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Freedom and Political Order explores the traditional meaning of freedom in the American experience and its relation to other characteristically American values and institutions. Such an exploration necessarily touches upon relevant historical experience, but it extends beyond a history of freedom toward wider fields of inquiry, including and especially, moral and political philosophy. Political philosophers throughout the ages have been concerned with a question of perennial significance to human experience: what are the rules that ought to govern human relations in society or, less formally, how should human beings treat one another? Such a question is unavoidable for human beings. Its necessity derives from the nature of things, from the fact that human existence is essentially social or political existence. The rare Robinson Crusoe aside, ‘No man is an island’, and from birth to death every person encounters other human beings with whom he must interact. Every society has thus established rules regarding the ethical treatment of human beings, rules embodied in the various moral, legal, and political orders developed within human history. The formal discipline of political philosophy aims to explore and identify the proper substance of such rules. The philosophy of freedom elaborated herein is the traditional American response to the perennial question of politics so conceived. A comprehensive exploration of American political philosophy is by nature a work of scholarship. The book carefully examines the meaning of freedom and other natural rights; their relation to the Rule of Law; the nature and purpose of government as embodied in the American social contract; the relation between the liberal and democratic elements of American liberal democracy; and various assumptions underlying the Framers’ constitutional design. The study, however, is not intended exclusively for professional scholars but also for the general public and students of American government and society. Thomas Jefferson once pointedly warned that “a nation that expects to be ignorant and free . . . expects what never was and never will be.” The work thus aims not only to bring to light the fundamental values and institutions of traditional American society but, in so doing, assist in their preservation.
This new Liberty Fund edition of James McClellan's classic work on the quest for liberty, order, and justice in England and America includes the author's revisions to the original edition published in 1989 by the Center for Judicial Studies. Unlike most textbooks in American Government, Liberty, Order, and Justice seeks to familiarize the student with the basic principles of the Constitution, and to explain their origin, meaning, and purpose. Particular emphasis is placed on federalism and the separation of powers. These features of the book, together with its extensive and unique historical illustrations, make this new edition of Liberty, Order, and Justice especially suitable for introductory classes in American Government and for high school students in advanced placement courses.
Benjamin Constant (1767-1830) was born in Switzerland and became one of France's leading writers, as well as a journalist, philosopher, and politician. His colourful life included a formative stay at the University of Edinburgh; service at the court of Brunswick, Germany; election to the French Tribunate; and initial opposition and subsequent support for Napoleon, even the drafting of a constitution for the Hundred Days. Constant wrote many books, essays, and pamphlets. His deepest conviction was that reform is hugely superior to revolution, both morally and politically. While Constant's fluid, dynamic style and lofty eloquence do not always make for easy reading, his text forms a coherent whole, and in his translation Dennis O'Keeffe has focused on retaining the 'general elegance and subtle rhetoric' of the original. Sir Isaiah Berlin called Constant 'the most eloquent of all defenders of freedom and privacy' and believed to him we owe the notion of 'negative liberty', that is, what Biancamaria Fontana describes as "the protection of individual experience and choices from external interferences and constraints." To Constant it was relatively unimportant whether liberty was ultimately grounded in religion or metaphysics -- what mattered were the practical guarantees of practical freedom -- "autonomy in all those aspects of life that could cause no harm to others or to society as a whole." This translation is based on Etienne Hofmann's critical edition of Principes de politique (1980), complete with Constant's additions to the original work.
Freedom and Political Order is the first of three volumes comprising a comprehensive study of Freedom and American Society. Volume I explores the traditional meaning of freedom in the American experience and its relation to the rule of law; freedom and rights; the nature and purpose of government; liberal democracy; and various assumptions implicit in the Founders' constitutional construction.
A novel, sophisticated and realistic account of freedom as power through political representation.
This edition of a 1995 book (Sage Publications) contains a new introduction by the series editor and a new preface. Readers familiar with Foucault's work will appreciate the difficulty in critically studying its arresting paradoxical nature. Dumm (political science, Amherst College) negotiates the problem by creating a thematic framework--the idea of being "free" in a modern Western capitalist democracy--and examining it through a Foucaultian lens. He focuses on the politics of freedom, negative freedom, the disciplinary society, ethics, seduction, governments, and provides an enlightening companion to Foucault's postmodern philosophy. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
The Two Faces of American Freedom boldly reinterprets the American political tradition from the colonial period to modern times, placing issues of race relations, immigration, and presidentialism in the context of shifting notions of empire and citizenship. Today, while the U.S. enjoys tremendous military and economic power, citizens are increasingly insulated from everyday decision-making. This was not always the case. America, Aziz Rana argues, began as a settler society grounded in an ideal of freedom as the exercise of continuous self-rule—one that joined direct political participation with economic independence. However, this vision of freedom was politically bound to the subordination of marginalized groups, especially slaves, Native Americans, and women. These practices of liberty and exclusion were not separate currents, but rather two sides of the same coin. However, at crucial moments, social movements sought to imagine freedom without either subordination or empire. By the mid-twentieth century, these efforts failed, resulting in the rise of hierarchical state and corporate institutions. This new framework presented national and economic security as society’s guiding commitments and nurtured a continual extension of America’s global reach. Rana envisions a democratic society that revives settler ideals, but combines them with meaningful inclusion for those currently at the margins of American life.
The purpose of this work is to discuss and explain the nature of political freedom. The approach is interdisciplinary, drawing from social theory, history, and law, as well as philosophy and political theory. The argument presented defends a view of political freedom as a social norm that has gained great prominence in those places where it has emerged through time as a social mechanism that supports social order and brings security to social life. Regarded as a social norm, political freedom promotes the toleration of the religious, cultural, ideological, and moral differences that generate normative conflict throughout society. The resultant understanding of political freedom therefore defends a distinction between political and personal freedom and separates the idea of political freedom from the individualism with which it is normally associated in most philosophical literature. The argument also indicates why it is appropriate to regard political freedom as a central virtue of social justice.
Why do governments pass freedom of information laws? The symbolic power and force surrounding FOI makes it appealing as an electoral promise but hard to disengage from once in power. However, behind closed doors compromises and manoeuvres ensure that bold policies are seriously weakened before they reach the statute book. The politics of freedom of information examines how Tony Blair's government proposed a radical FOI law only to back down in fear of what it would do. But FOI survived, in part due to the government's reluctance to be seen to reject a law that spoke of 'freedom', 'information' and 'rights'. After comparing the British experience with the difficult development of FOI in Australia, India and the United States – and the rather different cases of Ireland and New Zealand – the book concludes by looking at how the disruptive, dynamic and democratic effects of FOI laws continue to cause controversy once in operation.
Provides a novel defense of liberalism that weaves together a commitment to republican self-government, an emphasis on the value of unregulated choice, and an appreciation of how hard it is to strike a balance between them. An indispensable resource for constructive dialogue in a time of political polarization.