II Political Thought and Theory / Théorie et Pensée Politiques
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00208345221117399 |
| Published date | 01 August 2022 |
| Date | 01 August 2022 |
490
II
POLITICAL THOUGHT AND THEORY
THÉORIE ET PENSÉE POLITIQUES
72.4587 BARNETT, Anthony — The greatness and tragedy of
Trevor Smith, shaper of the centre-left. Political Quarterly 93(1),
Jan.-March 2022 : 150-153.
Trevor Smith, who died in April 2021, was an exemplary public serv-
ant: a Liberal Democrat peer, university vice-chancellor, professor of
public administration and President of the Political Studies Associa-
tion. Perhaps his most important legacy was as Chair of the Joseph
Rowntree Reform Trust from 1987 to 1999 when he ‘did much to
shape the agenda of centre-left politics’ across Britain. His shaping
influence included strategic support for the Scottish Constitutional
Convention, Charter 88 and the New Statesman (which was saved
from bankruptcy). [R, abr.]
72.4588 BENNETT, Andrew ; CHARMAN, Andrew E. ; FAIRFIELD,
Tasha — Understanding Bayesianism: fundamentals for process
tracers. Political Analysis 30(2), Apr. 2022 : 298-305.
Bayesian analysis has emerged as a rapidly expanding frontier in
qualitative methods. Recent work in this journal has voiced various
doubts regarding how to implement Bayesian process tracing and the
costs versus benefits of this approach. In this response, we articulate
a very different understanding of the state of the method and a much
more positive view of what Bayesian reasoning can do to strengthen
qualitative social science. Drawing on forthcoming research as well
as our earlier work, we focus on clarifying issues involving mutual
exclusivity of hypotheses, evidentiary import, adjudicating among
more than two hypotheses, and the logic of iterative research, with
the goal of elucidating how Bayesian analysis operates and pushing
the field forward. [R] [See also Abstr. 72.4635]
72.4589 BLAU, Adrian — Habermas on rationality: means, ends
and communication. European Journal of Political Theory 21(2),
Apr. 2022 : 321-344.
This is a constructive critique of Habermas’s account of rationality,
which is central to his political theory and has sparked theoretical and
empirical research across academia. Habermas and many critical
theorists caricature means-ends rationality (the ability to pick good
means to ends), e.g. by wrongly depicting it as egocentric. This weak-
ens Habermas’s attempt to distinguish means-ends rationality from
his hugely important and influential idea of communicative rationality
(roughly, the rationality of genuine discussion). I suggest that sincer-
ity and autonomy, rather than non-egocentrism, are the key distin-
guishing features of communicative rationality. This shows that com-
municative rationality actually overlaps with means-ends rationality.
Indeed, means-ends rationality is needed by critical theorists, as I ex-
emplify by showing its use in deliberative democracy. Moreover,
means-ends rationality will be present in discourse ethics, as I show
with the example of moral discourse about gay marriage. [R, abr.]
72.4590 BOUCHER, Joanne — The role of women in Hobbes’s
economic thought. Canadian Journal of Political Science 55(1),
March 2022 : 171-187.
This article examines the role of women in Hobbes’s economic
thought. First, I frame Hobbes’s economic thought in relation to his
philosophical materialism so as to underscore the extent to which
Hobbes’s materialism entails the insight that human beings are, by
definition, productive, economic creatures. I argue that his description
of the economy, even without explicit acknowledgment, necessarily
positions women as crucial economic actors. I then consider the im-
plications of this in relation to the feminist possibilities of Hobbes’s
gender politics. I conclude that when deliberating on this question, we
face the same conundrum that is evident in all literature considering
Hobbes and gender. His radical comments about women in the state
of nature are undermined by his seeming indifference to the state of
women in commonwealths once they are founded. [R]
72.4591 BUNN, Philip D. — Transcendent rebellion: the influ-
ence of Simone Weil on Albert Camus’ esthetics. Perspectives on
Political Science 51(1), 2022 : 35-43.
The relationship between the thought of Albert Camus and Simone
Weil has been partially explored by scholars since their deaths. How-
ever, current scholarship does not fully explain the influence Weil’s
life and work had on Camus’ esthetics, a full treatment of wh ich is
necessary to truly understand the significance of Camus’ adoption of
the idea of the rebel as artist. Camus’ thought progresses significantly
from his early esthetics of the will in his Essay on Music, affirming art
as fundamentally an egoistic act, to a later esthetics of transcend-
ence, affirming the selflessness of artistic rebellion. This paper ar-
gues that Camus’ development both mirrors Weil’s own philosophical
development and corresponds to Camus’ exposure to and assimila-
tion of Weil’s thought on decreation, beauty, and the transcendent.
[R, abr.]
72.4592 CLARKE, Michelle T. — Machiavelli’s virtuous princes:
rhetoric, power, and the politics of ironic historiography. Journal
of Politics 84(1), Jan. 2022 : 483-495.
In The Prince, Machiavelli often associates power with force and the
ability to compel obedience. In the Discourses on Livy and Florentine
Histories, however, he emphasizes the role that moral authority has
played in the construction of princely power, especially in republics
like ancient Rome and modern Florence. This article explores the al-
ternative style of princely virtù that Machiavelli associates with these
princes and contrasts it with cruder forms of fraud, like moral hypoc-
risy, playing the hero, and ideological innovation. Finally, it shows
how Machiavelli’s analysis of power and princely virtù constitutes a
revival of the historiographic tradition epitomized by Thucydides, Sal-
lust, and Ta citus, in which irony is used to critique the social gram-
mars that princes have used to underwrite their domination. [R]
72.4593 COZZAGLIO, Ilaria — Can realism save us from popu-
lism? Rousseau in the digital age. European Journal of Political
Theory 21(2), Apr. 2022 : 276-298.
In 2016, the Five Stars Movement (5SM), one of the parties currently
in power in Italy, launched the ‘Rousseau platform’. This is a platform
meant to enhance direct democracy, transparency and the real par-
ticipation of the people in the making of laws, policies and political
proposals. Although ennobled with the name of Rousseau, the 5SM’s
redemptive promise has been strongly criticised in the public sphere
for being irresponsible and ideological. Political realism, I will argue,
can perform both a diagnostic and a corrective task, by providing
some tools to unveil populist distortions and b y offering more solid
grounds for political opponents’ critique. Three aspects of realism, in
particular, will be pointed out as remedies against populist drifts. First,
anti-moralism, complemented by anti-utopianism and contextualism,
criticises the populists’ moralistic picture of politics, its anti-pluralistic
attitude and its rejection of the role of experts in politics. Second, the
Weberian ethic of responsibility offers standards to assess politicians’
actions, instead of embracing the populist aversion towards any pro-
fessional politician; besides, it contrasts the populist image of politics
as a derogatory activity. [R, abr.]
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