Political Theory Commons^™

Reclaiming Egalitarianism In The Political Theory Of Campaign Finance Reform, Frank Pasquale

Faculty Scholarship

Recent advocacy for campaign finance reform has been based on an ideal of the democratic process which is unrealistic and unhelpful. Scholars should instead return to its egalitarian roots. This article examines how deliberative democratic theory became the main justification for campaign finance reform. It exposes the shortcomings of this deliberativist detour and instead models campaign spending as an effort to commodify issue-salience. Given this dominant function of money in politics, a more effective paradigm for reform is equalizing influence. Advocates of campaign regulation should return to the original principles of reformers; not an idealized vision of the democratic process, …

Silence Of The Laws? Conceptions Of International Relations And International Law In Hobbes, Kant, And Locke, Michael W. Doyle, Geoffrey S. Carlson

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay explains how the political theorists Hobbes, Kant, and Locke interpret the decision to go to war (us ad bellum) and the manner in which the war is conducted (just in bello). It also considers the implications of the three theories for compliance with international law more generally. It concludes that although all three can lay claim to certain key features of modern international law, it is Locke who provides the most complete support for both the laws of war, in particular, and with international law, in general.

A Theory Of Political Obligation: Membership, Commitment, And The Bonds Of Society By Margaret Gilbert (Book Review), David Lefkowitz

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Does membership in a political society, in and of itself, involve obligations to uphold that society’s political institutions? Margaret Gilbert offers a novel argument in defense of an affirmative answer to this question, which she labels the membership problem. Given a plausible construal of the concepts obligation, political society, and membership in a political society, Gilbert argues that it follows analytically that to be a member of a political society just is to have an obligation to uphold and support that society’s political institutions. The key to Gilbert’s argument is the idea of a joint commitment; those …

Utilitarianism And Beyond: Contemporary Analytical Political Theory, David Miller, Richard Dagger

Political Science Faculty Publications

In this chapter we sketch a body of political thought that became predominant in the second half of the twentieth century among academic political philosophers, primarily in the English-speaking world, but increasingly elsewhere, too. To call this type of political thought ‘analytical’ may not be particularly revealing, but no other term better describes the movement in question. Sometimes ‘liberal political theory’ is used, and there is indeed a close connection between analytical theory and liberalism. But that label is in one way too broad and in another too narrow for this kind of political thinking: too broad because liberalism has …

Emilian Kavalski On The Liberal Archipelago: A Theory Of Diversity And Freedom By Chandran Kukathas. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. 292pp., Emilian Kavalski

Human Rights & Human Welfare

No abstract provided.

Autonomy, Domination, And The Republican Challenge To Liberalism, Richard Dagger

Political Science Faculty Publications

Like Sunstein and other advocates of 'republican' or 'civic' liberalism, I believe that it is historically unsound and politically unwise to insist on a sharp distinction between liberalism and republicanism. Others disagree, however, and there is much to be learned from their position even if, ultimately, we should not adopt it. Those who take this more radical neo-republican view advance two main lines of argument: first, that the liberal emphasis on neutrality and procedural fairness is fundamentally at odds with the republican commitment to promoting civic virtue; and, second, that republicans and liberals conceive of liberty or freedom in incompatible …

Contextualism Reconsidered: Some Skeptical Reflections, Chandran Kukathas

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

A number of theorists have touted the merits of the contextual approach to political theory, arguing that a close examination of real-world cases is more likely to yield both theoretical insight and practical solutions to pressing problems. This is particularly evident, it is argued, in the field of multiculturalism in political theory. The present paper offers some skeptical reflections on this view, arguing the merits of a view of political theory which sees the contextual approach as less distinctive than its proponents imagine, and less useful than many would suggest. It maintains that there are serious limits to what political …

Negotiating Toleration: Engagement, Enforcement, And The Politics Of Recognition, Matthew S. Weinert

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Toleration and Identity: Foundations in Early Modern Thought by Ingrid Creppell. New York: Routledge, 2003. 212pp.

and

How the Idea of Religious Toleration Came to the West by Perez Zagorin. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. 371pp.

Is Anybody Still A Realist?, Jeffrey W. Legro, Andrew Moravcsik

Political Science Faculty Publications

Realism, the oldest and most prominent theoretical paradigm in international relations, is in trouble. The problem is not lack of interest. Realism remains the primary or alternative theory in virtually every major book and article addressing general theories of world politics, particularly in security affairs. Controversies between neorealism and its critics continue to dominate international relations theory debates. Nor is the problem realism’s purported inability to make point predictions. Many specific realist theories are testable, and there remains much global conflict about which realism offers powerful insights. Nor is the problem the lack of empirical support for simple realist predictions, …

James Madison And The Ethics Of Transformational Leadership, J. Thomas Wren

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Transformational leadership has become one of the dominant paradigms of leadership studies since its fist articulation by James MacGregor Burns in 1978. In recent years, however, this formulation of leadership has come under criticism, to include the critique of its ethical implications. One of the most innovative and provocative of such critiques is on by Michael Keeley in this book, grounded in his close study of the political theory of James Madison. Keeley argues that Madison provides a model of leadership that opposes transformational leadership and that avoids many of its ethical pitfalls. This chapter suggests an alternative interpretation of …

Book Review. Secession: The Morality Of Political Divorce From Fort Sumter To Lithuania And Quebec By Allen Buchanan, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Book Review. Conceptual Change And The Constitution, Stephen A. Conrad

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Military Meaning Of The New Soviet Doctrine, Jeffrey W. Legro

Political Science Faculty Publications

The current ferment in Soviet military doctrine has led to uncertainty and debate over its implications. On one hand, Gorbachev's peaceful rhetoric, backed by force reductions, is competing with the Bolshoi's ballerinas for favorable Western press reviews. Public opinion-and many public officials-perceive a reduced military threat from the Soviet army. On the other hand, skeptics believe that recent doctrinal changes are compatible with a modernized, more efficient Soviet military machine. In their view, the Soviet army is definitely changing, but the threat will not. A review of the operational implications of the new Soviet security themes indicates that neither the …

Kay Saunders' Review Of Andrew C. Theophaneous' Australian Democracy In Crisis: A New Theoretical Introduction To Australian Politics, Kay Saunders

Pacific Studies

No abstract provided.

Judicial Review And The National Political Process: A Functional Reconsideration Of The Role Of The Supreme Court, Henry Paul Monaghan

Faculty Scholarship

Imagine a cold morning early in February. Slowly sipping coffee in an effort to awaken fully, you are reading through the Supreme Court advance sheets. You come across the following brief opinion:

PER CURIAM. Fisher v. Rye Co., No. 81-1, and First Savings Bank v. Smith, No. 81-2. These petitions for certiorari have been consolidated for disposition in a single opin-ion. No. 81-1 challenges an Executive Order that, in an effort to combat gender-based discrimination, requires government contractors to adopt affirmative action programs. No argument is made that the Executive Order is authorized by statute. Concluding that the …

American Feminism And Social Democracy, Cathy Elizabeth Hinshaw

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The concepts of both social democracy and feminism will be discussed in detail in the course of the thesis. By way of introduction, broad definitions for these concepts will be offered here. Before attempting these definitions, however, the "central validity" of which Lippmann speaks and around which the definitions revolve should be established. The core of both social democracy and feminism, as they are to be used here, is a particular understanding of the notion of equality.

John Dewey's Ideas About The Great Depression, Edward J. Bordeau

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

Some criticisms that have been directed against John Dewey's political theory reveal a general misunderstanding of his intent. Dewey was quite active in writing, lecturing, and propagandizing during the Depression years. Our primary concern in this article is the role he played in the efforts of the League for Independent Political Action to sponsor a third party from 1928 until the collapse of this project in 1936. Concurrent with this movement is Dewey's work with the People's Lobby in advocating social welfare programs to meet the crises generated by the Depression.

Unification Of Political And Legal Theory, Jerome Hall

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Book Review. Stone, J., The Providence And Function Of Law, Jerome Hall

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Book Review. Waldo, D., The Administrative State: A Study Of The Political Theory Of American Public Administration, Ralph F. Fuchs

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Christian Commonwealth: Or, The Civil Policy Of The Rising Kingdom Of Jesus Christ, John Eliot

Zea E-Books in American Studies

John Eliot (1604-1690), the Puritan missionary to the New England Indians, developed this plan of political organization for the Christianized tribes that he converted. In the late 1640s, he adapted it for English use and sent a manuscript copy to England, where it appeared in print 10 years later, in 1659, following the death of Cromwell and before the accession of Charles II.

Eliot’s “Preface” to the work was far more radical and troublesome than the utopian theocracy described in the main body. “Much is spoken of the rightful Heir of the Crown of England, and the unjustice of casting …