Search Results

The Crisis of Morality and the Moral Culture of Contemporary Society

John Hendry

in Between Enterprise and Ethics: Business and Management in a Bimoral Society

This chapter critically reviews contemporary accounts of the crisis of morality, with particular attention to the arguments of Fukuyama, the free-market critics of the right, arguments concerning the ... More

This chapter critically reviews contemporary accounts of the crisis of morality, with particular attention to the arguments of Fukuyama, the free-market critics of the right, arguments concerning the demoralizing effects of technology, and arguments concerning the demoralizing effects of modern society generally. It sets out the idea of a bimoral society, in which traditional morality continued to be meaningful and effective, but sits alongside a socially legitimized morality of self-interest with no clear demarcation between the realms in which these moralities operate. The effects of this bimoral society are explored with reference to conceptions of the self and to the managing of interpersonal relationships.Less

The Creation Myth of the Wars of Religion

William T. Cavanaugh

in The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict

This chapter examines one of the most commonly cited examples of religious violence: the “wars of religion” in Europe. The story of these wars serves as a kind of creation myth for the modern state, ... More

This chapter examines one of the most commonly cited examples of religious violence: the “wars of religion” in Europe. The story of these wars serves as a kind of creation myth for the modern state, because it indicates that the modern state was born as a peace maker between warring religions by relegating religion to private life and uniting people around loyalty to the sovereign state. After showing how the myth is used in liberal political theory (Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Rawls, Shklar, Fukuyama, et al.), this chapter examines the historical record and argues that the very creation of religion was at stake in the wars and that the rise of the sovereign state was a cause of, not a solution to, the wars in question.Less

From Thinking about God to Acting in the World

George Pattison

in Thinking about God in an Age of Technology

This chapter explores the ethical issues raised by genetic engineering, and the prospect of a posthuman future, or as some commentators put it, a posthuman present in which everyone has become ... More

This chapter explores the ethical issues raised by genetic engineering, and the prospect of a posthuman future, or as some commentators put it, a posthuman present in which everyone has become cyborgs. A variety of positive and negative responses to this situation are noted, with particular reference to Fukuyama and Habermas. It is argued that such questions mark a limit to any purely rational philosophical ethics. Religious perspectives are not only legitimate, but may be seen as an implicit background for ethical argumentation, although this does not require a return to religion’s heteronomous control of human morality.Less

Regulating Technologies: Challenge and Opportunity

Roger Brownsword

in Rights, Regulation, and the Technological Revolution

This chapter places the discussion in this book in the context of an underlying agenda that addresses issues of regulation and technology in a context of global governance. Topics covered include the ... More

This chapter places the discussion in this book in the context of an underlying agenda that addresses issues of regulation and technology in a context of global governance. Topics covered include the regulation of technology, regulatory design, and technology as a regulatory tool.Less

9/11 And US Foreign Policy

David Ryan

in American Thought and Culture in the 21st Century

This chapter makes the case that the events of 11 September 2001 did not represent a major turning point in American diplomatic history. Taking a long historical view, the author, David Ryan, ... More

This chapter makes the case that the events of 11 September 2001 did not represent a major turning point in American diplomatic history. Taking a long historical view, the author, David Ryan, contends that the reaction of the Bush administration in invading Iraq harkened back to old ideas and ideologies associated with the US’s defeat in the Vietnam War and with Cold War tendencies to think in dualistic terms. Concurrent with the resurgence of such mid-to-late twentieth-century ideological positions is the revivification of the 1990s theses of Francis Fukuyama and Samuel Huntington, the ‘end of history’ and ‘the clash of civilisations’ respectively. Ryan argues that their ideas and their constructed notion of ‘the West’, founded on nostalgic and triumphal histories of the Cold War, informed the 2002 National Security Strategy and at a meta-level represent a yearning to inject a particular purpose and morality into American foreign policy.Less

Nature as Given, Nature as Guide, Nature as Natural Kinds: Return to Nature in the Ethics of Human Biotechnology

Gerald McKenny

in Without Nature?: A New Condition for Theology

This chapter addresses the question of nature as normative. Drawing on the writings of Michael Sandel, Leon Kass, and Francis Fukuyama, members of President George W. ... More

This chapter addresses the question of nature as normative. Drawing on the writings of Michael Sandel, Leon Kass, and Francis Fukuyama, members of President George W. Bush's Council on Bioethics, it proposes three ways that nature is given normative status in contemporary discussions of bioengineering. Sandel, Kass, and Fukuyama all set out in the hope that a conception of the normative significance of nature will set limits and give direction to recent and emerging uses of biotechnology where the moral and political order of liberal society, with its narrow focus on autonomy and justice (Sandel), its exaggerated humanitarianism (Kass), and its failure to secure its own grounds (Fukuyama), has failed. In each case, the appeal to nature identifies certain goods that are threatened by the contemporary version of the Cartesian program: kinds of worth that resist our will to mastery (Sandel), aspects of embodied life that are the source of human meaning (Kass), and commitments to equality of worth (Fukuyama). In each case, though, the claim to establish nature as a norm was not sustainable, though for different reasons. We are left in the uncomfortable position of recognizing that to be entirely without nature in any of these three senses would leave us morally impoverished while acknowledging that we are unable to draw clear lines that would indicate the point at which our moral impoverishment would occur.Less

Introduction: Speaking for the People in Culture Wars–Era America

Antti Lepistö

in The Rise of Common-Sense Conservatism: The American Right and the Reinvention of the Scottish Enlightenment

The introduction argues that the moral philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment has been overlooked as a significant intellectual resource for American conservative thought. In the final quarter of ... More

The introduction argues that the moral philosophy of the Scottish Enlightenment has been overlooked as a significant intellectual resource for American conservative thought. In the final quarter of the twentieth century, a group of neoconservative intellectuals introduced to American political discourse a figure of the virtuous “common man,” and thus significantly contributed to the rise of right-wing populism. The neoconservatives’ embrace of a populist epistemology was a result of a serious engagement with, and reinvention of, the Scottish Enlightenment philosophies of common sense, the moral sense, and moral sentiments. In the eighteenth century, thinkers such as Adam Smith, David Hume, Francis Hutcheson, and Thomas Reid contributed to the emergence of naturalistic, secular ethics by arguing that all humans—not only sophisticated individuals—were capable of distinguishing between right and wrong because of certain characteristics of human nature. Two centuries later, four eminent neoconservative theorists—Irving Kristol, Gertrude Himmelfarb, James Q. Wilson, and Francis Fukuyama—reinvented the Scottish tradition to serve conservative needs in the culture wars environment. Neoconservative intellectuals must be seen not merely as foreign policy hawks or critics of the welfare state but as shapers of the Scottish intellectual tradition—common-sense populists in a fractured post-1960s America.Less

Elite Multiculturalism and the Spontaneous Morality of Everyday People: Francis Fukuyama’s Culture Wars

Antti Lepistö

in The Rise of Common-Sense Conservatism: The American Right and the Reinvention of the Scottish Enlightenment

Chapter 6 studies the evolution of Francis Fukuyama’s moral and civic thought from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, charting his intellectual journey between two poles of neoconservative ... More

Chapter 6 studies the evolution of Francis Fukuyama’s moral and civic thought from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, charting his intellectual journey between two poles of neoconservative thought—namely, Straussian cultural pessimism and the guarded optimism of Scottish Enlightenment-inspired moral sentimentalism. Toward the end of the chapter, a discussion on Fukuyama’s late 1990s work on the relation between ordinary people’s natural moral sense and “spontaneous order” extends into an analysis of the relevant links and notable differences between neoconservatism and neoliberalism, two conflicting yet intertwined ideologies of the late twentieth century. Neoliberalism’s principal intellectual proponents (such as Milton Friedman and Friedrich von Hayek), like the neoconservatives, claimed Adam Smith’s legacy, yet the notable differences in the reception of Smith, the chapter suggests, reveal essential aspects of the nature of these two mentalities. Still, Fukuyama, in using Adam Smith’s ethics to construct a morally reassuring view of the American people and bourgeois capitalist society, helped reinforce the moral foundations of the post-1970s neoliberal order that otherwise lacked a proper moral perspective.Less

The Landscape of the Enhancement Debate

Allen Buchanan

in Beyond Humanity?: The Ethics of Biomedical Enhancement

This chapter sketches the landscape of the enhancement debate. It introduces the two most prominent views: the anti-enhancement view—whose proponents include Sandel, Kass, and Fukuyama—and its ... More

This chapter sketches the landscape of the enhancement debate. It introduces the two most prominent views: the anti-enhancement view—whose proponents include Sandel, Kass, and Fukuyama—and its opposition (the “anti-anti-enhancement” view). It identifies a number of deficiencies in the enhancement debate, including murky rhetoric masquerading as argument, the ignoring of evolutionary biology, unsupported empirical claims, fundamental unclarity in argument, and the inability to get beyond the pros and cons stage of debate. It also previews the book's efforts to correct these deficiencies and improve the quality of the debate. It introduces the book's proposal that one important way to improve the debate is to set aside the unhelpful question “are you for or against enhancement?” Instead the book focuses on the following question: is it ethically permissible for a reasonably liberal and democratic society to embark on the enhancement enterprise (i.e., the endeavor to develop the moral and institutional resources needed to pursue enhancements responsibly)?Less

Reactions Involving Carbon–Carbon Bond Cleavage

Tristan H. Lambert

in Organic Synthesis: State of the Art 2011-2013

Although they have historically played a relatively lesser role in organic synthesis, the appearance of a number of interesting methods that utilize C–C bond cleavage ... More

Although they have historically played a relatively lesser role in organic synthesis, the appearance of a number of interesting methods that utilize C–C bond cleavage has prompted coverage in this chapter. Christopher W. Bielawski at the University of Texas at Austin found (Chem. Sci. 2012, 3, 2986) that the diamidocarbene 1 inserted into the C(O)–C(O) bond of dione 2 to produce 3 at room temperature. The use of oxalate monoester 5 for the decarboxylative cross-coupling with pyridine 4 to produce 6 was reported (Tetrahedron Lett. 2012, 53, 5796) by Yi-Si Feng at Hefei University of Technology. The team of Junichiro Yamaguchi and Kenichiro Itami at Nagoya University developed (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 13573) a decarbonylative C–H coupling method that allowed for the merger of oxazoles 7 and 8 to form 9, an intermediate on the way to muscoride A. The decarboxylative alkenylation of alcohols, such as in the conversion of 10 and n-propanol to alcohol 11, was reported (Chem. Sci. 2012, 3, 2853) by Zhong-Quan Liu at Lanzhou University. Guangbin Dong at the University of Texas at Austin reported (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2013, 134, 20005) a rhodium-catalyzed C–C bond activation strategy for the enantioselective conversion of benzocyclobutenone 12 to tricycle 13. Rhodium catalysis was also employed (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 17502) by Masahiro Murakami at Kyoto University in the ring expansion of benzocyclobutenol 14 to form 15, the regioselectivity of which is opposite to that of the thermal reaction. The tandem semipinacol-type migration/aldol reaction of cyclohexenone 16 to produce 17 was developed (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 5114) by Yong-Qiang Tu and Fu-Min Zhang at Lanzhou University. A procedure for the synthesis of complex cyclopentenone 19 by the addition of vinyl Grignard to cyclobutanedione 18 was reported (J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 6327) by Teresa Varea at the University of Valencia in Spain. Michael A. Kerr at the University of Western Ontario found (J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 6634) that treatment of cyclopropane hemimalonate 20 with azide led to the formation of 21, which can be readily reduced to the corresponding γ-aminobutyric ester. Less

C–O Natural Products: (–)-Hybridalactone (Fürstner), (+)-Anthecotulide (Hodgson), (–)-Kumausallene (Tang), (±)-Communiol E (Kobayashi), (–)-Exiguolide (Scheidt), Cyanolide A (Rychnovsky)

Douglass F. Taber

in Organic Synthesis: State of the Art 2011-2013

Control of the absolute configuration of adjacent alkylated stereogenic centers is a classic challenge in organic synthesis. In the course of the synthesis of ... More

Control of the absolute configuration of adjacent alkylated stereogenic centers is a classic challenge in organic synthesis. In the course of the synthesis of (–)-hybridalactone 4, Alois Fürstner of the Max-Planck-Institut Mülheim effected (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 13471) catalytic enantioselective conjugate addition to the simple acceptor 1. The initial adduct, formed in 80% ee, could readily be recrystallized to high ee. In an alternative approach to high ee 2,3-dialkyl γ-lactones, David M. Hodgson of the University of Oxford cyclized (Org. Lett. 2011, 13, 5751) the alkyne 5 to an aldehyde, which was condensed with 6 to give 7. Coupling with 8 then delivered (+)-anthecotulide 9. The enantiomerically pure diol 10 is readily available from acetylacetone. Weiping Tang of the University of Wisconsin dissolved (Org. Lett. 2011, 13, 3664) the symmetry of 10 by Pd-mediated cyclocarbonylation. The conversion of the lactone 11 to (–)-kumausallene 12 was enabled by an elegant intramolecular bromoetherification. Shoji Kobayshi of the Osaka Institute of Technology developed (J. Org. Chem. 2011, 76, 7096) a powerful oxy-Favorskii rearrangement that enabled the preparation of both four-and five-membered rings with good diastereocontrol, as exemplified by the conversion of 13 to 14. With the electron-withdrawing ether oxygen adjacent to the ester carbonyl, Dibal reduction of 14 proceeded cleanly to the aldehyde. Addition of ethyl lithium followed by deprotection completed the synthesis of (±)-communiol E. En route to (–)-exiguolide 18, Karl A. Scheidt of Northwestern University showed (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 9112) that 16 could be cyclized efficiently to 17. The cyclization may be assisted by a scaffolding effect from the dioxinone ring. Dimeric macrolides such as cyanolide A 21 are usually prepared by lactonization of the corresponding hydroxy acid. Scott D. Rychnovsky of the University of California Irvine devised (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 9727) a complementary strategy, the double Sakurai dimerization of the silyl acetal 19 to 20. Less

Alkaloid Synthesis: (+)-Deoxoprosopinine (Krishna), Alkaloid (–)-205B (Micalizio), FR901483 (Huang), (+)-Ibophyllidine (Kwon), (–)-Lycoposerramine-S (Fukuyama), (±)-Crinine (Lautens)

Douglass F. Taber

in Organic Synthesis: State of the Art 2011-2013

Palakodety Radha Krishna of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology observed (Synlett 2012, 2814) high stereocontrol in the addition of allyltrimethylsilane to the ... More

Palakodety Radha Krishna of the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology observed (Synlett 2012, 2814) high stereocontrol in the addition of allyltrimethylsilane to the cyclic imine derived from 1. The product piperidine 2 was carried onto (+)-deoxoprosopinine 3. Glenn C. Micalizio of Scripps Florida condensed (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 15237) the amine 4 with 5. The ensuing intramolecular dipolar cycloaddition led to 6, which was carried onto the Dendrobates alkaloid (–)-205B 7. Pei-Qiang Huang of Xiamen University showed (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 4834) that the quaternary center of 9 could be established with high diastereoselectivity by activation of the lactam 8, then sequential addition of two different Grignard reagents. Subsequent stereoselective intramolecular aldol condensation led to FR901843 10. More recently, Professor Huang, with Hong-Kui Zhang, also of Xiamen University, published (J. Org. Chem. 2013, 78, 455) a full account of this work. In an elegant application of the power of phosphine-catalyzed intermolecular allene cycloaddition, Ohyun Kwon of UCLA added (Chem. Sci. 2012, 3, 2510) 12 to the imine 11 to give 13. The cyclization elegantly set two of the four stereogenic centers of (+)-ibophyllidine 14. Tohru Fukuyama of the University of Tokyo initiated (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 11824) a cascade cyclization between the enone 15 and the chiral auxiliary 16. The product lactam 17 was carried onto (–)-lycoposerramine-S 18. Mark Lautens explored (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 15572) the utility of the intramolecular aryne ene reaction, as illustrated by the cyclization of 19 to 20. Oxidation cleavage of the vinyl group of 20 followed by an intramolecular carbonyl ene reaction led to (±)-crinine 21. Less

Heteroaromatic Construction: The Sato Synthesis of (–)-Herbindole

Douglass F. Taber

in Organic Synthesis: State of the Art 2011-2013

Troels Skrydstrup of Aarhus University devised (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 4681) a gold-catalyzed protocol for the condensation of 1 with 2 to deliver the furan ... More

Troels Skrydstrup of Aarhus University devised (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 4681) a gold-catalyzed protocol for the condensation of 1 with 2 to deliver the furan 3. Thomas A. Moss of AstraZeneca Mereside found (Tetrahedron Lett. 2012, 53, 3056) that readily-available α-chloroaldehydes such as 4 could be combined with 5 to make the furan 6. This same approach can be used to assemble pyrroles. Yong-Qiang Tu and Shao-Hua Wang of Lanzhou University developed (J. Org. Chem. 2012, 77, 4167) a Pd-cascade cyclization that transformed the ester 7 into the pyrrole 8. Cheol-Min Park of the Nanyang Technological University rearranged (Chem. Commun. 2012, 48, 3996; J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 4104) the oxime ether 10 to the pyrrole 11. Glenn C. Micalizio of Scripps/Florida established (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 1352) a Ti-mediated coupling of 12 with an aromatic aldehyde to deliver the pyridine 13. Yoichiro Kuninobu, now at the University of Tokyo, and Kazuhiko Takai of Okayama University observed (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 3182) high regioselectivity in the Re-mediated condensation of 14 with 15 to give the pyridine 16. Douglas M. Mans of GlaxoSmithKline, King of Prussia, cyclized (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 1604) the amide 17 to the oxazole (not illustrated), leading, after intramolecular 4+2 cycloaddition, to the pyridine 18. Karl Hemming of the University of Huddersfield combined (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 126) the cyclopropenone 20 with the imine 19 to construct the pyridine 21. Shu-Jiang Tu of Xuzhou University and Guigen Li of Texas Tech University condensed (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 700) enamine 22 with the aldehyde hydrate 23 to give the pyrrole 24, which should be readily aromatized to the corresponding indole. Biaolin Yin of the South China University of Technology cyclized (Org. Lett. 2012, 14, 1098) the furan 25 to the indole 26. Richmond Sarpong of the University of California, Berkeley rearranged (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2012, 134, 9946) the alkynyl cyclopropane 27 to an intermediate that was aromatized to the indole 28. Stefan France of Georgia Tech uncovered (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 3198) an In catalyst that rearranged the cyclopropene 29 to the indole 30. Less

The Fukuyama Synthesis of Gelsemoxonine

Douglass F. Taber

in Organic Synthesis: State of the Art 2011-2013

The compact and highly functionalized Gelsemium alkaloids, exemplified by gelsemine (OHL20060403) and gelsemoxonine 3, offer a substantial challenge. The cytotoxicity ... More

The compact and highly functionalized Gelsemium alkaloids, exemplified by gelsemine (OHL20060403) and gelsemoxonine 3, offer a substantial challenge. The cytotoxicity of closely related alkaloids adds to the interest in this class. Tohru Fukuyama of the University of Tokyo envisioned (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 17634) that cyclopropane-accelerated Cope rearrangement of 1 could deliver 2, ready for further functionalization to 3. The starting material for the synthesis was the enantiomerically pure acetate 4, for which a practical synthetic route was developed. Conjugate addition of 5 then proceeded away from the acetoxy group to give, after intramolecular alkylation, the cyclopropane 6. Selective protection of the derived triol 7 led to a monopivalate that was oxidized to the keto aldehyde 8. Condensation with the oxindole 9 followed by silylation then completed the assembly of 1. The trisubstituted alkene of 1 was established as a single geometric isomer. It followed that in the product 2, the oxindole and the bridging ether had the appropriate relative stereochemical arrangement. The product silyl enol ether was deprotected with fluoride to liberate the ketone 2. With 2 in hand, the next challenge was the kinetic installation of the less stable secondary aminated stereogenic center. To this end, the aldehyde 10 was exposed to TMS-CN and DBU. Under the reaction conditions, the alkene of the intermediate β,γ-unsaturated silylated cyanohydrin was brought into conjugation. Kinetic quench with allyl alcohol gave 11 with a 4:1 preference for the desired endo diastereomer 11. Inversion of the carboxyl then led to the protected amine 12. The ketone 12 was formylated under modified Vilsmeier-Haack conditions, first with Bredereck’s reagent 13 and then with oxalyl chloride, leading to the chloro aldehyde 14. The chlorine was removed by selective Pd-catalyzed reduction, and the product aldehyde was exposed to ethyl magnesium bromide followed by IBX to give the ethyl ketone 15. Epoxidation of the α,β-unsaturated ketone proceeded across the expected exo face leading to 16. The deprotected amine then opened the epoxide to establish the aminated quaternary center and complete the synthesis of gelsemoxonine 3. Less

Empire of Light

Jason Blakely

in We Built Reality: How Social Science Infiltrated Culture, Politics, and Power

False claims to scientific authority were used to advance the American and British war on terror. In popular rhetoric, President George W. Bush borrowed (and distorted) one of the most influential ... More

False claims to scientific authority were used to advance the American and British war on terror. In popular rhetoric, President George W. Bush borrowed (and distorted) one of the most influential theses of political science, the claim that democracies do not fight with one another. Bush also named prominent political scientists, including Francis Fukuyama—who claimed history had reached its culmination in liberal democracies—to prominent advisory positions in government. In addition, other prominent social scientists, such as Samuel Huntington, provided alternative social scientific justifications for the war on terror and later nationalistic public policy that relied on creating permanent outsider identities for Muslims and Latinos. Scientism helped American and British citizens imagine that their use of military violence was fully rational and objectively justified as the war on terror turned into the rise of ultranationalism.Less

The Hand in the Bucket: Sequencing and Perseverance

Kevin Dougherty

in The Port Royal Experiment: A Case Study in Development

Most observers have assessed the Port Royal Experiment as at best a mixed success. Certainly it succeeded in meeting immediate humanitarian needs and beginning the transition from slavery to freedom ... More

Most observers have assessed the Port Royal Experiment as at best a mixed success. Certainly it succeeded in meeting immediate humanitarian needs and beginning the transition from slavery to freedom for the Sea Islands blacks. However, these early gains reached a plateau and not only did not become self-sustaining and increasing, as time passed they regressed. A variety of modern nation-building theories help explain the Port Royal Experiment’s failure to produce lasting results. By focusing on initiatives such as education rather than establishing a strong military presence on the Sea Islands early on, the Port Royal Experiment appears to violate Francis Fukuyama’s insistence that the “strength of state institutions is more important in a broad sense than the scope of state functions.” Likewise, Roland Paris’s “institutionalization before liberalization” sequencing requirement that “peacebuilders should concentrate on constructing a framework of effective institutions prior to promoting political and economic competition” was not followed.Less

The hiatus of history

Salvatore Babones

in American Tianxia: Chinese Money, American Power and the End of History

When Henry Luce famously called the twentieth century the "American Century," he strongly implied that it was the "first" American century (i.e., not the only one). Subsequent commentators have ... More

When Henry Luce famously called the twentieth century the "American Century," he strongly implied that it was the "first" American century (i.e., not the only one). Subsequent commentators have misunderstood Luce because they have failed to identify the relevant "width of a time point" for world-historical analysis. World-historical trends unfold over centuries, not decades. Demographic change is also slow but sure. China's low fertility rate means that China's population will soon by declining. By 2100 China may have roughly the same population as the Anglo-Saxon core of the American Tianxia. Francis Fukuyama's famous "end of history" is thus much more stable than he has subsequently maintained. The American Tianxia is the universal homogeneous state that Fukuyama once claimed was to be found at the end of history. The Pax Americana of the American Tianxia is very stable because it is based on personal incentives, not interstate relations. It constitutes a new, postmodern world-system, the millennial world-system, that is likely to last for several centuries.Less

Legacies

Bryan Fanning

in Three Roads to the Welfare State: Liberalism, Social Democracy and Christian Democracy

This chapter tries to look at the future, having in mind how influential thinking about social policy developed along three winding roads since the beginning of the industrial revolution in several ... More

This chapter tries to look at the future, having in mind how influential thinking about social policy developed along three winding roads since the beginning of the industrial revolution in several European countries. It tackles a once influential take on how the future might play out, Francis Fukuyama's The End of History and the Last Man, which was published in 1992. By the end of history, Fukuyama meant ‘the end point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalisation of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government’. The chapter acknowledges that the new worlds of welfare capitalism of the twenty-first century are still influenced by a range of ideologies and by the evolving functional needs of societies. It will not be possible to restore the welfare settlements of the twentieth century. Nor is it desirable to do so because social policy needs to respond to social change. Europe's three worlds of welfare capitalism took their impetus from the industrial revolution, its accompanying division of labour and technologies, and the emergence of mass democracy. The twenty-first century presents a vista of ongoing technological and social change as well as new risks that somehow need to be addressed by states, markets, and communities. Just as twentieth-century totalitarianism and the Second World War provided the impetus for liberal, Christian democratic and social democratic welfare states, so might the threat of environmental collapse or events such as the 2020 global pandemic inspire a new generation of welfare systems.Less

The Family as “Little Commonwealth”: The Role of Mimetics

in Family, Law, and Community: Supporting the Covenant

This chapter turns to questions of how trust in particular, or social capital in general, is created in families, and how that same mechanism of mimetics, or imitation, may, as it does in larger ... More

This chapter turns to questions of how trust in particular, or social capital in general, is created in families, and how that same mechanism of mimetics, or imitation, may, as it does in larger communities, become destructive through scapegoating. It takes models worked out for macroeconomic behavior (on the labor force, country, or societal level) and applies them to the microeconomic level of family units, concluding with some ways in which the destructive path may be avoided and some roles that public policy and especially law can take to promote the creation of social capital. The discussion revisits some scholars the authors have treated before, especially Richard McAdams and Francis Fukuyama, and adds some new ones, particularly Robert Frank, René Girard, and Gil Baillie.Less