Polybios von Megalopolis

In his ‘Histories’, the Greek historian Polybius, a hostage of Rome for about 17 years, pursued the question of ‘how and thanks to what kind of constitution the Romans … [had] subjected nearly the whole inhabited world to their sole government’. His main merit for political science was that he analysed the history of his world under the hermeneutic primacy of constitutional thought, thereby uniting historical empiricism and political theory. The articles collected in this volume elaborate a multifaceted profile of this political thinker between the world of Greek poleis and the Roman res publica. His main concepts and narratives are thoroughly investigated in terms of themselves as well as their political reception from Polybius’ own time to the 21st century’s High Theory. With contributions by Frank Daubner, Boris Dreyer, Martin Gronau, Lisa Hau, Felix K. Maier, Stefano Saracino, Philipp Scheibelreiter and Jonas Scherr.

Nurturing Islamic and Socio-political Thoughts in Riau and Beyond: Exploring Raja Ali Haji’s Works

Raja Ali Haji is best-known as the author of the famous poem "Gurindam Dua Belas", even though he authored some other important poetries and proses that are often overlooked. In fact, he wrote a vast number of subjects in a variety of literary genres ranging from culture, history, politics, and jurisprudence to language. While other researchers such as Junus, Putten, Andaya, and Syam, have been concerned mainly with his works on culture, history, language, and jurisprudence, this study explores his works on Islamic and socio-political thoughts. Employing content analysis of relevant manuscripts and books, this study finds that Raja Ali Haji played various roles including as a religious scholar and a political thinker who synthesized culture and politics with Islam and whose thoughts have been extensively influential, mainly in Riau and beyond. This finding weakens the earlier assumption that Al-Mawardi political thoughts were more influential in the Malay world.

Ketika Demokrasi Membutuhkan Inklusi

Democracy is a political tool that aims to reach agreement and produce fair decisions for everyone. However, it seems that not all democratic processes and decision-making involve individuals or groups who are socially in a weak, powerless, and marginalized position. These groups, such as women, the elderly, minority groups, and the poor, find themselves in a disadvantageous situation, while political decisions made through a democratic process also impact and affect them directly. Based on this thought, Iris Marion Young, a modern feminist political thinker, seeks to dismantle the various democratic symptoms that obstruct the achievement of justice for all. One of the main problems Young identified is the attempt by those in power to ignore or override the role of communities that are not in power, thereby preventing them from taking full part in democratic processes and decision-making. Therefore, Young proposes the need to intrude on inclusion in the democratic process, through communication models which she calls communicative democracy.

Recent Work on Nietzsche’s Social and Political Philosophy

Against a widely supported view that Nietzsche was not a political thinker, there have been a number of edited collections and monographs devoted either to Nietzsche’s politics or, what is not quite the same thing, relationships between his thought and contemporary political philosophy. What is striking about this secondary literature is the degree of divergence among the positions taken. The books discussed in the present review provide further illustration of this diversity. This applies not only to the question whether he was or was not a political thinker, but also to the further question what kind of political thinker.

Social upbringing and an example of Antiquity in the writings of J.J. Rousseau

The article analyses the influence of Antiquity on J.-J. Rousseau’s ideas of social education. It is noted that Rousseau's interest in Antiquity emerged in childhood and was stimulated by Plutarch's works. In later years, he studied Latin and elements of the ancient Greek language, and translated the works of Tacitus and Seneca into French. Modern scholars place an emphasis on Rousseau's direct acquaintance with the works of ancient authors, in particular, under the influence of the home education that he received from his father, a Geneva watchmaker. At the same time, the article draws attention to the fact that Rousseau's interest in Antiquity coincided with his life choice: he decided to make a career as a writer and composer, and therefore focused on popular examples of creative writing. Montesquieu, Fenelon, Marquis d'Argens introduced ancient themes into the context of literary and academic polemics. Their example was followed by Rousseau, which is convincingly illustrated by the comparative analysis of Fenelon’s Dialogues of the Dead and Prosopopoeia of Fabricius in Rousseau's first Discourse. While retaining the main intention of the great moralist, namely the moral education of society by the writer on the examples of Antiquity, Rousseau rethinks it in the context of his own social anthropology. Antiquity is not an example to follow, but a starting point for a person of his time to think about their own social and cultural identity that is different from the past. Being a writer-moralist and political thinker, Rousseau essentially solved the problem of moral education regarding the perception and assessment of the ancient culture by his contemporaries and society.

ABOUT THE REASONS FOR THE RETURN OF N. V. USTRYALOV TO HIS HOMELAND (BASED ON HIS EPISTOLARY HERITAGE)

The article considers the problem of taking the decision by the publicist and political thinker N. V. Ustryalov to return to his homeland from Far East. Based on the analysis of the materials of his correspondence with his friend N. G. Dikii, which happened in 1930-1935, the author reveals the influence of the unstable economic and political situation in the area of Chinese Eastern railway on various aspects of the life of a well-known “smenovekhovets” in Harbin. Also the author analyzes the escalating of difficulties and problems that he faced in service, teaching, publicistic, socio-political and other spheres of activity; reveals the reasons for the compilation and break up of the relationship with his colleagues and recent associates, which became conditions and circumstances that caused this choice. But the defining role in N. V. Ustryalov’s decision to return home was a factor of his personal motivation - a deep yearning for his homeland, sense of duty to the state and the people, the desire to help his homeland in conditions of its large-scale transformation. The author also highlights the fact that the thinker’s reflections about coming back are permeated not only with nostalgia for his homeland and patriotic thoughts, but also with painful worrying, anxiety and concern for his family and possible lack of demand in the USSR. An irresistible desire to return to his homeland faced in his mind the premonition of the irreversible tragic consequences of his choice.

Recent Work on Nietzsche’s Social and Political Philosophy

Against a widely supported view that Nietzsche was not a political thinker, there have been a number of edited collections and monographs devoted either to Nietzsche’s politics or, what is not quite the same thing, relationships between his thought and contemporary political philosophy. What is striking about this secondary literature is the degree of divergence among the positions taken. The books discussed in the present review provide further illustration of this diversity. This applies not only to the question whether he was or was not a political thinker, but also to the further question what kind of political thinker.

In the Realm of Comrades? Scattered Thoughts Occasioned by the Centenary of the Founding of the Chinese Communist Party, 1921–2021

This brief essay meditates on the advent of the ideal of horizontal social relations, exemplified in the early CCP years in the political term, “comrade” (tongzhi). It takes up Qu Qiubai as exemplary of a Marxist political thinker whose commitments to horizontality/comrade relations can be illustrated through his theories of literature, translation and language. It proposes that despite Xi Jinping's recent rhetorical admonishments to re-activate “comrade” as a political term, it is the LGBTQ community's appropriation of “comrade” in contemporary China that actually holds the potential for a substantive reanimation of the utopian ideals begun a century ago.

Four great magnalia of government. La riforma istituzionale di Henry Neville: un machiavelliano inglese alla corte di Cosimo III de’ Medici

The tumultuous phase running from the beheading of Charles I to the Glorious Revolution is the time frame in which England goes through the crucial phases that will put an end to royal absolutism. One of the most authoritative intellectual figures of that founding historical moment of modern constitutionalism is Henry Neville, author of political and satirical pamphlets who, taking up the lesson of the ancients with the experience of “modern things”, published in 1680 the Plato Redivivus, a work that will consecrate him as a Republican political thinker. The treaty, written and published in the context of the Exclusion crisis, exhort Charles II to reduce his powers. The disease suffered by the State, the causes of which Neville investigates by seeking remedies, arose precisely from the extension of the king's power and his arbitrariness.