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Re-reading David Kennedy’s ‘Turning to Market Democracy’ as a Critique of Ideology
Introduction What does an epochal event do to political and legal theory, and vice versa? None of the theories of international relations have predicted the end of the Cold War. For the very reason that the Cold War stood for a political and territorial separation on the basis of ideology, it was – at least in theory – considered to be stable and static. A profound ideology – in political science likewise – always needs its opposite, always needs the ‘Other’. However, for the (academic)…
The shaky philosophical foundation of state subsidised cultural institutions
“We are our choices”, declared Jean-Paul Sartre. Attractive as that may seem, Joseph Raz would alter this aphorism to read: we are our choices if we have arrived at them autonomously – requiring minimum rationality, independence from coercion, and importantly, an adequate range of options to choose from.[1] Admittedly a mouthful, this redefinition is crucial in understanding the relationship between a citizen’s autonomy and the government subsidizing cultural institutions with taxpayers’ money. According to Raz, “[t]he government has an obligation to create an environment providing…
Anarchism and Obedience to Law: On Systemic Incoherences
The anarchist Mikhail Bakunin in his work God and the State famously stated: “The liberty of man consists solely in this, that he obeys the laws of nature because he has himself recognised them as such, and not because they have been imposed upon him externally by any foreign will whatsoever, human or divine, collective or individual.”[1] His view is that the liberty of a person equals his autonomy in the Kantian sense, and thus is irreconcilably incompatible with, inter alia, obedience to law, where…
Into the Promised Land of Authority?
Man has long searched for a Promised Land in which the law could perfectly and impeccably reside. This pursuit is encapsulated in one question – “What is law?”[1] Thomas Hobbes, the father of the social contract tradition, attempted an answer with a sweeping dictum: “auctoritas non veritas facit legem” (authority, not truth makes the law).[2] This article explores Hobbesian authority in the light of the late legal positivist H.L.A. Hart’s account of sovereignty in The Concept of Law, and considers whether authority deserves the monopoly…
Anarchism and Obedience to Law: On the Problem of Objectivity
“The liberty of man consists solely in this, that he obeys the laws of nature because he has himself recognized them as such, and not because they have been imposed upon him externally by any foreign will whatsoever, human or divine, collective or individual.” (Mikhail Bakunin – Dieu et L’État) In the course of this piece I will be discussing with you some of the general principles of anarchist and statist theory, my hope being that, when all is said and done, you will be…
