Or Rosenboim
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691168722
- eISBN:
- 9781400885237
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691168722.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter examines perceptions of the state in a global context, arguing that the emergence of globalism encouraged mid-century thinkers to reimagine—but not abandon—the nation-state. In ...
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This chapter examines perceptions of the state in a global context, arguing that the emergence of globalism encouraged mid-century thinkers to reimagine—but not abandon—the nation-state. In particular, it considers Raymond Aron’s proposals to reinterpret the political space of the nation-state in the post-war era and how the war experience formed his conceptualization of international relations. While the state remained for Aron the main bastion of individual liberty, he acknowledged its conceptual and structural insufficiency in the age of globalism. Aron’s interpretation of political ideologies in conversation with the sociologist Karl Mannheim and the philosopher Jacques Maritain led to the development of his loose and pluralistic vision of European unity held together by “political myth.” The chapter also compares Aron’s vision of world order with that of David Mitrany.Less
This chapter examines perceptions of the state in a global context, arguing that the emergence of globalism encouraged mid-century thinkers to reimagine—but not abandon—the nation-state. In particular, it considers Raymond Aron’s proposals to reinterpret the political space of the nation-state in the post-war era and how the war experience formed his conceptualization of international relations. While the state remained for Aron the main bastion of individual liberty, he acknowledged its conceptual and structural insufficiency in the age of globalism. Aron’s interpretation of political ideologies in conversation with the sociologist Karl Mannheim and the philosopher Jacques Maritain led to the development of his loose and pluralistic vision of European unity held together by “political myth.” The chapter also compares Aron’s vision of world order with that of David Mitrany.
John A. Hall
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153261
- eISBN:
- 9781400847495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153261.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter looks at the great contribution of Raymond Aron to the understanding of civil behavior between states. Aron's contribution to the theory of international relations goes well beyond what ...
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This chapter looks at the great contribution of Raymond Aron to the understanding of civil behavior between states. Aron's contribution to the theory of international relations goes well beyond what can usefully be termed “simple” realism. He offered a sophisticated version of that basic approach, at once more complex and more meritorious. Two elements are involved: first, the pure logic of realism, and then, necessarily deriving from it, the sociological elements that Aron brought into realism, not to deny or to replace the basic insights of that theory but rather to improve it by better explaining both the escalation to extremes and the periods of diminished conflict that mark the historical record. Both elements combine to form not just a descriptive system but a prescriptive view as to how one should conduct oneself. What is at issue is civility and prudence.Less
This chapter looks at the great contribution of Raymond Aron to the understanding of civil behavior between states. Aron's contribution to the theory of international relations goes well beyond what can usefully be termed “simple” realism. He offered a sophisticated version of that basic approach, at once more complex and more meritorious. Two elements are involved: first, the pure logic of realism, and then, necessarily deriving from it, the sociological elements that Aron brought into realism, not to deny or to replace the basic insights of that theory but rather to improve it by better explaining both the escalation to extremes and the periods of diminished conflict that mark the historical record. Both elements combine to form not just a descriptive system but a prescriptive view as to how one should conduct oneself. What is at issue is civility and prudence.
Christopher Adair-Toteff
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474447089
- eISBN:
- 9781474465298
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474447089.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This Introduction discusses Aron’s life and works. It provides an overview of the book’s chapters. It explores Aron’s response to the critical question: “What would you do?”
This Introduction discusses Aron’s life and works. It provides an overview of the book’s chapters. It explores Aron’s response to the critical question: “What would you do?”
Christopher Adair-Toteff
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474447089
- eISBN:
- 9781474465298
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474447089.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This book explores the crucial concept of responsibility and the critical role it plays in Raymond Aron’s political philosophy. This book argues that it is a key concept that is found throughout ...
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This book explores the crucial concept of responsibility and the critical role it plays in Raymond Aron’s political philosophy. This book argues that it is a key concept that is found throughout Aron’s political thinking. Aron learned to appreciate the importance of responsibility from several authors; most notably, Max Weber and von Clausewitz and it is present throughout many of his writings. The concept is found in Aron’s discussions of war and peace, ideology and totalitarianism, and on freedom. The book also discusses Aron’s political legacy and suggests that his political thinking can help us address many of the issues of the 21st century.Less
This book explores the crucial concept of responsibility and the critical role it plays in Raymond Aron’s political philosophy. This book argues that it is a key concept that is found throughout Aron’s political thinking. Aron learned to appreciate the importance of responsibility from several authors; most notably, Max Weber and von Clausewitz and it is present throughout many of his writings. The concept is found in Aron’s discussions of war and peace, ideology and totalitarianism, and on freedom. The book also discusses Aron’s political legacy and suggests that his political thinking can help us address many of the issues of the 21st century.
Joshua L. Cherniss
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199673261
- eISBN:
- 9780191751714
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199673261.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Political History
This chapter locates Berlin in the context of the political debates preoccupying the ‘non-Communist Left’—a loose, international network of liberal and social-democratic intellectuals and ...
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This chapter locates Berlin in the context of the political debates preoccupying the ‘non-Communist Left’—a loose, international network of liberal and social-democratic intellectuals and policy-makers united by their opposition to Soviet Communism, and commitment to social reforms and civil liberties in their own countries. It traces the disagreements and debates, both among members of the non-Communist Left and between members of the NCL and their rivals, relating to both foreign and domestic policy, and identifies the particular positions Berlin occupied in these debates—and how these positions were connected to his broader political and ethical stances. It also traces the intellectual relationships and affinities between Berlin and other leading intellectuals and political theorists of the non-Communist Left: his friends Reinhold Niebuhr and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. in America, and Raymond Aron in FranceLess
This chapter locates Berlin in the context of the political debates preoccupying the ‘non-Communist Left’—a loose, international network of liberal and social-democratic intellectuals and policy-makers united by their opposition to Soviet Communism, and commitment to social reforms and civil liberties in their own countries. It traces the disagreements and debates, both among members of the non-Communist Left and between members of the NCL and their rivals, relating to both foreign and domestic policy, and identifies the particular positions Berlin occupied in these debates—and how these positions were connected to his broader political and ethical stances. It also traces the intellectual relationships and affinities between Berlin and other leading intellectuals and political theorists of the non-Communist Left: his friends Reinhold Niebuhr and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. in America, and Raymond Aron in France
Or Rosenboim
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691168722
- eISBN:
- 9781400885237
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691168722.003.0008
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
This chapter examines the interplay of moral universalism and political pluralism as the foundation of a new global democracy by focusing on the arguments put forward by Jacques Maritain and Luigi ...
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This chapter examines the interplay of moral universalism and political pluralism as the foundation of a new global democracy by focusing on the arguments put forward by Jacques Maritain and Luigi Sturzo, who claimed that Christianity—and especially Catholicism—provided the theoretical toolkit for constructing a peaceful and prosperous post-war order for individuals and communities. Charting their interactions with other protagonists of the book, including Raymond Aron, Giuseppe Antonio Borgese, and Reinhold Niebuhr, the chapter considers Maritain and Sturzo’s support of federalism as a shape-giving principle for the new world order and shows that their visions differed on a crucial point: the place of democracy in the globalist agenda. It suggests that Sturzo’s attachment to social Catholicism led his vision of global order away from the conservative stance that characterized Maritain’s proposals, towards a dialectical interpretation of politics.Less
This chapter examines the interplay of moral universalism and political pluralism as the foundation of a new global democracy by focusing on the arguments put forward by Jacques Maritain and Luigi Sturzo, who claimed that Christianity—and especially Catholicism—provided the theoretical toolkit for constructing a peaceful and prosperous post-war order for individuals and communities. Charting their interactions with other protagonists of the book, including Raymond Aron, Giuseppe Antonio Borgese, and Reinhold Niebuhr, the chapter considers Maritain and Sturzo’s support of federalism as a shape-giving principle for the new world order and shows that their visions differed on a crucial point: the place of democracy in the globalist agenda. It suggests that Sturzo’s attachment to social Catholicism led his vision of global order away from the conservative stance that characterized Maritain’s proposals, towards a dialectical interpretation of politics.
Peter Baehr
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804756501
- eISBN:
- 9780804774215
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804756501.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
This book examines the nature of totalitarianism as interpreted by some of the finest minds of the twentieth century, focusing on Hannah Arendt's claim that totalitarianism was an entirely ...
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This book examines the nature of totalitarianism as interpreted by some of the finest minds of the twentieth century, focusing on Hannah Arendt's claim that totalitarianism was an entirely unprecedented regime and that the social sciences had integrally misconstrued it. A sociologist who is a critical admirer of Arendt, the author looks sympathetically at Arendt's objections to social science and shows that her complaints were in many respects justified. Avoiding broad disciplinary endorsements or dismissals, he reconstructs the theoretical and political stakes of Arendt's encounters with prominent social scientists such as David Riesman, Raymond Aron, and Jules Monnerot. In presenting a systematic appraisal of Arendt's critique of the social sciences, the author examines what it means to see an event as unprecedented. Furthermore, he adapts Arendt and Aron's philosophies to shed light on modern Islamist terrorism, and to ask whether it should be categorized alongside Stalinism and National Socialism as totalitarian.Less
This book examines the nature of totalitarianism as interpreted by some of the finest minds of the twentieth century, focusing on Hannah Arendt's claim that totalitarianism was an entirely unprecedented regime and that the social sciences had integrally misconstrued it. A sociologist who is a critical admirer of Arendt, the author looks sympathetically at Arendt's objections to social science and shows that her complaints were in many respects justified. Avoiding broad disciplinary endorsements or dismissals, he reconstructs the theoretical and political stakes of Arendt's encounters with prominent social scientists such as David Riesman, Raymond Aron, and Jules Monnerot. In presenting a systematic appraisal of Arendt's critique of the social sciences, the author examines what it means to see an event as unprecedented. Furthermore, he adapts Arendt and Aron's philosophies to shed light on modern Islamist terrorism, and to ask whether it should be categorized alongside Stalinism and National Socialism as totalitarian.
Or Rosenboim
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691168722
- eISBN:
- 9781400885237
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691168722.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Modern History
During and after World War II, public intellectuals in Britain and the United States grappled with concerns about the future of democracy, the prospects of liberty, and the decline of the imperial ...
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During and after World War II, public intellectuals in Britain and the United States grappled with concerns about the future of democracy, the prospects of liberty, and the decline of the imperial system. Without using the term “globalization,” they identified a shift toward technological, economic, cultural, and political interconnectedness and developed a “globalist” ideology to reflect this new postwar reality. This book examines the competing visions of world order that shaped these debates and led to the development of globalism as a modern political concept. Shedding critical light on this neglected chapter in the history of political thought, the book describes how a transnational network of globalist thinkers emerged from the traumas of war and expatriation in the 1940s and how their ideas drew widely from political philosophy, geopolitics, economics, imperial thought, constitutional law, theology, and philosophy of science. The book presents compelling portraits of Raymond Aron, Owen Lattimore, Lionel Robbins, Barbara Wootton, Friedrich Hayek, Lionel Curtis, Richard McKeon, Michael Polanyi, Lewis Mumford, Jacques Maritain, Reinhold Niebuhr, H. G. Wells, and others. It shows how the globalist debate they embarked on sought to balance the tensions between a growing recognition of pluralism on the one hand and an appreciation of the unity of humankind on the other.Less
During and after World War II, public intellectuals in Britain and the United States grappled with concerns about the future of democracy, the prospects of liberty, and the decline of the imperial system. Without using the term “globalization,” they identified a shift toward technological, economic, cultural, and political interconnectedness and developed a “globalist” ideology to reflect this new postwar reality. This book examines the competing visions of world order that shaped these debates and led to the development of globalism as a modern political concept. Shedding critical light on this neglected chapter in the history of political thought, the book describes how a transnational network of globalist thinkers emerged from the traumas of war and expatriation in the 1940s and how their ideas drew widely from political philosophy, geopolitics, economics, imperial thought, constitutional law, theology, and philosophy of science. The book presents compelling portraits of Raymond Aron, Owen Lattimore, Lionel Robbins, Barbara Wootton, Friedrich Hayek, Lionel Curtis, Richard McKeon, Michael Polanyi, Lewis Mumford, Jacques Maritain, Reinhold Niebuhr, H. G. Wells, and others. It shows how the globalist debate they embarked on sought to balance the tensions between a growing recognition of pluralism on the one hand and an appreciation of the unity of humankind on the other.
Joshua L. Cherniss
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199673261
- eISBN:
- 9780191751714
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199673261.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Political History
This chapter reveals opposition to tendencies towards scientistic and/or technocratic paternalism—a complex of ideas and inclinations identified here as ‘managerialism’—to have been central to ...
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This chapter reveals opposition to tendencies towards scientistic and/or technocratic paternalism—a complex of ideas and inclinations identified here as ‘managerialism’—to have been central to Berlin’s post-war political concerns. The ‘managerial’ strains in post-war Western (and particularly British) thought, and their antecedents, are traced, as is Berlin’s perception of and reaction to these trends in his writings on politics, the philosophy of history, and the nature of the social sciences. The importance of his reaction against the various facets of ‘managerialism’ for Berlin’s thought is demonstrated; and his political and philosophical responses to these trends are compared to those of other prominent ‘anti-managerial’ and anti-scientistic liberals of the post-war period: Aron, Friedrich Hayek, and Karl Popper.Less
This chapter reveals opposition to tendencies towards scientistic and/or technocratic paternalism—a complex of ideas and inclinations identified here as ‘managerialism’—to have been central to Berlin’s post-war political concerns. The ‘managerial’ strains in post-war Western (and particularly British) thought, and their antecedents, are traced, as is Berlin’s perception of and reaction to these trends in his writings on politics, the philosophy of history, and the nature of the social sciences. The importance of his reaction against the various facets of ‘managerialism’ for Berlin’s thought is demonstrated; and his political and philosophical responses to these trends are compared to those of other prominent ‘anti-managerial’ and anti-scientistic liberals of the post-war period: Aron, Friedrich Hayek, and Karl Popper.
