Cosmopolitan Regard: Political Membership and Global Justice (Contemporary Political Theory)

Cosmopolitan theory suggests that we should shift our moral attention from the local to the global. Richard Vernon argues, however, that if we adopt cosmopolitan beliefs about justice we must re-examine our beliefs about political obligation. Far from undermining the demands of citizenship, cosmopolitanism implies more demanding political obligations than theories of the state have traditionally recognized. Using examples including humanitarian intervention, international criminal law, and international political economy, Vernon suggests we have a responsibility not to enhance risks facing other societies and to assist them when their own risk-taking has failed. The central arguments in Cosmopolitan Regard are that what we owe to other societies rests on the same basis as what we owe to our own, and that a theory of cosmopolitanism must connect the responsibilities of citizens beyond their own borders with their obligations to one another.

Politics & Social Sciences

Vernon, Richard

Philosophy

Cambridge University Press

Cosmopolitan theory suggests that we should shift our moral attention from the local to the global. Richard Vernon argues, however, that if we adopt cosmopolitan beliefs about justice we must re-examine our beliefs about political obligation. Far from undermining the demands of citizenship, cosmopolitanism implies more demanding political obligations than theories of the state have traditionally recognized. Using examples including humanitarian intervention, international criminal law, and international political economy, Vernon suggests we have a responsibility not to enhance risks facing other societies and to assist them when their own risk-taking has failed. The central arguments in Cosmopolitan Regard are that what we owe to other societies rests on the same basis as what we owe to our own, and that a theory of cosmopolitanism must connect the responsibilities of citizens beyond their own borders with their obligations to one another.

The Career of Toleration considers the Locke-Proast controversy from the standpoint of political theory, examining Locke's and Proast's texts and tracing their relationship to later discussions of toleration. Vernon reconstructs the grounds of the dispute, drawing attention to the long-term importance of the arguments and evaluating their relative strength. He then examines issues of toleration in later contexts, specifically James Fitzjames Stephen's critique of John Stuart Mill, the perfectionist alternative to contractualist liberalism, and the view that the traditional attachment to toleration must, by the force of its own arguments, move from liberalism to a defence of a much stronger form of democracy. Arguing that Locke's and Proast's exchange marks a turning point in the intellectual history that has helped to structure the terms of modern political debate, Vernon presents a solid case for thinking that the exchange between Locke and Proast is as important for the twentieth century as it was for the seventeenth.

The Career of Toleration: John Locke, Jonas Proast, and After (McGill-Queen’s Studies in the Hist of Id) (Volume 21)

Acumen Publishing

'Bringing Power to Justice?' offers a compilation of fresh perspectives and a comprehensive review of the legal, political, and moral dimensions of the controversy surrounding the ICC.

Bringing Power to Justice?: The Prospects of the International Criminal Court (Volume 4) (Stud in Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict)

Harrington, Joanna

Milde, Michael

Foreign & International Law

McGill-Queen's University Press

Bringing Power to Justice?: The Prospects of the International Criminal Court (Studies in Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict) (Volume 4)

A study considering Sorel and revolution, change, commitment, Bergsonianism, the Left etc.

Commitment and change: Georges Sorel and the idea of revolution

University of Toronto Press

All human relationships are not created equal; attachments between close associates ('friends'), compatriots ('citizens'), and humans ('strangers') vary greatly in terms of their character and importance. From a critical standpoint, though, which type of attachment should take priority? Are we morally obliged to think of ourselves first and foremost as members of the human race, or should we prioritize our allegiance to a particular nation, or our personal friendships above our humanity?In Friends, Citizens, Strangers, Richard Vernon considers these questions, and addresses the implications of various answers. Vernon grounds his investigation in the work of Locke, Wollstonecraft, George Eliot, and J.S. Mill in England, and Rousseau, Comte, Proudhon, and Bergson in France. He explores what these thinkers have to say about the theme in question, and in turn what that theme reveals about basic issues in their own work. Vernon also turns to contemporary thought to explore the issue: the idea of a 'crime against humanity' as an assertion of the moral standing of strangers, the idea of moral partialism, the claim that compatriots inherit historical obligations, and the 'associativist' view that obligations are of two distinct kinds, partial and universal. Finally, drawing on both the historical and contemporary sources discussed, Friends, Citizen, Strangers proposes a solution: a moderate form of cosmopolitanism that finds a place for multiple levels of attachment and association. This work will prove useful not only to scholars of the authors discussed, but also to those interested in ethics and political theory more broadly.

Friends, Citizens, Strangers: Essays on Where We Belong

Politics & Government

Although liberal democratic polities have an important place in contemporary politics, their justification is contentious. Liberalism and democracy are commonly thought to be inconsistent, or at least in tension with one another; and the reality of liberal democracy is perceived as falling far short of the ideal. In Political Morality, Richard Vernon sets out to show that liberal democracy can make sense as a single political conception, rather than a trade-off between two different values. He also argues that in conceiving of liberal democracy as proposed, other problems inherent in liberalism and in democracy are eased; liberal democracy is not exposed to the same objections as liberalism and it can avoid some of the paradoxes that are said to plague democratic theory. The book also points to some of the ways in which polities currently termed 'liberal democracies' fall clearly short of the values that might legitimize them.

Political Morality: A Theory of Liberal Democracy (Political Theory and Contemporary Politics)

Bloomsbury Academic

Although liberal democratic polities have an important place in contemporary politics, their justification is contentious. Liberalism and democracy are commonly thought to be inconsistent, or at least in tension with one another; and the reality of liberal democracy is perceived as falling far short of the ideal. In Political Morality, Richard Vernon sets out to show that liberal democracy can make sense as a single political conception, rather than a trade-off between two different values. He also argues that in conceiving of liberal democracy as proposed, other problems inherent in liberalism and in democracy are eased; liberal democracy is not exposed to the same objections as liberalism and it can avoid some of the paradoxes that are said to plague democratic theory. The book also points to some of the ways in which polities currently termed 'liberal democracies' fall clearly short of the values that might legitimize them.

Continuum

Should the British Museum return the Elgin Marbles to Greece? Should settler societies in North America and Australasia compensate the aboriginal peoples whom they dispossessed? Should Israel have accepted Germany's compensation for Nazi extermination policies?
 The last twenty years have seen a remarkable surge of political and ethical interest in historical redress - that is, the righting of old wrongs. In this fascinating book, Richard Vernon argues that whatever the kind of redress that's at issue, and whether the wrong is large or small, an important philosophical issue arises. Exploring recent and high profile cases, Vernon focuses on the issue of responsibility. Responsibility isn't something inherited, like property or one's DNA. How, then, can it fall to one generation to make good the wrongs done by another? The book addresses all the main issues and arguments relating to justice, memory, apology and citizenship, and concludes by arguing for a forward-looking approach that focuses on the right of future generations to live just lives.

Historical Redress: Must We Pay for the Past? (Think Now)

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Vernon, Richard. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Vernon, Richard

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Vernon, Richard. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Cosmopolitan Regard: Political Membership and Global Justice (Contemporary Political Theory)

Cosmopolitan Regard: Political Membership and Global Justice (Contemporary Political Theory)

The Career of Toleration: John Locke, Jonas Proast, and After (McGill-Queen’s Studies in the Hist of Id) (Volume 21)

Bringing Power to Justice?: The Prospects of the International Criminal Court (Volume 4) (Stud in Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict)

Bringing Power to Justice?: The Prospects of the International Criminal Court (Studies in Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict) (Volume 4)

Commitment and change: Georges Sorel and the idea of revolution

Friends, Citizens, Strangers: Essays on Where We Belong

Political Morality: A Theory of Liberal Democracy (Political Theory and Contemporary Politics)

Political Morality: A Theory of Liberal Democracy (Political Theory and Contemporary Politics)

Historical Redress: Must We Pay for the Past? (Think Now)