Contemporary Liberalism

Romanian constitution-making since 1989 has been of an uneven and recently evermore conflictive kind. In the 1990s, no significant changes to the 1991 Constitution were made, and the role of the Romanian Constitution could be said to be less visible in politics. Since the mid-2000s, in contrast, and after the 2003 amendment mostly triggered for reasons of EU accession, the Constitution has become a clear object of political salience and contention. Constitutional conflict is particularly outspoken since the presidential crisis of 2007, and has become outspoken again in the summer of 2012. This has triggered the 2013 attempt to revise the Constitution, not least in order to deal with the question of relations between the president, the parliament, and the government.
Recent turmoil is in a way surprising, since in the early 2000s, Romanian constitutional democracy seemed to get closer to the idea of a Rechtsstaat, the rule of law, and what in general could be called a form of ‘legal constitutionalism’ or ‘new constitutionalism’. Such a legal-constitutionalist order is supposed to enhance stability and legality. But in an apparently contradictory way, constitutional conflict has recently become more prominent, and one aspect seems to be – as has become particularly clear in the summer of 2012 – what I will call here a form of 'legal resentment'. The latter refers to a skeptical view of political forces regarding rigid, legalist constitutions and strong constitutional courts, as well as, in a related way, external interference into domestic constitutional politics.
Key problems in Romania remain a weakly diffused constitutional culture among both politicians and the wider public, a Constitutional Court that seems unable to play the role of guardian and constitutional educator, and the relative absence of a meaningful constitutional debate in the wider public sphere. The constitutional frame seems to fail in inducing in both political and civil society a civic and political orientation towards constitutional values and a robust public debate on the foundations of Romanian democracy. The 2013 turn to constitutional revision, might however include a turn into the right direction and constitute a 'constitutional moment'. This is not least because of the setting up of the inclusive Forum Constitutional, which involves civil society as well as legal experts in the constitutional revision process.
The paper starts with a discussion of constitution-making since 1989. Second, I will briefly analyze the role of the Romanian Constitutional Court in the democratization process, and, third, discuss the recent crisis that directly involved the Court. Fourth, I will look into the current revision process and 'constitutional moment', and fifth, I will discuss the potentially reinvigorating effects of civic engagement in constitutional change.

E galitarian theories of justice must answer two basic questions: (1) to what extent (and for what reasons) is inequality justi®ed, and (2) insofar as one cares about equality, what does one care about? What is the proper target of egalitarian concern? 1 Two answers to the second question are the most common: resources and well-being. John Rawls, perhaps the leading defender of a resources-metric, argues that justice requires equality in the distribution of (social) primary goods except where inequality is to everyone's advantage (and especially to the advantage of the least advantaged). Defenders of the alternative metric generally de®ne well-being either subjectively (for example, as welfare, utility, preference-satisfaction) or objectively (for example, in terms of functioning). But what unites the critics of a resources-metric is the belief that what matters, for a theory of distributive justice, is not simply the quantity or extent of the resources people have, but how they are bene®ted by their share of resources. How much utility or welfare are they able to derive from their resources? To what extent does their share of resources enable them to function in ways that are crucial for living well? A resources-metric is therefore said to be unfair to people with expensive preferences and plans of life. Resources (for example, Rawlsian primary goods) arè`differentially useful'' to people with different preferences and ends. 2 Because a resources-metric ignores the ways in which individuals vary in the ef®ciency with which they are able to convert resources into well-being (however that is de®ned), it is said to be in¯exible and overly rigid. 3 I shall discuss the welfare-egalitarian critique of a resource-metric by considering Richard Arneson's criticisms of John Rawls's theory of justice. In both A Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism, Rawls defends the use of a resources-metric for addressing questions of distributive justice. Whether one person is more (or less) advantaged than another person is to be determined by the index of resources (in particular, primary goods) each person has (or can reasonably expect) over a lifetime. Rawls explicitly rejects welfare as the proper metric for equality. The fact that some

Sadržaj I Medicinska etika Elvio Baccarini: Neka etička pitanja vezana uz AIDS i HIV, str. 13-31 Elvio Baccarini: Eutanazija i liječnički potpomognuto samoubojstvo, str. 33-61 Elvio Baccarini: Etička pitanja presađivanja organa, str. 63-89. I I Reprodukcijske slobode, prava i obveze Snježana Prijić-Samaržija: Ogled o moralnom i zakonskom statusu pobačaja, str. 93-146 Snježana Prijić-Samaržija: Eksperimentiranje na embrijima i argument kontinuiteta, str. 147-173 Snježana Prijić-Samaržija: Populacijska politika, prokreacijska autonomija i društveni (nacionalni) interes, str. 175-196 I I I Na rubovima praktične etike -moral i zakon Snježana Prijić-Samaržija: Spolne različitosti, spolna diskriminacija i programi afirmativne akcije, str. 199-231 Elvio Baccarini: Provedba morala putem zakona, str. 233-257.

En 1846, l’un des plus anciens partis en Europe voyait le jour : le parti libéral belge. Le mr et l’Open vld ont donc commémoré, en 2016, le cent soixante-dixième anniversaire de sa naissance.

Paradoxalement pourtant, la trajectoire et les mutations du libéralisme politique belge n’ont pas bénéficié à ce jour de toute l’attention voulue.

L’ambition de cet ouvrage est de répondre à cette carence en privilégiant cinq thématiques : l’histoire du parti, l’évolution de son modèle organisationnel, les transformations idéologiques et programmatiques, sa géographie et sa sociologie électorales, ses perspectives d’avenir.

L’intérêt du sujet est d’autant plus évident que l’Open vld et, plus encore, le mr sont engagés depuis octobre 2014 dans une expérience gouvernementale inédite et qui pose nombre de questions : le Mouvement réformateur est en effet le seul parti francophone de la majorité fédérale. Qui plus est, être l’un des plus anciens partis européens mérite à l’évidence le respect et une analyse approfondie.

February 26, 2011 15:46 MAC-US/ACTION Page-iii 9780230105379 ... February 26, 2011 15:46 MAC-US/ACTION Page-iv 9780230105379 ... First published in 2011 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin's Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. ... Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the World, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.

Vivimos en un mundo plural. Cada vez se nos hace más patente que las demás personas tienen creencias, deseos y anhelos distintos a los nuestros. Viven también con estilos de vida diferentes u opuestos. La pluralidad es un hecho. Esto quiere decir que no es algo que deba gustarnos o no: es algo con lo que debemos lidiar.
Cada ensayo de este libro busca iluminar algún aspecto o alguna relación. A todos los guía una preocupación central: ¿qué papel debe jugar la argumentación en la vida pública? Por lo mismo, algún ensayo busca esclarecer la relación entre la argumentación, la imposición y otras formas de violencia; bocetar algunos aspectos de nuestra cultura argumentativa; o tratar algún problema particular de nuestra vida pública en el que la argumentación juega (o debería jugar) un papel central. Todos comparten el espíritu de que es necesario reparar en los rasgos de carácter (sean virtuosos o viciosos) de quienes argumentan. Las virtudes y los vicios argumentativos tienen un alto potencial explicativo respecto a lo que muchas veces sucede cuando argumentamos en la vida pública.

Middle-class progressives in the early 20th Century wanted to transform a corrupt and chaotic industrial America into an "authentic" democracy. But they were led astray by their privilege. Focused on enhancing the voices of individuals, generations of progressives remained blind to the rich culture of "democratic solidarity" infusing labor unions and organizing in poor communities. This book traces the problematic evolution of progressive democracy in America, focusing on schools as a key site of progressive practice. At the same time, it examines alternative strategies for developing more empowering approaches to democratic education and collective action.

emotions, divide rather than unite. The Dalai Lama stressed that emotional qualities, such as warmheartedness, compassion and altruism, too need education. Basically, we are all one, he thinks, race, nationality, culture and language are secondary.

My provocation is that, in rejecting Rawls’s theory of justice, Sandel is in fact endorsing a snotty view of political realism. It is political realism sugarcoated with a potent dose of promising ideas of justice and common good, but it is snotty political realism nonetheless. Who knows where Sandel’s sense of civic loyalties stops?

Citizens are politically autonomous insofar as they are subject to laws that are (a) justified by reasons acceptable to them and (b) authorized by them via their political institutions. An obstacle to the equal realization of political autonomy is the plurality of religious, moral, and philosophical views endorsed by citizens. Decisions regarding certain fundamental political issues (e.g., abortion) can involve citizens imposing political positions justified in terms of their respective worldviews upon others. Despite citizens' disagreements over which worldview is correct, 'political liberalism' claims that there is a form of political autonomy that is realizable within pluralist societies. (Political liberalism differs from 'comprehensive liberalism' by, inter alia, being 'freestanding' vis-à-vis citizens' different worldviews.) Citizens can be politically autonomous if they enjoy equal political power and justify its exercise with 'public reasons.' A political liberal education would aim at ensuring that all students can become politically autonomous citizens by teaching them how to exercise their democratic rights effectively and how to engage in public reasoning. Some political and educational theorists, however, argue that teaching students how to be politically autonomous amounts to teaching them how to be 'comprehensively' autonomous. If this is so, then the distinction between political liberalism and comprehensive liberalism collapses, at least with respect to education. This chapter outlines the main elements of political liberalism, summarizes the main requirements of a political liberal citizenship education, and surveys three arguments in support of and against the thesis that a political liberal education amounts to an education for comprehensive autonomy.

This chapter examines what Rawls says in A Theory of Justice about friendship  as an interpersonal relationship. Section I contends that Rawls is thinking of friendship as well as the family as one of society’s smaller associations or social unions, even if he does not always state this. Section II observes that he numbers friendship among the human goods and I advance friendship as the clearest of his examples of a complementary good. Section III looks at the role of friendship in TJ’s analyses of guilt and shame. Section IV uncovers the central role that friendship plays in the morality of association stage of moral development. Section V shows that a focus on friendship brings the more Aristotelian features of Rawls’ thinking to light. The Conclusion points to some of the ways in which this depiction of friendship dovetails with some of the other strands of Rawls scholarship. Although friendship is not synonymous with the common good, it is a common or shared good that also requires a shared understanding of its goodness.

This article rethinks the problem of religious (in)tolerance by analyzing the 2015 deportation of three " Hindu priests " from a Caribbean nation for the practice of obeah. Defined popularly as " witchcraft " or " African tradition, " obeah was first criminalized as the alleged inspiration for the largest slave uprising of the eighteenth century British Caribbean. I argue that the recent deportations in a nation that constitutionally enshrines freedom of conscience foregrounds some of the foundational limits of liberal secularism. I trace a genealogy of liberalism to critique the secular ideal of the " freedom from difference. " I suggest that attempts to invoke " spirituality " as a more inclusive idiom for denigrated forms of " not-religion " such as obeah extend rather than eliminate these limits of liberal secularism. I close by drawing some parallels with anti-Muslim nationalism in the U.S. and suggest some ways of thinking about a trinary formation of religion, not-religion, and secular power in modern nation-states.

En los albores del siglo XX, un diagnóstico extremadamente pesimista de la situación del país llevó a la nueva élite liberal a erigir la escuela como el instrumento más seguro de las transformaciones sociales anheladas para que Bolivia ingresara en el concierto de las “naciones civilizadas”. El proyecto de “regeneración nacional” emprendido se apoyó entonces en una política educativa que aspiró a crear modernidad y unidad nacional. Civilizar y regenerar al pueblo mediante la escuela parecía un requisito imprescindible para acercarlo a ciertas normas y formas de pensar consideradas como las únicas vías hacia el progreso. El proyecto pasó a ser el de una “desindianización” de la sociedad boliviana. La creación de escuelas fiscales, la nacionalización de los programas y de los métodos pedagógicos, las primeras iniciativas estatales en el medio rural, la constitución de un cuerpo docente profesionalizado fueron algunas de las medidas de los primeros años. El objetivo inicial parecía ser facilitar el acceso de todos a un bagaje escolar mínimo. Pero el proyecto de homogeneización de la primera década dio paso, después de 1910, a una política educativa de la diferenciación. El blanqueamiento del pueblo seguía siendo un ideal. La escuela debía esforzarse por eliminar ciertas distancias... pero también debía controlar que se mantuvieran otras.
Este libro pretende revelar ese proceso de vaivén que fue la política educativa liberal, entre la búsqueda de un acercamiento y la del mantenimiento a distancia del Otro, aquel considerado como enfermo, degenerado, siempre tan diferente... y, sin embargo, tan necesario.

Liberalism is a term employed in a dizzying variety of ways across the humanities and social sciences. This essay seeks to reframe how the liberal tradition is understood. I start by delineating different types of response – prescriptive, comprehensive, explanatory – that are frequently conflated in answering the question “what is liberalism?” I then discuss assorted methodological strategies employed in the existing literature: after rejecting “stipulative” and “canonical” approaches, I outline a contextualist alternative. On this (comprehensive) account, liberalism is best characterised as the sum of the arguments that have been classified as liberal, and recognised as such by other self-proclaimed liberals, over time. In the remainder of the article I present an historical analysis of shifts in the meaning of liberalism in Anglo-American political thought between 1850 and 1950, focusing in particular on how John Locke came to be seen as a liberal. I also explore the emergence of the category of "liberal democracy". I argue that the scope of the liberal tradition was massively expanded during the middle decades of the twentieth century, such that it came to be seen by many as the constitutive ideology of the West. This capacious (and deeply confusing) understanding of liberalism was produced by a conjunction of the ideological wars fought against “totalitarianism” and assorted developments in the social sciences. Today we both inherit and inhabit it.

Publicado en Historia y Biografía. II Congreso sobre el republicanismo en la historia de España, Priego de Córdoba, Fundación Patronato Niceto Alcalá-Zamora y Torres, 2003, pp. 49-74. Pasadas las dos de la tarde del 14 de abril de 1931, en casa del doctor Marañón, en Madrid, tuvo lugar una escena decisiva en la historia política española. Sus protagonistas fueron dos personajes que se conocían muy bien desde hacía más de tres décadas: por un lado, Álvaro de Figueroa y Torres, conde de Romanones (1863-1950), ministro de Estado y representante del rey Alfonso XIII; por otro, Niceto Alcalá-Zamora y Torres , presidente del llamado gobierno provisional de la República, el comité que aspiraba a derribar al régimen. Dos días antes se habían celebrado unas elecciones municipales que proporcionaron un triunfo abrumador a la conjunción republicano-socialista en la mayoría de las ciudades del país, un resultado que casi todos los testigos interpretaron como un plebiscito en contra de la monarquía y a favor de la república. La súbita movilización popular convenció a los monárquicos liberales, con Romanones a la cabeza, de que la corona no debía resistirse por la fuerza.

« From each as they choose, to each as they are chosen ». Nozick's theory of justice mainly focuses on holdings and how to address the tendency to redistributive policies in our contemporary liberal societies. Proving to be a moderate libertarian, Nozick firmly argues against redistribution, considering that it is a violation of our most fundamental right as individuals: private property. Private property is what concretises self-ownership and thus should not only be allowed but protected. This maxim thus aims to highlight this necessity: from the earner as he chooses to make use of its holdings, to the receiver as he was appointed to occupy this position.
The Entitlement theory has been exposed to numerous criticisms, especially over its consistence. As a matter of fact, if the common idea is eligible and shared among every individual (that we have the right to dispose of our holdings as we want because we are entitled to possess them), it is not without difficulties that it can actually be put into practice. Moreover, the line followed by Nozick in the sole attempt to develop this theory is not completely consistent neither: his use of Kantian principles has been pointed out to be questionable, his opposition to patterned theories was analysed to be either incorrect or incomplete with, in addition, a highlight on the failure for one of his principle — supposed to make the Entitlement theory consistent — to be viable.
This essay aims to determine whether Robert Nozick’s theory is internally consistent or not. Not only will we conclude that it has strong internal weaknesses, but also that these weaknesses turns both the Entitlement theory impossible to be implemented and its ideas — which are initially smart and drawing attention to real flaws of our current functioning — unsuitable. Indeed, Nozick may not have aimed the reform of our system; rather, illustrating what has to be changed to favour justice as liberalism attempts to do, thus proposing an alternative, smart, relevant yet inconsistent.

An introduction to community organizing for those new to the field.  We focus on learning how to think like an organizer, not teaching skills. 

A full copy of the pdf is available here, although it's not my site so download at your own risk: 

http://xyonline.net/sites/xyonline.net/files/2019-11/Schutz%2C%20Collective%20Action%20for%20Social%20Change%20-%20An%20Introduction%20to%20Community%20Organizing%20%282011%29.pdf

Many cultural values and ideological factors influence decision-making. These are usually related to the identities of specific social groups. This paper argues that spirituality is identity-forming and is distinct from identity as more traditionally linked with religion per se. Even though spirituality may have links with religion these can be rather tenuous.

hings are getting better every day. The standard of living is going up. An increasing number of individuals are drawn to big cities and adopt a more urban lifestyle. Poverty is receding and the backward agrarian masses, in turn, are propelled into modernity. They are also, without a doubt, becoming more educated-not just literate: they enjoy access to a rapidly expanding array of cultural goods and experiences that expose them to world culture, often for free. In the process, they leave behind the moral strictures of traditionalism and embrace a robust secular outlook. As a result, gender equality has made huge leaps forward. Scientific culture has become part of the standard educational curricula, weeding out the last remnants of religious obscurantism. Darwin's theory of evolution is taught in kindergarten. The crippling division between the natural sciences and the social sciences is a thing of the past, and economic science is now firmly established on laws that are also those commanding the development of human societies and of nature throughout history. Science and technology have reached such a level of development that nature itself can be re-engineered-major rivers can be deflected, seas nebulized, for the welfare of all. Science and technology also project their light into the deepest recesses of human nature: while past centuries gave credence to metaphysical speculations about the inner workings of the mind, there is now a true and materialistic science of it. Cognitive neuroscience can identify genius by pointing at the morphology of the brain or detect deviant behaviors in nuce, thus preventing unfortunate events and increasing social welfare. And the code behind genetics has been made transparent to human comprehension and intervention, allowing for all kinds of beneficial manipulations, including the breeding of high-yield agricultural varieties. Of course, the way of progress is paved with hardships and obstacles. Some of them are unforeseeable and generated by progress itself. Others are deliberate and the work of deniers representing irrational attachments to superseded beliefs or, worse, "reactionary thinking, even fascism" (443). The former will be overcome by the all-powerful process of scientific advancement, the latter, by a re-educational regimen of "critical thinking and debiasing programs," will show the skeptics how wrong they were and help them see the light (378). No, dear reader, you are not dreaming: all this is true and you live in the Soviet Union.

Amy R. Baehr, “Feminist Receptions of the Original Position,” forthcoming (2016) in Timothy Hinton (ed.) The Original Position (Cambridge University Press).

The original position’s principles are in reflective equilibrium with some important feminist considered convictions about justice, but not with others.  What’s more, a well-ordered society may well be characterized by significant gender injustice – even gender injustice the original position recognizes – since necessary coercive measures may be disallowed.  Feminist uses of the original position (like that of Susan Okin) better accommodate the feminist considered convictions; but they fail to accommodate feminist concerns about dependency.  We must ask whether a feminist re-design of the original position can accommodate the feminist considered convictions while remaining part of an overall liberal view.  It would be premature to conclude that justice as fairness is a defense of injustice since, if we are contractualists, we may no more assume that the feminist considered convictions are true than assume that Rawls’ original position is the correct interpretation of the initial situation.  We must take Rawls’ invitation to engage in the process of reflective equilibrium, some first steps of which are presented in this chapter.

Il contributo dei liberali italiani al processo di integrazione europea nel secondo dopoguerra si inserisce nel contesto del dibattito sul nuovo ordine mondiale e sulla collocazione internazionale del paese che coinvolse un'intera generazione di politici ed intellettuali antifascisti. Pur occupando un ruolo minoritario rispetto ai grandi partiti di massa, gli esponenti del PLI, insieme alla schiera di partiti laici, diedero un contributo importante all'europeismo italiano, possedendo un retroterra culturale che li rendeva fisiologicamente portati a concepire l'orizzonte europeo in chiave unitaria e a legarlo al progetto di modernizzazione e di rinnovamento democratico del paese 1 . Ripercorrendo la tradizione liberale risorgimentale attraverso l'ampliamento e la rie-1 Sul ruolo dei liberali a partire dal secondo dopoguerra si vedano i due volumi dal titolo I liberali italiani dall'antifascismo alla Repubblica, vol. 1, a cura di F. GRASSI ORSINI, G. NICOLOSI, Soveria Mannelli, 2008; e I liberali italiani dall'antifascismo alla Repubblica, vol. 2, a cura di G. BERTI, E. CAPOZZI, P. CRAVERI, Soveria Mannelli, 2010. Il partito liberale nell'Italia repubblicana. Guida alle fonti archivistiche per la storia del PLI. Atti dei Congressi e Consigli nazionali, Statuti del PLI, 1922-1992, a cura di G. ORSINA, Soveria Mannelli, 2004, che contiene un'utile appendice documentaria in Dvd-Rom. A. JANNAZZO, Il liberalismo italiano del Novecento. Da Giolitti a Malagodi, Soveria Mannelli, 2003; ID., Il partito liberale, in I partiti politici dell'Italia Repubblicana, a cura di G. NICOLOSI, Soveria Mannelli, 2006, pp. 275-312. Si vedano anche i due fascicoli della rivista «Ventunesimo Secolo», dedicate a I liberali e la repubblica. Una storia da scrivere, 4, 8, ottobre 2005, e a I liberali nella Repubblica: l'alternativa sconfitta, 7, 15, gennaio 2008. Più in generale, sul ruolo dei partiti laici cfr. Y. GUAIANA, L'Europa dei laici nella fase aurorale del processo di integrazione, in Entscheidung für Europa -Decidere l'Europa. Erfahrung, Zeitgeist und politische Herausforderungen am Beginn der Europäischen Integration -Esperienza, mentalità e sfide politiche agli albori dell'integrazione europea, a cura di V. DEPKAT e P. GRAGLIA, Berlin, 2010, pp. 85-125. A. CHITI BATELLI, Liberali e laici di fronte all'Europa, P.L.I., P.R.I., P.S.D.I. e integrazione europea, Manduria, 1979, pp. 15, 29-30. laborazione condotta a partire dal primo dopoguerra da Luigi Einaudi, i liberali partirono dalla critica al dogma della sovranità nazionale che aveva costituito il nucleo della riflessione dello statista di Dogliani evidenziando la necessità storica della federazione europea in una prospettiva di rinnovamento nazionale ed internazionale esteso a tutti i settori della vita politica, economica, sociale 2 .

Duplice è il disagio della democrazia, spiega Galli: soggettivo, in quanto è avvertito dal cittadino come disaffezione a un sistema che si percepisce come lontano dalla democrazia. Ma il disagio è anche oggettivo, strutturale, dovuto all'inadeguatezza di una democrazia che non mantiene le promesse di libertà, uguali diritti, uguale dignità delle persone. L'impressione è che la democrazia non sia in grado di regolare la politica del mondo in cui viviamo. Pericle la concepisce come autogoverno della maggioranza: un regime che si fonda sulla classe media e al tempo stesso riconosce il merito individuale. La democrazia abbraccia l'ideale aristocratico e legittima la gestione del potere da parte dei migliori, proponendosi quindi non come governo di una parte contro l'altra, del popolo contro i nobili, ma come governo di tutti. Nel mondo greco i valori che sono fatti valere sono quelli che ancora oggi associamo a una democrazia: uguaglianza davanti alla legge, trasparenza della politica, autogoverno, tolleranza di ogni diversità individuale, accettazione da parte di ciascuno del ruolo svolto e degli obblighi nei confronti della città (p. 13).

Neste trabalho tem-se como objetivo apresentar, da maneira mais fidedigna e fiel possível, as ideias e pensamentos do filósofo estadunidense John Rawls. Deseja-se apresentar a teoria da justiça como equidade, de modo geral, adentrando os principais tópicos do liberalismo político rawlsiano, para que assim possa-se discutir, em específico, a questão de desobediência civil no pensamento de Rawls. Deste modo, este é um trabalho de cunho exegético, buscando-se entender qual o papel da desobediência civil no pensamento de Rawls, assim como sua diferenciação de outras formas de dissensão, em especial da objeção de consciência, questionando se a desobediência civil formulada pelo autor seria logicamente compatível com seu pensamento filosófico, assim como se não se trata de um conceito demasiado restrito (formalista ou legalista em uma linguagem mais próxima da Filosofia do Direito). Desta forma, defende-se a perspectiva de que a desobediência civil formulada por Rawls não é a afirmação da impossibilidade de um sistema político justo, ou qualquer coisa nesse sentido, mas sim que deve ser vista enquanto mecanismo de luta contra as possíveis opressões e injustiças, que até mesmo em uma sociedade bem-ordenada, no seu todo, pode ocorrer, i.e., defende-se que a desobediência civil representa, no pensamento de Rawls, um mecanismo de estabilização da sociedade quase-justa, que tem por objetivo uma sociedade cada vez mais justa.

Militant democracy is an attempt to defend democracy against totalitarian parties that would use democratic procedures to rise to power. This article is focused on the consistency of the concept of 'militant democracy' . I argue that what militant democracy defends is not the democratic procedure itself but rather certain rights and the rule of law, and that those elements may in fact be compromised by democracy. This applies both if the democratic procedure is concerned and if democracy is interpreted as a reflection of the will of the people. Those elements may be upheld, but democracy is to be mitigated rather than fortified in order to do so.

The absolute priority of individual liberty and freedom has become a taboo and political correctness for long in modern western ideology. However, many evidences indicates that excessively emphasizing the value of individual freedom in practice not only will not turn out good results, but also leads to the opposite direction, i.e., losing of freedom. From a cross-cultural perspective, over emphasizing the value of individual freedom is only an Anglo-American cultural particularity. Freedom is only one among other important human values. According to ancient Chinese philosophy of Yin-Yang and Five elements, these different values are mutually correlated. Over emphasizing the absoluteness of one value will cause the interaction of other elements, and will lead things towards opposite direction. Therefore, it is necessary to say no to the cult of extreme liberalism.

The dissertation examines the meaning of the public or common good considered as an end or purpose of government in the public debate over the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. Federalists and Anti-Federalists assert that the purpose of government is to both promote the public good and protect individual rights. What did they mean by the “public good” and related phrases? An extended commentary and textual analysis of the published writings of five Federalists (John Dickinson, Oliver Ellsworth, Noah Webster, Tench Coxe, and James Wilson) and five Anti-Federalists (Agrippa, Centinel, Federal Farmer, Impartial Examiner,and Brutus), the dissertation examines the way in which the notion of the public good played a significant part within the larger themes of federalism, representation, liberty versus licentiousness, and union during the ratification period.

Neither side’s understanding of the protection of individual rights as the purpose of government completely forecloses the notion of the promotion of the public good. The uniquely federal nature of the Constitution obscures the deeper understanding of the public good of Anti-Federalists and Federalists alike, but both sides—especially the Federalists—provide plenty of evidence. The Anti-Federalist view of representation emphasizes that the public good must be truly public without making clear how the public good differs from majority will; the Federalists emphasize the public good must be truly good, the product of sound deliberation. The Federalist argument includes the explicit claim that liberty is not license, but tied to a common notion of virtue, or what is truly good for all. The Federalists argue that there is a public good for all the states combined and thus the federal government must have supreme power over matters relating to commerce—and commerce is spoken of as intrinsically connected to morality and virtue—for the sake of this national public good. Although the Federalist notion of the public good is severely limited in scope, remaining in some way open as to the final purpose of human beings or the ultimate questions about what is truly good, it is nonetheless much more than the notion of an interdependent collection of private goods.

"The Islamist movements of the current age such as the Ikhwan al-Muslimin of Egypt and the "fundamentalist" movement of Algeria, (the FIS) for example, adhere to a popularly held belief that Allah is the ultimate sovereign and law-giver. It is further believed that the ruler is merely God's representative on earth, with the `ulama being the true repositories of divine knowledge as willed by God. Hence, the legitimacy of a parliamentary body in modern democratic systems as a bonafide law-making body is considered by these movements as being unacceptable according to Islamic political philosophy, as they understand it. It is supposed that the interpretations and decrees (fatawa) of the religious scholars are of a sacred nature, and entirely god-given. With regards to the decisions and judgements of non-`ulama, be they economists, politicians, specialists in law, medicine, or human behaviour, not to mention environmentalists, it is thought that they are ungodly, and religiously speaking, illegitimate.

However, if one looks at the realities on the ground, then one finds that the Muslim countries of the post-colonial era have all evolved legislative bodies to deal with the need for a continuous process of law-making.

It is the task of this thesis to analyze the Islamist objections to the role of humans in exercising their sovereignty as law-makers, through the use of reason, pragmatism and utility, underpinned by the underlying value of, `considering the best interests of the people'. It is also a contention of this thesis that the fundamentalist concept of an Islamic state in contemporary times will have to adjust to the major political trends unfolding in the modern world, trends such as pluralism, multi-party democracy, tolerance of political as well as social, cultural and legal diversity.

It is intended to explore the real motivations behind the Islamist appeal to the sole sovereignty of Almighty Allah, and the exclusive role of the "shari`a" as the regulator of social norms. Is it an authentic depiction of "the one and only political philosophy of Islam," or is it rather just another alternate interpretation and representation of Islam--among many other competing claims of valid interpretations and representations--that has newly emerged as a recent phenomenon, and as a `modern' response to the very challenge of modernity and modernization.
"

C'est peu dire que le libéralisme politique et, plus encore, les partis libéraux en Europe ont été peu étudiés par la communauté scientifique. Comparé aux formations socialistes, communistes, d'extrême droite et, plus récemment, écologistes, les partis libéraux sont à l'évidence un des parents pauvres de la littérature scientifique dans les recherches portant sur les acteurs politiques. Une recherche bibliographique sommaire suffirait à l'établir. Pourtant, le libéralisme politique fut la doctrine de référence dans l'avènement de l'Etat parlementaire puis de la démocratie parlementaire, au XIXe et au XXe siècles. Dans plusieurs sociétés européennes, les organisations et partis libéraux jouèrent un rôle clé dans la transition des monarchies absolues vers le constitutionnalisme. Dans la période contemporaine, plusieurs formations libérales furent des partis pivots cruciaux dans leur système politique national. Une des ambitions de ce livre est donc de contribuer aux lacunes criantes des travaux consacrés à l'espace politique du centre-droit et, singulièrement, aux partis libéraux. Pour ce faire, l'ouvrage rassemble des contributions de spécialistes internationaux. Ils abordent, décortiquent et analysent l'histoire du libéralisme politique, ses caractéristiques et ses évolutions. Ils examinent aussi l'essence des partis libéraux européens dans la période contemporaine : leur mutation idéologique, leur parcours électoral, leur performance politique et leur situation actuelle.

"This book takes the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and applies it to educational practice. To understand how and why to do this, David R Cole puts forward the notion of educational life-forms in this writing, which are moving concepts based on Deleuzian principles. This book turns on and through the construction of the philosophy of life in education. The life-forms that will come about due to the philosophy of life in education rest on epiphanies, the virtual and affect. The author looks to infuse educational practice with the philosophy of life, though not through simple affirmation or a construction of counter metaphysics to representation in education. This book uses Deleuze for practical purposes and sets out to help teachers and students to think otherwise about the current praxis of education.         



"With this book Educational Life-Forms which is an examination of the significance of the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze for education, David R Cole proves himself to be one of the very small number of philosophers of education who has provided intelligent commentary of Deleuze's difficult corpus. Cole keenly appreciates the conceptual creativity of Deleuze especially in relation to the concepts of 'life forms' and 'body without organs' and effectively demonstrates its practical implications for education." - Michael A. Peters Professor, Educational Policy Studies, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.



“David R Cole's, Educational Life-Forms: Deleuzian Teaching and Learning Practice is a profound, speculative work that offers both new ways of thinking about the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze (as a practical thinker with ideas that can be applied at the 'coal face', as it were) and new ways of thinking about teaching and learning. It engages with actual policy debates as they are played out in the complex reality of the classroom situation and brings to them a fresh perspective developed through a close reading of Deleuze. This is an exciting new work which will be rewarding reading for both Deleuzians and non-Deleuzians and is sure to win converts amongst the latter.” - Ian Buchanan, Editor Deleuze Studies Professor of Critical Studies, Dean of research in the Arts and Social Sciences University of Woolongong.



In this thoughtful and engaging book, David R Cole has given us an answer to the important question of how Deleuze's philosophy enters into the practice of education. Cole situates this philosophy within existing debates around teaching and learning not only through a very lucid account of Deleuze's work and current theory, but also through highly effective and often moving examples of practice. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in Deleuze and education - James Williams Professor of European Philosophy, University of Dundee."

As part of the gLAWcal - Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom) results and book series, a book was published CHINA’S INFLUENCE ON NON-TRADE CONCERNS IN INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW, Climate Change, Sustainable Development, Protection of Environment, Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, Labour Rights, Public Health, Food and Product Safety, Global Law and Sustainable Development Book Series, Routledge Publishing (London/New-York), September 2016, pp. 1-584 TO DOWNLOAD FRONT AND BACK COVER, TABLE OF CONTENTS, INTRODUCTION OF THE BOOK, FOREWORDS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, PLEASE SEE THE FOLLOWING LINK: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2876883 To purchase the book, you can refer to the publisher website: https://www.routledge.com/Chinas-Influence-on-Non-Trade-Concerns-in-International-Economic-Law/Farah-Cima/p/book/9781409448488

FP7-PEOPLE-2010 IRSES
Marie Curie Irses

The event is organized by

gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom)

Institutions organizing the Workshop within the LIBEAC Consortium:

University Institute of European Studies (IUSE) in Turin, Italy
University of Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy
Peking University, School of Government, Center for European Studies (China)
Tsinghua University, Department of Philosophy (China)
Tsinghua University, School of Public Policy and Management (China)
Aix-Marseille University, CEPERC (France)

        Project LIBEAC
Liberalism in Between Europe and China

    WORKSHOP ON

SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND LEGAL PERSPECTIVE ON CHINESE –POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC – LIBERALISM TODAY

held at
Peking University, School of Government, Center for European Studies (China)

                                    Time: Morning, 8 Aug. 2014
                               
                      Beijing, China

8:00 - 8:30 Registration

8:30  Welcoming speeches

8:30 – 8:40
Addressing – Paolo Davide FARAH, West Virginia University (WV, USA), LIBEAC Legal Work-package Leader & Research Unit Coordinator at University Institute of European Studies – IUSE (Italy), gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom)

Addressing – Jean-Yves HEURTEBISE, LIBEAC Vice-coordinator at Aix-Marseille University, CEPERC - Research Center for Comparative Epistemology and Ergology (France); FuJen Catholic University (Taipei), Department of French Language and Culture; Kozmetsky Global Collaboratory in Stanford University (KGC, USA)

SESSION ONE

Chair and Moderator: Paolo Davide FARAH, LIBEAC Legal Work-package Leader & Research Unit Coordinator at University Institute of European Studies – IUSE (Italy)

8:45 – 9:25

LI Qiang, Assistant to the President, Peking University, School of Government,  Center for European Studies (China), LIBEAC Research Unit Coordinator at Peking University

The Influence of Liberalism in China

9:25 – 9:40  Discussants of the Paper – Vanessa KOPEC, Aix-Marseille University, CEPERC - Research Center for Comparative Epistemology and Ergology (France) & EU Commission Marie Fellow

Questions and Answers

9:40 – 10:20 Cui Zhiyuan, Tsinghua University, School of Public Policy and Management; LIBEAC Research Unit Coordinator at Tsinghua University, School of Public Policy and Management

Understanding Xi Jiping's Grand Strategy".

10:20 – 10:35 Discussants of the Paper – Jean-Yves HEURTEBISE, FuJen Catholic University (Taipei), Department of French Language and Culture; LIBEAC Vice-coordinator at Aix-Marseille University, CEPERC - Research Center for Comparative Epistemology and Ergology (France); Kozmetsky Global Collaboratory in Stanford University (KGC, USA)

10:35 – 11:05 ZHU Tianbiao, Peking University, School of Government

Neoliberalism and China’s Compressed Development

11:05 – 11:20  Discussant of the Paper - Paolo Davide FARAH, LIBEAC Legal Work-package Leader & Research Unit Coordinator at University Institute of European Studies – IUSE (Italy)

11:20 - 11:40  Zhang Xiang, Tsinghua University, School of Public Policy and Management

K’ang Yu-wei's Thoughts about the Problem of the Relationship of Politics and Religion

11:40 – 12:00 Roundtable Questions & Answers

12:00 – 12:15 Break




Chair and Moderator: ZHU Tianbiao, Professor of Peking University, School of Government

12:15 – 12:30
Paolo Davide FARAH, West Virginia University (WV, USA), LIBEAC Legal Work-package Leader & Research Unit Coordinator at University Institute of European Studies – IUSE (Italy), gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom)

Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalization and Liberalism toward Social, Economic, Environmental and Cultural Rights

12:30 – 12:45
Jean-Yves HEURTEBISE, FuJen Catholic University (Taipei), Department of French Language and Culture; Aix-Marseille University, CEPERC - Research Center for Comparative Epistemology and Ergology (France); Kozmetsky Global Collaboratory in Stanford University (KGC, USA)

The future of Chinese liberalism and the limits of Developmentalism

12:45 – 13:00
Fernando DIAS SIMOES, University of Macau, Faculty of Law (China) & Member of the Scientific Committee of gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom)

From Civic Behaviour to Environmental Citizenship

13:00 – 13:15
Round Table Discussion with all the participants

LI Qiang, Assistant to the President and Professor of Peking University, School of Government,  Director of the Center for European Studies (China), LIBEAC Research Unit Coordinator at Peking University

Vanessa KOPEC, Aix-Marseille University, CEPERC - Research Center for Comparative Epistemology and Ergology (France) & EU Commission Marie Fellow

ZHU Tianbiao, Professor of Peking University, School of Government

Jean-Yves HEURTEBISE, FuJen Catholic University (Taipei), Department of French Language and Culture; LIBEAC Vice-coordinator at Aix-Marseille University, CEPERC - Research Center for Comparative Epistemology and Ergology (France); Kozmetsky Global Collaboratory in Stanford University (KGC, USA)

Paolo Davide FARAH, West Virginia University (WV, USA), LIBEAC Legal Work-package Leader & Research Unit Coordinator at University Institute of European Studies – IUSE (Italy), gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom)

Fernando DIAS SIMOES, University of Macau, Faculty of Law (China) & Member of the Scientific Committee of gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom)


The event is organized by gLAWcal – Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom) in collaboration with the following beneficiaries  and partner institutions of the European Union Research Executive Agency IRSES Project “Liberalism in Between Europe And China” (LIBEAC) coordinated by Aix-Marseille University (CEPERC): University Institute of European Studies (IUSE) in Turin, Italy and the University of Piemonte Orientale, Novara, Italy Peking University, School of Government, Center for European Studies (China), Tsinghua University, Department of Philosophy (China). Workpackages 2 and 4

As part of the gLAWcal - Global Law Initiatives for Sustainable Development (United Kingdom) results and book series, a book was published CHINA’S INFLUENCE ON NON-TRADE CONCERNS IN INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC LAW, Climate Change, Sustainable Development, Protection of Environment, Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, Labour Rights, Public Health, Food and Product Safety, Global Law and Sustainable Development Book Series, Routledge Publishing (London/New-York), September 2016, pp. 1-584 TO DOWNLOAD FRONT AND BACK COVER, TABLE OF CONTENTS, INTRODUCTION OF THE BOOK, FOREWORDS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS, PLEASE SEE THE FOLLOWING LINK: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2876883 To purchase the book, you can refer to the publisher website: https://www.routledge.com/Chinas-Influence-on-Non-Trade-Concerns-in-International-Economic-Law/Farah-Cima/p/book/9781409448488

This paper critically examines the materialism that Gilles Deleuze espouses in his oeuvre to the benefit of educational theory. In Difference and Repetition, he presented transcendental empiricism by underwriting Kant with realism (Deleuze, 1994). Later, in Capitalism & Schizophrenia I & II that were co-written with Félix Guattari (1984, 1988) and that they named Anti-Oedipus and A Thousand Plateaus, Deleuze's philosophical approach is realigned into what I term here as transcendental materialism, and latterly as immanent materialism; that I claim effectively eliminate phenomenology as perceptual input. This essay takes this transformation seriously as a way of understanding educational data, research and practices. The proposition that is central to this paper is that transcendental and immanent materialism give us a means of dealing with educational phenomena without the interference of perception or a stable category of experience, by connecting data with theory and circumventing subjectification. It is argued that this proposition has important consequences for educational research, and the construction of educational arguments that will be illustrated in this essay. Deleuze's debt to French Marxism and in particular to the work of Louis Althusser are also recognised through this writing.

Me hizo llegar amablemente la Editorial Encuentro este libro de mi colega Francisco José Contreras, Catedrático de Filosofía del Derecho de la Universidad de Sevilla. Tras su lectura, resulta casi forzoso elaborar una breve recensión del mismo, con el fin de participar a otros potenciales lectores de este magnífico trabajo, en el que se reflexiona con rigor y agudeza sobre cuestiones del siempre difícil y polémico sector en el que se entrecruzan el Derecho, la Política y la Religión; no es fácil abordar con éxito una reflexión así, sin un conocimiento profundo y exhaustivo de las corrientes de pensamiento, las opiniones, tendencias y presupuestos imprescindibles para entender los problemas y, sobre todo, apuntar a las soluciones. El profesor Contreras supera el reto muy satisfactoriamente, en cierta línea de continuidad con su anterior libro Nueva Izquierda y Cristianismo, en la misma editorial, publicado en 2011 con Diego Poole, profesor de Filosofía del Derecho en la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos.

A doctrine with roots in eighteenth century thought, liberalism emerged in the nineteenth century as the prevailing ideology of Western capitalist societies and democracies. Philosophically, liberalism consists of a commitment to the ideals of equality, liberty, individuality, and rationality. However, liberals have divided over their social and political implications. Some liberals have believed these values to be inscribed within the very fabric of modern societies, reflecting the innovative technologies, social differentiation and free movement of labor, goods, and capital characteristic of the commercial and industrial age and its aftermath. Others have thought the links between the two are fortuitous and contingent, and that these and other related social changes, such as the growth of bureaucracy, potentially threaten liberalism. Politically united against traditional and hierarchical societies, liberals have differed, therefore, over whether liberalism requires various kinds of political support, such as the state regulation of markets, or merely the absence of any interference by either the state or others to the spontaneous and autonomous social activities of individuals. Meanwhile, critics of liberalism have either blamed it for all contemporary social ills or regarded it as a transitory phase to be replaced by superior forms of social organisation. However, contemporary liberals seem increasingly critics themselves of the inequality and abuse of rights found in modern societies, although how far their proposals can be made a reality remains uncertain.