The dilemmas of institutionalisation

Local cultural policies in France became institutionalised essentially over two decades: the 1970s and the 1980s. This institutionalisation process comprised the cultural specialisation of local administrative services, the professionalisation of local cultural agents and the promotion of culture as one of the mains sectors for local public policies, from the political as well as financial point of view. Based upon the case study of a middle‐sized town, this article shows that this was a conflictual process. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, association activists from the new middle classes, politically and culturally close to the political mobilisations of the post‐1968 period, launched programmes of cultural action. At first, the municipalisation of their policy was a success for them. However, progressively, this local cultural policy was driven less and less by these former activists, who were replaced by new professionals, and earlier socio‐cultural and political ambitions (revolving, for example, around a culture of everyday life designed to promote greater local democracy) were replaced by a more technical orientation. Finally, this institutionalisation process also consisted of the dispossession and disillusion of those who had believed they could change social and political relations through cultural involvement.     

James A. Smith's The Idea Brokers: Think Tanks and the Rise of the New Policy Elite

Abstract

This brief essay provides a few particulars about Michael Polanyi's life, showing how his philosophical interests and ideas are deeply grounded in his own experience as a European who lived through much of the twentieth century. It introduces the four essays on Polanyi's political thought that follow.     

Beyond Natural Law Talk: Politics and Prudence in St. Thomas Aquinas's On Kingship

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As second-wave feminism crested in the 1980s, feminist intellectuals began to radically reappraise liberalism by developing a communitarian “ethic of care” that promised to remake American society and politics. The new communitarianism, however, could not be reconciled with feminist defenses of abortion rights. This tension became increasingly untenable in the late 1980s as Roe v. Wade faced new political challenges. Feminist communitarians responded by re-embracing liberalism, especially its emphasis on autonomy and independence. This history suggests that many feminist intellectuals regard their support for abortion rights as something that is prior to their larger philosophical commitments, such as liberalism and communitarianism.     

(Why) Did Reconstruction Fail? Legislating and Constitutionalizing Civil Rights

Abstract

The Thirty-ninth Congress, which was elected in November 1864 and began its first session in December 1865, undertook three tasks: to restore the Union after the Civil War, to amend the Constitution to ensure citizenship to the freedmen, and to legislate federal guarantees for their civil rights. Considering the political constraints of their situation—a hostile President and intransigence in many of the states of the former Confederacy—this essay aims to catalogue and assess the achievements of that Congress. While the Fourteenth Amendment in the long run served its intended purpose and the Civil Rights and Reconstruction Acts secured for a while the integration of the freedmen into the polity, Reconstruction failed to win widespread consent and proved impossible, at least politically, to continuously enforce.     

China and Japan in Myanmar: Aid,Natural Resources and Influence

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This article highlights the parallels between Japan’s leveraging of foreign aid to secure access to strategic natural resources in the post-World War II period, and China’s similar use of foreign aid since the early 1990s. It then shows how both countries have applied similar strategies in their aid programs in Myanmar, and points out how dramatic shifts in Myanmar’s domestic politics have shaped their opportunities for economic engagement. China seized upon Myanmar’s political transition in 1988 to expand its aid program, while Japan has responded to Myanmar’s reform measures since 2010 by resuming its aid efforts. The article concludes by considering the potential for China–Japan cooperation through their aid programs in Myanmar.     

An Early Assessment of Reagan Defense Policy and Programs

Abstract

Ralph Hancock’s Responsibility of Reason represents an important addition to the literature on the crisis of modernity. This article focuses on his account of the origins and nature of modernity and his claim that Tocqueville exemplifies the best way to work through the crisis of modernity. It then suggests that Hancock’s own reflections on the nature of human existence require a more balanced or even positive assessment of modernity than the one he offers in the book. Finally, it attempts to illustrate this point by showing that elements of Kant’s political thought are akin to Hancock’s.     

In Praise of Recklessness

Abstract

Catherine Zuckert's Plato's Philosophers argues that the central concern of the Platonic dialogues, read as a single corpus, is to examine the character of philosophy as represented in the activities of five different Platonic characters. The activity of philosophy is most clearly triangulated by showing the advantages and limitations of Socratic philosophy as set against the practices of others laying claim to that title. This article endorses Zuckert's interpretation while raising questions concerning Socrates' eventual philosophic status, the relationship between philosophy and irony, and the standing of philosophy as a social practice.