From Merkel to Kramp‐Karrenbauer: Can German Christian Democracy Reinvent Itself?

Germany's Christian Democrats have started preparing for the time after Angela Merkel. After ten years as German chancellor facing a weak opposition, Merkel unexpectedly split the country in late 2015 and early 2016 because of her ‘open border’ policies that allowed more than 1 million refugees and migrants to rapidly enter Germany. Her management of the subsequent crisis was largely considered a failure and her party suffered a series of dramatic election defeats. Reacting to the negative electoral feedback, and in particular the breakthrough of the rightist and anti‐immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), the Christian Democratic Union organised an intra‐party contest to replace Merkel as party leader. Three candidates with different political profiles, Annegret Kramp‐Karrenbauer, Friedrich Merz and Jens Spahn, contested the election. By voting for Kramp‐Karrenbauer, the CDU membership voiced support for maintaining a large‐scale political coalition based on efforts to find compromises between different party wings and social and cultural interests.     

Poor choice? Smith,Hayek and the moral economy of food consumption

This paper explores the moral economy of food in the United Kingdom via discourses on food bank usage and obesity. It argues that both of these markers of malnutrition were interpreted under the Conservative-led governments of David Cameron (2010–2016) as failings of personal responsibility and identified primarily with the working class, advancing the assumption that poor people make poor choices. Based on a critique of this account, our wider contribution is two-fold. First, we identify the Hayekian lineage of the discourse of personal responsibility, highlighting its utility in facilitating a form of neoliberal market consent through its insistence on self-reliance. Second, we stake out an alternative to this conceptualization through a discussion of Adam Smith’s notion of self-command, which we call interpersonal responsibility.     

To reject or not to reject nationalism: debating Marx and Engels' struggles with nationalism, 1840s–1880s

The relationship between Marxism and nationalism has been tumultuous. While theoretically attempting to reject nationalism as a transient product of capitalism, Marxism has in practice oftentimes exploited its appeal and utilized its extensive institutional repertoire. To a large extent, the difficult dialogue between the two ideological constellations can be traced back to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels who neglected to leave a definitive statement on the nationality question. The article traces the evolution of Marxism's conceptualization of the nationality question – a slow shift from an outright rejection of nationalism to an acceptance of its progressive features, complexity, varieties and influences. It re-evaluates Marx and Engels' views on the nationality question, from its outright denial to limited acceptance and application. After identifying factors that shaped their perception of the nationality question, the study offers an analysis of the evolution of these attitudes from the 1840s to the 1860s. The objective is to show how Marx and Engels' theoretical dogmatism was tainted by their desire for activism. Their views were not inflexible but rather evolved in response to changing circumstances in the mid 19th century.     

Is Neoliberalism a Liberalism,or a Stranger Kind of Bird? On Hayek and Our Discontents

Abstract

This paper examines the theoretical ideas of Friedrich von Hayek, arguably the key progenitor of the global economic orthodoxy of the past two decades. It assesses Hayek's thought as he presents it: namely as a form of liberal ism. Section I argues that Hayek's thought, if liberal, is hostile to participatory democracy. Section II then argues the more radical thesis that neoliberalism is also in truth an illiberal doctrine. Founded not in any social contract doctrine, but a form of constructivism, neoliberal thought at its base accepts the paradoxical need to "discipline subjects for freedom", however this might contravene peoples' natural, social inclinations. The argument is framed by reference to Aristophanes' great comedy, The Birds, whose off shore borderless empire ironically prefigures the dream of neoliberal social engineers, and their corporate supporters.     

恩格斯晚年对马克思主义法学的新贡献

从法学角度看,恩格斯晚年创造性地运用历史唯物主义的立场和方法,巩固和发展了历史唯物主义法学理论。恩格斯系统阐发了国家和法的起源与演进理论,批判了费尔巴哈唯心主义历史观和黑格尔唯心主义法哲学,进一步阐发了历史发展的内在辩证法;根据欧洲的新形势,恩格斯主张工人阶级要将合法斗争与“非法”斗争相结合;结合巴黎公社经验,他阐述了无产阶级新型国家和法制的基本原理,反对国家崇拜;在一系列通信中,他深入阐发了法和国家对经济关系的积极反作用和相对独立性理论,批驳了社会发展的“唯经济论”。恩格斯一系列法哲学新观点,对于当今时代深入理解法与经济的关系、法的历史发展规律、法的本质及功能、法律意识形态等问题,都依然具有极为重要的指导意义。     

Beyond the Middle Finger: Plato,Schiller and the Political Aesthetics of Ai Weiwei

The photograph of Ai Weiwei’s middle finger set against the backdrop of Tiananmen Square has become an icon of politically subversive art. But can we see beyond the middle finger? Here I argue that current theories of political aesthetics (e.g. Jacques Rancière) operate on an oversimplified dichotomy between two competing paradigms of political art, and that this threatens a more nuanced engagement with contemporary artistic practices. In the first part, I re-examine both the antagonistic relation between art and politics exemplified in Plato's verdict against poetry as a socially corrosive form of imitation as well as the instrumental relation of art and politics developed in Friedrich Schiller’s conception of aesthetic education as a means of social and political reform. Then, drawing on recent work by the controversial Chinese artist, I argue for a model of political art that can account for the more complex interrelation of criticism and cultural affirmation evident in a growing body of politically-oriented art.     

全球化和反全球化理论之争的溯源——从李斯特对斯密理论的批判说起

全球化理论自其诞生之日起,就注定会创造出自己的对手--反全球化理论.自上个世纪末以来,全球化和反全球化理论之争愈演愈烈,几度白热化.然而这两种带有意识形态色彩的理论学说和思想的争辩却在亚当·斯密时代就出现了,后来因李斯特对斯密和斯密主义的批判又冲突迭起.这场争论的核心是贸易自由主义和国家干预主义.     

The Modern Concept of Aesthetic Experience: from Ascetic Pleasure to Social Criticism

Abstract

This paper examines the use of "pleasure" as the distinguishing mark of aesthetic experience in post-Kantian philosophy. It shows how the distinctive features of aesthetic experience, such as pleasure, qualify this experience as a platform for social criticism. The key argument is that the autonomy of the aesthetic experience is not "false", rather it is paradoxical in the strong sense that the fact of its communicative efficacy, which follows from distinctive, "autonomous" aesthetic features, necessarily loads it with functions and expectations that are external to the aesthetic moment. Kant takes a complicated path to qualify aesthetic judgement as disinterested in order that it may eloquently testify for morality. He thereby sets up the cogency of the modern pattern of looking to aesthetic experience as a locus of meaningful communication for ideas that are experientially poor or remote.     

中国式现代化新道路的“总体性”阐释

中国现代化极具特殊性与复杂性,不宜仅用单一视角进行学理与特征阐释,在方法论上应该诉诸马克思主义的“总体性”。中国式现代化新道路是不同于资本主义经典现代化和传统社会主义现代化理论范式与实践模式的新型现代化道路。在总体性方法论的视域下,这种新型现代化道路与现代文明的特殊性应该予以整体性、系统性观照。在论述、补齐马克思恩格斯关于“现代化”释义的基础上,鲜明提出“总体性”方法论阐述了“中国式现代化新道路”的内容与特征。