Political Theory: Archives

[Jul 31] From Ghana, on state funding of political parties. More on the Berkeley study of conservativism and liberals' use of language. Julian Baggini on grassing up a dictator. What would Democrats have done? Maybe fight back, since "we're all in this together"? Or does anything matter anymore? Lula on not ditching our dreams. If we cared to, we could defeat world poverty. A comment on Iraq's first opinion poll. The Anglican Church faces a schism. B&W on science and religion, and is there something wrong with humanism? Why Diana is as good a god as any. Are economists dull? No, just listen to this

[Jul 30] From Mongolia, concern over civil liberties. From Romania, the return of private property is taking a long time. From Armenia, a land of medieval vendettas. Needed: a sociologist who understands economics. From the NYT, on foreign aid and public policy, on structuring fair elections, and why your drive for knowledge is really all about sex. You are benevolent only because it makes you live longer. Some advice for Republicans and for Democrats. Are we afraid of the wrong things? Bush is a radical with a plan. On liberal code words. George Soros: "We deserve the truth" (and an ad). And Martha Stewart sold "yellow cake" to Iraq!

[Jul 29] From Finland, a new prime minister. From Russia, on an anti - social contract. On the contributions of economist Charles Kindleberger and journalist Lou Rotterman. A review of books on Emerson. Researchers at Berkeley help define what makes a political conservative (and two responses). On sexuality on TV, and remembering trauma. An NBER report on how social security causes early retirement. "All leaders are warriors. Mankind survives by its warriors." TCS on education and mandatory libertarianism. And did you hear the one about the politically correct American?

[Jul 28] From Japan, on parties and political choices. From Nigeria, is President Obasanjo taking the country for granted? On distributive justice and shariat. Republicans don't know what to do with Pat Robertson. A report on religious freedom in América. Why fiends die the way the do. You say Latino, I say Chicano... Latino, Chicano, Hispanoooo! On the Middle East's little secret. Is democracy going awry in California? And do too many candidates spoil a ballot? Why self - government and journalism will rise or fall together. If Blair is potty, Berlusconi is pottier. Why American culture is like a glass of beer. And how to get your name in a newspaper column

[Jul 25] From South Asia, on the status of Sikkim. From Bosnia, an intellectual Raj. Stanley Fish on the road map to the White House. Building a market democracy in Iraq. Michael Novak has a recipe for a civilization of love. On poaching star-status professors from other universities. Can we think our way out of any difficulty? On human value and euthanasia. President Bush honors Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients. On the difference between "values" and "lifestyle". Edward Said on imperial perspectives. And can you be a political theorist and still be a "bar babe"?

[Jul 24] From Belgium, only sport and royalty unite the Flemish and the Walloon. A report on a very Italian affair. "There just aren’t too many oxen running around goring people these days." On Idi Amin as a muse and tragicomic hero. Is it mad to want Blair to go? More on liberal bias--this time in college textbooks. On being pigeonholed: Just check the box, ma'am. A letter to the News Gleaner on Marx. And remember, St. Paul was a philosopher in his own right

[Jul 23] From Iraq, Saddam Hussein's sons are killed in a firefight with US troops. Does it mean an end to attacks? From Ghana, public disaffection with Jerry Rawlings. On what political scientists call 'stake-holding'. The deficit is big, but is it bad? Relax! More on Brother Robertson's prayer offensive: It is unwise to provoke God. On Voltaire and sex... lots of sex. Why Andy Rooney was right about college graduates. Nickled and dimed at Chapel Hill. The rise of existentialism in a primitive society. Be a yokel, buy local. On the fine print in corporate America. And not sounding pedantic, but oozing goo

[Jul 22] From Russia, are Russians no longer needed in the Middle East? From the Czech Republic, finding freedom and losing religion. On being hapless slaves to the dollar. Bush Launches Magazine To Teach Young Arabs To Love America. How Ruth Benedict helped rebuild Japan after WWII. Philosophy is fine, but fight over tree may need a lawyer. On new-yet-old ideas about the soul. On one man's mission to save farmland wildlife. And why Bush should have clicked on stratfor.com

[Jul 21] From Nepal, on political complexity in South Asia. From India, PM Vajpayee on dogmatism and development. From Switzerland, youth drawn to extremist politics. On an austrian-objectivist paradigm. What is the optimum number of economists a country should have? Marcuse goes back to Berlin. Never again?: A 9/11 toll, every day for 666 days. A lesson in rent-seeking. Are you, or have you ever been, an activist? A purple patch from Eric Hobsbawm. Surely Santa Monica never had a worse day. And on the Phenomenology of Harry, or the Critique of Pure Potter

[Jul 18] The Politics of Sex and Gender: From Nigeria, on sexual education and AIDS. Womb - transplant baby may be possible within three years. Pat Robertson on a 'prayer offensive' against the Supreme Court. On the workings of a university rape club. Here are ten myths about boys. On the perils of multiple choice in dating. Metrosexuals reach India. Mark Morford calls all annoying virgins. The bimbette is always in search of a rich husband. "When a man opens a door for me, I make sure he gets a big smile and a hearty thank you..." And meet Sexual - Harassment Panda

[Jul 17] From Sao Tome, a military coup topples the government. From Malaysia, are Muslims just not using their intellect? A group of CIA veterans call for Cheney's resignation. Norway takes aim at the glass ceiling (some call it fascism). On Mandela's favorite folktales. "The Third Way? No way!" Mona Charen on education. Why hate is a useless emotion. On charges of me-tooism. How do the US and Europe complement each other? Or is their religious divide too wide? On identity politics in the Middle East. And suggestions for summer reading (and part 2)

[Jul 16] From Colombia, the government starts peace talks with rebels. From Pakistan, on equality and democracy. On interventionism, Kant, and uniform principles. Can you find meaning in genes? Why Spain is still the Muslims' friend. On fundamentalism, Christian and Islamic. Obituary: A sociologist of intellectuals. Can you be progressive without progress? On the power of the presidency and language. And purple patches from Ernest Gellner, and E. P. Thompson

[Jul 31] The American Lawyer checks our balances. From The Cato Institute, on 'scripting' Iraq's future, and on Justice Kennedy's libertarian revolution. A book to shame the West: On the exploitation of female workers. Robert Schiller on democratizing capitalism. What Democrats can learn from Tony Blair. From New Internationalist, a report on corporate crimes. 3am magazine interviews cyber-punk economist Diane Coyle and radical utopian Joel Schalit. A review of How Scientific Practices Matter and a review of The Phenomenology Reader. Which way to the Revolution: Anarchism or Socialism? And science is civilization's ally (that's a problem)

[Jul 30] A review of A History of Philosophy in America 1720 - 2000. From The Voice of the Turtle, on two struggles with one purpose, and on the Left's unspoken cultural chauvinism. Why cross-border terrorism is a mess made by the West. An interview with Gilbert Achcar on the clash of barbarisms.The Clash of Civilizations as the politics of oxymoron. Benjamin Friedman on Bush's deficits, and Jonathan Rauch on how Bush is similar to FDR. William Galston responds to Posner's essay "An Army of the Willing." A review of Humanitarian Intervention: Ethical, Legal, and Political Dilemmas and a review of Rehnquist Justice. And reclaim the state! A warning to the old world order

[Jul 29] A new issue of New Perspectives Quarterly is out, with articles by Paul Kennedy on Europe and the US, Boutros - Ghali on the United Nations, and a discussion on the world economy with Arrow, Becker and Sholes. The American Prospect on The West Wing and Gang Green. A review of Richard Kearney's Strangers, Gods and Monsters. Michael Dirda reviews Fortunes of History, Anne Applebaum reviews Treason, and Michael Kazin reviews Interesting Times. And from UK's Prospect, on John Gray's philosophy of pessimism, on Anglo-Saxon capitalism, and on the American contract

[Jul 28] It's all political at Yale University. On American vs. British philosophy. What science can and cannot tell you about risk. American businesses meet their match--in the EU. The Ford Foundation as a fund for the Left. On the sensibility of history writing. With Amartya Sen, it's some economics, some altruism. On Supreme Court independence, by the numbers. Why history on TV is a mixed blessing (and a review of Simon Schama's new book). Theodore Dalrymple on public choice. Why "Descartes and his boys" couldn’t solve the mind-body problem. Anti - Catholic bigotry is on the rise, even among Catholics. And Joanne O'Rourke is not a frazzled agnostic at a stress-reduction clinic

[Jul 25] A review of Thomas Nagel's Concealment and Exposure and Other Essays. On tribal warfare and modernization. From This Magazine, you may need a 12-step program if you're an economist, and do negative campaign ads actually boost turnout? Gridlock is a great leveler: On cars and culture. On the use of the word "freedom". From Adbusters, on choiceless democracy, a deadly obsession with domesticated reason, and Richard Falk on early signs of fascism in the US. On the different types of conservativism in Canada. And on the dirty little secret about spam

[Jul 24] From Infoshop, what is to be done, and redone; on the long road to peace in Aceh; defining a dialogue of revolution; an interview with Noam Chomsky; on class, colonialism and the Zapatistas; an analysis of the group Anti - Racist Action; and on teaching sexuality. From Tech Central Station, on a new kind of class struggle; on Hillaria and Miltonia in the US; Martin Gardner as an eclectic skeptic; a primer on social security (and a response); and how do science and the GOP mix?

[Jul 23] A new issue of City Journal is out, including articles on compassion vs. pity, labor and the university, and hip-hop and blacks. Karen Armstrong writes in Peacework about faith and freedom. Free to Do What? Emancipation is reconsidered. Why governments, not extremists, are the real threats in Central Asia. From Governing magazine, on devolution's double standard. Julian Baggini on the fallacies of democracy. From National Review, can conservatives dream of a better world? On subsidizing anti-American bias. Why the UN succeeds despite right-wing attacks. And disinformation lessons on Italian futurism and fascism and fathers of anarchy

[Jul 22] On capitalism's dissatisfied customers. More on whiteness studies. Salon interviews Todd Gitlin. On the problems with social capital. Europe confronts a profound dilemma. Two questions: "Can you force people to love freedom?", and "Is the West too civilized?" The Economist on solving the world's water problems. A profile of Conor Cruise O'Brien. A short history of the volunteer army. How the Supreme Court relied on historical evidence in Lawrence. And the Republicrat Axis of Evil is a cancer killing the United States

[Jul 21] Reviews of books on Husserl and Collingwood. Zizek on canned laughter. Todd Gitlin on keeping the global ideal alive. From Open Democracy, an alarm-call for Europe, and a realizable utopia in an African village. Did Lincoln violate the Constitution? A new issue of Newtopia is out, including an article on liberalism and literature. A profile of Mary Warnock, practical philosopher. Michael Shermer on humanity's heart of darkness. A review of books on genetics and human nature. Richard Brookhiser on France and the US. On the debate over European patriotism. And Rock 101: Academia tunes in

[Jul 18] The Politics of Sex and Gender: Erica Jong on the zipless fallacy (and a profile). Is it a good idea to exclude men from sport? A marriage that dares not speak its name. From Transitions, how 'Otherness' is simply too frightening a concept in Serbia, contraception catches on in Russia, and on empowering Romani women all across Eastern Europe. How Third World women leave their children to take care of First World children. How sex tourism can be an economic aid. On motherhood's last taboo. Harvard presents an exhibition on cross-dressing. On sex among the zombies. And a purple patch: Francis Bacon on love

[Jul 17] What does freedom really mean? From the Fourth International, a resolution on the war, the political economy of American militarism (and part 2), and Berlusconi and Europe. On the West Point honor system. Meet Latin America's George W. Bush. What does Hindutva have in common with fascism? An interview with a Tajik development minister. From In Motion, opening up the canon, on democracy and food distribution, and on democracy at the international level. Why environmentalists should be careful what they wish for. And how much disobedience constitutes schism?

[Jul 16] Skip Gates rebuilds Af-Am department at Harvard. How campus censors squelch freedom of speech. On the emotions and choice. From Utne, life as a smorgasbord (with a critique), bucking economic greed, and is lucre really that filthy? On the history of Iran's People's Mojahedin. The introduction to Arthur Mitzman's Prometheus Revisited. On the ICC as an evil institution. The WINEP as a pro-Sharon think tank. Is a world parliament just a pipe dream? And on the art of being gay

[more]

[Jul 31] Larry Diamond (Stanford): How People View Democracy: Findings from Public Opinion Surveys in Four Regions. Robert Cooter (UC - Berkeley): Do Good Laws Make Good Citizens? An Economic Analysis of Internalizing Legal Values pdf. Carol Mukhopadhyay and Rosemary C. Henze (SJSU): Using Anthropology to Make Sense of Human Diversity. Dick Stanley: It Takes Two to Bowl: Untangling concepts of social cohesion and social capital pdf. A. C. Grayling on The Place of Drugs in the Good Society. And from The Ethical Spectacle, an essay on electoral arithmetic and third parties

[Jul 30] Two Political Methodology Working Papers: Nathaniel Beck and Kristian Gleditsch (UCSD): Space is More than Geography pdf and Charles Himmelberg and Gregory Wawro (Columbia): Is All Politics and Economics Local? National Elections and Local Economic Conditions pdf. The introduction to Robert Hazell's The State and the Nations, a book on devolution in the UK pdf. Read Matthew Yglesias' undergrad thesis, Truth, Justice, and the Political Way pdf (check out his blog, too). On Men Without Chests: A purple patch from Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man. And an excerpt from The Hipster Handbook

[Jul 29] On Catholic politics: National Review on a necessary amendment regarding gay marriage, and Michael Novak on the US and Europe (and part 2 and part 3). From First Things, reviews of Waldron's Locke and a book on Western Civilization, the rise and fall of secularism, and Justice Stevens' religion problem. On the GOP's New Deal. Which political ideology joins Trotsky, Stain and Hitler all together in one package? On conservatism and Catholicism, and the moral coherence of the Catholic politician. And Christians call Barbara Ehrenreich the Antichrist of North Carolina

[Jul 28] On Education, Publishing and Politics: From the AAC&U's Peer Review, Educating for Citizenship, and Learning Civic Engagement without Diversity? From the ALA's Choice, The Long, Slow Death of the Scholarly Monograph, and A Renewal of Purpose: The University Press in Context. Would you like to know how the book review system works? And from the Guardian, articles on students paying their own way, education and the welfare state, contested judgments about the past, learning from Britain's history of radicalism, homophobia in higher education, a profile of David Sloan Wilson, and a seal drags a scientist to her death

[Jul 25] From the Discourse Theory and Social Analysis conference in Brussels (December 2001), discussion papers on discourse and feminism, and discourse and post-Marxism pdf. A review of Joan Landes' Feminism, the Public and the Private. A review of John Wilson's The Myth of Political Correctness: The Conservative Attack on Higher Education. The reluctant manifesto of James Comas (Missouri). And the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 report is out

[Jul 24] From the XIVth World Congress of Sociology (Montreal, 1998), Immanuel Wallerstein's Presidential Address, The Heritage of Sociology, The Promise of Social Science: The Heritage, the Challenges, and Perspectives. From the Gulbenkian Commission on the Restructuring of the Social Sciences (Lisbon, 1994), Richard Lee, Social Science Knowledge: A Report on Institutionalization. And why progress is possible, but certainly not inevitable

[Jul 23] On Academia: From Salon, on the Free Research Movement as a scientific revolution. Why original ideas are messy in textbook writing. A case for engaged intellectual work. On simplifying academic hierarchy. On fashionable nonsense and elitism. "All you need do is tell me what I want to hear..." On jargon and illiteracy and utilitarian education in the UK. Students challenge the economic orthodoxy. From the APA, an issue of Questions: Philosophy for Young People on human rights pdf. And Re HNN: On the perversion of history, feeling out of place, or are things worse than you think?

[Jul 22] Milan Zafirovski (North Texas): Human Rational Behavior and Economic Rationality. Markus Haller (Geneve): Edmund Burke's Moral Traditionalism pdf. Two Issues of Forum: Qualitative Social Research on the theme Subjectivity and Reflexivity in Qualitative Research (and part 2). From New Left Review, Susan Willis on Empire's Shadow. An excerpt from Chapter 11 of Francis Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live? And an essay by H. L. Mencken on Thorstein Veblen

[Jul 21] Glyn Morgan (Harvard): Hayek, Habermas, and European Integration pdf. Nadejda Stahovski: On Structural and Functional Status of Culture in the Social System. From Democracy & Nature, Takis Fotopoulos on (mis)education and Paideia. From Harbinger, on the evolution of first and second nature, economics in a social-ecological society, and Murray Bookchin on the communalist project. From American Diplomacy, a series of articles assessing the presidency of George W. Bush at midpoint. And on history as a postcolonial dilemma

[Jul 18] The Politics of Sex and Gender: Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick (Duke): Gender Criticism: What isn't Gender. The introduction to Jane Freedman's Feminism pdf. From Sex Roles, an essay on Graduate students' relationships with their male and female major professors. An student essay on the sex-gender distinction pdf. From On The Issues, How Orgasm Politics Has Hijacked the Women's Movement (and gay and lesbian views). From Harper's, who needs men? Opposing views on decline of men in US society. And "Dear Freud, how can I tell when I'm on a date? -Only retroactively..."

[Jul 17] David Brian Robertson (Missouri - St. Louis): The Politics of History's Return to Political Science pdf. Kenneth Bruffee (CUNY-Brooklyn): The Common Ground: Beyond Cultural Identity pdf. A Critique of Hardt and Negri's Empire: Barbarians: the disordered insurgence. Linda Racioppi and Colleen Tremonte (MSU): Literature and International Relations: The Challenges of Interdisciplinarity. The Dartmouth Contemporary interviews Richard Rorty. And ZNet presents a debate about Marxism between Michael Albert (Parecon) and Alan Maass (ISO)

[Jul 16] Lisa Wedeen (Chicago): Beyond the Crusades: Why Samuel Huntington (and Bin Ladin) are Wrong. From Open Democracy, twenty theses for a democratic theory of the state, and what should the WSF be when it grows up? A student on Kosovo and the Evolution of State Sovereignty. An interview with archeologist Timothy Taylor, on how humans invented death. Philosophy for All: On the work of C. E. M. Joad. And on "customers" and "markets" as the cuss words of academe

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