud bisa membawa perubahan yang signifikan bagi masyarakat sendiri, secara khusus bagi Islam itu sendiri. KeInklusifan yang dimaksud adalah peran Studi Islam itu sendiri yang membuka kesempatan untuk para outsider untuk menghadirkan Islam sebagai wajah yang universal dan menjadi rahmat bagi seluruh alam semesta. Lewat penelusuran pemikiran secara epistemologis maka dapatlah kita temukan bahwa Studi Islam banyak mengalami dinamika. Hal ini dikarenakan dunia Muslim sendiri yang terus menggumuli bagaimana agar ke-Islam-an dapat terus hidup sesuai dengan realitasnya. Lewat kajian ini akan diperlihatkan bagaimana perubahan gagasan dalam Studi Islam yang pada dirinya sendiri menunjukkan sifat yang Inklusif dan universal. Corak filsafat menjadi penentu dalam dinamika keInklusifan Studi Islam yang pada dasarnya selalu mau membuka diri pada konsepsi baru yang pada akhirnya Islam pun memiliki Epistemologinya sendiri.[Islamic Studies with a normative approach study it a limited field, even often closed to outsiders. Islamic studies with an apologetic theology perspective tend to produce provocative thoughts so that the road is closed for non-Muslims or outsiders in the process of Islamic studies itself. However, when the way is opened for Islamic scientific studies with an interdisciplinary approach, it opens up opportunities for outsiders to get involved in Islamic studies. However, the unfinished question is whether openness in Islamic Studies is built on a robust epistemological basis. What is the epistemological basis of Islamic Studies so that the intended openness can bring about significant changes for society itself, especially for Islam itself? The openness in question is the role of Islamic Studies itself, which opens opportunities for outsiders to present Islam as a universal face and become a blessing for the entire universe. Through an epistemological search of thought, we can find that Islamic studies experience many dynamics. This is because the Muslim world itself struggles with how Islam can continue to live following its reality. This study will show how changes in ideas in Islamic Studies show themselves an open and universal character. The philosophical method becomes a determinant in the dynamics of openness of Islamic studies, which always wants to open itself to new conceptions which in the end Islam also has its epistemology.]

Practicing Philosophy, From Plato to Gadamer

2018 ◽  
pp. 91-100
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Practical Wisdom ◽  
Theoretical Knowledge ◽  
Professional Lives ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Theoretical Philosophy ◽  
The Way

This section explains what kind of philosophy we are referring to when we talk about the role of philosophy in the cross-disciplinary type of debates that interest us here. Namely, it is a practical – rather than theoretical – philosophy; indeed, a practice in itself, rather than an analytical pursuit, which is aimed at achieving practical wisdom, rather than theoretical insights. This entails different kinds of practices – from what we would nowadays call moral and political philosophy, in Plato and Aristotle, through a certain kind of interpretive practice, in Heidegger and Gadamer, to a series of neo-pragmatist ways of living, in Rorty and Shusterman. What these have in common is a philosophical focus on what we can do, in our personal, social, and professional lives, rather than what type of theoretical knowledge we can achieve – and how. The former is a kind of philosophy that is more likely to have an impact on the way we live, than on a particular theory or line of arguments.

Political Accountability, Legislator Gender, and the Status Quo Bias

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
Lior Sheffer
Keyword(s):  
Gender Gap ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Large Body ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Legislative Behavior ◽  
Political Accountability ◽  
Female Politicians ◽  
The Status ◽  
Preferences Representation

AbstractA large body of literature in political science documents differences between elected men and women in their substantive policy preferences, representation styles, and effectiveness as legislators. We know far less about whether female and male representatives respond differently to being held politically accountable for their decisions. Although it is a difficult concept to evaluate empirically with incumbents, this absence of research is nevertheless surprising considering the central role of accountability in legislative behavior and the nonelite evidence that women and men respond differently to attributions of accountability. I provide evidence for the existence of such an accountability gender gap in an experiment with 377 incumbent legislators in three countries, in which they were asked to choose between economic policy plans alternately presented as the status quo, with varying levels of implied task accountability. Elected women and men reacted significantly differently when the political accountability levels of the task increased: female politicians exhibited a stronger preference for policies presented as the status quo, whereas male politicians were more likely to abandon the status quo and favor change. This pattern is unique to politicians and is not observed in nonelites. I discuss processes that motivate this divergence and the implications for research on gender and political representation.

scholarly journals Encuesta sobre la representación política = Academic survey about political representation

2014 ◽  
pp. 15
Author(s):  
Teoría y Realidad Constitucional
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
Law Professors ◽  
The Way

En esta encuesta un grupo de Catedráticos de Derecho Constitucional contestan un conjunto de preguntas sobre la representación política; y, más concretamente, sobre la representación política como forma de legitimación del Estado democrático, la crisis que actualmente atraviesa (debido al papel que desempeñan los partidos políticos y a los problemas en la relación entre los representantes y los representados), así como a las posibles vías de superar esta crisis.In this academic survey a group of Constitutional Law Professors answer some questions about political representation, and specifically about political representation as the way of legitimate the democratic state, its current crisis (the role of political parties, the problems in the representative relationship between electors and electeds…) and the proposed initiatives to overcome this crisis.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document