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Philosophy & Social Criticism

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ISSN (Print) 0191-4537 - ISSN (Online) 1461-734X
Published by Sage Publications

[676 journals]

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- Pages: 331 - 331
  PubDate: 2013-05-06T02:04:37-07:00
  DOI: 10.1177/0191453713481879|hwp:resource-id:sppsc;39/4-5/331
  Issue No: Vol. 39, No. 4-5 (2013)
Faith, market and law in democracy-making
- Authors: Gole; N.
  Pages: 333 - 339
  PubDate: 2013-05-06T02:04:37-07:00
  DOI: 10.1177/0191453713481423|hwp:resource-id:sppsc;39/4-5/333
  Issue No: Vol. 39, No. 4-5 (2013)
The arc of civil liberation: Obama-Tahrir-Occupy
- Authors: Alexander; J. C.
  Pages: 341 - 347
  Abstract: Despite anxieties about the growing power of neo-liberalism, the crisis of the EU and the upsurge of right-wing political movements, it is important to recognize that utopian movements on the left have also in recent years been symbolically revitalized and organizationally sustained. This article analyses three recent social upheavals as utopian civil society movements, placing the 2008 US presidential campaign of Barack Obama, the Egyptian uprising in Tahrir Square and the Occupy Movement in the USA inside the narrative arc that began with the non-violent democratic uprisings against authoritarian governments four decades earlier. In this new utopian surge, however, there is an unprecedented connection of eastern and western impulses, demonstrating that the tide of democratic thought and action is hardly confined to Judeo-Christian civilizations.
  PubDate: 2013-05-06T02:04:37-07:00
  DOI: 10.1177/0191453713477349|hwp:master-id:sppsc;0191453713477349
  Issue No: Vol. 39, No. 4-5 (2013)
Longing for democracy: A new way to political transformation from an Islamic perspective
- Authors: Campanini; M.
  Pages: 349 - 359
  Abstract: The Arab revolts of 2011 raised new questions regarding democracy. On the one hand, a new kind of democracy is apparently born: the democracy of the multitude. On the other, Islam has been a major actor in the Arab revolts and presumably will play a growing role in the future. The article investigates if there is a new political model put forward by the foreseeable Islamic developments of the revolts. If we take for granted that there is not only one kind of democracy and that there is much more space for Islamic organizations in the present and future political arena of the Muslim countries, then it will not sound like a heresy to ask whether there is an Islamic way to democracy. In order to demonstrate this original point of view, it is necessary to deal with the principles of Islamic political thought. The Arab revolts promise to renew and update these principles. The article will try to peruse this revision from the point of view of Antonio Gramsci and his theory of hegemony.
  PubDate: 2013-05-06T02:04:37-07:00
  DOI: 10.1177/0191453713477347|hwp:master-id:sppsc;0191453713477347
  Issue No: Vol. 39, No. 4-5 (2013)
Democratic values and the Qur'an as a source of Islam
- Authors: Pacaci; M.
  Pages: 361 - 371
  Abstract: It would be an anachronism to search for modern democracy in the Qur’an that is the first among the other sources of Islam, i.e. Sunnah, ijma and the qiyas. To deduce the definition of Islam merely on the basis of the primary and secondary textual sources rather than the application of them as Muslim praxis would be an incomplete hermeneutic process in understanding it. We can see that the state and the religious society, which was represented by ulama, were separated from each other in an early stage of Islamic history. The members of ulama were in charge of the intellectual and social life, the law and its application. The values of the modern democracy such as law and order, separation of state authority from the public sphere, observing the fundamental rights and freedoms of individuals such as women and religious minorities as the inseparables of democracy were upgraded in Muslim societies. This structure of Muslim society, however, was spoiled by colonialist interventions and the adoption of the modern nation-state concept.
  PubDate: 2013-05-06T02:04:37-07:00
  DOI: 10.1177/0191453713478379|hwp:master-id:sppsc;0191453713478379
  Issue No: Vol. 39, No. 4-5 (2013)
The spring of Arab nations? Paths toward democratic transition
- Authors: Ishay; M.
  Pages: 373 - 383
  Abstract: This article defends three basic premises. First, the same conditions and forces favorable to revolution may serve to impede efforts at post-revolutionary consolidation. Second, one can assess prospects for consolidation based on the capacity of prospective hegemonic parties to achieve several interrelated objectives: developing a shared worldview among disparate segments of the population, delivering social and economic goods, and establishing order. Third, while democratization is a home-grown process, it may require particular forms of limited intervention to offset anti-democratic forces. The goal of this article is to provide an analytical framework that informs the ongoing debates over democratic transitions while suggesting where and how external engagement may influence the transition process.
  PubDate: 2013-05-06T02:04:37-07:00
  DOI: 10.1177/0191453713477821|hwp:master-id:sppsc;0191453713477821
  Issue No: Vol. 39, No. 4-5 (2013)
On economics and social sciences: An agenda for dialogue
- Authors: Akat; A. S.
  Pages: 385 - 394
  Abstract: The global economic crisis makes closer collaboration between economics and other social sciences even more urgent. One major cause of divergence has been the attitudes of the parties towards the ‘market’. Yet, the market economy, in all its diversity, is one of the immutable facts of modern life. Understanding the causes of its survival will improve the dialogue. Another interesting puzzle is the lack of credible alternatives to it despite the depth of the crisis. The experience of the economists in constructing models of society based on the behaviour of individuals composing it can be valuable for other social sciences. We apply the framework developed by ‘institutional economics’ to gain insights into the relations between Islam, capitalism and democracy. The article finishes with some observations on Turkey and draws lessons for other Muslim societies.
  PubDate: 2013-05-06T02:04:37-07:00
  DOI: 10.1177/0191453713477599|hwp:master-id:sppsc;0191453713477599
  Issue No: Vol. 39, No. 4-5 (2013)
The political consequences of Islam's economic legacy
- Authors: Kuran; T.
  Pages: 395 - 405
  Abstract: Several of the Middle East’s traditional economic institutions hampered its political development by limiting checks on executive power, preventing the formation of organized and durable opposition movements, and keeping civil society weak. They include Islam’s original tax system, which failed to protect property rights; the waqf, whose rigidity hampered the development of civil society; and private commercial enterprises, whose small scales and short lives blocked the development of private coalitions able to bargain with the state. These institutions contributed to features that sustain autocracies and keep democracies unstable: high corruption, low trust, widespread nepotism and high tolerance for law-breaking.
  PubDate: 2013-05-06T02:04:37-07:00
  DOI: 10.1177/0191453713477350|hwp:master-id:sppsc;0191453713477350
  Issue No: Vol. 39, No. 4-5 (2013)
Women's problems as a 'women's only' problem? Debates on gender and democracy in Iran
- Authors: Amirpur; K.
  Pages: 407 - 415
  Abstract: In this article I will argue that in the last years the way of thinking about gender has undergone a change. I believe that in the Iranian public discourse, ‘the woman question’ has come to be viewed as part of the question of democracy. This is a recent development; until very recently, women’s legal discrimination was perceived in Iranian discourse as a ‘women’s only’ problem.
  PubDate: 2013-05-06T02:04:37-07:00
  DOI: 10.1177/0191453713478559|hwp:master-id:sppsc;0191453713478559
  Issue No: Vol. 39, No. 4-5 (2013)
Uncrossed bridges: Islam, feminism and secular democracy
- Authors: Barlas; A.
  Pages: 417 - 425
  Abstract: In this article I review two contrasting approaches to Muslim women’s rights: those that want Muslims to secularize the Qur’an as the precondition for getting rights and those that emphasize the importance of a liberatory Qur’anic hermeneutics to Muslim women’s struggles for rights and equality. As examples of the former, I take the works of Nasr Abu Zayd and Raja Rhouni and, of the latter, my own. In addition to joining the debates on Muslim women’s rights, this exercise is meant to illustrate that secular attempts to undermine Islam also undermine the prospects for rights and democracy in Muslim societies. In fact, I see the secular project in Muslim societies as a form of self-harm. Lastly, I revisit Antonio Gramsci’s critique of democracy as a way to query the title of the Istanbul Seminars, ‘The Promises of Democracy’.
  PubDate: 2013-05-06T02:04:37-07:00
  DOI: 10.1177/0191453713477346|hwp:master-id:sppsc;0191453713477346
  Issue No: Vol. 39, No. 4-5 (2013)
Learning from success, learning from failure: South Africa, Hungary, Turkey and Egypt
- Authors: Arato, A; Tombus, E.
  Pages: 427 - 441
  Abstract: The article has several theses. First we propose that there is a new method of constitution-making today, the two-stage, post-sovereign one perfected in South Africa. Second, we admit the path-dependent nature, and difficult pre-conditions, of this method. Third, we maintain that even when the full method is unlikely in a given context, its legitimating principles nevertheless can play a role through international dissemination. We explore that possibility in the context of the projected comprehensive reform of Turkey, and the constitutional revolution in Egypt. It is our belief that in these contexts one can learn both from successes of the new method and also from its failures typified by the Hungarian case that we briefly present. We are unfortunately not optimistic about the success of the new method especially where actors maintain their strong belief in the constituent power of the popular sovereign. This is likely to be the case in revolutions, but can happen in reform or even during the last state of the post-sovereign method itself.
  PubDate: 2013-05-06T02:04:37-07:00
  DOI: 10.1177/0191453713477601|hwp:master-id:sppsc;0191453713477601
  Issue No: Vol. 39, No. 4-5 (2013)
Political religion vs non-establishment: Reflections on 21st-century political theology: Part 1*
- Authors: Cohen; J. L.
  Pages: 443 - 469
  Abstract: This article defends the principle of non-establishment against 21st-century projects of political religion, constitutional theocracy and political theology. It is divided into two parts, which will appear in two consecutive issues of Philosophy & Social Criticism, 39(4–5) and 39(6). Part 1 proceeds by constructing an ideal type of political secularism, and then discussing the innovative American model of constitutional dualism regarding religion that combined constitutional protection for the freedom of religious conscience and exercise with the principle of non-establishment. The article analyses the strengths and limits of the ‘separation– accommodation’ frame that became hegemonic in 1st amendment jurisprudence from the 1940s to the 1990s. It challenges the standard caricature of the American model as strictly separationist and privatizing. It then critically assesses two contemporary alternatives to that frame: the integrationist approach and the equal liberty approach. The first, disguised as a concern for pluralism and fairness, challenges ‘separation’ and political secularism in a subtle attack on the non-establishment principle, aimed at drastically narrowing its scope. Successes of this approach in recent Supreme Court jurisprudence and politics have triggered a response by liberal egalitarians. The author addresses this response – the equal liberty model – in part 2, which will appear in Philosophy & Social Criticism 39(6), arguing that although on the right track, it fails to find a middle ground between political secularism and integration.
  PubDate: 2013-05-06T02:04:37-07:00
  DOI: 10.1177/0191453713479100|hwp:master-id:sppsc;0191453713479100
  Issue No: Vol. 39, No. 4-5 (2013)
Transnational legal sites and democracy-building: Reconfiguring political geographies
- Authors: Benhabib; S.
  Pages: 471 - 486
  Abstract: Until recently the term ‘cosmopolitanism’ was a forgotten concept in the intellectual history of the 18th and 19th centuries. The last two decades have seen a remarkable revival of interest in cosmopolitanism across a wide variety of fields. This article contends that legal developments since the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights and the rise of an ‘international human rights regime’ are at the forefront of a new cosmopolitanism. Yet there is a great deal of skepticism toward such claims on the part of those who maintain that democracy and human rights are best furthered by the nation-state framework. Still others confuse legal cosmopolitanism with the spread of a uniform system of rights across different national jurisdictions. In several writings in the past, I developed the concept of ‘democratic iterations’ to argue against such skepticism as well as misunderstandings of legal cosmopolitanism. In this article, I show how democratic iterations unfold across transnational legal sites, which encompass various national jurisdictions and through which contentious dialogues on the application and interpretation of such fundamental rights as ‘freedom of religion’ in different jurisdictions can emerge. To document such processes I focus on the Leyla Sahin v. Turkey case which was adjudicated by the European Court of Human Rights in 2005.
  PubDate: 2013-05-06T02:04:37-07:00
  DOI: 10.1177/0191453713477351|hwp:master-id:sppsc;0191453713477351
  Issue No: Vol. 39, No. 4-5 (2013)
Freedom and identity
- Authors: Kaul; V.
  Pages: 487 - 498
  Abstract: As show the partly violent clashes between liberal secularists and Islamists in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, the two factions certainly defend two diametrically opposite political points of view. For liberals, politics finds its ultimate justification in the protection of individual freedom. For Islamists, only the application of the moral code and religious law codified in the shariah can justify politics. Contrary to what is sustained by a theory of situated agency, there is no easy and definite reconciliation between the two positions. And this depends precisely upon the fact that both political models are based upon the very same idealist conception of the individual, namely the assumption that we, as persons, have a free will and are not determined by the law of causality. Paradoxical as it might sound, it is our freedom that gives rise to the problem of identity and lends force to the Islamist argumentation. If freedom as such cannot bring about practical reason and also liberals recognize that the ultimate source of normativity is identity, there is a point in the Islamist and, more general, communitarian claim that we are not free to choose our identity. In order that identity does the normative work it is supposed to do, it must be given and not chosen. What remains, however, unclear in the communitarian picture is how the norms of our community can come to constitute our will without a process of active identification. If we cannot identify voluntarily with our community’s norms, then only emotional attachment to our community can explain identification and the normative grip communitarian norms have upon us. Yet, attachment is conditioned by the effective satisfaction of our psychological and physical needs. The problem is that our need for freedom and liberty can become overshadowed by our more immediate needs based, for example, upon resentment and revenge and that today makes Muslims in particular to be so hostile towards liberal ideas. I suggest that conciliatory trust-building measures can help to surmount the anger, fear, mistrust and suspicion Muslims feel vis-à-vis the West and that are at the origin of today’s conflict between freedom and identity in the Muslim world.
  PubDate: 2013-05-06T02:04:37-07:00
  DOI: 10.1177/0191453713481758|hwp:master-id:sppsc;0191453713481758
  Issue No: Vol. 39, No. 4-5 (2013)
Overcoming postcolonialism: From the civilizational dispute to the renewal of dialogue
- Authors: Khatami; H. E. S. M.
  Pages: 499 - 504
  PubDate: 2013-05-06T02:04:37-07:00
  DOI: 10.1177/0191453713482037|hwp:resource-id:sppsc;39/4-5/499
  Issue No: Vol. 39, No. 4-5 (2013)