Montaigne: Founder of Modern Liberalism

In this essay David Lewis Schaefer summarizes and defends the argument set forth in his book The Political Philosophy of Montaigne (Cornell University Press, 1990; second edition 2019) that Michele de Montaigne's Essays (first edition, 1580) merits consideration as a founding text of modern political liberalism. After responding to the most extensive published critique of his interpretation (by James Supple) and citing other recent studies that harmonize with his argument, Schaefer compares his analysis of Montaigne's political aims and political-ethical teaching with those set forth in two other recent studies: Philippe Desan's Montaigne: A Life and Pierre Manent's Montaigne: La Vie sans loi.     

对俄国自由主义的理论探讨

自由主义首先是一种政治思潮,其次是一种社会政治运动,再次是某种政治制度和管理原则的总和。自由主义是古代西欧明的创造,于近代形成为体系,并蔓延到东欧国家。俄国自由主义大体上是从外部引进的,并在发展过程中出现了许多的类型和派别,其中最重要的是立宪主义。俄国自由主义在实质方面与西方自由主义相同,但它的形成与发展过程困难重重,缺少相应的社会环境。俄国自由派脱离人民,成为一种“少数人的运动”,并且由于诸多原因最终走向失败。     

Community and Identity: The Making of Modern Gibraltar since 1704

Building on recent historiography that has questioned traditional assumptions regarding the altruism of post-war Canadian foreign policy, this article examines Canada's response to the emergence of the Afro-Asian bloc at the United Nations in 1960. Canadian diplomats initially greeted the emergence of the Third World, hoped to influence delegations from these newly emergent states and had notions of working as a bridge between the west and the rest. However, the increasing radicalism of African and Asian resolutions targeting Canada's traditional allies made this task increasingly difficult. Ultimately, Ottawa was forced to face the fact that it was a western country.     

Case del fascio and the Making of Modern Italy

Abstract

In recent decades, scholars of modern Italy have identified Fascism’s effort to establish a new society as a hallmark of the regime’s engagement with modernism. Fascist party headquarters (case del fascio), the primary institution through which the party aimed to alter the character, habits, and attitudes of its citizens in the making of Fascist Italy, are largely absent from this discourse, despite their extraordinary importance to the regime. Through an analysis and discussion of the regime’s building activity in the rapidly developing working-class neighborhoods on the edge of nineteenth-century Milan, the city most closely associated with modern ways of life in the interwar period (and still today), this paper provides an opportunity to explore the ways in which the amenities, design, and location of party-controlled outposts were intended to advance the party’s objectives and communicate Fascism’s central place in the making of a modern urban landscape in the regime’s final decades.     

Rewriting Australian Liberalism: The High Court's Jurisprudence of Rights

The High Court's recent rights jurisprudence has been unusually controversial. This paper argues that it is possible to evaluate the important developments in the Court's jurisprudence by examining the philosophical foundations of its understanding of rights. Relying on the distinction between utilitarian rights and natural and human rights, the paper discerns in the Court's traditional legalism as well as its more recent jurisprudence of implied rights a consistent commitment to a utilitarian conception of rights. In contrast, the paper argues that the Court's human rights jurisprudence represents a fundamental shift in its view of rights and judicial review, with far-reaching consequences for Australian constitutionalism and liberalism.