System and life-world, or systems and systemic environments? Reflections on the social and political theories of Habermas and Luhmann

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Marxism, republicanism and critical hermeneutics: a reply to Neil Stammers

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Radical theories: Paths beyond Marxism and social democracy

This book aims to reclaim and rediscover the range of radical, democratic, socialist alternatives to capitalism. Schecter argues that whilst the collapse of the Soviet Union has seen the failure of one type of socialism, it has presented the left with the cance to re-evaluate the contribution of thinkers and movements obscured by the hegemony of Marxism-Leninism. Schecter surveys the range of radical alternatives, both from the early years of socialism and from contemporary political theory. Revolutionary syndicalism, anarchism, council communism, guild socialism, market socialism and green, post-industrial socialism all come under his critical gaze. He argues that the key to new socialist politics lies in the recognition and re-politicization of civil society

Critical theory in the twenty-first century

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Liberalisms and the limits of knowledge and freedom: On the epistemological and social bases of negative liberty

This article sets Out to show that it is more precise to speak of different liberal traditions than it is to speak of liberalism in general. The argument is pursued by showing how contrary to French liberalism, which has a strong republican element, and in contrast with English and Scottish liberalism, which reserve an important place for political economy, there is also a central European liberalism with a marked philosophical dimension. This particular form of liberalism is analysed by examining the writings of Kant, Simmel and Freud. It is stated at the outset that critiques of liberalism often fail to appreciate the richness and diversity of liberal thinking, and that this depth must be borne in mind in any effective critique. It is explained that there are indeed grounds to critique liberal thought and practice, but that these grounds are obscured by lumping distinct and heterogeneous traditions together as if they all Suffered from the same defects

[Review] Piero Gobetti (2000) On liberal revolution

On liberal revolution:: Piero Gobetti, edited with an introduction by Nadia Urbinati, translated by William McCuaig, Foreword by Norberto Bobbio, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2000, pp. 241, ISBN 0-300-081189-9

Two views of the revolution: Gramsci and Sorel, 1916–1920

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Critical theory and sociological theory: on late modernity and social statehood

Democracy in the twenty-first century faces a number of major challenges, populism, neoliberalism and globalisation being three of the most prominent. This book examines such challenges by investigating how the conditions of democratic statehood have been altered at several key historical intervals since 1945. It demonstrates that the formal mechanisms of democratic statehood, such as elections, have always been complemented by civic, cultural, educational, socio-economic and constitutional institutions that mediate between citizens and state authority. Rearticulating critical theory with a contemporary focus, the book shows why a sociological approach is urgently needed to address conceptual deficits and explain how the formal mechanisms of democratic statehood need to be complemented and updated in new ways today