Freedom,ethical choice and the Hellenistic polis

ABSTRACT

This paper examines ideas of individual freedom in the Hellenistic city-states (c. 323–31 BCE). It concentrates on the civic ideas expressed in the laws and decrees of Hellenistic cities, inscribed on stone, comparing them with Hellenistic historical and philosophical works. It places different Hellenistic approaches alongside modern liberal, neo-Roman republican and civic humanist theories of individual liberty, finding some overlaps with each of those modern approaches. The argument is that the Hellenistic Greeks developed innovative ways of combining demanding ideals of civic virtue and the common good with equally robust ideals of individual freedom and ethical choice. They did so not least by adapting and developing traditional Greek approaches close to modern civic humanism, in ways very relevant to modern debates about how to reconcile civic duty, the common good and pluralism.     

Reviews

The Economy of Islamic Iran: Between State and Market , Thierry Coville, ed., Tehran: Institut Français de Rechere en Iran, 1994, 275 pp.

A Century of Revolution: Social Movements in Iran , Social Movements, Protest, and Contention Series, vol. 2, John Foran, ed., Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1994, 263 pp., incl. Select Bibliography, Index, $19.95 (paper).

Sutra and Other Stories , Simin Daneshvar, trans. Hasan Javadi and Amin Neshati, Washington, D.C.: Mage Publishers, 1994, 189 pp.

The Making of Exile Cultures: Iranian Television in Los Angeles , Hamid Naficy, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1993, 283 pp., $44.95 (hard), $18.95 (paper).

Nomads in Archaeology , Roger Cribb, New Studies in Archaeology, Cambridge University Press, 1991, xiv + 253 pp., $69.95 (originally $54.50).

Twenty‐Three Years: A Study of the Prophetic Career of Mohammad ,^cAli Dashti, trans. F. R. C. Bagley, Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers, 1994, xviii + 228 pp. (first published London: George Allen & Unwin, 1985 in hardcover).

Politische und kulturelle Auswirkungen des Auslandstudiums auf die iranische Gesellschaft im 19. Jahrhundert. Unter Berücksichtigung der iranischen Stipendiaten in Westeuropa (1812–1857) , Farideh Jeddi, Frankfurt a/M‐New York, 1992, 276 pp.

Class, Politics, and Ideology in the Iranian Revolution , Mansoor Moaddel, New York: Columbia University Press, 1993, x + 346 pp.

Politics, Gender, and the Islamic Past: The Legacy of ^cA'isha bint Abi Bakr , D. A. Spellberg, New York: Columbia University Press, 1994.

Crisis and Consolidation in the Formative Period of Shi^cite Islam: Abū Ja^cfar ibn Qiba al‐Razi and his Contribution to Imamite Shi^cite Thought , Hossein Modarressi, Princeton: The Darwin Press, 1993, vii‐viii + 280 pp., incl. Bibliography, $35.00 (hardcover).

Persian Studies in North America: Studies in Honor of Mohammad Ali Jazayery , Mehdi Marashi, ed., Bethesda, Md.: Iranbooks, 1994, xx + 422 + 107 pp.

Fihrist‐i asnad‐i qadim‐i vizarat‐i umūr‐i kharijah: dawran‐i Qajariyah, 1124–1316 , Tehran: Institute for Political and International Studies, 1371 Sh./1992, xiii + 598 pp., 4,500 rials.

Islamic Development Policy: The Agrarian Question in Iran , Asghar Schi‐razi, trans. P. J. Ziess‐Lawrence, Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1993.

Politische Parteien und Bevölkerung in Iran: die Hezb‐e Demokrat‐e Iran und ihr Führer Qavamo s‐Saltana , Ralph Kauz, Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1995, III + 322 pp.

A History of the Armenian People , vol. 2: 1500 to the Present , George A. Bournoutian, Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Publishers, 1994, xviii + 237 pp.

The History of al‐Tabari (Ta'rikh al‐msul wa³l‐mulūk), vol. XXXI: The War between Brothers , Bibliotheca Persica, trans, and annot. Michael Fish‐bein, Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1992.     

CONSERVING THE RACE: NATURAL ARISTOCRACIES, EUGENICS, AND THE U.S. CONSERVATION MOVEMENT

Proposing that much was deleted from the historical record when the death camps were opened in 1945, the article begins by examining the ties between the U.S. and German eugenics movements prior to the Second World War. Eugenics in the United States was closely linked with the fledgling conservation movement, particularly through the writings and activities of Henry Fairfield Osborn at the American Museum of Natural History and his close friend Madison Grant. In America, as in Germany, both movements were sponsored by the elite and served to justify aristocracy, and both derived much of their legitimacy from a social construction of Nature which increasingly replaced Divine Law.     

‘Mr Neville did all in [his] power to assist me’: A. P. Elkin,A. O. Neville and Anthropological Research in Northwest Western Australia, 1927–1928

From the commencement of his field research A. P. Elkin sought to bring a practical application to his work on Aborigines. He positioned anthropology as an enabling science which had the capacity to reduce conflict, violence and misunderstanding on the frontier. He stated that the ‘object of his mission [field work]’ was both ‘academic and practical’. He declared that the knowledge gained through anthropological field research would serve not only narrow academic aims but would also be put at the service of government. Anthropology's purpose was to inform and influence the formulation of government Aboriginal policy. This paper examines Elkin's first encounter and interaction with government through his relationship with A. O. Neville, chief protector of Aborigines in Western Australia. It illustrates the beginnings of what Gillian Cowlishaw has called a discourse of helping, that is Australian anthropologists in the 1930s constructed a discourse about their usefulness to government. It was a discourse which seemingly lacked critical distance from the policies of government. I argue that this discourse of helping government was heavily influenced by Elkin once he became professor of anthropology but it can be discovered in this earlier period. I conclude by discussing how the implications of this discourse were played out in the decade of the 1930s. The focus of this paper is on Elkin and his relationship with Neville and the consequences of this relationship for Elkin's later actions.     

Book reviews

Australian Politics

Scott Bennett, Affairs of State: Politics in the Australian States and Territories (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1992) pp.230. $24.95 ISBN 1 86373 093 1.

Verity Burgmann, Power and Protest: Movements for Social Change in Australian Society (Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 1993) pp.302. $24.95 ISBN 1 86373 211.

J.R.G. Butler (ed.), Federalism and Public Policy, Intergovernmental Grants and Health Care Financing (Canberra: Federalism Research Centre in association with National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, 1991) pp.141. $12.95 ISBN 0 7315 1119 0.

Frank Farrell, Themes in Australian History: Questions, Issues and Interpretation in an Evolving Historiography (Kensington: University of NSW Press, 1992) pp.221. $24.95 ISBN 0 86840 212 5.

James A Gillespie, The Price of Health: Australian Governments and Medical Politics 1910–1960 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991) pp.358. $49.95 ISBN 0 521 38183 5.

Barry Jones, Sleepers, Wake! Technology and the Future of Work (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1990) pp.285. $16.95 ISBN 0 19 553146 9.

Roger McDonald, Reflecting Labor: Images of Myth and Origin Over 100 Years (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1991) p.49. $7.50 ISBN 0 642 10537 5.

Terry Newman, Hare‐Clark in Tasmania: Representation of All Opinions (Hobart: Joint Library Committee of the Parliament of Tasmania, 1992) pp.319. $39.95 ISBN 0 7246 3876 8.

Peter Vintila, John Phillimore and Peter Newman (eds), Markets, Morals and Manifestos: Fightback! and the Politics of Economic Rationalism in the 1990s (Perth: Institute for Science and Technology Policy, Murdoch University, 1992) pp.274. $18.95 ISBN 0 86905 233 0.

Michael Howard, ’Fightback!’ or Setback? The Cuts to Public Expenditure in the Hewson Package (Sydney: Public Sector Research Centre, University of New South Wales, 1992) pp.134. $15.00 ISSN 10348 569X.

Comparative and International Politics

John Allen, Peter Braham and Paul Lewis (eds), Political and Economic Dimensions of Modernity (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992) pp.440. $37.95 ISBN 0 7456 0962 7.

Ian Bellany, A Basis for Arms Control (Aldershot: Dartmouth, 1991) pp.155 $n.p. ISBN 1 85521 051 7.

Henry Brandon (ed.)? The Future of U.S.‐European Relations: In Search of a New World Order (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1992) pp.177. $19.95 ISBN 0 8157 1058 5.

Alison Broinowski, The Yellow Lady, Australian Impressions of Asia (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1992) pp.260. $39.95 ISBN 0 19 553382 8.

Robert L. Canfield (ed.), Turko‐Persia in Historical Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 1991) pp.256. $120.00 ISBN 0 521 39094 X.

Henry Frendo, Party Politics in a Fortress Colony: the Maltese Experience 2nd ed. (Valetta, Malta: Midsea Publications, 1991) pp.243. $n.p. no ISBN.

Gwendolyn Gray, Federalism and Health Policy: The Development of Health Systems in Canada and Australia (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991) pp.281. $Canl9.95 ISBN 0 8020 6862 6.

Susan Kaufman Purcell and Robert M. Immerman (eds), Japan and Latin America in the New Global Order (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1992) pp.163. SUS9.95 ISBN 1 55587 316 2.

St John Kettle and Stephanie Dowrick (eds), After the Gulf War: For Peace in the Middle East (Sydney: Pluto Press, 1991), pp.134; $9.95 ISBN 0 949138 69 X.

Andrew Ross (ed.), The Military Significance of the Gulf War (Canberra: Australian Defence Studies Centre) pp.79. $10.00 ISBN 0 7317 0191 7.

Ronald T. Libby, Protecting Markets: U.S. Policy and the World Grain Trade (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992) pp.152. $US26.50 ISBN 0 8014 2617 0.

T.B. Millar and James Walter (eds), Asian‐Pacific Security After the Cold War (London: Sir Robert Menzies Centre for Australian Studies, University of London, 1992) pp.125. £8.50 ISBN 1 85507 044 8.

John Morrison, Boris Yeltsin. From Bolshevik to Democrat (Melbourne: Penguin, 1991) pp.303. $16.95 ISBN 0 14 017062 6.

Cornelia Navari (ed.), Conditions of States: A Study in International Political Theory (Milton Keynes: Open University Press, 1991) pp.228. $ 39.95 ISBN 0 335 09667 0.

V. Spike Peterson (ed.), Gendered States: Feminist (Re)Visions of International Relations Theory (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1992) pp.225. $US16.95 ISBN 1 55587 328 6.

Edith Rogovin Frankel, Jonathan Frankel and Baruch Knei‐Paz (eds), Revolution in Russia: Reassessments of 1917 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992) pp.434. $145.00 ISBN 0 521 40523 8.

B. Guy Smith, The Politics of Taxation: A Comparative Perspective (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1991) pp.338. $39.95 ISBN 1 55786 211 7.

Ramesh Thakur (ed.), The South Pacific: Problems, Issues and Prospects (Melbourne: Macmillan, 1991) pp.232. $49.95 ISBN 333 55704 2.

Political Theory and Methodology

Perry Anderson, A Zone of Engagement (London: Verso, 1992) pp.384. $39.95 ISBN 0 86091 595 6.

Zygmunt Bauman, Modernity and the Holocaust (Cambridge: Polity, 1991) pp.338. $34.95 ISBN 0 7456 0930 9.

Paul Buhle, Marxism in the USA (London: Verso, 1991) pp.302. $34.95 ISBN 0 86091 547 6.

Hal Draper (edited and with an introduction by E. Haberkern), Socialism from Below: Essays Selected (New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1992) pp.282. SUS25.00 ISBN 0 391 03732 3.

Richard E. Flathman, Wilful Liberalism: Voluntarism and Individuality in Political Theory and Practice (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1992) pp.232. SUS15.35 ISBN 0 8014 9955 0.

Norman Frohlich and Joe A. Oppenheimer, Choosing Justice: An Experimental Approach to Ethical Theory (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992) pp.258. SUS45.00 ISBN 0 520 07299 5.

Agnes Heller and Ferenc Feher, The Postmodern Political Condition (Cambridge: Polity, 1991) pp.167. $32.95 ISBN 0 7456 0929 5.

George Armstrong Kelly, The Humane Comedy: Constant, Tocqueville and French Liberalism (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992) pp.262. $120 ISBN 0 521 41227 7.

David Keyt and Fred D. Miller Jr (eds), A Companion to Aristotle's Politics (Cambridge: Basil Blackwell, 1991) pp.407. $45.00 ISBN 1 55786 098 X.

Chantal Mouffe (ed.), Dimensions of Radical Democracy (London: Verso, 1992) pp.254. $ 34.95 ISBN 0 86091 556 5.