The Lure of Technocracy

by Jürgen Habermas

Over the past 25 years, Jürgen Habermas has presented what is arguably the most coherent and wide-ranging defence of the project of European unification and of parallel developments towards a politically integrated world society. In developing his key concepts of the transnationalisation of democracy and the constitutionalisation of international law, Habermas offers the main players in the struggles over the fate of the European Union – the politicians, the political parties and the publics of the member states – a way out of the current economic and political crisis, should they choose to follow it. In the title essay Habermas addresses the challenges and threats posed by the current banking and public debt crisis in the Eurozone for European unification. He is harshly critical of the incrementalist, technocratic policies advocated by the German government in particular, which are being imposed at the expense of the populations of the economically weaker, crisis-stricken countries and are undermining solidarity between the member states. He argues that only if the technocratic approach is replaced by a deeper democratization of the European institutions can the European Union fulfil its promise as a model for how rampant market capitalism can once again be brought under political control at the supranational level. This volume reflects the impressive scope of Habermas’s recent writings on European themes, including theoretical treatments of the complex legal and political issues at stake, interventions on current affairs, and reflections on the lives and works of major European philosophers and intellectuals. Together the essays provide eloquent testimony to the enduring relevance of the work of one of the most influential and far-sighted public intellectuals in the world today, and are essential reading for all philosophers, legal scholars and social scientists interested in European and global issues.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Nonfiction

200 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2013

About the author

Jürgen Habermas is a German sociologist and philosopher in the tradition of critical theory and American pragmatism. He is perhaps best known for his work on the concept of the public sphere, the topic of his first book entitled The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. His work focuses on the foundations of social theory and epistemology, the analysis of advanced capitalistic societies and democracy, the rule of law in a critical social-evolutionary context, and contemporary politics—particularly German politics. Habermas's theoretical system is devoted to revealing the possibility of reason, emancipation, and rational-critical communication latent in modern institutions and in the human capacity to deliberate and pursue rational interests.

Reviews

[Dotshootthemessenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best overview on this topic is the documentary https://planetlockdownfilm.com/

[Malik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was kann man hierzu nur sagen. Habermas bietet eine Alternative zum Fatalismus der Moderne und schreckt nicht davor zurück, die Marktmächte und Führungselite der EU (und das selbst als großer Europäer) zu kritisieren. So wie es jetzt aussieht, kann es nicht weiter gehen und die Impulse aus dem Jahre 2013 haben sich heute leider als wahr dargestellt. Wir brauchen mehr Demokratie und mehr Bürgerbeteiligung, nicht mehr Markt und weniger Demokratie.

Leider hat der Wunsch nach mehr Integration durch die Impulse der rechtspopulischen AfD nicht zu seinem Ziel geführt - hierbei ist aber auch stets zu beachten, dass die AfD 2013 nicht die AfD 2025 ist. Hierbei hat er den gleichen Fehler wie Zizek begangen. Er hatte zu viel Hoffnung in die selbstkorrektivierenden Kräfte der europäischen Bürger.

Auch zehn Jahre später sieht es nicht besser aus. Die Frage ist, was nun? Hierbei sieht er die Pflicht bei den Parteien und den Bürgern. Von nichts kommt nichts und wahrscheinlich verlieren wir uns sonst sowohl a die Technokraten als auch an die Mächte östlich und westlich von Europa.

Auch die restlichen Beiträge sind sehr lesenswert, speziell die zu Buber und Tomasello aber auch das Interview bietet einen guten Einstieg in die politische Philosophie Habermas’ und die kontemporären Probleme.

Sehr lesenswert!

[Rhys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Habermas provides a democracy-friendly argument in contrast to a world that is abandoning control to the vagaries of the Market: "we are on the post-democratic path to market-conforming executive federalism tailored to the imperatives of the financial markets." In other words, Habermas is calling for greater 'will-formation' by engaged political parties within "a vital public sphere, that is, with the dynamics of the pros and cons of free-floating opinions, arguments and positions."

I was surprised and pleased with the essay on Martin Buber and why his philosophy is still relevant today.