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Fugitive Democracy: And Other Essays
An authoritative collection of the most important writings of an influential political thinker
Sheldon Wolin was one of the most influential and original political thinkers of the past fifty years. Fugitive Democracy brings together his most important writings, from classic essays such as "Political Theory as a Vocation," written amid the Cold War and the conflict in Vietnam, to his late radical essays on American democracy such as “Fugitive Democracy,” in which he offers a controversial reinterpretation of democracy as an episodic phenomenon distinct from the routinized political management that passes for democracy today.
The breathtaking range of Wolin's scholarship, political commitment, and critical acumen are on full display in this authoritative and accessible collection. He critically engages a diverse range of political theorists, including Thomas Hobbes, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Hannah Arendt, John Rawls, Michel Foucault, and Richard Rorty. These essays grapple with topics such as power, modernization, the sixties, revolutionary politics, and inequality, all the while showcasing Wolin’s enduring commitment to writing civic-minded theoretical commentary on the most pressing political issues of the day. Here, Wolin laments the rise of conservatives who style themselves as revolutionary, criticizes Rawlsian liberals as abstract to the point of being apolitical, diagnoses postmodern theory as a form of acquiescence, and much more.
Fugitive Democracy offers enduring insights into many of today’s most pressing political predicaments, and introduces a whole new generation of readers to this provocative figure in contemporary political thought.
Sheldon Wolin was one of the most influential and original political thinkers of the past fifty years. Fugitive Democracy brings together his most important writings, from classic essays such as "Political Theory as a Vocation," written amid the Cold War and the conflict in Vietnam, to his late radical essays on American democracy such as “Fugitive Democracy,” in which he offers a controversial reinterpretation of democracy as an episodic phenomenon distinct from the routinized political management that passes for democracy today.
The breathtaking range of Wolin's scholarship, political commitment, and critical acumen are on full display in this authoritative and accessible collection. He critically engages a diverse range of political theorists, including Thomas Hobbes, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Hannah Arendt, John Rawls, Michel Foucault, and Richard Rorty. These essays grapple with topics such as power, modernization, the sixties, revolutionary politics, and inequality, all the while showcasing Wolin’s enduring commitment to writing civic-minded theoretical commentary on the most pressing political issues of the day. Here, Wolin laments the rise of conservatives who style themselves as revolutionary, criticizes Rawlsian liberals as abstract to the point of being apolitical, diagnoses postmodern theory as a form of acquiescence, and much more.
Fugitive Democracy offers enduring insights into many of today’s most pressing political predicaments, and introduces a whole new generation of readers to this provocative figure in contemporary political thought.
- GenresPoliticsEssaysPhilosophy
520 pages, Hardcover
Published September 20, 2016
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About the author
Sheldon S. Wolin
20 books104 followersSheldon Sanford Wolin was an American political theorist and writer on contemporary politics. A political theorist for fifty years, Wolin became Professor of Politics, Emeritus, at Princeton University, where he taught from 1973 to 1987.
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July 30, 2019
A series of essays relating to radical democracy in an era of its barest shadow.
"Democracy is not primarily a set of political institutions but a cultural practice that extends to striking changes in the behavior of women, children, and slaves. Democratic freedom and equality signify the radical denial that social deference and hierarchy are “natural.” Democracy permits all manner of dress, behavior, and belief: it is informal, indifferent to formalities. Democracy is as careless about obeying the law as it is about respecting distinctions of age or social status. Its citizens, according to Plato, do not observe any constitution in the strict sense (8.557e–558a). They finally pay no heed even to the laws “written or unwritten so resolved are they to have no master over them” (563d–e). Thus democracy is wayward, inchoate, unable to rule yet unwilling to be ruled. It does not naturally conform. It is inherently formless" (p.92).
"Democracy is not primarily a set of political institutions but a cultural practice that extends to striking changes in the behavior of women, children, and slaves. Democratic freedom and equality signify the radical denial that social deference and hierarchy are “natural.” Democracy permits all manner of dress, behavior, and belief: it is informal, indifferent to formalities. Democracy is as careless about obeying the law as it is about respecting distinctions of age or social status. Its citizens, according to Plato, do not observe any constitution in the strict sense (8.557e–558a). They finally pay no heed even to the laws “written or unwritten so resolved are they to have no master over them” (563d–e). Thus democracy is wayward, inchoate, unable to rule yet unwilling to be ruled. It does not naturally conform. It is inherently formless" (p.92).
Displaying 1 of 1 review