Hauke Brunkhorst: Critical Theory of Legal Revolutions: Evolutionary Perspectives
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6478.2015.00710.x |
| Published date | 01 June 2015 |
| Author | Poul F. Kjaer |
| Date | 01 June 2015 |
CRITICAL T HEORY OF LEG AL REVOLU TIONS. EVOL UTIONAR Y
PERSPECTIVES by HAUKE BRUNKHORST
(London: Bloomsbury, 2014, 471 pp., h/back £90.00, p/back £26.99)
Critical theory was always characterized by a particular attempt to develop
a general theory of society on the basis of an integrative approach com-
bini ng phi loso phy an d soc iolo gy and n orm ativ e and de scri pti ve
dimensions. In Frankfurt, the original epicentre of this particular school
of thought, this has however come to an end. Contemporary Frankfurt
theorists essentially have abandoned the sociological and descriptive
dimension and recast what is left of the Frankfurt School into a subdivision
of Anglo-American analytical political philosophy. As apparent from the
book under review and his entire oeuvre, Hauke Brunkhorst, the last of the
Mohicans of real Frankfurt-style critical theory, has always resented this
development. He has therefore found himself in internal exile at the
University of Flensburg, the intellectual equivalent of Siberia in the
German academic context, for the last few decades. The exceptional
brilliance of the book under review thereby confirms the old insight,
illustrated again and again throughout history, that the best books tend to
be written in exile, by authors who did not correspond to the prevailing
Zeitgeist but who nonetheless choose to stick to their guns.
The book literally begins with the dawn of man and ends with an analysis
of the pressing problems and challenges characterizing contemporary
society. As such, the book also reads as a history of the world in its
entirety. It focuses on four revolutionary processes: the Papal revolution of
the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the Protestant revolution of the sixteenth
century, the Atlantic Revolution of the late eighteenth century, and the Euro-
Asian (in particular, but not only, the Chinese and Russian revolutions) of
the early twentieth century. Finally, as a fifth wave, the global transforma-
tions which came about through decolonization and the transitions from
authoritarianism and totalitarianism to democracy and human rights in the
latter half of the twentieth century are analysed.
Two central theses are presented. First, that the evolution of society is
blind but nonetheless normatively constrained and legal revolutions are the
way such normative constraints, possessing the capacity to alter the direction
of societal evolution, emerge and unfold (pp. 33 ff.). Second, that class
struggle was the central cause of the great consecutive legal revolutions
analysed in the book (p. 464). In order to pursue these two theses Brunkhorst
takes in insights from a wide range of theories including, among others,
social evolution theory, systems theory, and the theory of communicative
action. Staying true to the critical theory tradition, the central starting point
is, how ever, t he cont inuum o f theor ies as socia ted wit h Marxi sm,
Hegelianism, and Kantianism. Although a preference for a left-Hegelian
position appears throughout, it is in the combination of insights from these
three scholarly traditions that the theoretical framework of the book is
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ß2015 The Author. Journal of Law and Society ß2015 Cardiff University Law School
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