Телеграм канал «Политическая теория и философия (Political theory and philosophy)»

Adam Shatz - Another Country

Donald Trump’s presidency is many things, but it is, above all, a violent attempt to resolve the ‘rich confusion’ that surrounds the word ‘America’, to make it synonymous with his vision of a fortress state at war with immigrants, shadowy globalists, ‘narco-terrorists’ and domestic enemies. During his first term, some influential commentators on the left argued that Trump was little more than a pro-business Republican, even if he lacked the impulse control, the deference to civilised norms of behaviour, to say nothing of the habit of couching racism in euphemisms, exhibited by traditional conservatives. The argument wasn’t persuasive in 2016; today, it is a flight from reality. It’s true that Trump’s efforts to downsize the administrative state, to eliminate regulations on workplace safety, consumer protection and the environment, are in sync with much conservative thinking. But the pardoning of insurrectionists and other criminals, the undermining of birthright citizenship, the attacks on Somalis as ‘garbage’, the aspersions cast on the competence and honour of Black members of the military, the mainstreaming of neo-Nazis, the calls for the execution of political opponents, the shakedowns of law firms and universities, the war on scientific research and historical knowledge, and the expansion of a vast police state which is used to hunt down and deport migrants and, increasingly, to prevent critics of American policy from entering the United States: this is something else. So is the administration’s warning against ‘civilisational erasure’ in Europe. And for women seeking an abortion, for migrants and trans people seeking merely to exist, America has become a dangerous place.

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n02/adam-shatz/another-country

A. Horn, M. Haselmayer, J. Kluser - Why Inequalities Persist: Parties’ (Non)Responses to Economic Inequality, 1970–2020

Do parties respond to inequality? Despite the relevance of inequality and its consequences, existing studies fail to capture parties’ emphasis on economic equality and redistribution or to differentiate between existing levels of inequality and increases in inequality. Based on 850,000 party statements from 12 (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries (1970–2020), we introduce a crowd-coded dataset that allows us to distinguish positive references to economic equality and redistribution from upward-trending equal-rights/anti-discrimination rhetoric. We show that responses found in previous studies do not capture economic equality and redistribution. In reassessing the impact of inequality, we argue that low visibility, status quo bias, and turnout effects discourage party responses to high inequality levels, while rising inequality poses a visible status quo change and a threat that left parties respond to. We find that left parties respond to inequality increases (except less tangible gains among the most affluent) but not to (high) inequality levels. This helps to understand why inequality is not self-correcting

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/why-inequalities-persist-parties-nonresponses-to-economic-inequality-19702020/6FAA21CB7442D085047A25B33DD7778D

Luca Meldolesi - Possibilism and Evaluation: Judith Tendler and Albert Hirschman

Albert Hirschman's possibilism originated from his work on development and democracy; at the same time, it offered tools for evaluating projects that Judith Tendler innovatively utilized in her professional work, where she interweaved theory and practice, methodology and ethics . Starting from observation in the field, comparisons, linkages, inverted sequences and unexpected consequences are really key elements in a type of evaluation that works toward improvement, "for a better world." The enduring vitality of the thinking of these forerunners is what motivates the reconstruction of their intellectual trajectories: from the way of learning from the successes and failures of programs, to how to deal with such themes as complexity, mechanisms, uncertainty, change, that are at the core of current debates.

Albert O. Hirschman - A Propensity to Self–Subversion

In these 20 essays Albert O. Hirschman examines his own ideas, and economic development. They also bring perspectives on the material in his 12 previous books and essays. In the essays that open this collection, Hirschman reappraises points he made in such books as "Exit", "Voice and Loyalty", "The Strategy of Economic Development" and "The Rhetoric of Reaction". Subsequent essays re-explore the themes of Latin American development and market society that have occupied him throughout his career. Hirschman also forays into the likely impact, negative or otherwise, of the Eastern European revolutions of 1989 on the Third World, the on-and-off connections between political and economic progress, and the role of conflict in enhancing community spirit in a liberal democracy. Hirschman presents autobiographical fragments that reflect his deep involvement in some of the important events of this century.

Albert O. Hirschman - How Reforms Should Be Passed

Well-known as a pioneer of economic development, Albert Hirschman has been the flag-bearer of possibilism and reform-mongering in political science. How Reforms Should be Passed is an anthology of texts chosen personally by Hirschman on the latter production line as he was to call it informally that is rooted in his long and quasi-exclusive concern for development and Latin America. Key essays on the formation and the evolution of Hirschman's point of view on the subject are collected: from "Ideologies of Economic Development in Latin America" to Journeys (and later "A Return Journey") on policy-making; from "Obstacles to the Perception of Change" to"The Search for Paradigms as a Hindrance to Understanding". They show an extraordinary turn of the mind in the making that will be very useful for the U.S. and the developed world as well as the final texts of the book on democracy and Europe (Italy, Germany and France) bear out.

S. Kates, E. Manning, T. Mendelberg, O. Wasow - Plutopopulism: Wealth and Trump’s Financial Base

Comparative scholarship suggests authoritarian candidates often rely on backing from the wealthy. The wealthy are also said to play an important role in American campaign finance. Studies of Donald Trump, however, found that he drew significant support from white Americans with less education and privilege. We evaluate wealthy and non-wealthy Americans’ financial support for Trump, compared to other candidates, by constructing a comprehensive dataset of property values matched to contributions and voter files. We find Trump underperformed among wealthy Republican donors while mobilizing new non-wealthy donors. Trump also diversified the donorate, especially by education. That is, Trump built an unusual coalition of wealthy and non-wealthy donors. Our results support an alternative, “plutopopulist” model of Trump’s financial base. This study demonstrates the importance of studying both non-wealthy and wealthy Americans, the group who give the most but whose individual behavior has been studied the least.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/plutopopulism-wealth-and-trumps-financial-base/04A0071D849FBC3E1DEEB2962A6B977F

Jacques Rancière - Dividing Time. Reflections on the Practice of an Amateur Historian

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L-YudAz8CJg&pp=ygUIUmFuY2llcmU%3D