Benhabib Seyla - Politics at the Turn of the Century

Politics at the
Turn of the Century

Edited by
Arthur M. Melzer, Jerry Weinberger,
and M. Richard Zinman

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.

Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
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Copyright 2001 by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Politics at the turn of the century / edited by Arthur M. Melzer, Jerry Weinberger, and M. Richard Zinman.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN: 978-0-8476-9446-4

1. United StatesPolitics and government. 2. World politics. 3. Right and left (Politica science). I. Melzer, Arthur M. II. Weinberger, J. III. Zinman, M. Richard.

JK271.P55897 2001
320.9dc21 00-05335

Printed in the United States of America

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Symposium on Science, Reason, and Modern Democracy Michigan State University

Arthur M. Melzer, Jerry Weinberger, and M. Richard Zinman

Identity Politics

Todd Gitlin

Seyla Benhabib

Alan Wolfe

Big Government

Alan Brinkley

James W. Ceaser

Harvey C. Mansfield and Delba Winthrop

Michael Zuckert

Paul Pierson

Richard A. Epstein

Claus Offe

John Dunn

Vladimir Tismaneanu

Charles H. Fairbanks, Jr.

Atul Kohli and Pratap B. Mehta

Andrew J. Nathan and Tianjian Shi

T. J. Pempel

This is the fifth volume of essays to be published by the Symposium on Science, Reason, and Modern Democracy. Established in 1989 in the Department of Political Science at Michigan State University, the symposium seeks to bridge the gap between the intellectual and political worlds. To this end, it sponsors teaching, research, public lectures, seminars, and conferences on the relationship between liberal democracy and the great issues of contemporary life.

This volume grew from the symposiums fifth and seventh annual programs: Left, Right, and Center: Party and Ideology after the Cold War, which took place during the 199394 academic year, and The Question of Big Government, which was held during the 199596 academic year. All the essays presented here, with the exception of T. J. Pempels, were originally written for these programs. Professor Pempel wrote a paper for the 199596 program but chose to submit a different essay for this volume.

Seven of the sixteen essays have appeared elsewhere. An earlier version of Seyla Benhabibs essay appeared in Radical Democracy: Identity, Citizenship, and the State, ed. David Trend (New York: Routledge, 1996) 1996; reproduced by permission of Routledge, Inc., part of the Taylor & Francis Group. Alan Brinkleys essay was published in his book Liberalism and Its Discontents (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998) 1998 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College; reprinted by permission of the publisher. Sections of Todd Gitlins essay appeared in his book The Twilight of Common Dreams: Why America Is Wracked by Culture Wars (New York: Henry Holt, 1995) 1995 by Todd Gitlin; reprinted by permission of Henry Holt and Company LLC. Harvey Mansfield and Delba Winthrops essay was published as part of a pamphlet, Tyranny and Liberty: Big Government and the Individual in Tocquevilles Science of Politics (London: Institute of United States Studies, University of London, 1999). Andrew Nathan and Tianjian Shis essay appeared in World Politics 48, no. 4 (July 1996): 52250, Center for International Studies, Princeton University; reprinted by permission of the Johns Hopkins University Press. (The essay was also reprinted in Professor Nathans book Chinas Transition [New York: Columbia University Press, 1997].) Professor Pempels essay was published in the Journal of Japanese Studies 23 (1997); reprinted by permission. Vladimir Tismaneanus essay appeared in East European Politics and Societies 10, no. 3 (Fall 1996): 50435, 1996 by the American Council of Learned Societies; reprinted by permission. We thank these contributors and their publishers for permission to reprint.

The symposiums 199596 program culminated in a conference in Prague. This conference, our first collaborative venture, was organized by the symposium and the Center for Theoretical Study, an institute of advanced studies jointly administered by Charles University and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. In planning the conference, we worked closely with Martin Palos, senior research fellow at the center. We thank Professor Palos for his critical contribution to our joint enterprise. We also thank Ivan Chvatik and Ivan M. Havel, the co-directors of the center, and their colleagues, especially Josef Moural, for their support and hospitality. Finally, we thank Lucie Vchov and Milena Zeithamlov of the Action M Agency, Prague, for their expert handling of conference arrangements.

The symposiums 199394 and 199596 programs, and indeed all of its activities, were made possible by grants from the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; the Carthage Foundation of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; the Earhart Foundation of Ann Arbor, Michigan; and the John M. Olin Foundation of New York City. Once again, we are grateful for their support. We are also grateful to the Simons Foundation of Vancouver, British Columbia, which, through a grant to the Center for Theoretical Study, helped make possible the conference in Prague.

Michigan States Department of Political Science has been home to the symposium for a decade. Throughout that period, the College of Social Science and James Madison College have aided us in many ways. We thank our colleagues in each of these institutions. In particular, we thank Kenneth E. Corey, former dean of the College of Social Science; Brian Silver, former chair of the Department of Political Science; William Allen, former dean of James Madison College; Werner Dannhauser, the symposiums senior research fellow; Alice and Nasser Behnegar, the symposiums postdoctoral fellows for 199394; and Michael Grenke, our postdoctoral fellow for 199596, for their special contributions during our fifth and seventh years. We also thank Gill-Chin Lim, former dean of Michigan States international studies and programs; John K. Hudzik, dean of international studies and programs; and Norman Graham, director of Michigan States Center for European and Russian Studies, for their support of the conference in Prague. As always, we are indebted to Karen Battin, Rhonda Burns, Iris Dunn, and Elaine Eschtruth, the administrative staff of the Department of Political Science. We are especially grateful to Ms. Battin, the symposiums administrative coordinator, for her fine work.

In addition to the authors whose essays are included in this volume, the following individuals took part in the symposiums 199394 and 199596 programs: Francis Fukuyama, the late Franois Furet, William Galston, Pierre Hassner, Robert Heilbroner, William Kristol, Kanan Makiya, Josef Moural, Lourie Mylroie, Richard John Neuhaus, Martin Palous, Marc Plattner, Linda Racioppi, Philippe Raynaud, Joel Rogers, Aleksander Smolar, G. M. Tams, and Nathan Tarcov. We thank them for their important contributions.