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Title details for The Paradox of Liberation by Michael Walzer - Available

The Paradox of Liberation

Secular Revolutions and Religious Counterrevolutions

by Michael Walzer
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A thought-provoking reflection on why secular national liberation movements are so often challenged by militant religious revivals
Many of the successful campaigns for national liberation in the years following World War II were initially based on democratic and secular ideals. Once established, however, the newly independent nations had to deal with entirely unexpected religious fierceness. Michael Walzer, one of America's foremost political thinkers, examines this perplexing trend by studying India, Israel, and Algeria, three nations whose founding principles and institutions have been sharply attacked by three completely different groups of religious revivalists: Hindu militants, ultra-Orthodox Jews and messianic Zionists, and Islamic radicals. In his provocative, well-reasoned discussion, Walzer asks, Why have these secular democratic movements been unable to reproduce their political culture beyond one or two generations? In a postscript, he compares the difficulties of contemporary secularism to the successful establishment of secular politics in the early American republic—thereby making an argument for American exceptionalism but gravely noting that we may be less exceptional today.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    March 26, 2015

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9780300213911

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9780300213911
      • File size: 1958 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Library Journal

      March 1, 2015

      In this slim but stimulating volume, Walzer (professor emeritus, the Inst. for Advanced Study; Just and Unjust Wars) examines three states created after World War II: India, Israel, and Algeria. In particular, the author's focus is on the parallel pattern in which each state was birthed by a secular political liberation movement and then challenged approximately 25 years later by a militant fundamentalist religious movement that persists today. Walzer argues that these three cases are representative of other campaigns for national liberation and explores the particulars of each to begin formulating an answer to the question: What happened to national liberation and to the secular democratic left? In addition to diagnosing what went wrong with these liberation movements from several political perspectives, the author proposes a path forward for national liberationists to acknowledge more effectively cultural and religious traditions in the hope of better avoiding toxic polarizations that breed future extremism. VERDICT While this book is commendably understandable for a broad audience, it will be of particular interest to political science scholars and other political junkies, especially those with leftward leanings.--Brian Sullivan, Alfred Univ. Lib., NY

      Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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