European Journal of Political Theory current issue

Contributors

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:56:28 PDT

Totalitarianism as a Non-State: On Hannah Arendt's Debt to Franz Neumann

Iakovou, V. — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:56:28 PDT

The objective of this article is to show that Hannah Arendt’s understanding of totalitarianism is indebted to the analysis of National Socialism elaborated by Franz Neumann in Behemoth: The Structure and Practice of National Socialism . It is argued that Arendt adopted the central thesis of Neumann according to which Nazi Germany is a ‘non-state’ and that this thesis as well as its presuppositions are discernible in her overall approach, developed in The Origins of Totalitarianism.

Epistemological Modesty within Contemporary Political Thought: A Link between Hayek's Neoliberalism and Pettit's Republicanism

Kacenelenbogen, E. — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:56:28 PDT

In this paper, I expound Philip Pettit’s political thought as an example of a ‘spontaneous and naturalistic’ view of politics and place his account within a liberal tradition of epistemological modesty which Pettit imagines he has transcended. To this end, I highlight the affinities between Pettit’s theory of freedom and a paradigmatically ‘modest’ social theory, namely, Hayek’s theory of the spontaneous social order. In light of the comparison with Hayek, I show that Pettit’s distinction between liberal and republican thought is not as vivid as he suggests. My contention is that the republican ideal of freedom offers not so much the makings of a viable non-liberal theory of political association as the expression, under a ‘new’ language of citizenship, of specifically Hayekian intuitions that lie at the core of contemporary neoliberalism.

Three Paradigms of Modern Freedom

Kioupkiolis, A. — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:56:28 PDT

The paper makes a case for the new paradigm of freedom which has been elaborated by thinkers such as Cornelius Castoriadis and Michel Foucault. In response to the critique of the subject, freedom is construed now as limited and agonistic, calling for an ongoing struggle against various constraints. But this idea is coupled with a heightened appreciation of contingency and creativity. Individuals can bring new possibilities into existence, which go beyond any predefined alternatives. The paper argues that this is a tenable and empowering figure of freedom which overcomes the deficiencies of earlier modern views. Essentialist notions, which can be found in Kant and Marx, contract freedom by tying it down to unchanging universal laws and definite conditions of realization, while alternative accounts of negative liberty fail to address the constrained nature of human agency.

Adorno's Mimesis and its Limitations for Critical Social Thought

Verdeja, E. — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 02:56:28 PDT

Adorno’s philosophy has enjoyed a resurgence of attention in political theory over the past decade. In this paper, I challenge contemporary efforts to adopt his critical theory by arguing that his conceptions of mimesis and negative dialectics, which are central to his thought, are ultimately unsatisfactory. I begin by critiquing the normative content of the negative dialectic, and then move on to explore its problematic relation with mimesis. In the following sections I argue that mimesis cannot do the normative work that Adorno requires of it. Rather, his idea of mimesis fails to inform critique (understood as ‘negative’ thought), relies on a problematic pre-modern idea of authenticity, and is incompatible with theoretical analyses of modern complex societies.