The paradox of principles: the dialectics of Hayek's liberalism

The success of Hayek's ideas and the political project they served is especially attested by the appreciation and appropriation of his theories by socialist intellectuals whose rehabilitation was one of his life-long preoccupations. His work, however, continues to elicit contradictory epithets such as ‘remarkable consistency’ and ‘irremediable eclecticism’, ‘propaganda’ and ‘social science’. The apparent paradox is underlined by Hayek’s own forceful rejection of dogmatic rationalism and all forms of intellectual and political eclecticism. This paper attempts to relate and resolve these conundrums by re-examining his work in the light of yet a third question that haunted him ever since his youthful conversion from Fabian socialism to militant liberalism, namely how to reconcile the decline of liberal capitalism, considered the freest and most efficient order conceivable, with an evolutionary discourse that precluded such a possibility. By anchoring the discussion in this central question, rather than the customary focus on a particular theory, tradition, discipline or set of privileged texts, this paper demonstrates that both eclecticism and ideological closure are intrinsic to Hayek’s singular quest to advance the cause of ‘progress’ against the permanent threat posed by collectivism.     

Laborde,liberalism, and religion

ABSTRACT

In this introduction, we provide a brief overview of the debate on religion in political philosophy. We present the main arguments defended by Cécile Laborde in Liberalism’s Religion and explain how these arguments contribute to the debate.     

MyOverseasVote: liberalism and extraterritorial citizenship

This article engages with the liberalist conception of extraterritorial citizenship in examining the pioneering attempt of the Malaysian diaspora to make a rights-based claim for extraterritorial voting. Using the case study of MyOverseasVote (MOV), a transnational advocacy group, this paper demonstrates how the Malaysian diaspora staked their constitutional claim as absent citizens and challenged the state’s definition of absent voters. The bottom-up reform is framed within the context of equalization of rights due to the salient ethnic element embedded in extraterritorial Malaysian citizenship. This liberalization of the external voting legislation has de-ethnicized but not equalized voting rights outside the country between publicly and privately employed citizens overseas. During the 13th General Election (GE13), Malaysia introduced a limited diaspora franchise conditioned upon territoriality and connectivity, affirming the continued relevance of territorial sovereignty.     

The time inconsistency of long constitutions: Evidence from the world

This article analyses the mechanisms establishing time consistency of constitutions. It explains why shorter and more locked constitutions are more likely to be time consistent (change less) and that long constitutions are more time inconsistent (change more, despite locking). Empirical evidence from all of the democratic countries in the world indicates that the length and locking of constitutions are not independent criteria, and that their combination leads to less time consistency. To address this inter‐relationship, a measure of time inconsistency (a combination of locking and amendment rate) is developed and it is demonstrated that it is connected with the length of constitutions. The article shows how time inconsistency is incompatible with theories of ‘constitutional amendment culture’ not only at the theoretical level, but also empirically. Finally, the article proves that the empirical finding that the length of constitutions is related to lower per capita income and higher corruption are not only in agreement with time inconsistency arguments, but this also extends beyond OECD countries to all democracies.     

西方自由主义政治思想的转折点--托马斯·格林的政治哲学

托马斯·格林是一位影响英国思想界两代人的理论家,他的唯心主义政治哲学在1880-1920年的四十年间对英国大学里政治理论的教学和研究产生了重要影响.他提出的"共同之善"所阐述的政治学理论对改革开放中的我们仍有重大的借鉴和启示意义.     

Uncertain subjects: risks,liberalism and contract

Uncertainty has been largely overlooked in the governmentality literature dealing with risk, especially because of contemporary emphases on models of statistical or actuarial risk calculation. Yet it represents a distinctive way of governing through the future, whose place in the formation of rationalities of neo-liberalism, and of 'enterprising subjects', is vital. Indeed, in domains of enterprising activity, the governmental modality of uncertainty marginalizes or subordinates statistical and expert models of risk management. In part this is because of enterprise's 'inventive' orientation - which sits ill with risk's assumption of a future that reproduces the past. Not only is uncertainty central to techniques of neo-liberal government, it has a genealogy that is distinguishable from the genealogy of more rationally calculative modalities of liberal government - but also reaching back to the beginnings of liberalism. In the development of contract law, blueprints for government through uncertainty provide a foundational element in the constitution of liberal subjects, and for the 'reasonable' techniques of government through the future which are a hallmark of liberalism. It is concluded that the place of uncertainty is central to liberalism and thus unlikely to be marginalized by 'risk society' developments.     

Can reallocation of rights help to avoid the Paretian Liberal Paradox?

The author is grateful to Christian Seidl for critical comments.     

Resilient subjects: uncertainty,warfare and liberalism

Abstract

While resilience has been recognized as a new strand in the government of security, little attention is paid its associated subjectivities and technologies of the self. One of the key sites for such development has been the military. A principal attribute of traditional military subjects has been fortitude, an assemblage of moral strength, will-power and courage deeply inscribed in the soul. In the new military, fortitude is now seen as of only conditional value to the latest configuration of the ‘liberal way of war’. Instead, resilience is centred as appropriate to ‘warriors’, and resonates with an advanced liberal political environment. Resilience appears as a set of cognitive skills that anyone can develop with correct training. Founded in cognitive behavioural therapy, resilience centres innovativeness, enterprise, responsibility and flexibility. It now takes its place as part of a complex of scientifically grounded techniques of the self necessary to optimize autonomous subjects in an age of high uncertainty.     

一部自由主义政治哲学批判的创新力作--马德普《普遍主义的贫困》评介

自由主义是当代西方的主流政治思潮,也是全球化进程中一种强势的学术话语.马德普对自由主义政治哲学基础--普遍主义及其论证方式进行了系统而富有开创性的研究.     

个人本位——自由主义价值观评析

自由主义价值观以个人本位为基础,这一传统在以约翰·洛克和亚当·斯密等为代表的古典自由主义时期确立,并通过以爱因·兰德和弗里德利希·冯·哈耶克等为代表的现代保守自由主义得以继承和发扬.西方社会的经济危机史(包括当下正在发生的全球经济大危机)表明,自由主义理论体系存在着天生的硬伤,其个人本位价值观不会自发达致公共利益,不能实现个人与社会对立中的统一与和谐.     

以观念制约观念--伯林《自由四论》及其自由主义研究

以赛亚·伯林是二十世纪最伟大的自由主义思想家之一。《自由四论》中,他认为,人区别于动物的标志是人的自由,自由是人的内在规定性;他反对自由的敌人——极权主义和历史决定论;伯林提出了两种自由观积极自由和消极自由。这些都使得伯林在自由主义思想史上获得了永久性的声誉。