In "Communication Theory" (vol. 24 no. 1, 2014):
The Habermasian Public Sphere and Exclusion [pdf]
by Lincoln Dahlberg
Abstract
One trenchant critique of the Habermasian public sphere conception, voiced particularly strongly by poststructuralist-influenced critics, is that it fails to fully account for exclusion. In this article I examine the strength of this critique. I begin by demonstrating how Habermasians have in many ways already theorized public sphere exclusion. Given this, I ask what is left of the poststructuralist-inspired critique. I argue that what is left is a deep disagreement with Habermasians about the grounding of the public sphere conception. I subsequently ask what difference, and moreover what positive contribution, a poststructuralist (rather than a Habermasian) grounding can make for understanding public sphere exclusion and associated politics.
Lincoln Dahlberg is Visiting Fellow at the Center for Critical and Cultural Studies, University of Queensland. He is co-editor (with Sean Phelan) of "Discourse Theory and Critical Media Politics" (Palgrave, 2011).
See also Dahlberg's paper "Exclusions of the Public Sphere Conception" (2013).
In “European Journal of International Law” vol. 25 (2014) no. 1:
“Is Global Constitutionalism Meaningful or Desirable?” [pdf]
by Michel Rosenfeld
Abstract
"Upon conceiving constitutionalism on the scale of the nation-state as transparent and unproblematic, one may think global constitutionalism to be a mere utopia. On closer analysis, however, legitimation of nation-state constitutionalism turns out to be much more complex and contested than initially apparent, as becomes evident based on the contrast between liberal and illiberal constitutionalism. Upon the realization that nation-state liberal constitutionalism can only be legitimated counterfactually, the social contract metaphor emerges as a privileged heuristic tool in the quest for a proper balance between identity and difference. Four different theories offer plausible social contract justifications of nation-state liberal constitutionalism: a deontological theory, such as those of Rawls and Habermas, which privileges identity above difference; a critical theory that leads to relativism; a thick national identity based one that makes legitimacy purely contingent; and a dialectical one that portrays the social contract as permanently in the making without any definitive resolution. Endorsing this last theory, I argue that differences between national and transnational constitutionalism are of degree rather than of kind. Accordingly, it may be best to cast certain transnational regimes as constitutional rather than as administrative or international ones."
Michel Rosenfeld is Professor of Human Rights at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, New York. He is the author of ”Law, Justice, Democracy, and the Clash of Cultures” (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and co-editor (with Susanna Mancini) of ”Constitutional Secularism in an Age of Religious Revival” (Oxford University Press, 2014).
The Global Public Sphere
Public Communication in the Age of Reflective Interdependence
by Ingrid Volkmer
(Polity Press, 2014)
224 pages
Description
Over the last several years, the debate about publics seems to have newly emerged. This debate critically reflects the Habermasian ideal of a (national) public sphere in a transnational context. However, it seems that the issue of a reconstruction of a global public sphere is more complex. In this brilliant and provocative book, Ingrid Volkmer argues that a reflective approach of globalization is required in order to identify and deconstruct key strata of deliberate public discourse in supra- and subnational societal formations. This construction helps to understand the new processes of legitimacy at the beginning of the 21st century in which the traditional conception of a ‘public’ and its role as a legitimizing force are being challenged and transformed. The book unfolds this key phenomenon of global deliberate interconnectedness as a discursive and negotiated dimension within ‘reflective’ globalization, i.e. continuously constituting, maintaining and refining the ‘life’ of the global public and conceptualizes a global public sphere.
Contents [preview]
Introduction
1. Public Territories and the Imagining of Political Community
2. Post-Territoriality in Spheres of Public Assemblages
3. From Reflexive Modernity to Reflective Globalization
4. Public Interdependence, Interlocutors and the Matrix of Influence
5. From the Public Sphere to Public Horizons
Ingrid Volkmer is Associate Professor of Media and Communications at the University of Melbourne. She is the editor of "The Handbook of Global Media Research" (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012). In this video Ingrid Volkmer talks about her work.
See also her paper on "The European Public" (2011, pdf)
Radio broadcast from the "Österreichischer Rundfunk" (ORF) on the life and work of Jürgen Habermas:
"Jürgen Habermas - Der Philosoph als demokratische Instanz" (60 minutes)
Directed by Michael Reitz, June 2014 (with Jürgen Habermas, Stefan Müller-Doohm, Rainer Forst, Walter Reese-Schäfer, Hans-Peter Krüger and Detlef Horster)
The broadcast is only available for a restricted period.
Today is Jürgen Habermas's 85th birthday. Here are some of the public birthday greetings:
* Sigmar Gabriel, Chairman of SPD & Minister for Economic Affairs
* Martin Schulz [Twitter]
* Heinz Fischer, President of Austria
* Arno Widmann, Frankfurter Rundschau
* Jürgen Kaube, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
* Christoph Möllers, Süddeutsche Zeitung
* Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main
* Micha Brumlik, Jüdische Allgemeine
* Klaus-Jürgen Scherer, Vorwärts
In "Deutschlandsradio" (June 17, 2014) André Hatting talks with Professor Lutz Wingert:
"Der Ruhm ist ihm nicht so in den Kopf gestiegen" (audio)
Zum 85. Geburtstag von Jürgen Habermas
Lutz Wingert ist Professor of Practical Philosophy at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich.
"Blätter für deutsche und internationale Politik" has published an e-book in honour of Jürgen Habermas's 85th birthday on June 18, 2014:
"Der Aufklärer Jürgen Habermas – Zum 85. Geburtstag"
[free download]
The book contains all texts by Jürgen Habermas published in the journal since 1997:
* "Für ein starkes Europa" - aber was heißt das? (2014)
* Demokratie oder Kapitalismus? (2013)
* Wie demokratisch ist die EU? (2011)
* Europa und die neue deutsche Frage (2011)
* Der Konstruktionsfehler der Währungsunion (2011)
* Das utopische Gefälle (2010)
* Die Dialektik der Säkularisierung (2008)
* Die öffentliche Stimme der Religion (2007)
* Europa: Vision und Votum (2007)
* Die Bewährung Europas (2006)
* Ein avantgardistischer Spürsinn für Relevanzen (2006)
* Wege aus der Weltunordnung (2004)
* Fusion oder Spaltung? (2003)
* Europäische Identität und universalistisches Handeln (2003)
* Fundamentalismus und Terror (2002)
* Der europäische Nationalstaat unter dem Druck der Globalisierung (1999)
* Die postnationale Konstellation und die Zukunft der Demokratie (1998)
* Über den öffentlichen Gebrauch der Historie (1997)
In "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (June 16, 2014) Martin Bauer reviews "Jürgen Habermas - Eine Biographie" by Stefan Müller-Doohm:
"Ein polemisches Talent"
[now available online here]
Excerpts:
Ein Ratschlag, um den Habermas anlässlich der Verleihung des Kyoto-Preises gebeten wurde, wirft sowohl Licht auf sein Verhältnis zu Adorno, als auch auf seine eigene intellektuelle Statur. Gefragt nach einem Leitsatz für die Jugend, antwortete Habermas im November 2004: "Vergleiche dich nie mit einem Genie, aber trachte immer danach, das Werk eines Genies zu kritisieren." [.....]
Ein "polemisches Talent" zu sein hat sich Habermas höchstselbst attestiert. Seinen Ruhm hat er sich nicht zuletzt durch scharfsinnige wortmächtige, eben meinungsstarke Zuspitzungen erworben; mutmaßlich aber auch durch einen geschickten Umgang mit diversen Medien. Über diese Rückseite seiner publizistischen Präsenz ist in Müller-Doohms Biographie überraschend wenig zu erfahren.. [.....]
Dass Habermas "ein lebenslustiger und geselliger Mensch" sei, wie es bezeichnenderweise lediglich in einer Fußnote heißt, die einen seiner alte Freund zitiert, will angesichts der langen Erzählung seines Biografen nicht so recht einleuchten. Nach der Lektüre bleibt eher der Eindruck, dass Jürgen Habermas ein ungeheuer arbeitsreiches und diszipliniert geführtes Leben darauf verwandt hat, sehr viel zu lesen und nicht weniger viel zu Papier zu bringen."
Axel Honneth, Stefan Müller-Doohm, and Hans-Ulrich Wehler on the philosophy of Jürgen Habermas:
Der Kant der Moderne? (audio, 44 minutes)
[Südwestrundfunk 2, June 16, 2014]
