Arendt’s Break with the Liberal Imaginary of Society

The first part of the article analyses the imaginary of the characteristics and form of (civil) society as developed in early modern liberal political philosophy, especially by John Locke and Thomas Paine. It uses different contemporary receptions of the key authors of this tradition, namely the liberal reception of John Keane, which emphasizes the theoretical distinction between civil society and the state, the materialist reception of Ellen Meiksins Wood, which contextualizes political ideas in the political struggles and class interests of the time, and the reception of Foucault, which focuses on the development of biopolitical governmentality. The article finds that the liberal tradition imagined (civil) society as a given and self-regulating sphere that does not require interference from the state. A socio-historical presupposition of this imaginary was the economic sovereignty of individuals, and it overlooked the relations of domination and exploitation. In its second part, the article presents Hannah Arendt’s critical concept of society. She did not conceptualize society as a given totality and in a spatial way, but used it as a qualifier of a specific, impoverished mode of being, in particular to analyse the situation and perspective of minorities.

Liberalism of the Third Force in Republican China: Carsun Chang and Zhang Dongsun

<p>This study investigates the liberal thought of Carsun Chang and Zhang Dongsun who were core figures of the “Third Force”, those parties who did not align themselves either with the KMT or with the Communists in the 1940s. They developed a distinctive Chinese form of liberalism that contained elements of socialism, German idealism (Hegel and Kant), and the British tradition of liberty (Mill). Though similar in many respects to New Liberalism represented by the British thinker L. T. Hobhouse, this form of liberalism was specifically adapted to Chinese conditions. Like Hobhouse, Chang used German idealism to reconcile liberalism with socialism but he aimed to address Chinese problems including poverty, national sovereignty, and authoritarianism. Zhang subscribed to Chang’s views and agreed that these problems were the obstacles to Chinese democracy and state-building. I use Michael Freeden’s theory of ideological morphology to establish the distinctive character of Chinese liberalism represented by Chang and Zhang. As an alternative to conventional approaches, it centres around the semantic meanings of a cluster of political concepts which constitute liberalism and socialism rather than specific definitions of those ideologies. This approach successfully explains the variations within liberalism, socialism, and their complex relationship in different cultures and regions, but has not yet been used by other scholars to discuss Chinese political thought. In addition, I also discuss specific textual and contextual aspects of the Chinese liberalism of Chang and Zhang. Recognising the liberal tradition Chang and Zhang established helps develop a new understanding of Chinese liberalism and Chinese socialism past and present which are conventionally excluded from the narrative of Chinese political history. The Chinese liberalism identified in my research had an overlap with social democracy. It was not a single concept of liberty but a particular configuration of a few concepts such as liberty, equality, progress, justice, welfare, and limited power. This form of liberalism continues to exist in contemporary China. Chinese thinkers of this liberal tradition were and are actively involved in the debates over socialism, liberalism, and their relationships to Chinese problems such as modernisation, democratisation, and social transformation. In addition, this study reveals an ideological cause of a divided Chinese liberalism in the 1940s. Chang was a new liberal whereas Zhang was a representative of left liberalism. Furthermore, this research enables us to understand the continuing influence of the liberalism of Chang on the constitutional thought in Taiwan and its implications for the relationship between Taiwan and mainland China. Chang drafted the Constitution of the Republic of China. His liberal thought had an impact on this constitution that was initially intended to cover mainland China but was only enforced in Taiwan.</p>

Liberalism of the Third Force in Republican China: Carsun Chang and Zhang Dongsun

<p>This study investigates the liberal thought of Carsun Chang and Zhang Dongsun who were core figures of the “Third Force”, those parties who did not align themselves either with the KMT or with the Communists in the 1940s. They developed a distinctive Chinese form of liberalism that contained elements of socialism, German idealism (Hegel and Kant), and the British tradition of liberty (Mill). Though similar in many respects to New Liberalism represented by the British thinker L. T. Hobhouse, this form of liberalism was specifically adapted to Chinese conditions. Like Hobhouse, Chang used German idealism to reconcile liberalism with socialism but he aimed to address Chinese problems including poverty, national sovereignty, and authoritarianism. Zhang subscribed to Chang’s views and agreed that these problems were the obstacles to Chinese democracy and state-building. I use Michael Freeden’s theory of ideological morphology to establish the distinctive character of Chinese liberalism represented by Chang and Zhang. As an alternative to conventional approaches, it centres around the semantic meanings of a cluster of political concepts which constitute liberalism and socialism rather than specific definitions of those ideologies. This approach successfully explains the variations within liberalism, socialism, and their complex relationship in different cultures and regions, but has not yet been used by other scholars to discuss Chinese political thought. In addition, I also discuss specific textual and contextual aspects of the Chinese liberalism of Chang and Zhang. Recognising the liberal tradition Chang and Zhang established helps develop a new understanding of Chinese liberalism and Chinese socialism past and present which are conventionally excluded from the narrative of Chinese political history. The Chinese liberalism identified in my research had an overlap with social democracy. It was not a single concept of liberty but a particular configuration of a few concepts such as liberty, equality, progress, justice, welfare, and limited power. This form of liberalism continues to exist in contemporary China. Chinese thinkers of this liberal tradition were and are actively involved in the debates over socialism, liberalism, and their relationships to Chinese problems such as modernisation, democratisation, and social transformation. In addition, this study reveals an ideological cause of a divided Chinese liberalism in the 1940s. Chang was a new liberal whereas Zhang was a representative of left liberalism. Furthermore, this research enables us to understand the continuing influence of the liberalism of Chang on the constitutional thought in Taiwan and its implications for the relationship between Taiwan and mainland China. Chang drafted the Constitution of the Republic of China. His liberal thought had an impact on this constitution that was initially intended to cover mainland China but was only enforced in Taiwan.</p>

4. Liberalism

This chapter examines the liberal tradition in international relations (IR). It first considers the basic liberal assumptions, including a positive view of human nature and the belief that IR can be cooperative rather than conflictual. In their conceptions of international cooperation, liberal theorists emphasize different features of world politics. The chapter explores the ideas associated with four strands of liberal thought, namely: sociological liberalism, interdependence liberalism, institutional liberalism, and republican liberalism. It also discusses the debate between proponents of liberalism and neorealism, and it identifies a general distinction between weak liberal theories that are close to neorealism and strong liberal theories that challenge neorealism. Finally, it reviews the liberal view of world order and the notion that there is a ‘dark’ side of democracy.

Freedom in the Liberal Tradition

Michael Freeden approaches freedom as an essentially contestable concept—one that necessarily has a number of possible meanings. After covering this methodological assumption, the chapter discusses freedom’s development within the liberal tradition. An overview of Locke’s account of freedom is given, and it is argued that the ideological developments that had occurred by John Stuart Mill’s day were substantive enough to classify these two belief systems as distinct ideologies. From here the interview covers the competition between individualist, or libertarian, conceptions of freedom, and progressive liberal ones. It is argued that the latter played a key role in the development of welfare states, and the former in arguing against them. Freeden concludes with an argument against the possibility, or even desirability, of any permanent consensus in politics.

Critical race theory will fuel US political divisions

Significance CRT has become a new line of division between Democrats and civil rights reformers, for whom it accurately describes embedded racism, and some Republicans who regard it as an outdated set of beliefs about race that violate a liberal tradition of colour blindness. Impacts Despite the current political salience of CRT, the term is rarely used in elementary and high school classrooms. Critics of CRT see its influence ranging from university tenure battles to professional athletes taking the knee before games. For many companies, a desire to increase diversity and affirm commitments to equality will outweigh calls to criticise CRT.

Como a história da escravidão pode ajudar a formar uma teoria brasileira do direito? | How can the history of slavery inform a Brazilian theory of law?

ResumoO direito brasileiro foi articulado em torno das categorias clássicas do liberalismo europeu. Para além do debate da compatibilidade entre liberalismo e escravidão, esse artigo pretende demonstrar como a necessidade de preservar uma escravidão semilegal constituiu institucionalidades que fizeram com que o direito brasileiro operasse problematicamente sob o registro da tradição liberal, mesmo em relação aos seus cidadãos livres. Isso não foi um “erro” do direito, uma falha, mas foi antes uma ação inteligível dos arquitetos das formas e modos de funcionamento da juridicidade nacional. Nesse sentido, esse artigo pretende apontar para a necessidade de construção de uma teoria brasileira do direito que dê conta de compreender as particularidades de um sistema jurídico profundamente afetado pelo escravismo do século XIX.Palavras-chave: História do Direito. Teoria do Direito Brasileiro. Direito da Escravidão. AbstractBrazilian Law was crafted around the classical categories of European liberalism. Beyond the debate regarding the compatibility between liberalism and slavery, this paper intends to show how the need to preserve a semi-legal slavery system created illegalities that highlighted the contradictions between Brazilian Law and the liberal tradition. The resulting tensions also created consequences for free citizens, which are the focus of this paper. It demonstrates that these consequences were not mere legal defeasibility, but rather an intelligible action shaping the national legal system. The article advocates for the necessity to build a Brazilian theory of Law that takes these aspects into consideration, accounting for the systematic impact of 19th-century slavery on the idea of legality in Brazil.Keywords: Legal History. Brazilian Theory of Law. Slavery Law.