Political Resources
Pragmatism
Articles/Op-eds/Essays
Revolution. Do You Know What You Mean by That?, Gideon Lewis-Kraus
Two new books by Fareed Zakaria and Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, demonstrate the concept’s allure and perils.
Liberalism flourished in the Netherlands and England because revolution was a “bottom-up process” in those countries. When Dutch and English leaders saw fit to intervene in the course of human affairs, they were content merely “to implement, confirm, and codify the transformations that had already taken place in society, beneath the surface of politics.” (Zakaria) These revolutions succeeded insofar as they were scarcely needed. …
Perl-Rosenthal: “Buying into this fantasy of instantaneous revolution has significant consequences — most damagingly, a potential loss of faith in the possibilities of change if the transformation fails to arrive as quickly as expected….”
Both Zakaria and Perl-Rosenthal want to shore up our faith in transformative incrementalism, the idea that we might extricate ourselves from this mess by putting one foot in front of the other.
The High Table Liberal, By Sean Wilentz.
[see "Charlottesville, Parkland, and Schlesinger”]
John Dewey and Citizen Politics, Harry Boyte.