*** BERNARD GAGNON, JACKIE F. STEELE (Editors): Concilier démocratie et diversité. Essais de théorie politique. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Diversitas" series, No. 17. 2014, 222 p., €43.90. ISBN 978-2-87574-160-8.
When political scientists decide to apply themselves to essay writing in an effort to better identify the political space for living together in light of the dominant political theories, the layman has, in principle, everything to fear because it has to be said that political science is, as a general rule, directly proportional to the obscure side of the premise developed. This book is based on this point of view, with the exception that confirms the rule or, rather, what happens within it. Perhaps the reason for this is that the nine academics contributing to this publication intellectually get to grips with a very concrete problem in our world: how to manage democracy in the context of societies that are more fragmented than they ever have been? They provide a variety of responses to this now crucial question by examining the respective advantages and disadvantages of liberalism and republicanism, which, from a political and theoretical point of view, "appear as the two main rivals in the debates on the subject of managing diversity". In an American-style liberal society, cultural and religious pluralism is cultivated insofar as it puts individual liberty above everything else in, "choosing its own conceptions of what constitutes a good life, in respect for the same freedom for all other citizens". The state is obliged to accommodate itself to the "primacy of individual freedoms". In French style) reference republicanism, the state must, on the other hand, ensure the safeguarding of the community of citizens who, around a collective reference of the common good, is the only power to guarantee the ability to enjoy individual freedoms.
Let's spell it out straight away, as the editors of the book do in their introduction: the goal of the authors is not to determine what national experience is more propitious to the promotion of diversity. Their objective is to look at the fundamental factors of liberalism and republicanism in order to ascertain the respective potential within the phenomenon of diversity. This approach means that they positively evaluate the republican approach (but not to the detriment of the liberal approach) and, above all, deliver a number of very interesting and sometimes surprising reflections regarding the sources of the different exclusions that occur in contemporary democratic societies and that the place of the latter, which could provide greater recognition of diversity. First of all, the two authors examine the roots of republicanism and take to task the commonalities within their ideologies. They also seek to assess, "whether a republican society in which the common good and diversity could be two founding complementary principles of public freedom that recognise diversity in all its different forms" can be imagined or not. In these contributions we come across Rousseau, Kant, Bodin and Hobbes but we also get to grips with the currently sensitive political question of banning displays of religious signs in French schools. If the erudite developments of Jean-Fabien Spitz are to be believed, this ban is the result of a mistaken interpretation of the foundations of secularism because it seeks, above all, to promote the integration of all citizens. Therefore, of Muslims as well. According to this philosophy, it is wrong that certain proponents seek to establish a moral kind of secularism as the universal moral plinth and homogenous culture and that the "republican spirit" would do better if it did not seek to attack the religious symbols of a minority. It would be much more productive, according to Bernard Gagnon and Jackie Steele, if it sought to renew the ideas of solidarity and social justice, which are the basis of social cohesion in a diverse society.
It is obvious that there are a lot of intellectual themes that require contemplation in this book. In the second part of the book, the question of diversity is tackled within a perspective of consciousness regarding the fundamental basis underpinning democracy. A question tackled by Alain Renaut looks at equal treatment and opportunities, which should be recognised as the basis for modern democratic consciousness and that "ethics of diversity" should be considered and developed in an effort to reconcile these two different interpretations of equality. Charles Taylor provides some creative responses to this question that is both crucial and complex, "how can collective identities be produced without leading to exclusion?" He believes that this is impossible unless a new conception of the individual is developed in liberal society but without reinventing democracy and in which differences are no longer perceived as potential rivals but as complementary to the goal of ensuring that each and everyone of us can flourish to our full potential. This clarification is incisive, just as it is in the third part of the book, which seeks to identify politico-institutional solutions in response to the demands to recognise difference whilst avoiding inequality between citizens. In the context of the situation that still affects women, the American philosopher and political scientist Iris Marion Young suggests, for example, that a heterogeneity of the public space is acknowledged and that a "differentiated citizenship" is developed so that special rights can be granted to oppressed groups. Who says that political scientists do not pose unintelligible questions?
Michel Theys
*** MARIA LUISA MANISCALCO: Voies et voix de l'islam européen. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (see address attached). 2014, 146 pp. €38.50. ISBN 978-2-87574-174-5.
Maria Luisa Maniscalco is a professor of sociology at Roma Tre University. In this small book, she manages to develop a number of possible areas where Europe and Islam can come together. The starting point is the conviction that cultures are never static and cannot be considered as hermetically sealed. First of all, she analyses the transformation of the social fabric of European societies following the different waves of immigration and the different models of integration developed in European countries. This sociologist then looks at the areas of "shadow" and "light" within the encounter between Islam and Europe, which is followed by an analysis, in a third chapter, on the place of women, the "sentries” of the traditional symbolic order and of young people in European Islam. Is there really a European Islam and if this is so, what are its specific characteristics? It is in response to these questions that a number of answers are provided, with the author also taking into account, to this end, the possibility of a re-Islamisation and the risks of extreme radicalism. The author considers that common values of European culture, fundamental rights, democracy and freedom, are essential for this coming together with Islam. Even though she also indicates that, "in the future, any reflection on European identity has to take into account the Muslim dimension"…
(MT)
*** DOMINIQUE AVON (sous la dir. de): Sujet, fidèle, citoyen. Espace européen (XIe-XXIe siècles). Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen, Switzerland. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Dynamiques citoyennes en Europe" series, No. 6. 2014, 372 pp. €88.30. ISBN 978-3-0343-1552-4.
As part of a multidisciplinary research programme focusing on the question of citizenship and identity within the European area, this book stems from a scientific colloquy organised within the framework of the l'abbaye de Fontevraud initiative a year and a half ago. Around 20 different researchers examine the different concepts of human beings in an effort to assess their place in a society that has been changing over the past thousand years. A huge variety (legal manuals, codes, theological treaties, laws, pamphlets, poems, novels, memoirs, philosophical essays, opinion surveys etc.), Other sources at the basis of these analyses are carried out throughout Europe. As explained by the historian Dominique Avon in the conclusions he draws, the questions pertaining to and the promotion of the individual and the person, as well as the accompanying rights and responsibilities, constitute one of the major elements of the European past preceding its promotion into the world as a whole. The different contributions look at position of Muslims under Christian Hispanic law in the 11th and 12th centuries and as perceived by Habermas. The legal condition of individuals within the European Union and the question of European citizenship are two contemporary themes studied, with the editor of the publication pointing out in this respect Union citizens, despite being subjects with specific rights, do not have a direct responsibility to this body, which weakens the subsequent link between them. The introductory chapter is written by Jean-Marc Ferry, who argues that a German oriented economic principle has been subverted by a North American capitalism and its reactivation would require that in the future an examination of the past. The only possible radical change in the paradigm would be through, for example, the setting up of a basic social income, in addition to the revenue generated from the means of production. In this context, this French philosopher argues that the Euro-Mediterranean aspect is a "European" utopia" that requires cultivation because it would allow for German predominance to be balanced within the Union and would, therefore, find in favour of Kant, for whom the foundations of Europe's identity is the opening up to other identities.
(MT)
*** YANNIS GOUNARIS: À la recherche de la République européenne. La nouvelle discussion en vue d'une constitution de l'Union européenne. Editions Papazisi (2 Nikitara, GR-10678 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3822496 - fax: 3809020 - Email: papazisi@otenet.gr - Internet: http://www.papazisi.gr ). Series « Politique européenne et internationale ». 2014, 218 pp… €12.78. ISBN 978-960023043-7.
Europe is, as always, at a crossroads. It is absolutely certain that it will change but in what way is undoubtedly difficult to guess. Some imagine that the European Union will dissolve, the final and inevitable result of the current decadence and subsequently give way to a new form of European integration. Others believe that it will evolve according to the rhythm of the fundamental reforms of the existing European structures and institutions, an option that would not be necessarily less radical than the former. In this book, Yannis Gounaris, a specialist in European and international law at the University of Athens, distinctly refrains from purporting to know what option is the most likely. Similarly, he also believes that it is currently impossible to know what the democratic relaunch in the European project will involve and if it will triumph over the current inertia. To be clear, it is quite impossible to accurately predict or even plan the direction European history will take over the next few months. On the contrary, the author warns that it is obvious and quite clear that without any forthcoming democratic somersault, the "subversive and revolutionary" idea of a united Europe will be extinguished and be relegated to the cemetery of well-meaning but ultimately miscarried Utopias. To prevent this happening, the author puts together a number of recommendations in an effort to push things forward at an institutional level and which could provide Europe with a new starting point and complexion that its citizens would find attractive.
(AKa)
*** ANTONIA GEISLER, MICHAEL HEIN, SIRI HUMMEN (sous la dir. de): Law, Politics and the Constitution. New Perspectives from Legal and Political Theory. Peter Lang (see address attached). Collection « Central and Eastern European Forum for Legal, Political, and Social Theory Yearbook », No. 4. 2014, 217 pp… €44.95. ISBN 978-3-631-6564-4.
This book illustrates the relationship between the constitution, politics and law in a contemporary perspective. It is divided into four different parts: constitutional revision and separation of powers; constitutional revision and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe; European Union theory: constitution, division of powers and sovereignty; the common good, constitutional rights and individual responsibilities. It is written by researchers from Central and Eastern Europe and the contributions to this theme are written in the context of their respective regions. In the chapter written by Rafa³ Mañko, which examines the conflict between the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court in Poland, the author shows how the former has refused to follow the recommendation from the latter on many different occasions. It should also be noted that revision of the concept of the three powers (legislative, executive and judicial), written by Martin Belov, also includes four new kinds of power, namely, financial, patronage (appointments and recruitments).
(HHe)
*** CHRISTIAN JOERGES, TOBIAS PINKEL, ULF UETZMANN (Editors): Josef Falke zum 65. Geburtstag. Zentrum für europäische Rechtspolitik ((Zerp, Universität Bremen, Universitätsallee GW1, D-28359 Bremen. Tel: (49-421) 21866200 - fax: 21866230 - Email: zerp@zerp.uni-bremen.de - Internet: http://www.zerp.eu ) "Zerp-Diskussionspapier" series. 2014, 173 pp.
On the 65th birthday of Josef Falke and his retirement from the Centre for European Legal Policy at the University of Bremen, his former colleagues and the students he taught paid homage to him by publishing this series of articles. Some of these provide an account of the activities of Josef Falke as a lecturer and his practical contribution to the development and flourishing of the Zerp; others honour him by looking at one of his favourite domains, in the three final articles in this selection. Nonetheless, each and every one of the different contributions make an explicit reference to this teacher and sometimes describe his original working and teaching methods, his openness and sense of initiative. Josef Falke was also one of the original contributors to the Zerp in this form. The different authors contributions' are nearly always written with a sense of sincere emotion.
(GLe)
*** Fedechoses… pour le fédéralisme. Presse fédéraliste (Maison de l'Europe et des Européens, 242 rue Duguesclin, F-69003 Lyon. Internet: http://www.pressefederaliste.eu ). December 2014, No. 166, 40 p… Annual subscription: €30.
In this edition of the French federalist journal, the former senior European civil servant, Paolo Ponzano, examines the Citizen Initiative, and its implications as a sort of “New Deal for Europe” and the limitations to the Juncker Plan, which, if it is going to be effective, will depend on the willingness of member states. The same theme is tackled in other contributions and significant emphasis is also placed on the possibility of accepting "internal expansion" in the form of recognising the independence of certain regions.
(PBo)