Date: 2006-04-25 08:16 pm (UTC)
I'm trying hard to suppress my basic "grrr" response. I have a visceral dislike of authoritarian politics coupled to a deep sense of betrayal that "my" party is perpetrating this stuff but I also realise when I try to finger just what it is about Blunkettblairclarkethought that I really object to, the exercise becomes quite difficult. There is a "theory" that is being articulated here and it's different from any I've come across before, and, in many ways, harder to refute. This isn't a blatant class-based power grab of the Thatcherite smash-the-unions, bring back the birch, Tory conference type. In a sense it's rooted in ideas of "community" that many on the left have been drawn to because the individual-state nexus mediated by 15 second sound bites and a flawed electoral system is so obviously unsatisfactory as Habermas has pointed out. What we seem to be getting though in "New Authoritarianism" is a technocratic rather than democratic version of Habermas' public sphere. "Community standards" are to be enforced not through and by the community after due reflection and debate but by "benevolent" state agents who understand the needs of "ordinary people" better than they do themselves. I don't think "we liberals" are going to win this debate on classic civil libertarian grounds. We need to find a way to link this opposition with the whole "democratic renewal" agenda.
This account has disabled anonymous posting.
If you don't have an account you can create one now.
HTML doesn't work in the subject.
More info about formatting

June 2025

S M T W T F S
1 23 4 5 6 7
8 91011 12 1314
15161718192021
22232425262728
2930     

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jun. 14th, 2025 09:53 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios