"After introducing the theme of contending liberalisms, Richardson traces the emergence over time of a distinctive liberal view of international relations and reviews the present state of liberal IR theory. He then turns to neoliberal ideology, examining it in detail - particularly in the context of globalization - and investigating the powerful forces that support and sustain it.
This book argues that it was primarily the encounter with totalitarianism that dissolved the ideals of American progressivism and crystallized the ideals of postwar liberalism. In politics, the ideal of governance by a strong, independent executive was rejected and a politics of contending interest groups was embraced.
Cécile Laborde argues that religion is more than a statement of belief or a moral code. It refers to comprehensive ways of life, theories of justice, modes of association, and vulnerable collective identities. By disaggregating these dimensions, she addresses questions about whether Western secularism and religion can be applied more universally.
The United States today cries out for a robust, self-respecting, intellectually sophisticated left, yet the very idea of a left appears to have been discredited. In this brilliant new book, Eli Zaretsky rethinks the idea by examining three key moments in American history: the Civil War, the New Deal and the range of New Left movements in the 1960s and after including the civil rights movement, the women's movement and gay liberation.In each period, he argues, the active involvement of the left - especially its critical interaction with mainstream liberalism - proved indispensable. American liberalism, as represented by the Democratic Party, is necessarily spineless and ineffective without a left. Correspondingly, without a strong liberal center, the left becomes sectarian, authoritarian, and worse. Written in an accessible way for the general reader and the undergraduate student, this book provides a fresh perspective on American politics and political history. It has often been said that the idea of a left originated in the French Revolution and is distinctively European; Zaretsky argues, by contrast, that America has always had a vibrant and powerful left. And he shows that in those critical moments when the country returns to itself, it is on its left/liberal bases that it comes to feel most at home.
In Civic Liberalism: Reflections on Our Democratic Ideals, prominent political theorist Thomas A. Spragens, Jr. asserts that most versions of democratic ideals--libertarianism, liberal egalitarianism, difference liberalism, and the liberalism of fear--lead our polity significantly astray. Spragens offers another alternative. He argues that we should recover the multiple and complex aspirations found within the tradition of democratic liberalism and integrate them into a more compelling public philosophy for our time--or what he calls civic liberalism. Civic liberalism, Spragens contends, endorses both liberty and equality although neither can properly be understood as a maximizing principle. Instead, liberty should be seen as the constitutive threshold good of autonomy; and equality should be seen as a moral postulate and instrumental good. Moreover, civic liberalism explicitly embraces forms of 'fraternity, ' civic friendship, and civic virtue consistent with respect for social pluralism. Therefore, a better understanding of our democratic ideals will free us from the constrictive orthodoxies of the left and right, lead us toward better public policy, and help us become a well ordered society of flourishing, self-governing civic equals.
This book calls for a reappraisal of liberalism in IR theory. Based on the first comprehensive analysis of the ideas by David Hume, Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek and a new perspective on Adam Smith and international relations, the analysis shows that classical liberalism differs substantially from other forms of liberalism.
Under the conditions of economic globalization, the prevailing liberal philosophy of governance is becoming increasingly problematic. Liberty Beyond Neo-Liberalism critiques three varieties of liberal engagement with the processes of globalization and their ability to temper the harmful effects of the process. Steven Slaughter proposes an alternate approach, global civic republicanism, which seeks to retrieve the civic and public character of the state in order to protect it from economic vulnerability and to constitute a resilient form of liberty.
Winston Churchill said of democracy that it was ‘the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.’ The same could be said of liberalism. While liberalism displays an unfailing optimism with regard to the capacity of human beings to make themselves ‘masters and possessors of nature’, it displays a profound pessimism when it comes to appreciating their moral capacity to build a decent world for themselves. As Michea shows, the roots of this pessimism lie in the idea – an eminently modern one – that the desire to establish the reign of the Good lies at the origin of all the ills besetting the human race. Liberalism’s critique of the ‘tyranny of the Good’ naturally had its costs. It created a view of modern politics as a purely negative art – that of defining the least bad society possible. It is in this sense that liberalism has to be understood, and understands itself, as the ‘politics of lesser evil’. And yet while liberalism set out to be a realism without illusions, today liberalism presents itself as something else. With its celebration of the market among other things, contemporary liberalism has taken over some of the features of its oldest enemy. By unravelling the logic that lies at the heart of the liberal project, Michea is able to shed fresh light on one of the key ideas that have shaped the civilization of the West.
Featuring a diverse and impressive array of authors, this volume is the most comprehensive textbook available for all interested in international organization and global governance. Organized around a concern with how the world is and could be governed, the book offers: in-depth and accessible coverage of the history and theories of international organization and global governance; discussions of the full range of state, intergovernmental, and nonstate actors; and examinations of key issues in all aspects of contemporary global governance. The book’s 50 chapters are arranged into 7 parts and woven together by a comprehensive introduction to the field, separate section introductions designed to guide students and faculty, and helpful pointers to further reading. International Organization and Global Governance is a self-contained resource enabling readers to better comprehend the role of myriad actors in the governance of global life as well as to assemble the many pieces of the contemporary global governance puzzle.
