DOCSLIB.ORG

Unfortunate Revival of Civic Republicanism

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Unfortunate Revival of Civic Republicanism THE UNFORTUNATE REVIVAL OF CIVIC REPUBLICANISM STEVEN G. GEYt TABLE OF CONTENTS I. THE BASIC CONCEPTS OF MODERN CIVIC REPUBLICANISM . 804 A. Civic Virtue ................................ 806 B. The Organic Community ....................... 811 1. Identifying the Relevant Community .......... 814 2. The Nature of Participation in the Organic Community ........................... 819 3. Enforcing the Organic Community's Decisions 820 C. The Social Construction of the Individual ........... 822 II. DIALOGUE AND CONSENSUS: INTEGRATING THE SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED INDIVIDUAL INTO THE ORGANIC COMMUNITY ................................. 833 A. Dialogue and Consensus: The Theory ............. 834 B. Dialogue and Consensus: The Practice ............ 841 1. The Problem of Distorted Dialogue and Tainted Consensus ............................ 843 2. Environmental Imperfections and Civic Republican Politics ...................... 847 III. THE COMMUNITY AND ITS DISCONTENTS: CIVIC REPUBLICANS AND CIVIL LIBERTIES .................. 854 A. The Latent Majoritarianismof Civic Republican Politics 858 B. A Brief Example of the Republican Approach to Civil Liberties: Alternative Sexual Expression and Conduct 865 1. Justifications for the Political Correction of Improper Attitudes ..................... 870 2. Civic Republican Censorship and the Perspective of Political Winners and Losers ............. 872 IV. CIVIC REPUBLICANISM AND THE LOSERS' PRINCIPLES IN DEMOCRATIC THEORY ........................ 879 A. The Principleof Radical Skepticism ............... 882 B. The Impermanence of Power and the Inevitability of Conflict ................................. 888 C. Individual Autonomy ........................ 894 CONCLUSION .................................... 897 t Associate Professor of Law, Florida State University. B.A., 1978, Eckerd College; J.D., 1982 Columbia University. (801) 802 UNIVERSITY OFPENNSYLVANIA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 141:801 During the last decade, constitutional theory has been radically altered by the infusion of ideas loosely grouped under the title "civic republicanism." Recent attention to these ideas initially surfaced during the sixties and seventies in the works of legal historians who argued that the founders of the American constitu- tional scheme were influenced as much by republican ideas as by traditional Lockean liberal theory.' In the last decade, civic republican theory has become the primary concern of several prominent constitutional scholars. Nationally known scholars such as Frank Michelman, Cass Sunstein, and Mark Tushnet have written 2 extensively of their desire for a more "republican" Constitution. This article examines several different aspects of the civic republican phenomenon. The first aspect involves the constitution- al politics of civic republicanism. In particular, why are politically left-of-center constitutional scholars attracted to civic republicanism? Putting the matter differently, is civic republican theory truly congenial to the goals and aspirations of constitutional theorists who locate themselves on the left side of the political spectrum? The most obvious answer to these questions is that the political left shares with civic republican theory a theoretical focus on the See, e.g., JOYCE APPLEBY, CAPITALISM AND A NEW SOCIAL ORDER: THE REPUBLICAN VISION OF THE 1790s, at 17 (1984) (arguing that "[a]lthough classical republicanism offered the possibility of establishing an enduring republic where men might enjoy the liberty of civic participation, the theory itself was grounded in an historical realism that cautioned against having too high hopes, given the fickle, power-lusting nature of men"); BERNARD BAILYN, THE IDEOLOGICAL ORIGINS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 23 (1967) (noting that a '[s]tudy of the sources of the colonists' thought as expressed in the informal as well as the formal documents... reveals ... a massive, seemingly random eclecticism"); J.G.A. POCOCK, THE MACHIAVELLIAN MOMENT: FLORENTINE POLITICAL THOUGHT AND THE ATLANTIC REPUBLICAN TRADITION 506 (1975) (noting that "[i]t is now possible to explore the history of American consciousness in search of what manifestations of the problems of the republican perspective may be found there"); GORDON S. WOOD, THE CREATION OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC 1776-87, at 467 (1969) (discussing the influences of republican ideals on public desire for general reform). 2 See e.g., MARK TUSHNET, RED, WHITE, AND BLUE: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW 10 (1988) (noting that "[t]he republican tradition, though quite different from liberalism in its origins and intentions, offered solutions to the related problems of potential legislative tyranny, potential paralysis, and potential judicial tyranny"); Frank I. Michelman, Law's Republic, 97 YALE LJ. 1493, 1495 (1988) (advocating republican constitutionalism, which "involves the ongoing revision of the normative histories that make political communities sources of contestable value and self-direction for their members"); Cass R. Sunstein, Beyond the RepublicanRevival, 97 YALE LJ. 1539, 1576-89 (1988) (describing the impact of republicanism upon several modern public law controversies and suggesting that an understanding of republican- ism requires a reformation of legal rules). 1993] CIVIC REPUBLICANISM community rather than the individual. Both civic republicans and members of the political left view the collective exercise of power more favorably than their political and theoretical adversaries. Under this view, both civic republicans and members of the political left view government as the necessary agent for cultivating positive social values and developing a "good" society. Classical liberal theory and members of the political right, on the other hand, view government as at best an unfortunate necessity. This explanation of the natural attraction between the left and civic republicanism has one major problem: the left's traditional support for civil liberties is incompatible in certain respects with civic republican theory. This is the second aspect of the civic republican phenomenon addressed in this article. The essence of the problem is this: if collective political decisions are favored-and if the government is the logical agent to implement the "good" society-then there is no reason for the government not to extend its power to make collective determinations into those areas traditionally protected as fundamental individual liberties. This has been a common reaction to republican theory, and several republi- can theorists have attempted to respond by reintroducing elements of liberalism or "practical reason "' into their civic republican theories. The first two sections of the article discuss the fundamentals of civic republican theory and the mechanisms it provides for making and enforcing political decisions. The third section of the article addresses the problem of individual liberty and the republican response. My conclusion is that the communitarian and collectivist premises of civic republican theory logically require the theory's adherents to abandon many traditional protections of civil liberties. Indeed, it is also my conclusion that despite recent civic republican overtures to the modern liberal sensibility, most civic republicans actively desire the collectivization of civil liberties. The final section of the article addresses the central theme underlying all discussions of civic republican theory: the relation- ship between collectivism and individualism in the American constitutional structure. This section will relate civic republican 3 See Sunstein, supra note 2, at 1566-71 (arguing in favor of "liberal republican- ism"). 4 See Frank I. Michelman, The Supreme Court 1985 Term-Foreword: Traces of Self- Government, 100 HARV. L. REV. 4, 17-18 (1986); Cass R. Sunstein, Interest Groups in American PublicLaw, 38 STAN. L. REV. 29, 31 (1985). 804 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 141:801 theory to a broader understanding of modern democratic theory. Both modern civic republican theory and traditional liberal theory purport to be subsets of democratic theory. In other words, they are both methods of effectuating the core democratic ideal that a particular society's citizens be permitted to govern themselves. A corollary of this basic principle of self-determination is that no group of citizens can take command of the government forever. In other words, any valid democratic theory must recognize that governmental change is inevitable, and democratic governments should therefore be structured in a way that permits the inevitable change to occur. I argue in the final section that modern civic republicans are insufficiently sensitive to the democratic mandate of constant change and flux. I believe that this flaw in modern civic republican- ism is attributable to the fact that modern civic republicans view the world from the perspective of political winners. Thus, they do not sufficiently take account of what I call "losers' principles," some form of which every proper democratic theory must incorporate. The final section includes a discussion of three losers' principles that seem incompatible with the most prominent modern versions of civic republicanism. I conclude that by rejecting these "losers' principles," civic republicanism ceases to be a truly democratic theory. I also argue that to the extent modern civic republicanism permits collective political power to override these losers' principles, the theory also becomes an essentially conservative doctrine-a notable irony given
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Republican Citizenship Richard Dagger University of Richmond, [email protected]
    University of Richmond UR Scholarship Repository Political Science Faculty Publications Political Science 2002 Republican Citizenship Richard Dagger University of Richmond, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.richmond.edu/polisci-faculty-publications Part of the American Politics Commons, and the Political Theory Commons Recommended Citation Dagger, Richard. "Republican Citizenship." In Handbook of Citizenship Studies, edited by Engin F. Isin and Bryan S. Turner, 145-57. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2002. This Book Chapter is brought to you for free and open access by the Political Science at UR Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Political Science Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of UR Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 9 Republican Citizenship RICHARD DAGGER To speak of republican citizenship is to risk There might also be no need for this confusion, at least in the United States, chapter if it were not for the revival of where it is often necessary to explain that scholarly interest in republicanism in recent one is referring to 'small-r' republicanism years. Such a revival has definitely rather than a position taken by the Republi­ occurred, though, and occurred simultane­ can Party. But just as one may be a democrat ously with a renewed interest in citizenship. without being a Democrat, so one may be a This coincidence suggests that republican republican without being a Republican. The citizenship is well worth our attention, not ideas of democracy and the republic are far only for purposes of historical understand­ older than any political party and far richer ing but also as a way of thinking about than any partisan label can convey - rich citizenship in the twenty-first century.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Political Parties in Promoting Women in Politics - Upla Women's Network Contribution
    THE ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES IN PROMOTING WOMEN IN POLITICS - UPLA WOMEN'S NETWORK CONTRIBUTION INTRODUCTION The Women's Network of the Union of Latin American Parties (UPLA) is a political platform that seeks to promote and strengthen the participation and positioning of women in public decision-making roles in Latin America and the Caribbean. We believe that the practices, policies and values of political parties can have a profound impact on women's political participation and representation. That is why the Network decided to join the iKNOW Politics e-discussion on “The Role of Political Parties in Promoting Women in Politics” to exchange knowledge on the role of political parties in promoting women’s participation and political representation. We prepared our contribution and discussed these important topics more widely during online discussions among members of the UPLA Women’s Network in August and September 2019. COUNTRIES THAT PARTICIPATED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS DOCUMENT (COUNTRY, NAME OF REPRESENTATIVE(S) AND POLITICAL PARTY): Argentina Congresswoman Sofía Brambilla (PRO) Bolivia Local Assemblywoman Cinthya Mendoza (Demócratas) Chile Former Congresswoman Claudia Nogueira (UDI), Congresswoman Catalina del Real MP (RN) Colombia Senator Nadya Blel (PCC), Gina Segura (PCC) Costa Rica Mariana Fernández (PRSC) Dominican Republic Daysi Sepúlveda (FNP) El Salvador Congresswoman Martha Evelyn Batres (ARENA), Claudia Alas de Ávila, Member of PARLACEN (ARENA) Honduras Congresswoman Johana Bermúdez (PNH) Panama Gina Correa (CD) Peru Nadia Ramos (PPC), Gisela Tipe (AP), Milagros López (AP) 1. DO POLITICAL PARTIES IN YOUR COUNTRY PUBLICLY EXPRESS COMMITMENT TO GENDER EQUALITY? IF SO, IS THIS COMMITMENT REFLECTED IN THEIR ACTIONS (E.G.
    [Show full text]
  • Republicanism
    ONIVI C C Re PUBLICANISM ANCIENT LESSONS FOR GLOBAL POLITICS EDIT ED BY GEOFFREY C. KELLOW AND NeVEN LeDDY ON CIVIC REPUBLICANISM Ancient Lessons for Global Politics EDITED BY GEOFFREY C. KELLOW AND NEVEN LEDDY On Civic Republicanism Ancient Lessons for Global Politics UNIVERSITY OF ToronTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London © University of Toronto Press 2016 Toronto Buffalo London www.utppublishing.com Printed in the U.S.A. ISBN 978-1-4426-3749-8 Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper with vegetable- based inks. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication On civic republicanism : ancient lessons for global politics / edited by Geoffrey C. Kellow and Neven Leddy. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-4426-3749-8 (bound) 1. Republicanism – History. I. Leddy, Neven, editor II.Kellow, Geoffrey C., 1970–, editor JC421.O5 2016 321.8'6 C2015-906926-2 CC-BY-NC-ND This work is published subject to a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivative License. For permission to publish commercial versions please contact University of Toronto Press. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario. an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario Funded by the Financé par le Government gouvernement of Canada du Canada Contents Preface: A Return to Classical Regimes Theory vii david edward tabachnick and toivo koivukoski Introduction 3 geoffrey c. kellow Part One: The Classical Heritage 1 The Problematic Character of Periclean Athens 15 timothy w.
    [Show full text]
  • “Bringing Militancy to Management”: an Approach to the Relationship
    “Bringing Militancy to Management”: An Approach to the Relationship between Activism 67 “Bringing Militancy to Management”: An Approach to the Relationship between Activism and Government Employment during the Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Administration in Argentina Melina Vázquez* Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET); Instituto de Investigaciones Gino Germani; Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina Abstract This article explores the relationship between employment in public administration and militant commitment, which is understood as that which the actors themselves define as “militant management.” To this end, an analysis is presented of three groups created within three Argentine ministries that adopted “Kirchnerist” ideology: La graN maKro (The Great Makro), the Juventud de Obras Públicas, and the Corriente de Libertación Nacional. The article explores the conditions of possibility and principal characteristics of this activism as well as the guidelines for admission, continuing membership, and promotion – both within the groups and within government entities – and the way that this type of militancy is articulated with expert, professional and academic capital as well as the capital constituted by the militants themselves. Keywords: Activism, expert knowledge, militant careers, state. * Article received on November 22, 2013; final version approved on March 26, 2014. This article is part of a series of studies that the author is working on as a researcher at CONICET and is part of the project “Activism and the Political Commitment of Youth: A Socio-Historical Study of their Political and Activist Experiences (1969-2011)” sponsored by the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Promotion, Argentine Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation (2012-2015), of which the author is the director.
    [Show full text]
  • REVISTA SAAP V8 N2 D.Pmd
    Unidos y diversificados: la construcción del partido PRO en la CABA GABRIEL VOMMARO Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento, Argentina Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina [email protected] SERGIO DANIEL MORRESI Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento, Argentina Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina [email protected] El presente trabajo intenta cumplir dos objetivos. El primero es mos- trar y explicar los motivos de las dificultades que los partidos centro-dere- cha han tenido en la política argentina durante las últimas décadas. El segundo es exponer de qué modo el partido Propuesta Republicana (PRO) se ha enfrentado a esas dificultades a través de una estrategia subnacional y un posicionamiento que se presenta como posmaterial y no antiperonista. Se presentan argumentos analíticos y se exponen datos obtenidos mediante un trabajo de campo realizado durante 2011-2012 con cuadros políticos y dirigentes de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires. Desde que se reinstaló la democracia en 1983, varios partidos políticos de centro-derecha intentaron exorcizar la maldición de su contumaz fracaso electoral acudiendo a diferentes estrategias, tales como utilizar al Congreso Nacional como caja de resonancia, usar de forma sistemática a los medios de comunicación como sustitutos del trabajo territorial y el acercamiento a determinadas fracciones del peronismo. Por distintos motivos, estas estrate- gias resultaron infructuosas o no pudieron ser sostenidas en el tiempo. Sin embargo, con posterioridad a la crisis de 2001, surgió la Alianza Propuesta Republicana (más conocida por su forma abreviada PRO) que, en muy poco tiempo cosechó un éxito destacable a partir de una estrategia subnacional con base en la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires (CABA).
    [Show full text]
  • Argentina: from Kirchner to Kirchner
    ArgentinA: From Kirchner to Kirchner Steven Levitsky and María Victoria Murillo Steven Levitsky is professor of government at Harvard University. María Victoria Murillo is associate professor of political science and international affairs at Columbia University. Together they edited Ar- gentine Democracy: The Politics of Institutional Weakness (2005). Argentina’s 28 October 2007 presidential election contrasted sharply with the one that preceded it. The 2003 race took place in the after- math of an unprecedented economic collapse and the massive December 2001 protests that toppled two presidents in a span of ten days. That election—which was won by little-known (Peronist) Justicialist Party governor Néstor Kirchner—was held in a climate of political fragmenta- tion and uncertainty. Little uncertainty surrounded the 2007 campaign. After four years of strong economic growth, and with the opposition in shambles, a victory by the incumbent Peronists was a foregone conclu- sion. The only surprise was that Kirchner, who remained popular, chose not to seek reelection. Instead, his wife, Senator Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, ran in his place. Cristina Kirchner captured 45 percent of the vote, easily defeating Elisa Carrió of the left-of-center Civic Coalition (23 percent) and Kirch- ner’s former economics minister, Roberto Lavagna (17 percent), who was backed by the Radical Civic Union (UCR). In addition to winning more than three-quarters of Argentina’s 23 governorships, the Justicial- ist Party (PJ) and other pro-Kirchner allies won large majorities in both legislative chambers. In the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Argentina’s bicameral National Congress, progovernment Peronists and other Kirchner allies (including pro-Kirchner Radicals) won 160 of 257 seats, while dissident Peronists won another 10 seats.
    [Show full text]
  • Macro Report Comparative Study of Electoral Systems Module 4: Macro Report September 10, 2012
    Comparative Study of Electoral Systems 1 Module 4: Macro Report Comparative Study of Electoral Systems Module 4: Macro Report September 10, 2012 Country: Argentina Date of Election: October 25, 2015 Prepared by: Noam Lupu, Carlos Gervasoni, Virginia Oliveros, and Luis Schiumerini Date of Preparation: December 2016 NOTES TO COLLABORATORS: . The information provided in this report contributes to an important part of the CSES project. The information may be filled out by yourself, or by an expert or experts of your choice. Your efforts in providing these data are greatly appreciated! Any supplementary documents that you can provide (e.g., electoral legislation, party manifestos, electoral commission reports, media reports) are also appreciated, and may be made available on the CSES website. Answers should be as of the date of the election being studied. Where brackets [ ] appear, collaborators should answer by placing an “X” within the appropriate bracket or brackets. For example: [X] . If more space is needed to answer any question, please lengthen the document as necessary. Data Pertinent to the Election at which the Module was Administered 1a. Type of Election [ ] Parliamentary/Legislative [X] Parliamentary/Legislative and Presidential [ ] Presidential [ ] Other; please specify: __________ 1b. If the type of election in Question 1a included Parliamentary/Legislative, was the election for the Upper House, Lower House, or both? [ ] Upper House [ ] Lower House [X] Both [ ] Other; please specify: __________ Comparative Study of Electoral Systems 2 Module 4: Macro Report 2a. What was the party of the president prior to the most recent election, regardless of whether the election was presidential? Frente para la Victoria, FPV (Front for Victory)1 2b.
    [Show full text]
  • Augustine's Contribution to the Republican Tradition
    Grand Valley State University ScholarWorks@GVSU Peer Reviewed Articles Political Science and International Relations 2010 Augustine’s Contribution to the Republican Tradition Paul J. Cornish Grand Valley State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/pls_articles Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Cornish, Paul J., "Augustine’s Contribution to the Republican Tradition" (2010). Peer Reviewed Articles. 10. https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/pls_articles/10 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Political Science and International Relations at ScholarWorks@GVSU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Peer Reviewed Articles by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@GVSU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. article Augustine’s Contribution to the EJPT Republican Tradition European Journal of Political Theory 9(2) 133–148 © The Author(s), 2010 Reprints and permission: http://www. Paul J. Cornish Grand Valley State University sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav [DOI: 10.1177/1474885109338002] http://ejpt.sagepub.com abstract: The present argument focuses on part of Augustine’s defense of Christianity in The City of God. There Augustine argues that the Christian religion did not cause the sack of Rome by the Goths in 410 ce. Augustine revised the definitions of a ‘people’ and ‘republic’ found in Cicero’s De Republica in light of the impossibility of true justice in a world corrupted by sin. If one returns these definitions ot their original context, and accounts for Cicero’s own political teachings, one finds that Augustine follows Cicero’s republicanism on several key points.
    [Show full text]
  • Civic Virtue Must Begin with Nitarians Especially) Worry That Widespread the Meaning of Virtue in General
    C i v i c V i r t u e always under that description. One might argue, for example, that a failure in the F r a n k L o v e t t necessary congruence ultimately doomed soviet-style communism, and some (commu- Any discussion of civic virtue must begin with nitarians especially) worry that widespread the meaning of virtue in general. A virtue, on liberal individualism is gradually eroding the the standard view at least since Aristotle, is a institutional foundations of liberal societies as settled disposition exhibiting type-specific well. Though he did not use the expression excellence. Thus, for example, since the central “civic virtue,” the problem of congruence was purpose of a knife is to cut things, it is a virtue absolutely central to the third part of Rawls’s A in knives to be sharp. Similarly, one might Theory of Justice . In the mainstream tradition argue, since sociability is an important of western political thought, however, the characteristic of human beings, it is a human importance of civic virtue most strongly reso- virtue to be disposed to form friendships. To be nated among writers associated with what is a genuine virtue, of course, this disposition usually called the “classical republican” political must be firmly settled or resilient: much as it tradition. would detract from the virtuosity of an excep- The classical republicans were a diverse tionally sharp knife if its edge dulled after a group of political writers, including among single use, so too would it detract from the others Machiavelli and his fifteenth-century virtue of a human being if he or she were only a Italian predecessors; the English republicans fair-weather friend.
    [Show full text]
  • MACHIAVELLI, TOCQUEVILLE and NIETZSCHE on AUTHORITY and EQUALITY Mikael Hörnqvist, Uppsala University
    THE FEW AND THE MANY: MACHIAVELLI, TOCQUEVILLE AND NIETZSCHE ON AUTHORITY AND EQUALITY Mikael Hörnqvist, Uppsala University Machiavelli In Machiavelli’s writings the ruling few go under many different names. In the ancient context they are often simply called “the Senate,” but he also refers to them as i grandi, gli ottimati, la nobilità and i potenti. The fact that the aristocratic element here appears under a wide variety of names, it could be argued, reflects the open nature of the class structure of early sixteenth century Florence in general, and its ruling class, the Reggimento, in particular. It also seems to suggest that Machiavelli considers the ruling elite to be too complex and fleeting a phenomenon to be fixed or contained in a single name. Machiavelli’s account of the relation between the people and the nobles displays a similar complexity. On the one hand, throughout the Discourses, he describes the Plebs as gullible and easily deceived and the nobles as shrewd and cunning. But far from condemning the elite’s manipulation of the populace’s religious beliefs for political ends, Machiavelli praises it and even exhorts his contemporaries to revive it, as he puts it, by reinterpreting Christianity “according to virtue.” He contrasts the Roman Senate, which according to him (D.I.38) “always judged things as they should be judged and always took the less bad policy for the better,” to the rash, undisciplined and imprudent elites of modern Florence. But on the other hand, it could be argued, Machiavelli endorses an aggressive and ferocious form of popular republicanism in which the general populace, acting as “the guardians of liberty,” controls the elites by often harsh and brutal methods.
    [Show full text]
  • Argentina: Peronism Returns María Victoria Murillo, S.J
    Argentina: Peronism Returns María Victoria Murillo, S.J. Rodrigo Zarazaga Journal of Democracy, Volume 31, Number 2, April 2020, pp. 125-136 (Article) Published by Johns Hopkins University Press For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/753199 [ Access provided at 9 Apr 2020 16:36 GMT with no institutional affiliation ] ARGENTINA: PERONISM RETURNS María Victoria Murillo and Rodrigo Zarazaga, S.J. María Victoria Murillo is professor of political science and interna- tional and public affairs and director of the Institute of Latin American Studies at Columbia University. Rodrigo Zarazaga, S.J., is director of the Center for Research and Social Action (CIAS) and researcher at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in Buenos Aires. The headline news, the main takeaway, from Argentina’s 2019 gen- eral election is encouraging for democracy despite the dire economic situation. Mauricio Macri, a president not associated with the country’s powerful Peronist movement, became the first such chief executive to complete his mandate, whereas two non-Peronists before him had failed to do so.1 Macri would not repeat his term, however. He lost the 27 October 2019 election and then oversaw a peaceful handover of power to his Peronist rival, Alberto Fernández, who won by 48 to 40 percent and whose vice-president is former two-term president Cristina Fernán- dez de Kirchner (no relation). Strikingly, even the economic hard times gripping the country—they are the worst in two decades, and they sank Macri at the polls—could not ruffle the orderliness of the transition. Peaceful changes of administration tend to be taken for granted in democracies, but they are in fact major achievements anywhere.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction
    IMMIGRATION_Ch01.qxd 21/11/07 4:43 PM Page 1 Chapter 1 Introduction “America, at its best, is a welcoming society. We welcome not only immigrants themselves but the many gifts they bring and the values they live by.” So said President George W. Bush at a naturalization ceremony for new citizens at Ellis Island in July 2001. The fifty million immigrants admitted legally to the United States in the twentieth century alone lends substantial credibility to Bush’s words and to the old adage that “America is a nation of immigrants.” Indeed, immi- grants seeking their freedom and fortune and fulfilling the American dream have become part of the nation’s mythology. No symbol of this is more potent than the Statue of Liberty and no words more poignant than those of Emmas Lazarus inscribed upon it: Give me your tired, your poor. Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free The wretched refuse of your teaming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door! And yet the history of immigration to the United States is far from unambiguously positive, as Bush’s “at its best” caveat recognizes. His qualification implies that Americans have ambivalent attitudes towards immigrants and immigration and that the broadly positive welcome afforded immigrants has been punctuated by a series of anti-immigrant episodes throughout American history. Many potential immigrants have been refused entry and many new immigrants persecuted because of their skin color or religion. Others have been excluded because the resident population decided they burdened schools, hospitals, and welfare rolls, because they took the jobs of native-born workers, and because they avoided taxes.
    [Show full text]