A World Beyond Politics?

by Manent, Pierre

• ISBN13: 9780691125121
• ISBN10: 0691125120
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2006-07-03
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

We live in the grip of a great illusion about politics, Pierre Manent argues inA World Beyond Politics?It's the illusion that we would be better off without politics--at least national politics, and perhaps all politics. It is a fantasy that if democratic values could somehow detach themselves from their traditional national context, we could enter a world of pure democracy, where human society would be ruled solely according to law and morality. Borders would dissolve in unconditional internationalism and nations would collapse into supranational organizations such as the European Union. Free of the limits and sins of politics, we could finally attain the true life. In contrast to these beliefs, which are especially widespread in Europe, Manent argues that the political order is the key to the human order. Human life, in order to have force and meaning, must be concentrated in a particular political community, in which decisions are made through collective, creative debate. The best such community for democratic life, he argues, is still the nation-state. Following the example of nineteenth-century political philosophers such as Alexis de Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill, Manent first describes a few essential features of democracy and the nation-state, and then shows how these characteristics illuminate many aspects of our present political circumstances. He ends by arguing that both democracy and the nation-state are under threat--from apolitical tendencies such as the cult of international commerce and attempts to replace democratic decisions with judicial procedures.

Author Biography

Pierre Manent teaches political philosophy at L'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Science Sociales in Paris. His books include "An Intellectual History of Liberalism" and "The City of Man" (both Princeton).

Table of Contents

Preface to the American Edition	vii
Introduction	i
The Organization of Separations	10	(11)
The Theologico-Political Vector	21	(11)
The Movement of Equality	32	(10)
The Question of Political Forms	42	(9)
The Nation and the Work of Democracy	51	(9)
Europe and the Future of the Nation	60	(10)
The Wars of the Twentieth Century	70	(16)
The Forces of Trade	86	(12)
Declaring the Rights of Man	98	(12)
Becoming an Individual	110	(11)
The Religion of Humanity	121	(9)
The Body and the Political Order	130	(11)
Sexual Division and Democracy	141	(10)
The Question of Communism	151	(10)
Is There a Nazi Mystery?	161	(10)
The Empire of Law	171	(15)
The Empire of Morality	186	(11)
The Human Political Condition and the Unity of the Human Race	197	(10)
Notes	207	(8)
Index	215