bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Our (Im)Perfect Constitution
Authors: Graber Mark A.
Published: August 2009

This article explores an attitude which I call perfect constitutionalism. Perfect constitutionalists believe that, properly interpreted, the Constitution requires that our society conform to the best principles of human governance. This belief that the Constitution is nearly flawless not only underlies the so-called fundamental values strand of constitutional thought but also those strands of constitutional argument based on conceptions of the democratic process or the original intentions of the framers. Unfortunately, empirical and theoretical problems result when constitutional theory is reduced to political philosophy. In order to overcome these problems we need to essay a different interpretive approach, one which I call imperfect constitutionalism. Imperfect constitutionalism emphasizes the value of constitutions, even ones that might be improved in many ways.
The Human Prospect as Seen in The Review of Politics; 1939–1992: A Sesquicentennial Reflection
Authors: Fitzsimons M. A.
Published: August 2009

The founding editors of The Review were at one in proclaiming that their journal was devoted to the philosophical and historical approach to political realities. The labors and fads of half a century have made the motto suspect for the arrogant simplicity of its common sense. One may, nevertheless, ask: what do you call that which is there? Or is reality like Gertrude Stein's Oakland, with no “there” there? And are our words the conveyances of nothing but emotional sounds?
Are Three Generations of Radicals Enough? Self-Critique in the Novels of Tess Slesinger, Mary McCarthy and Marge Piercy
Authors: Abbott Philip
Published: August 2009

Three novels by Tess Slesinger, Mary McCarthy and Marge Piercy respectively can inform us about American radical movements and perhaps radicalism in general. Each work is a radical self-critique written by political participants who assess their generation's radical experiment and its failure. I argue that there are two sets of arguments common to each critique, one related to the failure of radical imagination and one feminist, and that there is a “submerged” third critique that can be drawn from each narrative. It is from the later submerged critique that we can learn the most about the successive failures of American radicalism.
The Limits of Constitutional Government: Reflections toward the Conclusion of the Bicentennial Celebration of Our Constitution
Authors: Sorenson Leonard R.
Published: August 2009

As our Bicentennial celebration of our Constitution approaches its conclusion, one is struck with what can only be called wonder by the extent of the diversity among the celebrants. There seems to be at least general agreement that we are celebrating the Constitution because it establishes by a variety of means limited government. However, in this essay I show that there is vast disagreement on the precise meaning or fundamental mark of limited government. I identify the various definitions and defenses of limited government that can be derived from our Constitution and proceed to unveil their contradictory assumptions and implications. I then proceed to present our original and fundamental definition and defense of limited government as proposed by Publius in the Federalist Papers and to explore two questions: first, whether that definition is compatible with the other limiting features of the Constitution; and, second, whether that definition can render those diverse limiting features mutually coherent.
The Social Nature of Autonomy
Authors: Crittenden Jack
Published: August 2009

Critics of liberalism and even some liberal theorists themselves have criticized a liberal emphasis on autonomy, because they associate autonomy with self sufficiency. That association reinforces the worst aspects of atomistic individualism: social isolation, insulation from the views of others, and a rejection of society's values and interests. But the association of autonomy with self-sufficiency is uncalled for; those who see that association are mistaken, for self-sufficiency represents not a fulfillment of autonomy but the abandonment of it. Autonomy, it is argued, has a social nature: It not only develops through sociality, but it also requires sociality for its exercise. In short, to be autonomous one must know one is autonomous; to know one is autonomous requires giving an account to others of the reasons for a decision or action. The social nature of autonomy may incline theorists to see persons as communitarian or socially situated selves. But communitarians such as Charles Taylor find the self defined in part by communal boundaries and thus see them as context-dependent. Autonomy is bounded by language, not community. It is both context-free and context-related, but not context-dependent. Liberal theorists who champion autonomy should therefore abandon any notions of selves as social atoms or isolates and build liberalism on the implications of autonomy's social nature. Part of those implications is that social institutions that foster and exercise autonomy must involve dialogue or communicative exchange. The most important and effective institutions of that kind are those of direct democracy.
Jacob Burckhardt: The Cultural Historian as Political Thinker
Authors: Sigurdson Richard F.
Published: August 2009

This article argues, contrary to the analyses of many scholars, that the political thought of the nineteenth-century Swiss cultural historian Jacob Burckhardt is neither frivolous nor irrelevant. More specifically, this essay combines biographical information about Burckhardt with an analysis of his major writings in order to challenge the notion that Burckhardt was simply a cultural historian and not a serious political thinker. The central teaching of Burckhardt's life is that the intellectual in mass society can best serve the community, not by direct political participation, but by working for the intellectual, aesthetic, and moral cultivation of the individual. The central teachings of his political writings are that “great men” often rule but unjustly, that successful leaders approach politics as a “work of art” and master the devices necessary to shape their subjects, that culture should not be subordinated to the state, and finally that individualism, class conflict, mass democracy, and the erosion of culture are both unfortunate and inevitable aspects of modernity.
Marx on the Peasantry: Class in Itself or Class in Struggle?
Authors: Katz Claudio J.
Published: August 2009

Despite its centrality to his work, Marx never offered a systematic analysis of the concept of class, leaving his interpreters to distill its meaning from his historical writings. Marx's usage of the term gave rise to a controversy over the respective roles played by objective conditions and subjective experiences in his definition of class. In one view, Marx defined class exclusively in structural terms by reference to the position of its members within the economy; in another, he incorporated their cultural traditions and consciousness into his definition of class. This article assesses this debate in light of Marx's studies of the nineteenth century French peasantry. Although one of the passages most often cited to illustrate Marx's notion of class concerns the peasants, his writings on the peasantry have received scant attention. I shall argue that these writings recommend against the structural reading in favor of the view that Marx assigned equal weight to objective and subjective determinations in his conception of class.
Imaging God and His Kingdom: Eastern Orthodoxy's Iconic Political Ethic
Authors: Koyzis David T.
Published: August 2009

Though little understood in the Western world, the Eastern Orthodox tradition of Christianity has a distinctive approach to politics which might well be labelled “iconic.” Based on the belief that God's kingdom is capable of having an earthly manifestation, and that the Christian empire is in some sense the image of God's omnipotent rule in the heavens, this iconic ethic has often contributed to a tradition of political absolutism in those countries shaped by Orthodox beliefs. However, more recent reflection, which sees human society as image of the Triune God himself, could serve to shape an approach which is conducive to more participatory political arrangements.
Common Law and Constitutionalism in the Abortion Case
Authors: Stoner James R.
Published: August 2009

The Supreme Court's 1992 abortion decision, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, an the Due Process liberty cases of which it is among the most recent, can be fully understood only by attention to the often-neglected common law dimension of American constitutionalism. The fracture on the Court in this line of cases follows a severing of two elements of common law adjudication: the rule of precedent, on the one hand, and the authority of tradition, on the other. The authors of the joint opinion in Casey craft a rationalized rule of precedent in the manner of the modern reinterpreters of the common law, such as Justices Holmes and Cardozo. The dissenters, by contrast, here and in related cases, seek to recover the legal status of tradition in constitutional interpretation.
Courts, Agencies, and Congressional Committees: A Neo-Institutional Perspective
Authors: Miller Mark C.
Published: August 2009

Based on over 75 personal interviews with members of Congress and their staffs, this article examines how three House authorization committees differ in their reactions to federal court decisions versus their reactions to federal agency decisions. In general, Congress holds the courts in higher esteem than it does the agencies. The courts are generally seen as less political than the agencies, and committee reactions to court decisions are seen as much more unusual than reactions to agency decisions. The attitudes of the three committees toward decisions of the other institutions vary in ways consonant with their institutional roles, the committees' political cultures, and the primary goals of the committee members. The domination of lawyer members on the policy oriented Judiciary Committee results in that committee being the most deferential to the courts. The constituency focused Interior Committee is oriented to local interests and members' reelection goals, and it responds to the courts or to agencies only when constituency pressures force it to do so. The power oriented Energy and Commerce Committee treats the courts and the agencies just like any other political actors.
Subsidies, Strings, and the Courts: Judicial Action and Conditional Federal Spending
Authors: Jensen Laura S.
Published: August 2009

The ability to attach conditions to federal financial aid has contributed significantly to the establishment of federal hegemony in policymaking, allowing Congress and the executive branch to exact from those dependent upon government largesse behavior which could not be compelled through direct legislation. While questions concerning the legitimacy of conditional spending in our federal system are properly directed to the courts, problems inherent in the judicial review of allocational decisions make constitutional challenges of the national spending power no more likely to succeed in the future than they have in the past. Thus, for all practical purposes, the balance of power between levels of government as well as the rights of individual citizens may be permanently impaired.
Conversation and Moderate Virtue in Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments
Authors: Clark Henry C.
Published: August 2009

Adam Smith's adaptation of the classical tradition of moral philosophy constitutes an important attempt to shape the language of the virtues to the conditions of commercial society. An overlooked avenue to understanding his enterprise is his analysis of the practice of daily conversation, both as a medium of moral knowledge and as a source of the sorts of virtues possible in commercial society. In his attempt to answer the challenge of egoistic, “licentious” philosophers such as Bernard Mandeville—whose notion of “private vices, public benefits” typified the then-fashionable argument that modern society is held together not by virtues, but by the mutual satisfaction of interests—Smith drew on a combination of natural law theory and Scottish sociology to fashion a conception of moderate virtue that could harmonize prudence and benevolence, as well as the “masculine” virtues of self-command and the “feminine” virtues of humanity, in ways consonant with the character of daily interactions in a modern society.
The Supreme Court and Political Eras: A Perspective on Judicial Power in a Democratic Polity
Authors: Taylor John B.
Published: August 2009

American political history is often conceived as a series of stable eras, controlled by dominant party coalitions and demarcated by realigning elections, most often identified as those of 1828, 1860, 1896, and 1932. Since there is a lag in the corresponding reconstitution of the Supreme Court, it is often deemed a countermajoritarian drag on the workings of electoral democracy. An examination of judicial review in relation to political eras shows that view to be correct only in the New Deal era. Judicial review most commonly occurs within eras rather than across them, with a Court reconstituted by the prevailing coalition negating legislation passed by that coalition. This reality significantly alters the normative question of the Court's role in a democracy, and it raises questions about the concept of stable eras. The current trend of political party dealignment calls into question the continuing validity of the critical-elections approach.
The Puzzle of the Political Animal: Nature and Artifice in Aristotle's Political Theory
Authors: Nederman Cary J.
Published: August 2009

Several recent scholars have raised afresh the question of what Aristotle meant inPolitics1 by the statement that men are “by nature” political, that is, are political animals. This article addresses this quandary by reference to Aristotle's psychology and his notion of political education. It is argued that by concentrating on Aristotle's theory of human locomotion and its implications for moral choice, we may identify the relation he conceived between the polis and human nature. Specifically, the ability of humans to live according to their natures requires the systematic education afforded by the laws and institutions of the polis.
Of Pongos and Men:Orangs-Outangin Rousseau'sDiscourse on Inequality
Authors: Moron Francis
Published: August 2009

Rousseau's concept of human perfectibility and his suggestion that a group of anthropomorphic animals might actually be human beings in a primitive state of nature have led an increasing number of studies to cite hisDiscourseonInequalityfor offering an early version of Darwinian evolution. I argue that a different picture emerges once we examine Rousseau's discussion against the backdrop of eighteenth-century debates on the viability of the chain of being and the possibility of multiple human species. The significance of his speculation has less to do with his special insights on human descent than with the political point to be made were it true. Rousseau usesorangs-outanglike the pongo to construct a viable model for criticizing his contemporary Europe and to defend his claim that the kind of political inequalities associated with late European society do not issue from God or nature but are accidental events in the life of the species.
Why Interpret? Political Justification and American Constitutionalism
Authors: Graber Mark A.
Published: August 2009

This article offers a new understanding of political justification and American constitutionalism. Previous scholarship relies on philosophical justifications of constitutionalism which regard the American Constitution as the blueprint of the good society. Such claims fail to explain why persons should interpret a constitution that does not conform to their conception of political justice. Scholars could offer better reasons for interpreting an imperfect constitution if they placed greater emphasis on two other models of political justification. Institutional justifications of constitutionalism regard Constitutions as standard operating procedures for allocating the resources available for achieving the good society. Social justifications of constitutionalism regard constitutions as compromises among people of fundamentally different views. By combining philosophical, institutional and social perspectives, scholars might strengthen the case for constitutional obedience and provide better foundations for a theory of constitutional interpretation.
Statutory Interpretation and the Balance of Institutional Power
Authors: Silverstein Gordon
Published: August 2009

Rational choice scholars argue that there is no such thing as legislative intent, and that courts should abandon futile efforts to find and enforce that intent. Faced with ambiguous statutes, these scholars suggest judges either actively interpret statutes to achieve the best public policy possible; or they advise the judges to accept a default assumption that congressional ambiguity will be read as implicit delegation of interpretive discretion to the executive branch. Both options pose problems for the American system of separated institutions. Though legislative intent may be impossible to discern, an effort to identify legislative purpose may be critical to assure the maintenance of a balance of institutional power. How that purpose is identified is a problem not only for the Court, but for the legislative institutions responsible for statutory drafting and approval.
Science, Philosophy, and Resistance: On Eric Voegelin's Practice of Opposition
Authors: Heilke Thomas W.
Published: August 2009

When and in what way does it make sense to think of philosophical and scientific activity or simply the act of thinking as acts of resistance to political corruption? This article examines Eric Voegelin's extended answer to that question. Voegelin gradually developed a conception of scientific inquiry that distinguished between science, philosophy, and the wider context within which these activities take place. He showed thereby that scientific inquiry may be a valuable form of political resistance, without its practitioners being fully aware philosophically of what they are doing
Opinion Leadership and the Problem of Executive Power: Woodrow Wilson's Original Position
Authors: Eden Robert
Published: August 2009

This article challenges the received view that Woodrow Wilson provided the intellectual foundation for the subsequent expansion of the executive power of the presidency, by examining how Wilson arrived at his later presidentially centered account of American politics inConstitutional Government. Its focus is a memo that Wilson wrote in December 1885 while preparing an essay on “The Modern Democratic State.” Wilson's objectives in using the executive were determined in large measure by a conception of modern democratic opinion leadership that he had worked out before he entered public life. He correctly sensed that executive power, with its decisionistic bias, posed a serious problem for constitutional self-government. By making it subserve opinion leadership, Wilson meant to remove executive action from the apex of modern constitutional government and thus subordinate executive power to deliberative politics.
Christian Faith, and Religion, in Eric Voegelin's Work
Authors: Niemeyer Gerhart
Published: August 2009

This article examines three important texts in which Eric Voegelin discusses the Christian Faith. While it is true that one finds no personal confession of faith in Voegelin's works, one nevertheless finds there an extraordinary openess to the experiential truth expressed in Christian Symbols.
Totalitarianism and Detotalitarization: The Case of Poland
Authors: Walicki Andrzej
Published: August 2009

The classical theory of totalitarianism provided unequalled insights into the nature of the Stalinist system. Its prevailing interpretation, however, proved grossly inadequate to conceptualize and explain the changes of the post-Stalinist period. Because of this, there appeared a strong tendency to reject the “totalitarian model” and, in addition, to discredit it politically, as serving the aims of the cold war. The present article tries to show that emphasizing the importance of changes did not require a wholesale dismantling of the totalitarian theory. On the contrary: the notion of totalitarianism should be preserved as an ideal-typical construct, adequately explaining the militantly ideological phase in the development of communism; the evolution of the system in its postideological phase should be explained asdetotalitarization, that is, essentially, as a disintegrating process, paving the way for the so-called collapse of communism. The author analyzes the consecutive stages of the detotalitarization process in post-Stalinist Poland and thus explains the collapse of Polish communism not as a sudden, miraculous change, but as the last link in a long chain of events. He rejects the view that Polish People's Republic was “totalitarian to the end” as having no theoretical justification at all—although still being useful in the political struggle against postcommunist forces.
P. R. and Municipal Reform
Authors: Hermens F.A.
Published: August 2009

Treatises on political machines in the United States too often suffer from a lack of historical perspective. Machine government is due to factors peculiar to certain periods in American history, and it is doomed to disappear when its historical basis disintegrates. Since the details of this matter have been discussed previously, let us only review the important phases of the struggle for reform. Between the Civil War and the 1890s political machines—some of which had begun to develop early in the Nineteenth Century—reached the peak of their power; these were “the dark ages of city government”. During the 1890s the reform forces began to wrestle with the “bosses” on even terms; they developed organizations and adopted techniques which helped them to overcome the isolation and the haphazard character of their early efforts. During the 1920s and the 1930s the victories of reform became accentuated; resounding defeats of individual machines recurred, and it looked like the beginning of a rout of the institution. To mention but a few: the Cox-Hynicka machine in Cincinnati fell in 1924; the Maschke machine in Cleveland received blows in the 1920s to which it finally succumbed in the 1930s; in New York, Tammany went down in 1933, and whereas the five reform administrations which New York had witnessed since 1871 all enjoyed only one two-year term each, La Guardia was elected to three four-year terms in succession.
John Marshall's Philosophy of Constitutional Republicanism
Authors: Frisch Morton J.
Published: August 2009

JohnMarshall was modest when he said in Cohens v. Virginia that The Federalist was “a complete commentary” on the American Constitution. His own ventures in constitutional exegesis—highlighted by his interpretations of the commerce and contract clauses and his liberal construction of the implied powers clause—secure his rank as a constitutional commentator and seriously rival the authors of The Federalist. Marshall was, however, operating at a distinct advantage over the influential Hamilton, Madison and Jay, who wrote commentaries on a constitution which was yet to be rendered workable; they composed pamphlets intended to secure acceptance of the proposed government by reluctant states. Such commentaries are bound to have more limited value than decisions meant to accomodate the constitutional instrument to the practical problems of government. Marshall's essential contribution lay in the fact that his expositions of the Constitution, as distinguished from the pamphleteering attempts of The Federalist, imparted momentum to those trends which were eventually responsible for the adjustment of our political institutions to the changing tempo of an industrial technology.
The Trials of Indonesian Democracy
Authors: van der Kroef Justus M.
Published: August 2009

We are beginning to understand,” a Djakarta newspaper editor confided to me last spring, “that this business of democratic government means making allowances for one crisis after another. When we got our freedom from the Dutch we expected perfection, but what we got was a lot of muddling— still it's the best alternative.” An Indonesian University colleague with a record of distinguished leadership in a minor political party asserted: “I think from your point of view it must seem we are creating our own troubles, one on top of the other—but you must admit we try to solve them too.” And a Dutchman, an old Indonesia hand with many service years in estate enterprise repeated to me the judgment of many observers of the present Indonesian scene: “Things here are always hopeless, never serious.” Such views as these are common in the most knowledgeable quarters in the country, even among those whose frequent headshaking about current Indonesian foibles has been apt to cause resentment in Indonesia and alarm abroad.
Theology and the New American Culture: A Problematic Relationship
Authors: Hauerwas Stanley
Published: August 2009

My title calls the relationship of theology and the new American culture “problematic.” That relationship is a problem, I think, on many sides and various levels. The issue involves questions I do not even know how to ask meaningfully, let alone resolve.
Catholicism and Cultural Change in the 1960's
Authors: Gleason Philip
Published: August 2009

Areal cultural shift doesn't happen very often. Skepticism about whether one took place in the 1960's is quite natural, especially in view of the rapidity with which cultural fashions have come and gone in the past 15 years. The New Conservatism had hardly crested before it was succeeded by the End of Ideology, which was displaced with equal speed by the New Left. In the religious sphere, the revival of the early 50's gave way to the Death of God 10 years later. This proved even more ephemeral. With its companion, the Secular City, it was left behind in a welter of new movements—occultism, mysticism, and various forms of millenarian religious revolutionism. Paradoxically, the dizzying pace of change itself seemed to argue that nothing very profound was going on.
The Changing Temper of American Philosophy
Authors: Delaney C. F.
Published: August 2009

When the question of a “new age” is put to a philosopher there are two quite different ways in which he can define the issue and accordingly respond. On the one hand, he might construe his task as that of a clarifier of some general claim about cultural revolutions. From this perspective he would set about the task of analyzing the concept of a cultural revolution in terms of some loose analogue of necessary and sufficient conditions. These criteria having been laid down, he could then make suggestions as to whether or not those conditions obtain which would justify the claim that we are in the midst of such a cultural revolution. On the other hand, he might construe his charge more specifically as that of assessing the present state of his own field to see if something like a shift in perspective is manifest in this narrower domain. In this paper I am going to take the latter tack. I will, first, briefly survey the contemporary scene in philosophy to illustrate the “changing temper” I am to talk about; secondly, locate these phenomena in a broader historical context; and, thirdly, try to get at the reasons underlying the changes on which I am focusing. The major part of the paper will be devoted to the third point.
The Catholic Minority after the Americanist Controversy, 1899–1917: A Survey
Authors: McAvoy Thomas T.
Published: August 2009

ToUnderstand the limited accomplishment of American Catholic intellectual activities in the second half of the twentieth century it is not sufficient to examine the immediate antecedents. The American Catholic history since the beginning of the first World War has, indeed, witnessed important efforts to raise Catholic intellectual activities to the level of traditional European Catholic culture, but these efforts have been handicapped by a bad starting point. The absence of similar efforts during the decades preceding World War I — a period in which Catholic intellectual activities were seriously out of step with the intellectual development of the United States — has much to do with the present mediocre status of Catholic intellectual activities and accomplishments. Unfortunately, the period in Catholic history between the Americanist controversy and the formation of the National Catholic War Council in 1917 has not been seriously studied and consequently its effect on subsequent American life is not fully understood.
Corporatism and Latin American-United States Relations
Authors: Pike Fredrick B.
Published: August 2009

In the latter part of the nineteenth century, as a few republics began to enjoy more prolonged moments of political stability, Latin American leaders developed a mania for economic progress. Under the influence of a heterodox form of positivism and in many instances inclined to emulate United States social and economic models, progress-oriented Latin Americans looked upon classical liberalism and the bourgeois, individualistic, profit ethic as the keys to success. Traditional paternalistic devices were repudiated in the interest of converting all members of society who were capable of the transformation — considerable doubt prevailed as to whether Indians, Blacks and various mixed bloods were capable — into competitive, individualistic capitalists whose success in attaining self-reliance and economic independence would propel their nations onward.
The Philosophy of Gabriel Marcel
Authors: Murchland Bernard G.
Published: August 2009

When Jonathan Swift described the episode of Laputa in his Gulliver's Travels his genius for satire took on a prophetic dimension. The Laputans were a strange race of men — a star-gazing, introspective people who decorated their clothing with emblems of the sun, moon, stars, and various musical instruments and served their food in fancy geometrical patterns. They devoted their time to the study of mathematics, astronomy and other subjects devoid of concrete claims and when in public were always accompanied by “flappers” to call them back from the far reaches of abstraction and impracticality. Swift employed great imagination and rich wealth of detail in heaping contempt upon the abstract mind.
Watergate and Prophetic Polities
Authors: Riemer Neal
Published: August 2009

Watergate has prompted a good many voices to proclaim the urgent need for a return to constitutional government. I would like to take advantage of the current public interest in a higher morality in politics to make the case for moving up to an even higher level of politics, to a pattern of politics that I have dubbed “Prophetic Politics.” In making my case I should like to explore, compare, and criticize four patterns of politics that inevitably get pulled into the dialogue. These four are “Prophetic Politics,” “Machiavellian Politics” (illustrated so notoriously by Watergate), “Utopian Politics” (whose principles and practices must be distinguished from “Prophetic Politics,” if “Prophetic Politics” is to get a fair hearing by political realists), and “Constitutional Politics” (whose strength is being sorely tested by the Watergate revelations). I will try in this article to indicate why, indeed, I believe we must move up to a new level in politics; why we have to be on guard against and reject “Machiavellian Politics,” why it is important to distinguish between “Prophetic” and “Utopian Politics,” and why a return to “Constitutional Politics” is good but not good enough. I shall argue that there is a striking similarity between our answer to the “why” question—“Why must we move up to a new level of politics?”— and the central characteristics of “Prophetic Politics.” I shall identify the strengths and weaknesses of “Machiavellian,” “Constitutional,” and “Utopian Politics” and indicate how the practitioners of “Prophetic Politics,” while true to its central principles, can incorporate the strengths while avoiding the weaknesses of the other three patterns. I hope this analysis will place our current alarm and concern about Watergate in a larger theoretical perspective, and enable us to derive some larger value from the outpouring revelations of the media.
Jacques Ellul: A Tempered Profile
Authors: Menninger David C.
Published: August 2009

Jacques Ellul today lives and works in the French city in which he was born over sixty years ago, Bordeaux. His public life has two major aspects. First, he is a scholar, with degrees in history, sociology, and law. Before the Second World War he was director of studies at the University of Strasbourg until his dismissal by the Vichy government. Now he is professor of history and sociology of institutions at the University of Bordeaux. During the war he was active in the Resistance, and after the Liberation had the chance to begin a promising political career when he served for two years as deputy mayor of Bordeaux under Jacques Chalban-Delmas. But he abandoned that prospect to devote his time fully to teaching and writing. He has written more than twenty books and more than a hundred articles.
Public Opinion and the Middle Class
Authors: Wilson Francis G.
Published: August 2009

Two ancient symbols—public opinion and the middle class— have nearly always been associated in some degree. Public opinion has stood, first of all, for participation in the government of a society. Such participation has raised the issue of the quality of opinion or the quality of the participation in the government of res populi. From the time of the Greeks at least, the middle class has been regarded by certain conservatives, or let us say, Aristotelians, as having moderate, intelligent, and balanced opinion.

Though public opinion and the middle class idea have been often associated, they have each had different and divergent lines of emergence; different theoretical problems have been presented, and some of this development is to be outlined here. Yet at the tense moments of the eighteenth-century revolution, the French Revolution and its children, they were joined together in close doctrinal union at the height of an historical crisis.
Economic Consequences of a Divided World
Authors: Haberler Gottfried
Published: August 2009

From the point of view of technology, of travel, and transportation the world is a much smaller place than it used to be only thirty years ago. This process of physical shrinkage which has been going on for quite some time does not show any signs of slackening. The same is true of communication of ideas, dissemination of knowledge, and the exchange of persons and of works of art and literature.
The Harding Administration, the League of Nations, and the Separate Peace Treaty
Authors: Kurt  , Wimer Sarah
Published: August 2009

President Woodrow Wilson spent over one-half year in Paris to negotiate the Treaty of Versailles. Upon his return he submitted the Treaty to the Senate for confirmation. A deadlock between the Executive and the Legislature twice prevented passage of the Treaty. The issue extended to the presidential election of 1920 when many voters supported Warren G. Harding convinced that he was more likely to bring about the entry of the United States into the League than his Democratic opponent.
Bismarck and the Lasker Resolution, 1884
Authors: Snyder Louis L.
Published: August 2009

Edward Lasker, German parliamentarian, was born on August 14, 1829, in Jaroczin, a small village in the province of Posen, the Polish area of Prussia. The offspring of an orthodox Jewish family, the young man studied theTalmudand translated Schiller into Hebrew verse. At first he showed a preference for philosophy and mathematics but turned later to history, political science, and law. Influenced by contemporary pre-Marxian socialism, he, together with his fellow students, fought on the barricades during the revolution of 1848. It became clear to him after passing his law examinations that he could not expect an adequate appointment in the civil service of reactionary Prussia.
Latin-American Political Parties and Ideologies: An Overview
Authors: Bray Donald W.
Published: August 2009

In a majority of Latin-American countries the coup d'etat rather than the ballot is still the institutionalized mechanism for transferring political power. Some states, like Haiti and Paraguay, are clearly in the “prehistory” of modern political parties. Nevertheless, in the twentieth century the political party with a developed ideology has become a major feature of Latin-American political life.
The Empirical, Normative, and Theoretical Foundations of International Studies
Authors: Thompson Kenneth W.
Published: August 2009

International relations have been the object of widespread study and review in the United States since World War I. Attention has focussed alternately on the flow of events, the goals and standards, and the underlying principles of world affairs. Primary emphasis has been directed to empirical, normative and theoretical problems. Along the way, scholars, statesmen and observers have singled out certain factors from the myriad dimensions of international society. Students have looked for concepts and methodologies by which order and meaning could be derived in this as in other complex fields.
Burke and Radical Freedom
Authors: Hart Jeffrey
Published: August 2009

As everyone knows, an enormous revival of interest in Edmund Burke has taken place during the past twenty years or so, the period, roughly, since the end of the Second World War. Scholars, to be sure, have always been interested in him, and he was widely admired for his style, and by some for his “practical wisdom,” during the nineteenth century. But the point is that in our time he has come to be read not merely as one among a large number of other important figures in the history of political thought, but as a thinker of intense, of special, contemporary relevance. Burke is our contemporary, he is an issue, in a way that Locke is not, and Leibniz is not, and even Mill is not. Burke has not receded into what Lovejoy called the pathos of time, by which he meant that benign and even tender feeling we have for thought that is now completely, forever, a part of the past — and so neither defines us nor menaces us.
Exporting and Training Experts
Authors: Frank N. , Trager Helen G.
Published: August 2009

The Democratic Party platform adopted in Los Angeles, July 1960 promised:

To the non-Communist nations of Asia, Africa, and Latin America: We shall create with you working partnerships, based on mutual respect and understanding.

In the Jeffersonian Tradition, we recognize and welcome the irresistible momentum of the world revolution of rising expectations for a better life. We shall identify American policy with its values and objectives.

To this end the new Democratic administration will revamp and refocus the objectives, emphasis, and allocation of our foreign assistance programs.

The proper purpose of these programs is not to buy gratitude or to recruit mercenaries, but to enable the peoples of these awakening, developing nations to make their own free choices.

As they achieve a sense of belonging, of dignity, and of justice, freedom will become meaningful for them, and therefore worth defending.

Where military assistance remains essential for the common defense, we shall see that the requirements are fully met. But as rapidly as security considerations permit, we will replace tanks with tractors, bombers with bulldozers, and tacticians with technicians.
Fools and Knaves: Reflections on Locke's Theory of Philosophical Discourse
Authors: Zuckert Michael P.
Published: August 2009

Ever since Leo Strauss and C. B. Macpherson, at almost the same moment, challenged the received view of Locke with their novel interpretations of his political philosophy, the question of how Locke wrote, and therefore of how he is to be read, has been prominent in most discussions of Locke. Strauss brought the issue to the fore by arguing the thesis that Locke engaged in “esoteric writing,” that is, that he intentionally said things he did not believe and sometimes withheld things he did, for the purpose of securing both his own safety and the greater likelihood of success of his philosophic project. Needless to say for so bold a claim, the Strauss thesis has not gone unopposed. Sharp issue has been taken both with the claim about Locke's esotericism and more substantively with the philosophic position Strauss attributes to Locke. It is clear that the two issues are intimately connected: the kind of “Locke” one finds depends to a very great extent on the kind of hermeneutical principles one adopts in approaching his work.
Coalition Politics on the Left in France and Italy
Authors: Vree Dale
Published: August 2009

The similarities between postwar France and Italy are striking. Both countries are traditionally Catholic. Both emerged from the Second World War with vital Communist organizations enjoying widespread popular support—owing in large measure to the leading roles the Communists played in their national resistance movements during World War II. Since the war, both the French and Italian Communist political parties-—by themselves—could count on commanding between one-fifth and one-fourth of the vote. France and Italy also emerged from the war with significant Christian Democratic movements and parties—-much stronger than analogous groupings in prewar days. Both countries had threatening Communist movements powerful enough to make credible attempts at seizing power without the aid of Soviet troops. And in both countries the Christian Democratic movement was a major obstacle to Communist designs. In both countries Social Democratic movements reemerged, but inferior to the Communists in cohesionand poised awkwardly between massive Communist and Catholic subcultures. In both countries a substantial part of the labor movement was dominated, not by gradualists, but by Marxist-Leninists who challengedthe very legitimacy of the regime. Not surprisingly, the character of the opposition reflected deep traditions of civic alienation, skepticism, and apathy. Finally, both countries have suffered from an ill-developed history of democratic practices, and have been notably subject to governmental instability.
Thucydides: History, Science and Power
Authors: Fitzsimons M. A.
Published: August 2009

Greek historical writing began at much the same time as Greek philosophic-scientific speculation. It experienced an even more rapid growth than philosophy, which it resembled in culminating its development in two men of genius. Contemporary events, the principal subject matter of early history, became the subject of inquiry, when some among the literate could not look at or understand events in the epic or mythic terms that had served the past and had to serve as a past.
Crisis and Reform in the World's Economy
Authors: Karasz Arthur
Published: August 2009

There are several crucial reasons for the need to reform the world economy. First, the worldwide inflation, a terrible cancerous disease which, if uncontrolled, might destroy the roots of economic development. Second (a direct consequence of inflation), a sudden imbalance in our international monetary system: capital flight in monstrous dimensions, devaluation of important reserve currencies, the United States dollar, the English pound, followed by the Japanese yen and a number of European currencies. Third, growing unemployment all over the world, again as a consequence of inflation and of a worldwide lack of confidence. Finally, but not least, the growing conflict of the developing countries, mainly in the Southern Hemisphere, with the industrialized world mainly in the Northern. This north-south struggle, brewing for long years, has reached the dimensions of what we might call an “economic cold war” on a worldwide level. Thus far, efforts to find new solutions which would be satisfactory to both consumers and producers have failed.
Aristocrats All: The Politics of County Government in Ante-bellum Kentucky
Authors: Ireland Robert M.
Published: August 2009

Some years ago Charles G. Sydnor made a rather revolutionary interpretation of politics in the ante-bellum South. He argued that the location of political power was for themost part to be found in the counties and, more particularly, in the county courts, which were usually the governing bodies of the counties. He, furthermore, suggested that county government was in many ways the most influential and meaningful government for the majority of the southern citizenry. Not many people, he contended, had direct dealings with either state or national governments because of the limitations and locations of power, the problems of communication and transportation and the essential provincialness of most of the nation. The business of most was with the various agencies and agents of county government. Regrettably scholars have ignored Sydnor's imaginative interpretation and its implicit challenge to investigate more completely the workings of county government in the South. Few revealing accounts have been published on the political realities of local government below the Mason-Dixon line. This article will seek partially to correct this historiographical deficiency by attempting to identify and explain the majorthemes of the politics of county government in antebellum Kentucky.
France and the West: Concerns and Hopes
Authors: Duroselle Jean-Baptiste
Published: August 2009

On June 1, 1958, following a genuine coup-d'état at Algiers led by European colonials and army leaders General de Gaulle returned to power. A new constitution established the Fifth Republic, which, in contrast to the Third Republic (1875–1940) and to the Fourth (1946–1958), provided for a strong and stable executive power. Twenty years later, in the spring of 1978, legislative elections of tremendous importance for France and for the whole West will take place in France. Already all of France is excited about the result of the debate which seems to center on the kind of society France will have: either the continuation of a liberal regime or the coming to power of a Marxist regime with all the incertitudes this prospect implies for the future of freedom.
The Negative Image of Africa's Military
Authors: Grundy Kenneth W.
Published: August 2009

The past few years have seen a tremendous increase in the direct involvement of Africa's military men in political affairs. Between January, 1963, and early 1968 there were no less than nineteen successful military coups, military-led secessions, or military actions instrumental in bringing about changes of government in that continent. This total can be augmented by the numerous attempted military coups, mutinies, secessions, and plots that failed to gain power or that were foiled before launching. This increase in the political activities of the military in Africa calls for an assessment of the degree to which Africa's military men are accepted as legitimate national leadership material by Africa's masses and intellectuals.
Presidential Elections in the American Political System
Authors: Marcus Robert D.
Published: August 2009

The founders of the American republic did not, by and large, like political parties. Their whole political tradition taught them to identify “faction” and “party” with the irrational and disruptive tendencies in human life, with “passion” and “interest.” Against this they set constitutions, first the British Constitution, then the written American Constitution of 1787 as rational artifices or constructions designed to thwart “the spirit of party and faction.” Yet the very men who left their political testaments against party were also the creators of the first American party system, the heroes whose rites the parties celebrate down to the present.
Politics and the Critical Imagination
Authors: Spitz David
Published: August 2009

Theenterprise called political theory is very old; so old that to some it seems to have outlived its time. At long last — 13 years ago to be precise — it was pronounced dead. Since that pronouncement seems not to have been widely heard, or sufficiently heeded, a second certificate testifying to its demise was issued two years later.