Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Theory Without A Movement, A Hope Without A Name: The Future Of Marxism In A Post-Marxist World, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Just as Marx's insights into capitalism have been most strikingly vindicated by the rise of neoliberalism and the near-collapse of the world economy, Marxism as social movement has become bereft of support. Is there any point in people who find Marx's analysis useful in clinging to the term "Marxism" - which Marx himself rejected -- at time when self-identified Marxist organizations and societies have collapsed or renounced the identification, and Marxism own working class constituency rejects the term? I set aside bad reasons to give on "Marxism," such as that the theory is purportedly refuted, that its adoption leads necessarily …

Neoliberalism And The Law Reassessing Historical Materialist Analysis Of The Law For The 21st Century, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Historical materialism has been called in question by the triumph of neoliberalism and the fall of Communism. I show, by consideration of two examples, the 2008 crisis and recent Supreme Court campaign spending First Amendment jurisprudence, that neoliberalism instead vindicates the explanatory power of (non-mechanical and non-deterministic) historical materialism in accounting for a wide range of recent legal developments in legislation, executive (in)action, and judicial decision-making.

Neoliberalism And The Law: How Historical Materialism Can Illuminate Recent Governmental And Judicial Decision Making, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

Neoliberalism can be understood as the deregulation of the economy from political control by deliberate action or inaction of the state. As such it is both constituted by the law and deeply affects it. I show how the methods of historical materialism can illuminate this phenomenon in all three branches of the the U.S. government. Considering the example the global financial crisis of 2007-08 that began with the housing bubble developing from trade in unregulated and overvalued mortgage backed securities, I show how the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which established a firewall between commercial and investment banking, allowed this …

Marx E Seu Legado Para A Teoria Contemporânea Do Estado Capitalista, Renato Perissinotto, Adriano Codato

Adriano Codato

The purpose of this essay is to identify some ideas outlined by Marx in his 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonparte that became fundamental for the development and establisment of the marxist theory of the State between the years 1960-1980. Although the importance of this work for the improvement of marxist theory of the state has been largely recognized by many authors, there are no, if we are not mistaken, studies dedicated to sistematically identifying the thematical links between Marx's analysis and the the works of social scientists and economists published during the second decade of the last century whose intention …

Ler Marx, Hoje: Um Programa De Pesquisa E De Interpretação, Adriano Codato, Renato Perissinotto

Adriano Codato

This study presents a project of reading and interpretation of Marx s texts about the French politics. The greater purpose that inspires this project is the desire to make Marx s thoughts a normal social science in two very precise ways: as a type of scientific knowledge, rather than a normative theory and/or social view of the world; and as an interpretative genre, which consists on connecting the actions and political institutions to their social dimension. This posture necessarily implies a comprehension different from the works of Marx that are more interested in his analytical operations than in the monumental …

Marxism And Elitism: Two Opposite Social Analysis Models?, Adriano Codato, Renato Perissinotto

Adriano Codato

The purpose of this article is to contrapose the propositions on power, class and political domination presented by a particular interpretation of Marxism - structuralist Marxism - through a critical dialogue with one of its most paradigmatic authors: Nicos Poulantzas. The article states, against Poulantzas suggestions, that the insertion of the concept of "élite" in theoretical Marxism may produce positive effects on it, specially making the classist analysis of politics scientifically manageable.

Haiti Needs Socialism, David E. Clark

David E Clark

Bill Clinton said that the Tsunami survivors six years ago deserved the chance to decide their own future. Haiti deserves the same hands-off approach as they rebuild after the 2010 earthquake. Aristide should be allowed to return and work with Venezuela and Cuba. If he decides to implement the same socialist reforms that have worked elsewhere in the Americas, so be it.

Marxismo E Elitismo: Dois Modelos Antagônicos De Análise Social?, Adriano Codato

Adriano Codato

The purpose of this article is to contrapose the propositions on power, class and political domination presented by a particular interpretation of Marxism - structuralist Marxism - through a critical dialogue with one of its most paradigmatic authors: Nicos Poulantzas. The article states, against Poulantzas suggestions, that the insertion of the concept of "élite" in theoretical Marxism may produce positive effects on it, specially making the classist analysis of politics scientifically manageable.

Poulantzas, O Estado E A Revolução, Adriano Codato

Adriano Codato

The article exposes the theory of the capitalist state formulated for Nicos Poulantzas. It is possible to find, in his work, three successive and different formulations of what the state is: a structure, an apparatus and a social relation. Each of these definitions corresponds to a political strategy in regard to the overcome of the capitalist state, so that the two problems, the function of the state and the destruction of the state, must be considered together.

O Estado Como Instituição: Uma Leitura Das Obras Históricas De Marx, Adriano Codato, Renato Perissinotto

Adriano Codato

The aim of this paper is to present a reading of the Marxist theory of the state more complex and ambitious than that made by recent neo-institutionalists criticism. Upon reconsideration of the "historical works" of Marx demonstrated that this author has a conception of state which takes into account their internal institutional dynamics without compromising, however, the view of class.

Spinoza And Marx, Eugene W. Holland

Eugene W Holland

This essay explores what replacing Hegel with Spinoza as a philosophical source might do for contemporary Marxism.

Relativism, Reflective Equilibrium, And Justice, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

THIS PAPER IS THE CO-WINNER OF THE FRED BERGER PRIZE IN PHILOSOPHY OF LAW FOR THE 1999 AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE BEST PUBLISHED PAPER IN THE PREVIOUS TWO YEARS.

The conflict between liberal legal theory and critical legal studies (CLS) is often framed as a matter of whether there is a theory of justice that the law should embody which all rational people could or must accept. In a divided society, the CLS critique of this view is overwhelming: there is no such justice that can command universal assent. But the liberal critique of CLS, that it degenerates into …

In Defence Of Exploitation, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

The concept of exploitation is thought to be central to Marx's Critique of capitalism. John Roemer, an analytical (then-) Marxist economist now at Yale, attacked this idea in a series of papers and books in the 1970s-1990s, arguing that Marxists should be concerned with inequality rather than exploitation -- with distribution rather than production, precisely the opposite of what Marx urged in The Critique of the Gotha Progam.

This paper expounds and criticizes Roemer's objections and his alternative inequality based theory of exploitation, while accepting some of his criticisms. It may be viewed as a companion paper to my What's …

The Paradox Of Ideology, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

A standard problem with the objectivity of social scientific theory in particular is that it is either self-referential, in which case it seems to undermine itself as ideology, or self-excepting, which seem pragmatically self-refuting. Using the example of Marx and his theory of ideology, I show how self-referential theories that include themselves in their scope of explanation can be objective. Ideology may be roughly defined as belief distorted by class interest. I show how Marx thought that natural science was informed by class interest but not therefore necessarily ideology. Capitalists have an interest in understanding the natural world (to a …

A Future For Socialism In The Ussr?, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

This paper was written before the Fall, and when the fate of the former Soviet Union and Marxism in it was still in question. At the time many people interested in Soviet politics had high expectations for Gorbachev's reform program, with some expectation that it would rescue "actually existing socialism" from its crisis. The paper took a more pessimistic view, correctly identifying, in retrospect, the factors that lead to the internal loss of faith in socialism in the Soviet ruling elite, the basic nature and trajectory of perestroika and itys centrifugal effects on the USSR itself., and the ultimate rise …