Neues Buch: Transnationalisierung der Volkssouveränität

Transnationalisierung der VolkssouveränitätRadikale Demokratie diesseits und jenseits des Staates(Ingeborg Maus zum 70. Geburtstag)Hrsg. von Oliver Eberl(Franz Steiner Verlag, 2011)354 S.KurzbeschreibungMehr als zweihundert Jahre nach der Französischen Revolution stellt sich die Frage, wie ihre zentrale staatstheoretische Errungenschaft, die Theorie der Volkssouveränität, den Herausforderungen der Globalisierung widerstehen oder zur Demokratisierung der internationalen Beziehungen beitragen kann. Volkssouveränität heißt, dass alle Macht zur Verfassung- und Gesetzgebung in den Händen des Volkes liegt. Gesetzgebung durch das Volk und Rechtsstaatlichkeit...

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Martha Nussbaum on Perfectionist Liberalism and Political Liberalism

In the new issue of "Philosophy & Public Affairs" (vol. 39, no. 1, 2011), Professor Martha Nussbaum has an article on "Perfectionist Liberalism and Political Liberalism". There is free access to the article (and to every issue of Philosophy & Public Affairs in its online library) if you registrer for a free 30-day trial.An early draft of the article is available here.Excerpts:"As I define perfectionist liberalism, following [Charles] Larmore, it is a species of a genus of liberal views that might be called “comprehensive liberalisms,” liberalisms that base political principles on some comprehensive doctrine about human life that covers not only the political domain but also the domain of human conduct generally. Most forms of comprehensive liberalism are perfectionist, involving a...

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Habermas: "A Pact for or against Europe?"

In "Süddeutsche Zeitung" April 7, Jürgen Habermas on Germany and Europe:"Ein Pakt für oder gegen Europa?"An Gründen für eine Gemeinschaft fehlt es nicht, wohl aber einem politischen Willen - und an Verantwortung.This is a speech given by Habermas on April 6 at a meeting on "Europe and the re-discovery of the German nation-state" arranged by the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). Habermas criticised political elites for shirking their responsibility of delivering Europe to its citizens, instead relying on opportunism that threatens to “sink 50 years of European history”. Former foreign minister Joschka Fischer also took part in the discussion. See Habermas's full speech here (pdf).See the reports on Habermas's speech in- The Irish Times, April 7- The Financial...

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At Rutgers: Symposium on Sen's "The Idea of Justice"

The Institute for Law and Philosophy at Rutgers University will host a two-day symposium on Amartya Sen's "The Idea of Justice" (Harvard University Press, 2009) on April 15-16, 2011.The program:Friday, April 15Samuel Freeman (Pennsylvania): "Perfect Justice and the Well-Ordered Society"Erin Kelly (Tufts)“Public Reason as a Collective Capability” (pdf)David Estlund (Brown): "The Best and the Rest: Optimizing and Comparing in Theories of Justice" Saturday, April 16Henry Richardson (Georgetown)"Mapping Out Improvements in Justice: Comparing vs. Aiming" (pdf)Gerald Gaus (Arizona):"Social Contract and Social Choice" (pdf)Debra Satz (Stanford): "The Idea of Justice: What Approach, Which Capabilities?"Professor Amartya Sen will also attend the symposium. The proceedings will be published in a special...

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Habermas on the Habermas-Rawls Debate

"Habermas and Rawls - Disputing the Political" (Routledge, 2011), edited by James Gordon Finlayson & Fabian Freyenhagen, includes a new article by Jürgen Habermas in which he comments on John Rawls's political theory and on the other contributions in the book.Here are some excerpts from Habermas's "Reply to My Critics" (pp. 283-304):"How far are morality, law and politics amenable to rational justification and how do they relate to the normative content of the ethical-existential life orientations and worldviews of individuals and communities? For my part, I follow Kant in assuming that, with the concept of autonomy, the practical reason shared by all persons offers a reliable guide both for morally justifying individual actions and for the rational construction of a legitimate political...

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