(1996). The historical lessons of human rights: In search of a new approach. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 498-503.

The argument that sectarian conflicts in the Arab Middle East have been persistent since time immemorial is erroneous. While these views may seem compelling with the rise of ISIL, they are in fact very dangerous: they downgrade Islamic societies to primordial, selective and static features. I will argue for a different set of propositions. First, violence is not unique to Islamic societies. Extreme illiberal ideologies prevailed in Christian Europe both during the Thirty Years War and during the fascist interwar period. (...) Second, Islamist belligerence was partly a response to the ill-effects of globalization, just as European fascist movements were exacerbated by the advance of industrial capitalism in Europe. Third, post-Second World War human rights efforts may inform new paths beyond the tragedies that continue to plague the Middle East. (shrink)

This article defends three basic premises. First, the same conditions and forces favorable to revolution may serve to impede efforts at post-revolutionary consolidation. Second, one can assess prospects for consolidation based on the capacity of prospective hegemonic parties to achieve several interrelated objectives: developing a shared worldview among disparate segments of the population, delivering social and economic goods, and establishing order. Third, while democratization is a home-grown process, it may require particular forms of limited intervention to offset anti-democratic forces. The (...) goal of this article is to provide an analytical framework that informs the ongoing debates over democratic transitions while suggesting where and how external engagement may influence the transition process. (shrink)

In 2019, protests in the streets of Algeria and Sudan, Lebanon and Iraq brought back the fragrance of the Jasmine revolution. Can the pendulum swing back towards democracy and human rights in the M...

This essay revisits Karl Marx’s understanding of consumption, in an effort to rescue it from the overshadowing legacy of critical theory which has construed Marx as inveighing against false needs. It is argued that Marx regarded the expansion of needs entailed by capitalism in a generally favourable way, but saw capitalism as a system yoking use-value to the imperatives of profit accumulation, hence limiting and subjugating the consumption of the masses. While Marx’s position was radically different from conventional anti-consumerism it (...) is equally incompatible with complacent affirmations of ‘the consumer society’ in that Marx at all times aimed at a revolutionary change which will transform consumption both quantitatively and qualitatively. Marx’s views are first discussed as expressed in the perennially-cited text, the 1844Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts. The second part moves on to examine the further evolution of Marx’s ideas as found in later texts, particularly theGrundrisse. (shrink)

Dans le tome 5 de L'Histoire des femmes, le chapitre 18 intitulé « Du féminin au féminisme : l'exemple québécois », par l'historienne Yolande Cohen, présente une interprétation étonnante. Un public international vient de découvrir qu'au Québec, contrairement à ce qui s'est passé dans tous les pays de l'Occident, un mouvement rural, exaltant la complémentarité des sexes, est à l'origine d'« un des mouvements féministes les plus dynamiques du monde occidental ». La thèse de ce chapitre n...

(1996). Theory and practice in the economy of Albania (1912–1994) The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 842-848.

(1996). Otherness, identity, and politics: Towards a framework of analysis. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 409-414.

(1997). Introduction: “Poohness”; or, of Universals, paradigms, and literature. The European Legacy: Vol. 2, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas, pp. 199-205.

La 4e de couverture indique : "Avec l'accélération de la mondialisation, une opinion qui aurait, jusqu'il y a peu, été taxée d'incongruité, semble avoir gagné le statut d'évidence : le système étatique mondial serait menacé et appellerait à une profonde redéfinition des attributs, des structures et du rôle traditionnellement dévolus aux Etats. Malgré un échiquier géopolitique modifié, où les frontières s'évanouissent et où les cultures et les traditions nationales s'amalgament jusqu'à l'extinction, il faut cependant reconnaître que la mondialisation n'est pas (...) venue à bout des Etats, des sociétés qui les composent et des divers problèmes que crée la cohabitation au sein de leurs institutions traditionnelles. Bien au contraire, la mondialisation a souvent contribué à enclencher en série des situations qui se répercutent sur les plans social et étatique. Dans toutes ces situations, c'est aux Etats, à leur gouvernement et à la société entière qu'il appartient de restaurer, voire de réinventer, la trame des communautés politiques. Non pas en érigeant des barrages à la mondialisation, mais en contribuant à la création des institutions d'une gouvernance globale juste et efficace. Rassemblant des collaborateurs de l'Europe, du Québec, du Canada anglais et des Etats-Unis, ce livre questionne, sous des angles différents, la pertinence théorique de la notion de communauté politique lorsqu'il s'agit de penser le pluralisme résultant de l'immigration internationale. II pose aussi un regard critique sur le rôle que cette notion joue dans les approches courantes des phénomènes liés à la diversité. Car plusieurs questions se posent maintenant, dont celle, au premier chef, de la capacité des appareils d'Etats contemporains de cimenter des communautés politiques dans un contexte de mobilité spatiale accrue et de transnationalisme croissant.". (shrink)

This book explores the emergence and significance of 'a Nietzschean heroic model' in 20th-century popular culture, some notable examples of which are James Bond, Tarzan, and Hannibal Lecter.

(1996). Socialism and the “political question”. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 532-537.

A dramatic image of death is reflected from a cycle of folktales (Aarne-Thompson Types 505 to 508) in which a man dying in debt is refused burial, until the hero of the tale pays the ransom and fulfills the ancestral funeral ritual. Then the tale may develop into a further sequence centred on the Grateful Dead. The texts alluded to here come from both Northern Europe and the Mediterranean area, and from ancient and modern tales.

While the epic is absent from classical Arabic literature, the genre - although long ignored - plays an outstanding part in popular culture throughout the Arabo-Islamic sphere.

Os princípios e objetivos fundamentais da Constituição Federal de 1988 serviram de bases para que os Direitos Humanos ocupassem grande relevância na sociedade Brasileira. Assim, esses direitos se alargaram internacionalmente através da Declaração Universal dos Direitos Humanos e demais documentos positivados para resguardar essa evolução histórica. Atualmente ocupam grande espaço na sociedade e são de responsabilidade do Estado, que deve propagá-los através de Políticas Publicas eficientes. A máxima kantiana sobre a liberdade trás estreita relação com os direitos fundamentais abrangidos em (...) nossa constituição federal, servindo como base para a criação do nosso ordenamento jurídico no que diz respeito aos direitos humanos, mais precisamente quanto aos princípios da dignidade da pessoa humana e cidadania. (shrink)

(1996). Rhetorical problems of emergent democracy: Political change and political discourse in Poland. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 568-574.

(1996). Public opinion and democratic culture: The French revolution. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 175-180.

(1996). The contribution of communist states to the proscription of racist speech. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 801-811.

(1996). Repairing the moral deficits of capitalism: The role of the nonprofit sector. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 595-600.

(1996). The concept of Carolingian Europe in the foreign policy of the Federal Republic of Germany. The European Legacy: Vol. 1, Fourth International Conference of the International Society for the study of European Ideas, pp. 727-733.

La couverture allemande dans le Welt plutôt conservateur, dans le Süddeutsche Zeitung libéral et dans le quotidien économique Handelsblatt du référendum français sur la Constitution européenne est analysée entre le 25 mai et le 4 juin 2005. Dans la couverture de ces trois quotidiens, dominent les ténors de la politique tandis que la voix du peuple n'apparaît qu'à travers la publication des sondages. Les articles se fondent sur des dépêches d'agences de presse et des médias français. Des rapports de correspondants (...) sont l'exception. Cette base d'informations conduit à une perte de réalité du contenu dans la couverture allemande parce que le point de vue de l'élite politique y est repris et que les peurs des citoyens en ce qui concerne les conséquences de l'intégration européenne y sont négligées.Coverage in the German Welt rather conservative in the liberal Süddeutsche Zeitung and Handelsblatt business daily in the French referendum on the European Constitution is analyzed between May 25 and June 4, 2005. Coverage in three newspapers, dominate the political tenor while the people's voice appears only through the publication of opinion polls. The articles are based on dispatches of news agencies and the French media. Corresponding reports are the exception. This information base leads to a loss of reality contained in the German coverage because the point of view of the political elite is over and that the fears of citizens regarding the implications of European integration are neglected. (shrink)