Highlighting the social tensions that confront the liberal tradition, Pierre Manent draws a portrait of what we, citizens of modern liberal democracies, have become. For Manent, a discussion of liberalism encompasses the foundations of modern society, its secularism, its individualism, and its conception of rights. The frequent incapacity of the morally neutral, democratic state to further social causes, he argues, derives from the liberal stance that political life does not serve a higher purpose. Through quick-moving, highly synthetic essays, he explores the development of liberal thinking in terms of a single theme: the decline of theological politics. The author traces the liberal stance to Machiavelli, who, in seeking to divorce everyday life from the pervasive influence of the Catholic church, separated politics from all notions of a cosmological order. What followed, as Manent demonstrates in his analyses of Locke, Hobbes, Rousseau, Guizot, and Constant, was the evolving concept of an individual with no goals outside the confines of the self and a state with no purpose but to prevent individuals from dominating one another. Weighing both the positive and negative effects of such a political arrangement, Manent raises important questions about the fundamental political issues of the day, among them the possibility of individual rights being reconciled with the necessary demands of political organization, and the desirability of a government system neutral about religion but not about public morals.
Neoliberalism's war against democracy and how to resist it How do we explain the strange survival of the forces responsible for the 2008 economic crisis, one of the worst since 1929? How do we explain the fact that neoliberalism has emerged from the crisis strengthened? When it broke, a number of the most prominent economists hastened to announce the 'death' of neoliberalism. They regarded the pursuit of neoliberal policy as the fruit of dogmatism. For Pierre Dardot and Christian Laval, neoliberalism is no mere dogma. Supported by powerful oligarchies, it is a veritable politico-institutional system that obeys a logic of self-reinforcement. Far from representing a break, crisis has become a formidably effective mode of government. In showing how this system crystallized and solidified, the book explains that the neoliberal straitjacket has succeeded in preventing any course correction by progressively deactivating democracy. Increasing the disarray and demobilization, the so-called 'governmental' Left has actively helped strengthen this oligarchical logic. The latter could lead to a definitive exit from democracy in favour of expertocratic governance, free of any control. However, nothing has been decided yet. The revival of democratic activity, which we see emerging in the political movements and experiments of recent years, is a sign that the political confrontation with the neoliberal system and the oligarchical bloc has already begun.
PEM Water Electrolysis, a volume in the Hydrogen Energy and Fuel Cell Primers series presents the most recent advances in the field. It brings together information that has thus far been scattered in many different sources under one single title, making it a useful reference for industry professionals, researchers and graduate students. Volumes One and Two allow readers to identify technology gaps for commercially viable PEM electrolysis systems for energy applications and examine the fundamentals of PEM electrolysis and selected research topics that are top of mind for the academic and industry community, such as gas cross-over and AST protocols. The book lays the foundation for the exploration of the current industrial trends for PEM electrolysis, such as power to gas application and a strong focus on the current trends in the application of PEM electrolysis associated with energy storage. - Presents the fundamentals and most current knowledge in proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers - Explores the technology gaps and challenges for commercial deployment of PEM water electrolysis technologies - Includes unconventional systems, such as ozone generators - Brings together information from many different sources under one single title, making it a useful reference for industry professionals, researchers and graduate students alike
Using numerous practical examples,this book examines the evolution of EC telecommunications law following the achievement of liberalisation, the main policy goal of the 1990s. After reviewing the development of regulation in the run-up to liberalisation, the author identifies the methods used to direct the liberalisation process and tests their validity in the post-liberalisation context. A critical analysis is made of the claim that competition law will offer sufficient means to regulate the sector in the future. Particular emphasis is given to the way in which EC Competition Law changed in the 1990s using the essential facilities doctrine, an expansive non-discrimination principle and the policing of cross-subsidisation to tackle what were then thought of as regulatory matters. Also examined within the work is the procedural and institutional interplay between competition law and telecommunications regulation. In conclusion, Larouche explores the limits of competition law and puts forward a long-term case for sector-specific regulation, with a precise mandate to ensure that the telecommunications sector as a whole fulfils its role as a foundation for economic and social activity.
On Consensus: A Framework for Adaptive Action is a tool in the toolbox of anyone looking to improve decision-making processes in general and to build consensus in particular. The book provides not only a step-by-step approach to building consensus but it also provides a framework for thinking about how to think about consensus. All institutions are built and sustained through some sort of consensus. The degree to which the consensus that underwrites institutions is conscious determines the future viability of collective choices and actions. Democracy is in need of better tools and thinking on consensus. The book provides a leverage for those involved in high stakes decision-making, especially where there is a convergence of governance, development and stewardship. It explores what is required to arrive at a conscious consensus and to build a path towards more adaptive action. Decision-framing... a profound meeting of minds.
An introduction to the thought of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, the first person to declare themself an anarchist. Available in English for the first time, Proudhon's Sociology is the landmark statement on Pierre-Joseph Proudhon’s thought. While interest in Proudhon’s work has undergone a revival in the last couple of decades in the English-speaking world, his theories about society remain little known. Pierre Ansart’s book renders the complexity of Proudhon's thought intelligible and emphasizes how Proudhonian ideas remain relevant today. Ansart explores the similarities between Proudhon and Marx’s thought, including the influence that Proudhon’s economic writings and theories of the state had on Marx. A year before the publication of Sociologie de Proudhon (1967), Henri Lefebvre published Sociologie de Marx as part of the same academic series. Both indispensable books, which were available to French students at the time of the strikes of May–June 1968, had a real impact on the theoretical education of that generation—and on generations since. This English-language edition contains an introduction by René Berthier, annotations by the translators and editor, and an additional piece by Ansart titled “Proudhon Throughout History.”
Memoirs of the Private Life, Return, and Reign of Napoleon in 1815 Vol.-II" by means of Baron Pierre Alexandre Édouard Fleury de Chaboulon is a records work that offers a shiny and private account of Napoleon Bonaparte's life, return, and rule in the course of the important yr of 1815. Baron Chaboulon, who become Napoleon's non-public secretary, gives a totally distinctive view of what passed off in the course of the famous emperor's second rule. The 2d part of Napoleon's diaries is going into extra element approximately his personal life and the political situation when he came returned from exile. I became involved approximately Chaboulon in lots of approaches, and he allows me recognize the difficulties, successes, and complexities of Napoleon's rule. The tale is instructed thru a combination of ancient elements and private testimonies that supply readers a complete photo of the character at the back of the tale. It's in Chaboulon's writing that you could simply experience the political and personal drama of Napoleon's rule in 1815. This account is a critical series of vintage files that upload to our understanding of Napoleon's lifestyles and time. Baron Chaboulon's first-hand account, that's based on his close proximity to the events and people involved, takes readers on a ride through the non-public and public lives of one in all records's most critical figures.
A completely reworked new edition of this superb textbook. This key work is geared to the needs of the graduate student. It covers, with proofs, the usual major branches of groups, rings, fields, and modules. Its inclusive approach means that all of the necessary areas are explored, while the level of detail is ideal for the intended readership. The text tries to promote the conceptual understanding of algebra as a whole, doing so with a masterful grasp of methodology. Despite the abstract subject matter, the author includes a careful selection of important examples, together with a detailed elaboration of the more sophisticated, abstract theories.
Yalta still excites scholars and general public alike. In shaping post-war geographical alignments, Yalta has become drenched in ideological disputes. It has assumed a symbolic quality for liberal, left, and conservative interpretations of modern European history. In his book, Pierre de Senarclens offers the reader a clear and precise account of the matter in which negotiations at Yalta were actually conducted by Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. Senarclens not only follows closely the negotiations themselves, but draws upon the political and strategic events preceding the negotiations, and the stated aims of the Allied Forces before the conference.In the light of all the different expectations of the respective leaders, the key question for Senarclens is, what was the real outcome of Yalta? Senarclens avoids overdramatization and does not elevate Yalta to a turning point in world history. He avoid ideological interpretations, from the conservative analysis of Yalta as appeasement and the selling out of Eastern Europe and China, to the liberal-left analysis of three old men ruthlessly dividing the world between themselves. But he does not spare us Roosevelt's idealized picture of Stalin, nor does he avoid revealing the ambiguities of Churchill's conduct, or the ruthlessness of Stalin's approach.Senarclens refutes the thesis that Yalta amounted to an occidental capitulation to the Soviets. As the author convincingly argues, the world has not come about us as a result of Yalta, but in spite of it.
Taxing Crime: A Whole-of-Government Approach to Fighting Corruption, Money Laundering, and Tax Crimes examines how tax audits and investigations can lead to uncovering white-collar crime and how investigations of corruption can, in turn, lead to prosecutions of tax evasion or recovery of unpaid taxes. Prepared jointly by the World Bank and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR) and the Global Tax Policy Center at the Institute for Austrian and International Tax Law, Vienna University of Economics and Business, this report offers analysis, case studies, examples of legal and operational frameworks, and recommendations that policy makers can use to enhance cooperation between tax authorities and law enforcement agencies at the national and international levels. This study is designed to serve as a reference and source of advocacy for policy makers, but it may be useful to other practitioners as well, including law enforcement offi cials, investigating magistrates, and prosecutors. Specifically, chapters present strategic considerations for establishing communication channels between tax and criminal investigative agencies; suggestions for combining tax and financial crime prosecution as part of an interagency asset recovery strategy; and approaches to developing interagency information exchange at the regional and international levels. It concludes with recommendations on ways to enhance the roles of both the tax authorities in combating money laundering and corruption and of the law enforcement authorities in recovering the proceeds of tax crimes. • Chapter 1 provides an introduction. • Chapter 2 presents strategic considerations for establishing information exchange channels between tax and criminal investigative agencies. • Chapter 3 explains how to combine tax and financial crime prosecution as part of an interagency asset recovery strategy. • Chapter 4 discusses approaches to developing interagency information exchange at the regional and international levels. • Chapter 5 provides recommendations for future efforts to enhance the role of tax authorities in supporting efforts to combat money laundering and corruption, and the role of law enforcement authorities in the recovery of proceeds of tax crimes. • The appendix contains case studies that illustrate effective interagency cooperation, including at the international level.
The euro crisis made Europe’s stateless currency falter. This book retraces and interprets the ways in which the crisis impacted the unique institutional set-up of Europe’s Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). It argues that the crisis propelled the European continent towards the institutionalization of an unprecedented form of centralized authority: Europe’s New Fiscal Union. Diving into the central functions of fiscal surveillance, financial assistance, lending of last resort and banking resolution, the book reveals how a covert and convoluted mutualisation process occurred in the shadow of the euro crisis management. Based on 62 interviews conducted by the author with senior policy-makers in Brussels, Frankfurt, Helsinki and Rome, the book claims that Europe’s New Fiscal Union is largely unsettled and still unstable. It therefore engages with the challenges arising from the patchwork of newly adopted rules, instruments and bodies, suggesting crucial reform steps to make EMU sustainable.
When the United Nations undertook the publication of the Reports of International Arbitral Awards, the `Pasicrisie internationale' was identified as one of the rare truly general collections of international case law in existence. In fact, in deciding to publish the arbitration clauses and arbitral awards from 1794 to 1900, Henri La Fontaine was doing pioneering work, foreshadowing the famous Reports by half a century. As we near the end of the century, the `Pasicrisie internationale' remains just as pertinent as it was when first published in 1902. This collection of arbitral awards, with its modest appearance, has certainly contributed more to the development of international arbitration case law than any number of lyrical speeches advocating peace through law. First edition printed in 1902 by Stämpfli, Bern. Lorsque l'Organisation des Nations Unies entreprit la publication de son Recueil des sentences arbitrales, elle identifia la Pasicrisie internationale comme constituant l'une des rares véritables collections générales de jurisprudence internationale préexistantes. De fait, en décidant de rassembler les clauses compromissoires et les sentences arbitrales de 1794 à1900, Henri La Fontaine avait fait oeuvre de pionnier et il préfigurait, avec un demi-siècle d'avance, le célèbre Recueil. En cette fin de siècle, la Pasicrisie internationale constitue donc un outil de travail toujours aussi actuel que lors de sa publication en 1902. Cette compilation de sentences arbitrales, d'apparence modeste, a certainement plus contribué au développement de la jurisprudence arbitrale internationale que bien des discours lyriques prônant la paix par le droit. Première édition imprimée en 1902 par Stämpfli, Berne.
Few would disagree that Western democracies are experiencing a crisis of representation. In the United States, gerrymandering and concentrated political geographies have placed the Congress and state legislatures in a stranglehold that is often at odds with public opinion. Campaign financing ensures that only the affluent have voice in legislation. Europeans, meanwhile, increasingly see the European Union as an anti-democratic body whose “diktats” have no basis in popular rule. The response, however, has not been an effective pursuit of better representation. In Good Government, Pierre Rosanvallon examines the long history of the alternative to which the public has gravitated: the empowered executive. Rosanvallon argues that, faced with everyday ineptitude in governance, people become attracted to strong leaders and bold executive action. If these fail, they too often want even stronger personal leadership. Whereas nineteenth-century liberals and reformers longed for parliamentary sovereignty, nowadays few contest the “imperial presidency.” Rosanvallon traces this history from the Weimar Republic to Charles De Gaulle’s “exceptional” presidency to the Bush-Cheney concentration of executive power. Europeans rebelling against the technocratic EU and Americans fed up with the “administrative state” have turned to charismatic figures, from Donald Trump to Viktor Orbán, who tout personal strength as their greatest asset. This is not just a right-wing phenomenon, though, as liberal contentment with Obama’s drone war demonstrates. Rosanvallon makes clear that contemporary “presidentialism” may reflect the particular concerns of the moment, but its many precursors demonstrate that democracy has always struggled with tension between popular government and concentrated authority.
Alexander I was a ruler with high aspirations for the people of Russia. Cosseted as a young grand duke by Catherine the Great, he ascended to the throne in 1801 after the brutal assassination of his father. In this magisterial biography, Marie-Pierre Rey illuminates the complex forces that shaped Alexander's tumultuous reign and sheds brilliant new light on the handsome ruler known to his people as "the Sphinx." Despite an early and ambitious commitment to sweeping political reforms, Alexander saw his liberal aspirations overwhelmed by civil unrest in his own country and by costly confrontations with Napoleon, which culminated in the French invasion of Russia and the burning of Moscow in 1812. Eventually, Alexander turned back Napoleon's forces and entered Paris a victor two years later, but by then he had already grown weary of military glory. As the years passed, the tsar who defeated Napoleon would become increasingly preoccupied with his own spiritual salvation, an obsession that led him to pursue a rapprochement between the Orthodox and Roman churches. When in exile, Napoleon once remarked of his Russian rival: "He could go far. If I die here, he will be my true heir in Europe." It was not to be. Napoleon died on Saint Helena and Alexander succumbed to typhus four years later at the age of forty-eight. But in this richly nuanced portrait, Rey breathes new life into the tsar who stood at the center of the political chessboard of early nineteenth-century Europe, a key figure at the heart of diplomacy, war, and international intrigue during that region's most tumultuous years.
In this book, the author critically analyzes the wide-ranging effects of western neo-colonial and neo-liberal economic and political policies on Haiti and other oppressed nations. The author’s overarching argument is that western colonization of these countries has taken a different form with a disguised mask.
The Market in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) is nothing short of a revolution. Introduced on 1 November 2007, it will have a profound, long-term impact on Europe's securities markets. It will see banks operating as exchanges for certain activities, offering alternative execution services that more closely resemble the structure of over-the-counter markets, and will lead to the decentralisation of order execution in an array of venues previously governed by concentration rules. Crucially, MiFID will also have a profound impact on the organisation and business strategies of investment firms, exchanges, asset managers and other financial markets intermediaries. Until now, analysis has focused on the directive's short term implementation issues. This book focuses on the long term strategic implications associated with MiFID, and will be essential reading for anybody who recognises that their firm will need to make constant dynamic readjustments in order to remain competitive in this challenging new environment.
In this book, the author critically analyzes the ongoing and wide-ranging effects of colonialism and globalization on the poor, especially on those living in the "Third World." The author's overarching argument is that colonization was not merely about the conquest of foreign lands, but it was also about the ideological monitoring of the colonized's mind, often maintained through western hegemonic texts and institutional apparatus, such as schools and churches. Analyzing and situating colonialism in the context of western neo-liberal policy of occupation and economic, political, and ideological dominations, the author thus demonstrates how, through schools and the mass corporate media, neocolonized and occupied subjects have been mis-educated to internalize and reproduce old western values, beliefs, and norms at the expense of their own."--Publisher
What is the best way to govern ourselves? The history of the West has been shaped by the struggle to answer this question, according to Pierre Manent. A major achievement by one of Europe's most influential political philosophers, Metamorphoses of the City is a sweeping interpretation of Europe's ambition since ancient times to generate ever better forms of collective self-government, and a reflection on what it means to be modern. Manent's genealogy of the nation-state begins with the Greek city-state, the polis. With its creation, humans ceased to organize themselves solely by family and kinship systems and instead began to live politically. Eventually, as the polis exhausted its possibilities in warfare and civil strife, cities evolved into empires, epitomized by Rome, and empires in turn gave way to the universal Catholic Church and finally the nation-state. Through readings of Aristotle, Augustine, Montaigne, and others, Manent charts an intellectual history of these political forms, allowing us to see that the dynamic of competition among them is a central force in the evolution of Western civilization. Scarred by the legacy of world wars, submerged in an increasingly technical transnational bureaucracy, indecisive in the face of proliferating crises of representative democracy, the European nation-state, Manent says, is nearing the end of its line. What new metamorphosis of the city will supplant it remains to be seen.
An application of Gurdjieffian principles to fully and properly activate the power of language • Explains the relationship between the Gurdjieff enneagram and sacred geometry and harmonics • Shows that the objective power of language--and art and music--lies in the ability to use symbols that will mean precisely the same thing to anyone • Includes a new English translation of René Daumal’s essay “The Holy War” In The Magic Language of the Fourth Way, Pierre Bonnasse applies the esoteric teachings of Fourth Way mystic G. I. Gurdjieff and the insights of initiate René Daumal to show how to fully and properly activate the power of language. Bonnasse shows how words can regain the strange magical powers they possessed in the first days of humanity, when words created the realities of what they described. This is a far cry from today’s world in which even writers lament the impotent nature of language. Bonnasse uses the relationship between the Gurdjieff enneagram and sacred geometry and harmonics to reveal the power given to words by the notes of the scale. He shows not only how to discover the objective power of words but also how to apply the relationship between language and living to maximum effect. He explains that the objective power of language--and art and music--lies in the ability to use symbols that will mean precisely the same thing to anyone. The Magic Language of the Fourth Way serves as a clear and generous introduction to the complexities of Gurdjieffian thought as well as a descriptive how-to manual for Fourth Way aspirants on the uses of objective language for spiritual advancement.
One of France's leading and most controversial political thinkers explores the central themes of Tocqueville's writings: the democratic revolution and the modern passion for equality. What becomes of people when they are overcome by this passion and how does it transform the contents of life? Pierre Manent's analysis concludes that the growth of state power and the homogenization of society are two primary consequences of equalizing conditions. The author shows the contemporary relevance of Tocqueville's teaching: to love democracy well, one must love it moderately. Manent examines the prophetic nature of Tocqueville's writings with breadth, clarity, and depth. His findings are both timely and highly relevant as people in Eastern Europe and around the world are grappling with the fragile, complicated, and frequently contradictory nature of democracy. This book is essential reading for students and scholars of political theory and political philosophy, as well as general readers interested in the nature of modern democracy.
A classic account of Alexander the Great's conquest and its impact on the conquered—now in English for the first time This is the first publication in English of Pierre Briant's classic short history of Alexander the Great's conquest of the Persian empire, from the Mediterranean to Central Asia. Eschewing a conventional biographical focus, this is the only book in any language that sets the rise of Alexander's short-lived empire within the broad context of ancient Near Eastern history under Achaemenid Persian rule, as well as against Alexander's Macedonian background. As a renowned historian of both the Macedonians and the Persians, Briant is uniquely able to assess Alexander's significance from the viewpoint of both the conquerors and the conquered, and to trace what changed and what stayed the same as Alexander and the Hellenistic world gained ascendancy over Darius's Persia. After a short account of Alexander's life before his landing in Asia Minor, the book gives a brief overview of the major stages of his conquest. This background sets the stage for a series of concise thematic chapters that explore the origins and objectives of the conquest; the nature and significance of the resistance it met; the administration, defense, and exploitation of the conquered lands; the varying nature of Alexander's relations with the Macedonians, Greeks, and Persians; and the problems of succession following Alexander's death. For this translation, Briant has written a new foreword and conclusion, updated the main text and the thematic annotated bibliography, and added a substantial appendix in which he assesses the current state of scholarship on Alexander and suggests some directions for future research. More than ever, this masterful work provides an original and important perspective on Alexander and his empire.
Around the globe, contemporary protest movements are contesting the oligarchic appropriation of natural resources, public services, and shared networks of knowledge and communication. These struggles raise the same fundamental demand and rest on the same irreducible principle: the common. In this exhaustive account, Pierre Dardot and Christian Laval show how the common has become the defining principle of alternative political movements in the 21st century. In societies deeply shaped by neoliberal rationality, the common is increasingly invoked as the operative concept of practical struggles creating new forms of democratic governance. In a feat of analytic clarity, Dardot and Laval dissect and synthesize a vast repository on the concept of the commons, from the fields of philosophy, political theory, economics, legal theory, history, theology, and sociology. Instead of conceptualizing the common as an essence of man or as inherent in nature, the thread developed by Dardot and Laval traces the active lives of human beings: only a practical activity of commoning can decide what will be shared in common and what rules will govern the common's citizen-subjects. This re-articulation of the common calls for nothing less than the institutional transformation of society by society: it calls for a revolution.
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