II Political Thought and Theory / Théorie et Pensée Politiques
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00208345211065568 |
| Published date | 01 December 2021 |
| Date | 01 December 2021 |
771
II
POLITICAL THOUGHT AND THEORY
THÉORIE ET PENSÉE POLITIQUES
71.7465 ASHWORTH, Lucian M. — Re-reading Niebuhr’s The Chil-
dren of Light and the Children of Darkness [1944]: the cri-
sis of democracy in an interdependent world then and
now. Journal of International Political Theory 17(2), June
2021 : 123-138.
R. Niebuhr’s The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness is one of
the key English-language texts in the post-war settlement literature of the
early 1940s. This article analyses the book on three interconnected levels:
the nature of the argument made by Niebuhr in the book, its place in the
broader post-war settlement literature of the early 1940s, and its relevance
to the current problems of right-wing populism and the climate crisis. While
the main theme of the book is the necessity and impossibility of democ-
racy, it shares with the wo rk of Isaiah Bowman and David Mitrany a con-
cern for the tension between the state and interdependence. The deepen-
ing of this tension since has helped keep Niebuhr relevant, although his
initial distinction between the children of light and the children of darkness
has been complicated by both populism and the climate crisis. [R] [See
Abstr. 71.7481]
71.7466 AVRAMENKO, Richard ; WOLF, Brianne — Disciplining the
rich: Tocqueville on philanthropy and privilege. Review of
Politics 83(3), Summer 2021 : 351-374.
This article inquires into the moral successes and failings of the superrich
in America. We turn to Alexis de Tocqueville who outlines a set of expec-
tations for any privilege d elite. Drawing from his Old Regime, Memoir on
Pauperism, and Democracy in America, we argue that the superrich are
obliged to a particular kind of charity, which we specify as philanthropy. To
fulfill their philanthropic duties, the superrich must steadfastly attend to
three obligations: maintaining their local communities, safeguarding local
liberties, and providing moral leadership. In the conclusion, we suggest
how the superrich might be disciplined unto this virtue. [R]
71.7467 BAKALAR, Chloé — The virtues of everyday talk: the en-
during significance of John Milton’s theory of expressive
liberties. Political Theory 49(4), Aug. 2021 : 584-612.
The system of free expression J. Milton defends in Areopagitica, a pam-
phlet against prior restraint in publishing, is often characterized as merely
a proto-liberal, truth-based marketplace of ideas theory. But this repre-
sents a misunderstanding of Milton’s views on the freedoms of con-
science, speech, and the press. The tendency in political theory, philoso-
phy, and law to reduce the “free speech Milton” to Areopagitica, and the
reduction of that essay to several soundbites, has meant sidelining both
the significant exceptions to expressive liberties that Milton calls for and
also the role of the social in his theory. This incomplete characterization
has enabled Milton’s misuse in First Amendment discourse and jurispru-
dence, where he is made to support hierarchical approaches to free
speech that privilege public political speech and are therefore ill-equipped
to address the full range of communicative experiences. [R, abr.]
71.7468 BLACK, Zachariah — Laughing with Leviathan: Hobbesian
laughter in theory and practice. Political Theory 49(3), June
2021 : 431-456.
This article brings together Hobbes’s statements on laughter and comedic
writing with examples of his own humorous rhetoric to show that Hobbes
understands laughter as a species of insult, but that there are conditions
under which humor can be made to serve peace. Drawing on evidence
from across Hobbes’s works, and in particular from an understudied dis-
cussion of “Vespasian’s law” in the Six Lessons, this essay theorizes the
conditions under which Hobbes found witty contumely to be conducive to
peace. Hobbes models the discreet use of humorous rhetoric in defense
of peace, a defense that will be ongoing even after the commonwealth has
been founded. Hobbes offers insight into how we can remain attuned to
laughter’s inegalitarian tendencies without foregoing the equalizing poten-
tial found in laughing at ourselves and at those who think too highly of
themselves. [R, abr.]
71.7469 BOSWORTH, William — Power obsessed. Journal of Political
Power 14(2), 2021 : 288-300.
Governance is best analysed using rational choice theory to identify the
extent to which different groups can systematically punish and reward oth-
ers. This is roughly in line with K. Dowding’s important book Rational
Choice and Political Power [Bristol U. P., 2019]. It is different though in the
sense that it does not focus on the measurement of social power, but ra-
ther a subset of it. Focusing on the latter avoids difficulties relating to sys-
tematic luck, such as distinguishing it from legitimacy and the possession
of information, and also clarifies the importance of coordination problems
for the analysis. [R] [See Abstr. 71.7495]
71.7470 CASSON, Douglas — The rationality of toleration revisited
or, why Locke thinks we should suffer disagreement and
tolerate division. Perspectives on Political Science 50(2),
2021 : 106-118.
Much of the confusion and debate surrounding the rational basis for
Locke’s notion of toleration rests on the assumption that Locke seeks to
convince a single, sovereign authority to tolerate dissenters. Yet this is not
Locke’s goal. In the Two Treatises of Government, he describes a polity
with multiple claimants to supreme authority under changing conditions.
He proposes a state without sovereignty. The cohesion of this state stems
not from the organizing power of a centralized authority, but from the mul-
tiple and contested judgments concerning the justifiable use of power.
Locke’s arguments in his Letters Concerning Toleration can best be un-
derstood as part of this sweeping challenge to sovereignty. He shifts the
focus of the debate from the rationality of the ruler to the rationality of the
ruled. [R, abr.] [See Abstr. 71.7482]
71.7471 CHAKRAVARTI, Sonali — Wanted: Angela Davis and a jury
of her peers. Political Theory 49(3), June 2021 : 380-402.
In 1972, A. Davis stood trial on charges of conspiracy, kidnapping, and
murder before a White jury. A professor of philosophy, a Communist, and
a member of the Black Panther Party, she had no reason to believe that
any of the jurors were her peers. Yet, after three days of deliberation, they
returned a Not Guilty verdict on each of the counts. Through an analysis
of the case, this essay argues for a new approach to peerhood that defines
it as a combination of (1) demographic similarities to the defendant and (2)
a worldview orientation of contestation and anticorruption that emerges
from the jury’s function in the trial. Greater clarity on how these factors are
important for peerhood provides insights into how jurors can best fulfill
their role and w hat remedies are necessary to achieve a jury of one’s
peers. [R]
71.7472 CLINTON, David — Reinhold Niebuhr: the law of love and
the omnipresence of power. Journal of International Political
Theory 17(2), June 2021 : 139-150.
The twentieth-century theologian and public intellectual R. Niebuhr fre-
quently employed a formulation confounding to his readers, simultane-
ously appealing to the loftiest altruism as summed up in his identification
of the “law of love” and compelling attention to the grittiest realism as en-
capsulated in his recognition of a universal struggle for power. This sharp
contrast was no careless error on Niebuhr’s part, but rather an insistence
on describing in the most sharply contrasting tones the paradoxical char-
acter of human nature. In his Christian Realist view fear and a consequent
desire for power over others to protect oneself are inescapable compo-
nents of human existence within history. The human need for community
and refusal to be satisfied with anything less than devotion to the wellbeing
of others unsullied by self-love are nevertheless also implanted in the hu-
man heart, which recognizes that reality extends beyond human history.
[R, abr.] [See Abstr. 71.7481]
71.7473 DINAN, Matthew — Kierkegaard's Socratic alternative to
Hegel in Fear and Trembling. Review of Politics 83(3), Sum-
mer 2021 : 375-397.
S. Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling has traditionally attracted interest
from scholars of political theory for its apparent hostility to political philos-
ophy, and more recently for its compatibility with Marxism. This paper ar-
gues for a reconsideration of Kierkegaard's potential contributions to polit-
ical theory by suggesting that the work's shortcomings belong to its pseu-
donymous author, Johannes de Silentio, and are in fact intended by Kier-
kegaard. Attentiveness to the literary development of the pseudonym al-
lows us to see a Kierkegaard who is a deeper and more direct critic of
Hegel's political philosophy than is usually presumed. By creating a pseu-
donym whose argument ultimately fails, Kierkegaard employs Socratic
irony in order to point readers to the need to recover Socratic political
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