Handbook of Swiss Politics

Approaching Switzerland as a “laboratory” for democracy, this Handbook contributes to a refined understanding of the res publica. Over the years, the Handbook of Swiss Politics has established itself as a classic work. This new and extended second edition of the Handbook comprises 32 chapters, all by leading Swiss political scientists. The contributors write about fundamentals, institutions, interest groups, political parties, new social movements, the cantons and municipalities, elections, popular votes, policy processes and public policies. They address several important issues in the current international debates, such as the internationalization of domestic politics, multi-level governance, and the role of metropolitan agglomerations. Nine new chapters enrich this second, completely updated version. The section on public policies has been significantly extended, and covers a dozen of policy domains. Grounded on the latest scientific knowledge, this volume also serves as an indispensable reference for a non-academic audience of decision-makers, diplomats, senior officials and journalists.

Platonis Opera omnia...[y otras obras] /

Mode of access: Internet.

Travel, back and forth, to the myth. Cinema´s contribution to the formation of the tourist iconography of Mallorca

Mallorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands, is a well-known summer holidays destination; an ideal place to relax and enjoy the sun and the sea. That tourist gaze reflected on postcards results from advertising campaigns, where cinema played an important role with documentaries and fiction films. The origins of that iconography started in the decades of the 1920’s and 1930’s, reflecting the so-called myth of the “island of calm”. On the other hand, the films of the 1950’s and 1960’s created new stereotypes related to the mass tourism boom. Busy beaches and the white bodies of tourists replaced white sandy beaches, mountains and landscapes shown up in the movies of the early decades of the 20th century. Besides, hotels and nightclubs also replaced monuments, rural landscapes and folk exhibitions. These tourist images mirror the social and spatial transformations of Mallorca, under standardization processes like other seaside mass tourist destinations. The identity was rebuilt on the foundations of "modernity". Although "balearization" has not ceased, nowadays filmmaking about Mallorca is advertising again a stereotype close to that one of the 1920s and 1930s, glorifying the myth of the "island of calm". This singular identity makes the island more profitable for capital that searches socio-spatial differentiation in post-fordist times.

Hans Blumenberg and Feminism

The German philosopher Hans Blumenberg [1920-1996] was interested in feminist issues during the last two decades of his life as shown their dedication and effort in compiling selected cuts in the media related to the topic of women and their development of multiple short essays inspired by the latter and countless curious anecdotes. Hans Blumenberg and feminism seeks to inform the reader about the existence of a blumenberguian thought line of research totally unexplored so far. It can only be revealed through the study of the philosopher ‘Nachlaβ’ found in the Deutsches literaturarchiv Marbach (Stuttgart) which I personally had a chance to dig through the award of a research grant from the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Dienst Austage).

"Politica architectonica". El aristotelismo político en el debate político alemán durante la primera edad moderna

Este artículo reconstruye la evolución del debate político alemán durante la primera edad moderna, poniendo atención en particular en la manera en la que tal debate se fue elaborando y transmitiendo dentro de la comunidad de discurso universitaria que lo produjo. El análisis de las características formales y de las modalidades en las que se desarrolló este debate permite demonstrar que el aristotelismo político no fue sólo una doctrina política, sino también, y sobre todo, un código común que más allá de diferencias específicas, caracterizó todas las experiencias universitarias del Sacro Imperio Romano Germánico desde finales del siglo xvi y durante todo el siglo xvii. Las características esenciales de este código se pondrán de relieve en particular a través del caso de los escritos políticos de Iohannes Althusius, en los que la forma y el contenido de su doctrina política terminan coincidiendo.

La felicidad del mal

En el presente artículo se aspira a poner de relieve cómo Tucídides, al describir la guerra de Corcira y extraer las consecuencias morales de la misma, pone bajo el foco de su análisis incluso los bajos fondos de naturaleza humana, esa dimensión de la psique que permanece oculta o es negada cuando las sociedades viven en paz y con cierto grado de prosperidad. El resultado es la aparición del mal en toda su apoteosis existencial. Es decir, no ya el mal que infligimos unas veces sin querer y otras por necesidad, o por seguridad, o por miedo, etc. El mal que ahí aparece como constitutivo del ser humano es el que se inflige cuando han desaparecido todas las condiciones que lo volvían explicable y hasta necesario, el mal gratuito, el mal que ha aislado a su ejecutor de todo contexto, que ha transformado la voluntad del mismo en siervo suyo y que, a cambio, le procura éxtasis de felicidad que sólo él procura.

Law and Original Contract in the Republican Thought of Immanuel Kant

This article discusses the concept of right and its identification with the power to coerce, to show a reciprocity between the original contract and the right, as a manifestation of the reciprocity between moral law and freedom, as Kant states in its Second Critique. The demonstration of this view will allow a republican stance evident in the legal and political thought of Kant, since the right of a people can only exist while the town itself is unified to enact.

The Formation of a Liberal Thinker: Georg Jellinek and his Early Writings (1872 – 1878)

Georg Jellinek is known as one of the most prominent representative of German legal positivism. This article aims at identifying and discussing the more theoretical- political connotation of Jellinek’s thought with a particular focus on his liberal inspiration. According to the perspective of the history of political thought, this article shows how some intellectual premises to Jellinek’s liberalism take shape and emerge from a series of young Jellinek’s writings on history of philosophy and history of ideas.

Francisco Campos and the Brazilian Authoritarianism. A Hidden Dialogue with Carl Schmitt

This article propose to analyse the theoretical sources which constitutes the political culture of the Brazilian authoritarianism in the 20th century, principally in the work of Francisco Campos and his connection with the “integralismo” and its catholic conservatism ways. The hypothesis is that the mentioned connection which had inspired the ideological political culture which make possible all the sources and historical conditions to the implementation of the Brazilian dictatorship in the year 1964. This article has analysed the facist inspiration of the Campos´s theory and how it has happened, his hidden dialogue with Carl Schmitt, settling issuing lines of understanding on contemporary authoritarianism whose spreading still proceed, but now standing under new figures, discourses, rhetorics, symbologies and enemies.

Lorenzo Luzuriaga and the Challenge of Global Education

This article inquires into a neglected but crucial feature of the works of Lorenzo Luzuriaga: his analysis and criticism of the processes of internationalisation in education which marked the post- Second World War period and which coincided with his long Argentine exile. In particular, the article analyses – through a discussion of his initial appreciation and following criticisms in regard to UNESCO’s normative guidelines and educative practices – the philosophical premises and the political implications of his last educative proposals. These will be shown to be conceived in tight connection and continuity with his preceding works. Moreover, this investigation will permit to recognize the remarkable contribution he offered to the enhancement of José Ortega y Gasset’s pedagogical theory within a changed political context characterised by a unique attempt of defining and institutionalising new values for a global education aimed to promote world peace.A paradigmatic historical event that still grounds the current debate on the nature and purposes of citizenship education and in which the active, social and political education proposed by Luzuriaga still constitutes an interesting critical reference

The School and the State. Comparative Study of the Althusserian Concept of “Ideological State Apparatus”

The famous althusserian concept “The ideological State apparatus” has the inconvenient of hiding what truly should have to be discussed: The Kind of State of which it is talking about. Mostly, avoids realizing the fact that the architecture of the modern State was thought of, precisely, as antidote against ideological control. The success and failures of this political project become then, very difficult to diagnose.

Democratic Stability through the Concept of Reasonableness in John Rawls

The paper addresses the question of the stability of a democratic state and shows the shortcomings of the political and institutional structure for this purpose. It argues for the need of an additional factor of reasonableness as defined by John Rawls. We reflect on its articulation with rationality, its role regarding laws and the areas where its presence is crucial to the health and maintenance of a democratic political society. The analysis concludes by justifying the instrumental need of such faculty in the political arena as well as vindicating it as a mandatory civic duty.

Temporalization of History and Methodological Perspectivism

This essay aims to explore the issue of methodologic perspectivism in Kosselleck’s thought considering as cornerstone the concept of temporalization. The first section links the concepts of temporalization and secularization introducing beforehand philosophies of the history from Sattelzeit time. Then the text focuses on reconstructing the notion of temporalization based on an emerging tension between the language and the reality it describes. This article concludes bringing up the notion of ficcionality as a key element in Koselleck’s theory of history making up for the methodological deficits after this tension. The unifying thread of this essay is that the theoretical project of a conceptual history it is not only an analysis method but mainly a theory of modernity.