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Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-67756-1 - J. S. Mill’s Political Thought: A Bicentennial Reassessment Edited by Nadia Urbinati and Alex Zakaras Frontmatter More information

J. S. MILL’S POLITICAL THOUGHT

The year 2006 marked the two hundredth anniversary of John Stuart Mill’s birth. Although his philosophical reputation has varied greatly in the interven- ing years, it is now clear that Mill ranks among the most influential modern political thinkers. Yet despite his enduring influence, and perhaps also because of it, the breadth and complexity of Mill’s political thought is often underappreciated. Although his writings remain a touchstone for debates over liberty and liberalism, many other important dimensions of his political philosophy have until recently been mostly ignored or neglected. This volume aims, first, to correct such neglect by illustrating the breadth and depth of Mill’s political writings. It does so by drawing together a collection of essays whose authors explore underappreciated elements of Mill’s political philosophy, including his democratic theory, his writings on international relations and military inter- ventions, and his treatments of socialism and despotism. Second, the volume shows how Mill’s thinking remains pertinent to our own political life in three broad areas – democratic institutions and culture, liberalism, and international politics – and offers a critical reassessment of Mill’s political philosophy in light of recent political developments and transformations.

Nadia Urbinati is Neil and Herbert M. Singer Associate Professor of Contempo- rary Civilization at Columbia University in the Department of Political Science. She is the author of Mill on Democracy: From the Athenian Polis to Represen- tative Government, which received the David and Elaine Spitz Prize as the best book in liberal and democratic theory published in 2002, and Representative Democracy: Principles and Genealogy. Professor Urbinati has edited the works of Carlo Rosselli, Liberal Socialism (1994), and Piero Gobetti, On Liberal Rev- olution (2002). Her articles and book reviews have appeared in such journals as Political Theory, Ethics, Constellations, Philosophical Forum, Dissent, Review of Metaphysics, The European Journal of Political Theory, and Perspectives on Politics.

Alex Zakaras is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Vermont. His research interests include the philosophy of democracy and democratic citizenship, the ideal of autonomy and its place in the liberal tradition, and the political thought of the nineteenth century. He is working on a book that explores the idea of individuality in the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Stuart Mill. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 2005.

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-67756-1 - J. S. Mill’s Political Thought: A Bicentennial Reassessment Edited by Nadia Urbinati and Alex Zakaras Frontmatter More information

J. S. Mill’s Political Thought

A Bicentennial Reassessment

Edited by NADIA URBINATI Columbia University

ALEX ZAKARAS University of Vermont

cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao˜ Paulo

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First published 2007

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data J. S. Mill’s political thought:abicentennial reassessment / edited by Nadia Urbinati, Alex Zakaras. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-521-86020-8 (hardback) ISBN-10: 0-521-86020-2 (hardback) ISBN-13: 978-0-521-67756-1 (pbk.) ISBN-10: 0-521-67756-4 (pbk.) 1. Mill, John Stuart, 1806–1873. 2. Political science – Philosophy. I. Urbinati, Nadia, 1955–. II. Zakaras, Alex, 1976– III. Title. JC223.M66J646 2007 320.092 – dc22 2006025161

ISBN 978-0-521-86020-8 hardback ISBN 978-0-521-67756-1 paperback

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Contents

List of Contributors page vii Introduction 1 Nadia Urbinati and Alex Zakaras

PART ONE LIBERTY AND ITS LIMITS 1. Mill on Liberty and on the Contagious Diseases Acts 11 Jeremy Waldron 2. Rational Freedom in John Stuart Mill’s Feminism 43 Maria Morales 3. The Many Heads of the Hydra: J. S. Mill on Despotism 66 Nadia Urbinati 4. J. S. Mill and Liberal Socialism 98 Bruce Baum 5. The Method of Reform: J. S. Mill’s Encounter with Bentham and Coleridge 124 Frederick Rosen

PART TWO DEMOCRACY AND THE INDIVIDUAL 6. Bureaucracy, Democracy, Liberty: Some Unanswered Questions in Mill’s Politics 147 Alan Ryan 7. Mill in Parliament: When Should a Philosopher Compromise? 166 Dennis F. Thompson

vi Contents

8. John Stuart Mill, Individuality, and Participatory Democracy 200 Alex Zakaras 9. Mill’s Neo-Athenian Model of Liberal Democracy 221 Jonathan Riley 10. John Stuart Mill on Education and Democracy 250 Wendy Donner

PART THREE BEYOND NATIONAL BORDERS 11. Cosmopolitan Patriotism in J. S. Mill’s Political Thought and Activism 277 Georgios Varouxakis 12. Mill and the Imperial Predicament 298 Karuna Mantena 13. Making Sense of Liberal Imperialism 319 Stephen Holmes 14. Mill’s “A Few Words on Non-Intervention”: A Commentary 347 Michael Walzer

Bibliography 357 Index 375

Method of Citation All page references to the writings of J.S. Mill are to The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill (33 volumes), John M. Robson, General Editor (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963–1991). They are written as follows: CW XVIII: 266, for Collected Works, Volume XVIII, page 266.

List of Contributors

Bruce Baum is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia. He is the author of Rereading Power and Freedom in J.S. Mill (2000). Wendy Donner is Professor of Philosophy at Carleton University, Ottawa. She is the author of The Liberal Self: John Stuart Mill’s Moral and Political Philosophy (1991). Stephen Holmes is Walter E. Meyer Professor of Law at New York Univer- sity. He is the author of Passions and Constraint: On the Theory of Liberal Democracy (1995), The Anatomy of Antiliberalism (1993), and several other books. Karuna Mantena is Assistant Professor of Political Science at YaleUniversity. She is currently completing her ﬁrst book, titled Alibis of Empire: Social Theory and the Ideologies of Late Imperialism. Maria Morales is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Florida State Univer- sity. She is the author of Perfect Equality: John Stuart Mill on Well-Constituted Communities (1996). Jonathan Riley is Professor of Philosophy at Tulane University and a faculty member of the Murphy Institute of Political Economy, Tulane University. He is the author of Liberal Utilitarianism (1988), Mill on Liberty (1998), and Mill’s Radical Liberalism (2006) and the editor of Mill’s Principles of Political Economy and Chapters on Socialism (1994). Frederick Rosen is Emeritus Professor of the History of Political Thought at University College, London. He is the author of Classical Utilitarianism from Hume to Mill (2003), Jeremy Bentham and Representative Democracy (1983), and other titles.

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viii List of Contributors

Alan Ryan is Warden of New College, Oxford. His books include The Philosophy of John Stuart Mill (1970) and J. S. Mill (1974), and he is the editor of Mill in the Norton Critical Edition series (1996). Dennis F. Thompson is Alfred North Whitehead Professor of Political Philosophy at Harvard University. His books include John Stuart Mill and Representative Government (1976) and Restoring Responsibility: Ethics in Government, Business, and Healthcare (2005). Nadia Urbinati is Nell and Herbert M. Singer Associate Professor of Con- temporary Civilization at Columbia University in the Department of Politi- cal Science. She is the author of Mill on Democracy: From the Athenian Polis to Representative Government (2002) and Representative Democracy: Principles and Genealogy (2006). GeorgiosVarouxakisisSeniorLecturerinHistoryatQueenMary,University of London. He is the author of Mill on Nationality (2002) and Utilitarianism and Empire (2005). Jeremy Waldron is University Professor of Law and Philosophy at the New York University. He is the author of numerous books, including Law and Disagreement (2001) and God, Locke, and Equality (2002). Michael Walzer is Professor of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and co-editor of Dissent magazine. He is the author of many books, including Spheres of Justice (1983), Just and Unjust Wars (1977), and On Toleration (1997). Alex Zakaras is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Vermont. He is currently completing his ﬁrst book on individuality and democraticcitizenshipinthewritingsofJ.S.MillandRalphWaldoEmerson.