Marcel Gauchet and the Crisis of Democratic Politics

Marcel Gauchet and the Crisis of Democratic Politics PDF Author: Natalie Doyle
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9781003142898
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 266

Get Book Here

Book Description
"This book presents, for the first time in the English language, Marcel Gauchet's interpretation of the challenges faced by contemporary western societies as a result of the crisis of liberal democratic politics and the growing influence of populism. Responding to Gauchet's analysis, international experts explore the depoliticising aspects of contemporary democratic culture that explain the appeal of populism: neo-liberal individualism, the cult of the individual and its related human rights, and the juridification of all human relationships. It also provides the intellectual context within which Gauchet's understanding of modern society has developed; in particular, his critical engagement with Marxism and the profound influence of Cornelius Castoriadis and Claude Lefort on his work. The book highlights the way Gauchet's work remains faithful to an understanding of history that stresses the role of humanity as a collective subject, while also seeking to account for both the historical novelty of contemporary individualism and the new form of alienation that radical modernity engenders. In doing so, the book also opens up new avenues for reflection on the political significance of the contemporary health crisis. Marcel Gauchet and the Crisis of Democratic Politics will be of great interest to scholars and postgraduate students of social and political thought, political anthropology and sociology, political philosophy, and political theory"--

Marcel Gauchet and the Crisis of Democratic Politics

Marcel Gauchet and the Crisis of Democratic Politics PDF Author: Natalie J. Doyle
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000540863
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 271

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book presents, for the first time in the English language, Marcel Gauchet’s interpretation of the challenges faced by contemporary Western societies as a result of the crisis of liberal democratic politics and the growing influence of populism. Responding to Gauchet’s analysis, international experts explore the depoliticising aspects of contemporary democratic culture that explain the appeal of populism: neo-liberal individualism, the cult of the individual and its related human rights, and the juridification of all human relationships. The book also provides the intellectual context within which Gauchet’s understanding of modern society has developed—in particular, his critical engagement with Marxism and the profound influence of Cornelius Castoriadis and Claude Lefort on his work. It highlights the way Gauchet’s work remains faithful to an understanding of history that stresses the role of humanity as a collective subject, while also seeking to account for both the historical novelty of contemporary individualism and the new form of alienation that radical modernity engenders. In doing so, the book also opens up new avenues for reflection on the political significance of the contemporary health crisis. Marcel Gauchet and the Crisis of Democratic Politics will be of great interest to scholars and postgraduate students of social and political thought, political anthropology and sociology, political philosophy, and political theory.

The Oxford Handbook of Illiberalism

The Oxford Handbook of Illiberalism PDF Author: Marlène Laruelle
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197639100
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 1049

Get Book Here

Book Description
From the rise of populist leaders and the threat of democratic backsliding to polarizing culture wars and the return of great power competition, the backlash against the political, economic, and social liberalism is increasingly labeled "illiberal." Yet, despite the increasing importance of these phenomena, scholars still lack a firm grasp on illiberalism as a conceptual tool for understanding societal transformations. The Oxford Handbook of Illiberalism addresses this gap by establishing a theoretical foundation for the study of illiberalism and showcasing state-of-the-art research on this phenomenon in its varied scripts-political, economic, cultural, and geopolitical. Bringing together the expertise of dozens of scholars, the Oxford Handbook of Illiberalism offers a thorough overview that characterizes the current state of the field and charts a path forward for future scholarship on this critical and quickly developing concept.

Madness and Democracy

Madness and Democracy PDF Author: Marcel Gauchet
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400822874
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Get Book Here

Book Description
How the insane asylum became a laboratory of democracy is revealed in this provocative look at the treatment of the mentally ill in nineteenth-century France. Political thinkers reasoned that if government was to rest in the hands of individuals, then measures should be taken to understand the deepest reaches of the self, including the state of madness. Marcel Gauchet and Gladys Swain maintain that the asylum originally embodied the revolutionary hope of curing all the insane by saving the glimmer of sanity left in them. Their analysis of why this utopian vision failed ultimately constitutes both a powerful argument for liberalism and a direct challenge to Michel Foucault's indictment of liberal institutions. The creation of an artificial environment was meant to encourage the mentally ill to live as social beings, in conditions that resembled as much as possible those prevailing in real life. The asylum was therefore the first instance of a modern utopian community in which a scientifically designed environment was supposed to achieve complete control over the minds of a whole category of human beings. Gauchet and Swain argue that the social domination of the inner self, far from being the hidden truth of emancipation, represented the failure of its overly optimistic beginnings. Madness and Democracy combines rich details of nineteenth-century asylum life with reflections on the crucial role of subjectivity and difference within modernism. Its final achievement is to show that the lessons learned from the failure of the asylum led to the rise of psychoanalysis, an endeavor focused on individual care and on the cooperation between psychiatrist and patient. By linking the rise of liberalism to a chapter in the history of psychiatry, Gauchet and Swain offer a fascinating reassessment of political modernity.

Sovereignty in Action

Sovereignty in Action PDF Author: Bas Leijssenaar
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108483518
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 247

Get Book Here

Book Description
Sovereignty, originally the figure of 'sovereign', then the state, today meets new challenges of globalization and privatization of power.

French Liberalism from Montesquieu to the Present Day

French Liberalism from Montesquieu to the Present Day PDF Author: Raf Geenens
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139505505
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
There is an enduring assumption that the French have never been and will never be liberal. As with all clichés, this contains a grain of truth, but it also overlooks an important school of thought that has been a constant presence in French intellectual and political culture for nearly three centuries: French political liberalism. In this collaborative volume, a distinguished group of philosophers, political theorists and intellectual historians uncover this unjustly neglected tradition. The chapters examine the nature and distinctiveness of French liberalism, providing a comprehensive treatment of major themes including French liberalism's relationship with republicanism, Protestantism, utilitarianism and the human rights tradition. Individual chapters are devoted to Montesquieu, Tocqueville, Aron, Lefort and Gauchet, as well as to some lesser known, yet important thinkers, including several political economists and French-style 'neoliberals'. French Liberalism from Montesquieu to the Present Day is essential reading for all those interested in the history of political thought.

The Crisis of Democratic Pluralism

The Crisis of Democratic Pluralism PDF Author: Brendan Sweetman
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030783820
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 341

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book argues that contemporary liberal democracy is reaching a crisis. Brendan Sweetman contends that this crisis arises from a contentious pluralism involving the rise of incommensurable worldviews that emerge out of the absolutizing of freedom over time in a democratic setting. This clash of worldviews is further complicated by a loss of confidence in reason and by the practical failure of public discourse. A contributory factor is the growing worldview of secularism which needs to be distinguished from both the process of secularization and the concept of the secular state. After describing the crisis, and exploring these themes, and also rejecting proposed solutions from recent liberal political theory, Sweetman develops an approach to pluralist disagreement which requires a re-envisioning of the relationship between religion, secularism and politics, and which allows a limited place for all worldviews in the state, including religious worldviews. Engaging with the work of Philip Kitcher, Robert Audi, John Rawls, A.C. Grayling, Martin Luther King, Cécile Laborde, John Stuart Mill, John Locke, and Plato, Sweetman's approach is a formidable innovation in the quest to maintain a free and fair society.

The Disenchantment of the World

The Disenchantment of the World PDF Author: Marcel Gauchet
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 9780691029375
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248

Get Book Here

Book Description
This text reinterprets the modern West's development in terms of mankind's relationship to religion. It argues that the development of human political and psychological autonomy must be understood against the growth of the concept of divine power and its increasing distance from human activity.

Routledge International Handbook of Contemporary Social and Political Theory

Routledge International Handbook of Contemporary Social and Political Theory PDF Author: Gerard Delanty
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1135997942
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 529

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Handbook will address a range of issues that have emerged out of recent social and political theory. It will focus on key themes as opposed to schools of thought or major theorists. Each chapter is an emerging, cutting edge topic that is of interest both to social theory and to political theory. Most topics will have a clear and substantive focus on social or political problems.

What Is To Be Done?

What Is To Be Done? PDF Author: Alain Badiou
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 9781509501717
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
The fall of the Berlin wall was seen by many as the final triumph of liberal democracy over communism. But now, in the wake of the great financial crisis of 2008 and its aftermath, things look a little different. New questions are arising about capitalism and democracy, new social movements are challenging established institutions and new political possibilities are emerging. Is democracy an inevitable hostage of capitalism, or can it reinvent itself to meet the challenge of globalization? In an exclusive, previously unpublished dialogue, Alain Badiou, a key figure of the radical left and a leading advocate of the communist idea, and Marcel Gauchet, a major exponent of anti-totalitarianism and a champion of liberal democracy, confront one another. Together, they take stock of history, interrogate one anothers views and defend their respective projects: on the one side, the revival of the communist hypothesis, and on the other, the radical reform of a contested democratic model.