Comparative Political Theory

is a Japanese philosophical movement centered at Kyoto University that began with Nishida Kitarō and Tanabe Hajime. This school of thought integrated Western philosophy and Japanese religious and moral ideas and used them to critique Western epistemological and ontological truth-claims.

The CCP's Sweep Away Black and Eliminate Evil campaign was an anti-crime campaign, but it was also harnessed for purposes of political and social control. The design and implementation of the campaign highlight a new approach to political campaigns, one that is more managerial than revolutionary and integrated with party efforts to institutionalize a rules‑based society and economy in accordance with notions of ‘rule by
law’ (依法治国, yifa zhiguo). It also complements ideological campaigns such as the ‘core socialist values’ program, which are designed to shape citizen values and behavior and integrate moral values into the law. This study provides insights into emerging techniques of political and social control, notably the way the party harnesses the revolutionary traditions of the Mao era and fuses them with legal and rational modes of governance.

This article critically interrogates contemporary democratic theory through the lens of China’s whole-process democracy, a governance model centered on performance legitimacy, consultative participation and developmental responsiveness. Rather than treating this formulation as an authoritarian anomaly, the analysis engages it as a philosophical provocation that potentially unsettles liberal presumptions about legitimacy, representation and participation. The article argues that whole-process democracy foregrounds a processual and outcome driven conception of legitimacy that demands rethinking democracy as a moral project rather than a formal institution. It explores the theoretical implications of output oriented governance, redefines autonomy within non-electoral frameworks, and scrutinizes the ethical viability of deliberation under centralized authority.

This article examines the relationship between liberalism and democracy with a focus on Iran's historical experience. Liberal values such as individual freedom, separation of powers, and legal equality are considered prerequisites for democracy, and without them, democracy degenerates into tyranny of the majority. Iran, with its experience of the Constitutional Revolution and subsequently four decades of living under a religious system, has followed a particular path. This article demonstrates that the collective consciousness of Iranians today is based on the necessity of returning to the fundamental principle of constitutionalism: the rule of law. From this perspective, democracy is not merely "government of the people," but rather "sovereignty of law accompanied by guarantees of individual freedoms.

This study examines the pseudo-zygodactylous hand configuration-designated here as the zygogest-as a recurring motif in devotional art, most notably within the works of El Greco. Through historical, iconological, anthropological, theological, and psychoanalytic approaches, the gesture is revealed as a polyvalent symbol: at once Marian, maternal, penitential, and mystical. Earlier scholarship has emphasized its links to lactational imagery, Byzantine blessing traditions, and psychoanalytic readings of dependence and nourishment. The present work advances a new interpretation by identifying the zygogest with the Christian symbol of the anchor. This connection, previously overlooked, situates the gesture as a visual pledge of faith, stability, and hope, recalling Hebrews 6:19: "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." In El Greco's consistent deployment of the motif, the zygogest emerges not merely as stylistic convention but as a profound theological sign. By embodying both nourishment and steadfastness, it anchors the believer's soul in Christ while signifying devotion, endurance, and the promise of salvation.

I argue that Locke is a pioneer of global and comparative political theory, and that his reflections on China play a significant role in shaping his political thought. At first glance, it may seem surprising that Locke's engagement with China contributed to the development of Western liberalism. Precisely because of this unlikely influence, many scholars have overlooked China's role in Locke's liberalism. In this paper, I examine Locke's discussions of China across both his published works and manuscripts. For Locke, China represents a model of secular rationalism: a secular, rational, civilized, tolerant, and industrious society. He further interprets Confucianism as both the civil religion and the law of reputation in China, fostering civility, toleration, and political stability. Recovering China's essential place in Locke's political theory not only enriches our understanding of liberalism's global and comparative dimensions but also highlights the crosscultural dialogue between Confucianism and liberalism.

Political theory has arguably always involved comparisons between political regimes, ideas, traditions, authors, books, habits, and so forth. The academic discipline of political theory, however, still bears the imprint of its origin in Europe and the United States. Many academic political theorists have read Plato, Machiavelli, and John Locke; fewer have read Zhuangzi, Ibn Khaldun, and Fujita Shōzō. One aim of this journal is to expand the range of perspectives within academic political theory. In this issue, for instance, Vasileios Syros analyzes the leadership style of the Safavid emperor Shāh ʿAbbās I, as described by the court historian Iskandar Beg Munshi. Syros discusses why it may make sense to call Iskandar Beg the Safavid Machiavelli. Ayesha Omar explains how the South African political thinker Sam C. Nolutshungu contributes to thinking about Black consciousness. By explaining the political theories of ʿAbbās and Nolutshungu, Syros and Omar are teaching many political theorists about figures who are not as globally famous as Machiavelli and, say, Martin Luther King, Jr. For instructors and writers looking to decolonize or deparochialize their syllabi and research, this kind of work serves a valuable function. To be clear, however, the journal does not want to recreate its own kind of parochialism by excluding political theorists who are not area specialists. The purpose of the journal is to enhance our vision of the political and to

Nicholas Tampio's book is informative, thought-provoking, enjoyable and, without a doubt, a masterpiece of its genre. The book addresses two profound questions of our discipline: how to teach political theory and what kind of political theory to teach. In my opinion, the book is a powerful presentation of a very convincing pedagogical vision. That is why I do not think it an exaggeration to call Tampio's book a masterpiece. Of course, it is possible to challenge certain elements of this pedagogical vision, to disagree with the author on certain points. It is also possible to find some rhetorical moves in the argument questionable. But this needs not change the overall judgment about Tampio's book. As regards the book's vision of political theory as a vocation and as a discipline, however, I have my doubts and in the following I will try to briefly explain not just why Tampio's book is a great read but also why I am not sure if his is the kind of political theory we all need.

China in Later Enlightenment Political Thought examines the ideas of China in the works of mid- to late-eighteenth century European Enlightenment political thinkers.

Like its predecessor volume, China in Early Enlightenment Political Thought, this book is distinctive in providing in-depth comparative analyses of works by seminal late Enlightenment thinkers that specifically link their views on China to their political concerns. It traces the shifts between metaphysical, naturalistic, economic, technological, cultural, idealist, and materialist accounts, and philosophical histories of Chinese politics, society, and culture. It argues that, unlike earlier thinkers, most of the later Enlightenment authors assessed in this book—including Christian Wolff, Voltaire, François Quesnay, Adam Smith, contributors to the Encylopédie, Abbé Raynal, Denis Diderot, and Johann Gottfried Herder—developed conceptions of history which increasingly depicted China as unprogressive and even stagnant. Even later Enlightenment enthusiasts of China such as Voltaire were deeply ambivalent about the lessons European societies could draw from China when viewed in relation to progressive visions of world history. The book also discusses the ways in which later Enlightenment theorists who were critical of aspects of European imperialism, especially Diderot and Herder, nevertheless regarded China as backwards and despotic and concludes with the influence of Enlightenment conceptions of China on the philosophies of G.W.F. Hegel and Karl Marx, as well as Mao Zedong’s reappropriation of post-Enlightenment philosophy of history.

This book will appeal to scholars and advanced students of Chinese history, Chinese philosophy, Chinese politics, and political philosophy more generally.

Grounded normative theory focuses on enriching normative political theory arguments through recursive empirical engagement that strives for inclusiveness and accountability. It is increasingly influential but also has been critiqued as too broad to provide clear guidance. We argue that the approach, when understood as anchored in a complex conception of intellectual humility, can give crucial practical guidance, while also helping us to make sense of and evaluate ways of empirically informing normative theory. We demonstrate how different emphases on self-regarding and other-regarding intellectual humility guide research design, methods, and analysis in two main variants of grounded normative theory: theory testing and theory building. We show how specific normativeempirical projects can be situated and unpacked within the variants, and how each can give insights for project execution and assessment on empirical and normative criteria.

In the context of widespread violence that México has experienced increasingly since the launch of the War on Drugs trafficking in 2007, victims' testimonies have emerged across various settings, fostering empathy and constructing a narrative that challenges the criminalization and societal passivity in the face of violent death. These testimonies have played a crucial role in shaping commemorative practices and facilitating reparative processes in cases where impunity persists. However, the construction of testimonies and memories is far from neutral. These narratives are shaped by intersecting racial, gender, and class dynamics that influence what can be told and heard at a given time. Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted in the Zongolica region in the Gulf of México, this article explores how the testimonies of Indigenous women have been subjected to specific forms of injustice. Their experiences of violence are often denied, their credibility questioned, and the harms they endured erased, leaving them marginalized within accepted testimony of violence. Furthermore, the article highlights how Indigenous women and their communities are actively seeking truth and justice by creating alternative testimonial practices to promote reparations processes, foster solidarity, and bring to light the profound impacts of militarization and criminal violence in their communities.

This paper takes as its point of departure, the debate between cosmopolitanism and communitarianism in international normative theory. It expresses a number of dissatisfactions with this debate, criticising its inattention to politics and history, its Eurocentrism, and the simplistic imageries of threat on which attitudes towards boundaries in this debate are premised. It attempts to remedy these problems by recasting the figure of the subaltern that haunts this debate-hitherto imagined as a passive recipient of Northern/Western largesseas an active agent struggling for emancipation, and contrasts the potentials of cosmopolitanism and communitarianism to function as vocabularies in which such struggle might be articulated. In addition, by thinking about cosmopolitanism and communitarianism, not merely as ethical doctrines about justice, but also as political worldviews crafted in particular historical and material contexts, it demonstrates the ambiguous appeal of both cosmopolitanism and communitarianism from the point of view of the subaltern. The paper then turns to the writings of four postcolonial thinkers who refuse the conventional opposition between cosmopolitanism and communitarianism (James Joyce, Rabindranath Tagore, Edward Said and Frantz Fanon). Rather than resolving the cosmopolitan/communitarian impasse, it argues that the tension between communitarian essentialism and cosmopolitan deconstruction that characterizes their work constitutes a protest sensibility that is better suited to the exigencies of subaltern struggle in the contemporary historical conjuncture.

Throughout history, people have demonstrated various forms of mobility. One of these is migration. Today, it is estimated that over 100 million people in the world are migrants. However, if we take the Turks as an example, they live thousands of kilometres away from their first homeland. The same phenomenon is  also  valid  for  many  nationalities and  societies  that  give names to the geography they live in today. The most frightening thing for an immigrant is the feeling of uncertainty. For example, the French Protestants who immigrated to Geneva and London in the 16th century turned these two cities into the world’s leading clock manufacturing centres, while the Germans had the same influence in the United States in optics and piano making. A similar example can be seen in the fact that the community called Malakan, who were settled in and around Kars during the occupation years between 1877 and 1914 by the Russians, taught the local people especially in the production of kashar cheese and today Kars Kashar has a brand value. When it comes to migration, only physical migration comes to mind. However, for a long time, especially with the framework of thought called Eurocentrism, non-Western societies have been subjected to migration and even deportation, so to speak, from the history of civilisation. In a period often described today as ‘an age of anxiety, anger and nonsense’, migration has become a reflection of the contemporary crisis. Migration is not only a physical act, but also an epistemic, ontological and psychological upheaval. The experience of migration causes individuals to be cut off from their knowledge systems, cultural meaning frames and identity continuities, while in host societies it leads to the questioning of collective belonging and identity integrity. While the process of modernisation has created an effect that can be 1    Dr. İstanbul Öğretmen Akademileri, aykutkarahan@gmail.com,    orcid: 0000-0002-8566-6770https://doi.org/10.58830/ozgur.pub766.c3139
2  | Immigration, Epistemic Violence and Ontological Security: The Crisis of Knowledge...called a civilisational leap for the West, it has caused an intellectual deportation and psychological collapse in non-Western societies. For this reason, it has been like a drug with serious side effects in non-Western societies, and the question of what these side effects are is still a problem among the intellectuals of these societies. In these societies, which have entered an existential crisis in the history of civilisation, ontological security has become the main problem. This constant tension has become a traumatic process in many non-Western societies, including Turkey. This situation has turned into a crisis of meaning, a crisis of identity and above all a crisis of belonging

The starting point for this work is MacIntyre's idea of life as an enacted narrative. MacIntyre introduces the idea of narrative in After Virtue, as part of his theory of virtue, after the concept of practice and before the concept of tradition. The representation of human life in narrative terms brings to the fore the longstanding relationship between philosophy and literature. In the following text I will try to examine the concept of the narrative structure of human life as it was first presented in After Virtue and demonstrate its continuity in MacIntyre's later work. In this context, I will attempt, first, to examine whether MacIntyre's idea of narrative can provide a basis for the unity of human life and action and, second, to identify its main differences from theories that emphasize fragmentation and see life as a series of disconnected events and interpretations challenging the notions of coherence and unity.

Lawrence K. Wang 王抗曝 (2025). “Світло Переможе 光耀永存 (The Light Prevails)” In: “Global Humanities and Liberal Arts",  Volume 2025, Number 6, June  20, 2025; 2025(6), 32 pages, . Lenox Institute Press, MA, USA. Lenox.Institute@gmail.com DOI : 10.17613/ynpae-h3x80  ; DOI: 10.17613/2fh0v-2ke86      ABSTRACT:  «Світло Переможе» — це пісня-гімн для українського народу, створена для відродження єдності та надії. Текст поєднує трагічну силу з вірою, звертаючись до тисячолітньої історії України (образы Дніпра, чорнозему) та духу «терпіння заради майбутньої перемоги» (наприклад: «сій насіння взимку, чекай світанку в темряві»). Ключові теми — єдність («Встань, брате, разом ми сильні!»), стійкість («крила не зламає буря») та відбудова («з руїн ми збудуєм дім»). Символіка (соняшники, пшениця, вогонь, світанок) та проста мова роблять пісню потужною для співу соло чи хором, передаючи незламність українського духа.  《光耀永存》 （Світло Переможе）是一首為烏克蘭人民創作的勵志歌曲，旨在凝聚民心、重燃希望。歌詞融合悲壯與力量，呼應烏克蘭千年滄桑（如第聶伯河、黑土地等象徵），並以「臥薪嘗膽」精神為核心，強調團結（「兄弟同心，血脈相連」）、堅韌（「深冬播種，暗夜守晨曦」）與重建家園的信念（「廢墟之上，必創新家」）。歌詞結構清晰，意象鮮明（向日葵、金麥、風暴、曙光），語言簡潔有力，適合唱誦與譜曲，既能含淚低吟，亦能昂揚齊唱，傳遞「黑暗終將過去，光耀必臨大地」的必勝決心。«The Light Prevails» (Світло Переможе) is an uplifting anthem for the Ukrainian people, designed to unite and inspire. The lyrics blend solemnity with resilience, echoing Ukraine’s millennia-long history (symbols: Dnipro River, black soil) and the spirit of enduring hardship for future victory (e.g., "sow seeds in winter, guard the dawn in darkness"). Core themes include unity ("Rise, my brothers, hands entwined!"), perseverance ("no storm shall break our wings"), and rebuilding ("from ruins, we shall raise a home"). Rich imagery (sunflowers, golden wheat, fire, sunrise) and simple yet powerful language make it ideal for solo or choir performance, embodying the unyielding hope that "light will reclaim this land."

This book examines the limits of cosmopolitanism in contemporary literature. In a world in which engagement with strangers is no longer optional, and in which the ubiquitous demands of globalization clash with resurgent localist and nationalist sentiments, cosmopolitanism is no longer merely a horizon-broadening aspiration but a compulsory order of things to which we are all conscripted. Focusing on literary texts from such diverse locales as England, Algeria, Sweden, former Yugoslavia, and the Sudan, the essays in this collection interrogate the tensions and impasses in our prison house of cosmopolitanism.

Alasdair MacIntyre states in his After Virtue: “No doctrine vindicated itself in so wide a variety of contexts as did Aristotelianism: Greek, Islamic, Jewish and Christian...”. This paper argues that a core set of concepts at the heart of Aristotelianism is what did in the past and can now in the present enable communication and dialogue between scholarly religious traditions as well as secular interlocutors who are committed to the robust realisms that characterise the constellation of Aristotelian ideas. It asks about key roadblocks and past stumbling blocks on the path to dialogue and engagement by attempting to address the question ‘How might our globalised world benefit from dialogues between Aristotelian and other traditions?’ by posing the question a little closer to home: ‘How might our globalised world benefit from dialogues between the sibling inheritors of Aristotle?’. The settlement of Muslims across virtually all western countries and their continuity now well into its third and fourth generations has led to a burgeoning western Muslim intellectual scene focused on internally working out the sufficiency of classical and post-classical metaphysical systems in dealing with the rapidly multiplying challenges of ultra-modernity. Now with the all pervasive nature of the liberal state and its potentially totalising tendencies we are learning the lesson that past siblings ought to learn to speak to each other again, and how better than to take as our point of departure the historically fertile cross-civilisational educative interchanges furnished by inherited philosophy and systematically and successively built upon through the ages. With what traditions then should contemporary Aristotelianism most dialogue? I wish to present that it is the Muslim civilisations who ought now to be taken as indispensable interlocutors in an ongoing dialogue between contemporary Aristotelians.

This paper analyzes the evolving role of moral philosophers in addressing
contemporary challenges, arguing for a more dynamic “philosophical posture” that balances theoretical rigor with practical relevance. It examines how philosophers can effectively engage with complex ethical issues while maintaining their core principles, envisioning them as modern argonauts navigating diverse fields from bioethics to artificial intelligence. The discussion critiques the potential reduction of philosophical knowledge to technical expertise and emphasizes the need for actionable insights grounded in community realities. The paper concludes by calling for a renewed philosophical engagement that combines comprehensive understanding with practical wisdom to address our era’s existential challenges. Concluding, the paper calls for philosophers to actively engage with societal and ethical issues and reclaim philosophy’s foundational vocation. This involves a comprehensive understanding and wisdom to navigate the existential and global challenges of our era.

This paper grapples with two crucial landscapes of extraction of the Argentine nineteenth century and their mediation through literature: maritime capitalism and primitive accumulation. First, it describes Domingo Faustino Sarmiento's aquatic utopia, focusing on his Americanism, his equation between oceans and plains and the aporias of his Orientalism. Second, this study shows an early displacement towards countryside provincialism in Argentine ideology by analysing José Mármol's novel Amalia. Departing from Etienne Balibar's concept of interior frontiers, this paper shows the emergence of a terrestrial imagination that was crucial for the consolidation of telluric ideologies. This process of ideological displacement coincides with the vanishing frontier and the dissolution of gaucho life within the Argentinian landscape, enabling the emergence of a new contempt for the urban plebs and the proletariat.

This paper examines Burkina Faso’s political transformation under Captain Ibrahim Traoré, situating it within the broader ethical tensions reshaping global power dynamics in the Information Age. As global South nations increasingly resist Western hegemony, Burkina Faso’s resource nationalization, anti-imperialist governance, and leadership within the emerging Alliance of Sahel States (ASE) challenge both Western foreign policy and normative conceptions of international ethics. The analysis employs the three major Western ethical paradigms—utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics—to assess whether U.S. intervention or neutrality aligns with moral imperatives. A utilitarian approach weighs the potential global welfare gains from intervention, including counterterrorism and equitable resource distribution, against its destabilizing risks. Deontological ethics, especially Kantian frameworks, emphasize non-interference and the moral duty to respect Burkinabè sovereignty, shaped by a history of colonial exploitation and neocolonial pressure. Virtue ethics interrogates the moral character of both Traoré’s nationalist authoritarianism and Western motivations for intervention, questioning whether actions on either side embody justice, wisdom, or integrity. By situating Traoré within a lineage of African pragmatic leaders—such as Sankara, Lumumba, and Gaddafi—the paper argues that his rejection of global financial institutions and embrace of resource sovereignty reflect a compelling deontological commitment to national self-determination. Ultimately, the Burkina Faso case reveals a defining ethical contradiction in contemporary geopolitics: the clash between postcolonial autonomy and global liberal interventionism. As mass mobilization, insurgencies, and Pan-African alliances reshape international order, the ethical frameworks guiding foreign policy must evolve to address the unresolved tensions of sovereignty, justice, and moral responsibility in the postcolonial world.

There has long been discussion and controversy about the relationship between Islam and politics, particularly in respect to the idea of separating religion and state. Religion has always been entwined with law and government in many Islamic societies. However, in countries with a majority of Muslims, the concept of keeping religion and the state apart, which is prevalent in many secular countries, has different meanings and uses. There are political systems in certain nations with a majority of Muslims that include aspects of Islam and politics working together as well as working apart. In many nations and situations, politics and Islam are frequently entwined. Like many other religions, Islam has tenets that can affect governance and political structures. Argue that Islam
provides a moral compass for governance, while others emphasize the importance of individual freedoms and secular governance. Based on articles, books, and the comprehensive arguments of some researchers, this paper showed the relationship between Islam and politics from the perspective of religion and state.

The article discusses the relationship between the boundary problem in democratic theory and the paradox of democratic foundation. It argues that although these famous "democratic paradoxes" are affected by an analogous logical difficulty and equally concur in grounding the legitimacy of a "people," they are two different problems. The recognition of their distinction helps illuminate the complexity of practical normative judgments on the legitimacy of a people. The article analyzes four theories in search of an approach that can consistently resolve both paradoxes: the all-affected principle, Sofia Näsström's theory of democracy as a spirit of emancipation, Alessandro Ferrara's redefinition of the issue based on the distinction between ethnos and demos, and David Owen's proposal to bring together the all-affected and the all-subjected principles to solve the boundary problem. The article's conclusion points to a possible tension between the two paradoxes and raises a final question: can such a tension be resolved?

يقدّم هذا الكتاب تحليلًا نقديًا مقارنًا للتحولات السياسية في أوروبا الشرقية وأميركا اللاتينية، من خلال دراسة حالتي روسيا والأرجنتين. وينتقد الأطروحة السائدة حول "الانتقال الديمقراطي"، مبرزًا الدور الحاسم للمتغيرات البنيوية والتاريخية والجيوسياسية في تشكيل مسارات مختلفة: من "الاستبداد الانتخابي" في روسيا إلى "ديمقراطية هشّة" ولكن متواصلة في الأرجنتين. بالاستناد إلى مفاهيم مثل "تبعية المسار" واستراتيجيات النخب وحدود الإصلاح الليبرالي، يفكك الكتاب الافتراضات الغائية لنظرية الدمقرطة. كما يُظهر كيف أن "العلاج بالصدمة" والليبرالية الجديدة أدّيا إلى تفكيك الحماية الاجتماعية وإعادة هيكلة الدولة، بإشراف المؤسسات المالية الدولية. ومن خلال دمج التحليل التاريخي المقارن بالمقاربتين البنيوية والنخبوية، يعيد الكتاب تعريف مفهوم التحول السياسي بوصفه سيرورة غير خطية، متعددة المسارات، تخضع لشروط داخلية وخارجية معقدة. ويخلص إلى أن الديمقراطية والاستبداد ليسا مرحلتين متتابعتين، بل تعبيران عن استجابات ظرفية لتحولات موازين القوى الاجتماعية والسياسية.
This book offers a critical comparative analysis of political transformations in Eastern Europe and Latin America, focusing on the trajectories of Russia and Argentina. It challenges the dominant "democratic transition" paradigm by highlighting the structural, historical, and geopolitical variables that shaped divergent outcomes: the emergence of electoral authoritarianism in Russia versus a fragile but sustained democracy in Argentina. Drawing on the concepts of path dependence, elite strategies, and the limits of neoliberal reform, the study critiques the teleological assumptions of democratization theory. It demonstrates how “shock therapy” and radical liberalization dismantled social protections, restructured state institutions, and produced hybrid regimes under the supervision of international financial institutions. By integrating comparative historical analysis with structural and actor-centered approaches, the book redefines political transformation as a non-linear, multi-path process shaped by internal dynamics and external constraints. It ultimately argues that democratization and authoritarianism coexist as contingent responses to shifting power relations, not as stages in a universal sequence.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

This paper aims to focus on Domingo Faustino Sarmiento’s work specifically on education in the context of Latin America, while referencing the influence of other intellectuals on his work, and how this links to inequality and education in Argentinian society today. Additionally, this paper seeks to illustrate hidden consequences as a result of “the Enlightenment” influence on Sarmiento’s views on education.

This is the first book to provide a broad overview of the ways in which Buddhist ideas have influenced political thinking and politics in Myanmar. Matthew Walton draws extensively on Burmese language sources from the last 150 years to describe the 'moral universe' of contemporary Theravada Buddhism that has anchored most political thought in Myanmar. In explaining multiple Burmese understandings of notions such as 'democracy' and 'political participation', the book provides readers with a conceptual framework for understanding some of the key dynamics of Myanmar's ongoing political transition. Some of these ideas help to shed light on restrictive or exclusionary political impulses, such as anti-Muslim Buddhist nationalism or scepticism towards the ability of the masses to participate in politics. Walton provides an analytical framework for understanding Buddhist influences on politics that will be accessible to a wide range of readers and will generate fu...

Sayyid Qutb was a great thinker in Islamic religious matters. His writings and ideology were often used as reference by the Muslim community in the 20th century. Each piece of his writings contains implicit meanings that require in-depth understanding. However, his travelogue entitled Amrika Allati Ra'aytu or its English translation The America I Have Seen in the Scale of Human Values has received less attention than his other works. This travelogue is unique in that it mainly narrates the primitive side of the church institution in the United States (U.S), unlike his other works that are more neutral. This study, therefore, analysed this primitive perspective based on a selected theory known as othering theory. This qualitative research used the documentation and content analysis methods. The result of this study shows that while this travelogue mostly presents primitive connotation towards the church institution; based on the othering concept, it is an action of Sayyid Qutb as a nationalist who defended the Muslim community in Egypt at that time from being continuously colonised by Western ideologies. This study is hoped to provide a new perspective in religious studies, particularly from the aspect of religious criticism.

Scholars have hitherto tended to theorise China's ecological civilisation project either as a form of environmental authoritarianism or as a vision of eco-socialism. This paper contributes to the conversation by conducting a textual analysis of Chinese scholarly discussions on eco-civilisation. The analysis uncovers topics and themes related to both narratives of environmental authoritarianism and eco-socialist envisioning. It also captures the shift in discussion from an ideological critique of industrial civilisation to a techno-bureaucratic agenda concerning sustainable development and governance strategies, along with the growing roles of the party-state, state-corporate cooperation, and geopolitical ambition. To interpret the findings, I revisit the neo-Weberian institutionalist notion of embedded autonomy and revise it through critical realist Marxism, not only to explain the growing bureaucratisation of eco-civilisation but also to untangle its Hobbesian institutional features that distinguish China's eco-civilisation project (or the making of a Climate Leviathan) from the Western liberal mode of environmental governance.

The Letter from Jamaica has been one of the most used documents by researchers who are looking to learn more about what the idea of Latin America as a phenomenon is and how it behaves. Its constitution as a historical, geographical, economic and social space has been the source of several debates since the second half of the nineteenth century, when intellectuals – regional and foreign – began to observe the development of countries recently removed from the subaltern condition imposed by the European colonial pact – more precisely in relation to the kingdoms of Portugal and Spain – and began to seek space and autonomy within the international scenario. At this point, the interests of local leaders, regional power relations and positions vis-à-vis the nations of the Global North, more precisely England, France and the emerging United States, come into play. In the text written by Simon Bolívar, one can see clear indications of an ambiguous position that will be the most characteristic mark of Latin American countries since then: on the one hand, his utopian faith in the constitution of an association of nations that will be all the stronger as his capacity for cooperation – although even Bolívar has reservations about the realization of this hope – and,  at the same time, the political vices common to the thought of the Criollo caudillo on how to form the power structures that should govern the paths of the then nascent nations. To accomplish this task, authors who have already been consecrated in Latin American social and political literature since the second half of the twentieth century will be revisited. The purpose of this text is, therefore, to invite those who intend to understand and debate the history, the socio-political composition of the region and to what extent the desires, dreams and visions of Simon Bolívar still permeate the reality of Latin America in this first quarter of the twenty-first century.

The term “political Confucianism” refers to a lineage within Confucian tradition that emphasizes the construction of pragmatically effective political institutions. Broadly speaking, the term appropriately characterizes the thrust of “Mainland New Confucianism.” This wave of thinkers self-consciously roots itself in the intellectual developments of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries that first formulated Confucian responses to the challenges of modern life. This chapter proceeds by outlining the tradition of political Confucianism as understood by its contemporary proponents, then categorizes different views of Confucianism’s relation to liberalism and shows how the trends of political Confucianism shape contemporary Chinese views of Western liberalism overall.

In an age where truth is drowned by noise, and innocence is exploited for power, we return to the oldest light: the belief that the child is sacred. We speak not of sentiment, but of principle-a radical moral stance first embodied by Socrates and refined by Plato. They did not merely teach the youth. They protected their souls. In that act, a new moral universe was born. This manifesto reclaims their code. I. The Soul Precedes the Body We reject the cultural machinery that reduces children to objects-of lust, profit, ideology, or inheritance. A child is not a blank slate. A child is a soul in formation. The protector sees this. The predator does not. Let the world understand: to harm a child's mind, body, or spirit is not a crime of passion. It is a metaphysical betrayal. II. Education is Awakening, Not Indoctrination We affirm with Plato that knowledge is remembrance, not imposition. A teacher does not mold the child. A true teacher unveils the child to themself. Let every school, mentor, and parent remember: your role is not ownership. It is guidance. Not power. Presence. III. Eroticization of Youth is Moral Collapse We echo Socrates: beauty exists, but desire must ascend. When beauty becomes possession, it turns to violence. When admiration becomes domination, the soul fractures. Let it be known: the eroticization of children is the gateway to civilizational death. It was so in Athens. It is so now. IV. The Protector is the New Philosopher To speak truth in a world that rewards silence is the highest risk. Socrates was executed not for lies, but for confronting sacred cows. So too, today, those who protect children face exile, slander, and censorship. Let them be honored: the whistleblowers, the healers, the investigators, the mothers and fathers who choose soul over comfort. V. Moral Truth is Transcendent, Not Political We reject the hijacking of children by state, church, or market. No ideology owns the child. No banner excuses harm. The child belongs only to themselves, and to the eternal process of becoming. We are guardians-not engineers, not reprogrammers. VI. Silence is Complicity Every institution that covers abuse is a structure of rot. Every bystander who looks away feeds the fire. Let every citizen know: if you protect the abuser, you become the abuser in spirit. VII. Restoration is Possible The wound is deep, but it is not final. What was broken can be healed-but only through radical honesty, generational courage, and the rebuilding of trust from the bones outward. Let us begin with one child. One truth. One protector. And from there, a new world. Closing Declaration: We, the inheritors of the Socratic spirit, declare: • That children are sacred. • That their souls are to be nurtured, not harvested. • That the future will be built not by systems, but by those who protect the light before it flickers. Let this be the new code. Let this be the hill we never surrender. Let the age of sacred childhood begin. Signed, The Watchers of the Line The Guardians of Becoming The Keepers of the Light Unspoiled

Political theory and political philosophy are marked by a wide variety of approaches, which can be grouped broadly into normative/prescriptive, historical, and critical traditions of political thought. These are not just distinct in terms of scholarly focus, but also in methods, standards for evaluation, informal networks, conferences, and journals. Many scholars spend their graduate school years and much of their careers largely engaged in one or another of these fields, leading to a balkanization of political theory. This contribution offers a conceptual framework for better understanding the interrelated nature seeing these distinct fields as part of a common project of political theorizing, which we call 'The Toronto School', named after a class Carens taught to for graduate students at the University of Toronto. The Toronto School is less a particular method for doing political theory (the way, say, Skinner or Foucault offers) and more an ecumenical understanding of political theory as a discipline, which sees the various approaches and aims of our field as having unique and complementing competencies and blindspots that fit into a more general project of intellectual inquiry. This contribution articulates the broad contours of The Toronto School, with a particular eye toward the way it reconciles normative, historical, and critical approaches.

ZUsaMMenfassUng: Ziel des vorliegenden Beitrags ist es, eine Bilanz der ›sozialar-chäologischen‹ Forschungen im deutschsprachigen Raum während der letzten zwanzig Jahre zu ziehen. Der von außen betrachtet vielleicht etwas missverständliche Begriff ›Sozialarchäologie‹ steht dabei für eine ›Archäologie politischer Organisationsformen‹. Es geht mithin um das ›Politische‹ in nichtstaatlichen Gesellschaften und die Entstehung von ›Herrschaft‹ im Sinne legitimer Machtausübung. Fragen nach der politischen Verfasstheit früher Gesellschaften besitzen eine lange Tradition, auch wenn sich die konkrete Art, wie gefragt wird, die angewandten Methoden und die kommunizierten ›Meistererzählungen‹ über die Jahrzehnte deutlich gewandelt haben. Die Zeiten, in denen das Prinzip von ›Führer‹ und ›Gefolgschaft‹ als quasi-natürliche Grundlage der politischen Organisation prähistorischer Gemeinschaften galt, sind lange vorbei. ›Herr-schaft‹ und ›Staat‹ werden heute nicht mehr als universale Strukturen menschlicher Gemeinschaften, sondern als historisch genau zu verortende Innovationen betrachtet. Die Prähistorische Archäologie hat in den letzten Jahrzehnten versucht, mit den ihr zur Verfügung stehenden materiellen Quellen einen eigenständigen Beitrag zu dieser fachübergreifend geführten Debatte zu leisten. Dabei kam der englischsprachigen Forschung zweifellos eine gewisse Vorreiterstellung zu. Im hier zu behandelnden Zeitraum hat man im deutschsprachigen Raum versucht, konstruktiv an die dort entwickelten Ansätze anzuknüpfen und sie weiterzuentwickeln. Teilweise ist man aber auch eigene Wege gegangen. Der Beitrag möchte den Verlauf dieser Debatte nachzeichnen, ihre Ergebnisse bilanzieren und mögliche Forschungsperspektiven aufzeigen.

Recent years have seen a surge of Confucian political theorizing. In English, the proposals and debates have centered almost exclusively on democratic and meritocratic Confucian theory. Proponents of both have often been openly hostile to “liberalism,” tending to see it as the ideological competitor of Confucian tradition and values; and even among progressive Confucian theorists, there has been vocal resistance to promoting “liberal” Confucian political views. This is one key way in which Roy Tseng’s Confucian Liberalism breaks rank and pushes the conversation in important new directions. Another is in its revisionary account of one of modern Confucian philosophy’s most influential figures, Mou Zongsan (1909–95), highlighting the Hegelian dimensions of Mou’s theory. A third is the connection Tseng draws between this brand of Confucianism and the perfectionist ethical liberalism of the British idealists. In these three moves—liberalizing the discourse, Hegelianizing Mou, and turning toward non-Kantian liberalism—Tseng’s new book makes much needed strides in the field.

Can we endorse valuable rights and freedoms—the cherished forms of equality and liberty we might call liberality—without liberalism? This book outlines such a possibility. Humane liberality upholds and deliberates equality, freedom, and justice through the Mencian virtue of humaneness, based in care and compassion. In positing humaneness to be the first virtue of government, Mencius directs us to formulate policies that are responsive to and promote the wellbeing of the people understood in terms of their actual lived and felt experience—their feelings and their flourishing. Rights and freedoms can and should be affirmed in ways that facilitate that flourishing. This pushes against the usual approaches to valuing rights and liberties of both Confucians and liberals, who tend to reason from abstract first principles rather than through care for people and responsiveness to their actual wants and needs. In setting out this vision, Humane Liberality first critically analyzes the broader problems and possibilities of affirming freedom, equality, and pluralism through Confucianism. It then outlines and promotes an underappreciated concrete humanist account of Mencian morality and politics, which has been overshadowed by more metaphysical orthodox interpretations of Mencius. Concrete humanism insists we adjudicate what is right not through eternal abstractions but instead through situated assessment of human emotions. In this way, humaneness offers a unique and uniquely compelling approach to reasoning about rights and liberties, and humane liberality recasts how we understand and practice Confucian values, liberal principles, and the promise and potential of incorporating the two.