Equal citizenship,neutrality, and democracy: a reply to critics of Equal Recognition

The commentators in this Special Issue raise questions about a number of aspects of the book. One group of critics questions the book’s overall normative strategy, asking whether too much weight is placed on the idea of neutrality. A second group raises doubts about the account of neutrality itself. A third zeroes in on the book’s discussion of language rights. And a fourth group is critical of the book’s assumptions about democracy, and about its relevance to public policy disputes. In this reply, I seek to address each of these clusters of concerns. In some places, I suggest, my commentators have misunderstood my position. In other places, I argue, they have not sufficiently thought through the implications of their alternatives to that position.     

Franz Böhm and the suggestive force of the undefined

Franz Böhm is seen as a cofounder of the Freiburg School of economists and of neoliberalism. As a member of the German Bundestag his influence was strongest on the development of German competition policy. Böhm's writings are widely read and quoted. Even today they are regarded as the obligatory foundation on which economic and systems policy is built. Analysis of his opinions and comparison with other neoliberal views—for example, those of Walter Eucken and Ludwig Erhard—do, however, reveal major differences of opinion. A good number of Böhm's opinions are now practically taken for granted as being the basis of economic policy. Yet taken in the context of strict market economics, some are not in any way acceptable.     

哈耶克自由主义理论之研究:方法与立场

在政治哲学谱系中占有重要位置的哈耶克自由主义理论是与二十世纪国际政治格局、尤其是与极权主义和计划经济给人类带来的灾难性影响有关。正是对二十世纪“各种形式的集体主义”政治情势和意识形态的敏锐启动了哈耶克自由主义思想的开展,而对政治情势和意识形态的学理诊断则是哈耶克所担负的哲学使命和知识职责。研究哈耶克自由主义理论的方法应是哲学式的,而评判立场则不能以我们置身其间的政治情势和意识形态作为择取的标准。     

Reflections of the Evolving Concept of 'Private Policing'

Once popular state-centred political frameworks, while declining in popularity on many normative agendas, nevertheless continue to guide how we think about and examine policing. Early studies into the private policing phenomenon have thereby focused upon the formal paid private security sector, a set of agencies which do not depart too radically in appearance from traditional public police services. More recent empirical studies have yielded data inconsistent with the established conceptual frameworks. Theorists have been assembling these data into alternate ways of thinking about collective life, which may have profound implications for the ways in which to choose to govern in the future. Further research addressing developments in networked nodal governance may be suggestive of progressive alternatives.     

Perfectionist public space: a political philosophy approach

Public spaces are often sites of contention between competing conceptions of the good life. The potential for such conflicts increases in diverse societies where different ethnic, religious and cultural groups compete for space and representation in the public sphere. A paradigmatic example is the conflict between multiculturalism and conservatism towards the function and character of public spaces. A clear criterion is necessarily, in such conflicts, to determine which conception may be legitimately crowded-out, and which may prevail. The paper examines two strategies to justify such a criterion: a liberal approach and a perfectionist approach. According to the liberal approach, public spaces should reflect the pluralism of values in society, by combining multiplicity and coherence of values. Yet pluralism is too ambiguous a concept to determine, in practice, which conceptions of the good can legitimately be crowded-out, both physically and metaphorically, from the public sphere. Perfectionism, an ethical approach grounded in human developmentalism, holds that the good life is a life of developing and exercising our human capacities. This approach yields a substantive account of public space regulation: public spaces should promote the development and exercise of our human capacities. On this account, we can approach the conflict between competing claims on public spaces by asking whether crowding-out might harm the potential development and exercise of our capacities. The perfectionist approach also provides a finer distinction between different types of conservatisms, such that we may differentiate between conservatism that may be legitimately crowded-out from the spatial sphere, and conservatism which may prevail. This paper argues that a perfectionist approach—one which is explicitly committed to a view of the good life—is both necessary and timely.     

Alexei Navalny and challenges in reconciling “nationalism” and “liberalism”

This article examines the challenges and complexities in the efforts by political activist Alexei Navalny to reconcile “nationalist” and “liberal” modes of thinking in the current Russian environment. After deciphering three major axes of Navalny's narratives on the national question, the author then discusses the social and political context within which the national-democratic (Natsdem) movement was forged. Natsdems, who are simultaneously pro-European and democratic but also xenophobic, and who target an audience among the urban middle classes, reflect a fundamental shift in Russian society. The last part of the article discusses the paradoxes of Navalny's trajectory, in which a failed theoretical articulation between “nationalism,” “democracy,” and “liberalism” nonetheless has translated into a political success.     

社会主义法治理念:中国百年法治文化的第三波

法治文化当于百年前后论升降。从辛亥革命前后开始兴起的百年中国的法治文化大潮,依次涌现出了三股此起彼伏的波澜。法治文化的第一波,是20世纪初期开始的国家主义法治理念,其核心价值是国家富强。第二波是20世纪80年代开始的自由主义法治理念,其核心价值是个人自由。2006年正式提出的社会主义法治理念,作为超越于国家主义法治理念与自由主义法治理念的法治文化形态,代表了中国百年法治文化的第三波,其核心价值是公平正义与社会和谐。百年中国先后兴起的三波法治文化大潮,其演进规律,恰好体现了百年中国的法治文化从"正题"到"反题"再到"合题"的辩证法。     

Solving the security–democracy dilemma: the US foreign policy in Tunisia post-9/11

Abstract

Scholarly consensus postulates a sharp contrast exists between liberal values and realist interests in US foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which finds its expression in the ‘security–democracy’ dilemma.? This means the US rhetorical determination to abide by the values of a ‘liberal’ foreign policy is neutralised by the ‘realist’ priority of maintaining US strategic interests, which requires support for friendly authoritarian rulers. Scholarship tends to apply this reasoning indistinctly to the entire region, providing an encompassing framework of analysis for understanding US foreign policy, which is valid across time and space. This study challenges this theoretical assumption and argues that while the US might indeed have a comprehensive regional approach in the MENA, the resulting foreign policy follows country-based trajectories that respond to national specificities and the perceived implications for US strategic interests. Exploring US foreign policy in the MENA after 9/11, the article demonstrates that while the US emphasis on liberalism crumbled when faced with security issues, the US liberal approach to Tunisia unfolded more consistently. Although the US continued formal cooperation with Ben Ali’s regime, it empowered at the same time a coalition of democratic opponents, solving the security–democracy dilemma and positively influencing the Tunisian democratisation.     

基层自治的自由理论——以马克思的自由观为主导

相较于自由主义的理解而言，马克思主义对于自治的理解更为精辟和深刻。马克思的自治观认为，在自治诸要素中联合的因素远重要于管理的因素，马克思主义认为自治的管理仅仅是实现自由人联合的手段或者途径，管理不是目的，自治的管理最终是为了促进个体联合的集体自由；自由的集体是以自治个体的联合为其存在前提的，这种自治个体的联合必须要超越血缘自然及其衍生的专制统治的束缚，以及以物和物的商品交换所形成的资本异化的压制。