Suchergebnisse

Good (ethical and effective) global public leadership—by national politicians, intergovernmental and nongovernmental international organizational leaders, multinational corporate leaders, and technoscientists—will make a significant positive difference in our global system's capacity to solve contemporary and futuristic global problems. High levels of social, economic, political, and ethical vision; expert communication; strategic thinking; and contextual and emotional intelligence by leaders and followers will be needed to interpret global problematic situations and contexts, determine the probable causal mechanisms at work in bringing about global problems, and arrive at global, national, and local solutions. We live in dangerous times. For our globalizing—disseminating and converging—technologies present problems and system-destroying possibilities that challenge the common goods of all humanity, other species, and the biosphere. In these uncertain and complex times, the need for effective and ethical democratic leaders, advised by ethical and creative technoscientific leaders, is greater than ever. The contextual intelligence and other excellent (virtuous) qualities of these leaders, and the lack of bad leadership, will help our globalizing human societies avoid the greatest systemic dangers we face.

In this article, the authors review some contemporary cases where biotechnologies have been employed, where they have had global implications, and where there has been considerable debate. The authors argue that the concept of dignity, which lies at the center of such documents as the 2005 Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, the International Declaration on Human Genetic Data (2003) and the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights (1997) is useful, if not necessary, in engaging in decision making in relation to the moral evaluation of biotechnologies on a global scale.

AbstractThis chapter considers interpretations of the globalization process along a continuum ranging from "realist" emphasis upon sovereignty in the inter-state system to "idealist" projections of cosmopolitan citizenship and even global government. The work of Jürgen Habermas is taken to be the most comprehensive via media between the "extreme" positions. In The Postnational Constellation, Habermas relates morality to ethics in explaining the potential for, but also the current limitations upon, cosmopolitan projects. The example of the European Union demonstrates the possibility for politics to "catch up" with globalizing markets.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Introduction -- Acknowledgements -- PART I: THE REIGN OF TECHNE -- Political Imagination in a Technical Age -- Technology and Politics -- Culture and Politics -- The Modern Sacred and Secular Political Religions -- The Political Revised Sequence -- A Political Imagination for Our Time -- Notes -- Marx and Lukács on Technology and the "Value" of Freedom -- The Movement from Communal Mediation to Commodity Mediation -- The Movement from Particular Labor to Universal Producer -- Scientific Planning and the Problem of "Value" -- Notes -- Languages, Techniques, Rationalities -- The Trobrianders of Melanesia -- Ancient Greece -- The Sukuma of East Africa -- Heidegger -- A Game of Science -- Beyond Games -- Conclusions -- Notes -- Technology and the Problem of Democratic Control: The Contribution of Jürgen Habermas -- The Relevance of Marx -- The Problem as Defined by Weber -- Towards a Model of Democracy -- Interaction and Emancipation -- Notes -- Shades of Optimism: Soviet Views on Science and Morality -- Propaganda Optimism -- Historical Optimism -- Cautious Optimism -- Conclusions -- Notes -- PART II: PROSPECTS FOR DEMOCRACY -- Liberal Democracy and the Problem of Technology -- Notes -- Rousseau Versus Instant Government: Democratic Participation in the Age of Telepolitics -- I -- II -- Ill -- IV -- V -- Notes -- Anarchism and Technology -- Notes -- Hegel and Marx: Perspectives on Politics and Technology -- Notes -- Political Technology, Democracy and Education: John Dewey's Legacy -- I -- II -- Ill -- Notes -- Dahl, Democracy and Technology -- I -- II -- III -- IV -- V -- VI -- Notes -- PART III: PONDERING OUR DESTINY -- Politics and Progress in Heidegger's Philosophy of History -- Fundamental Ontology and the World-Historical Idea of Progress

"What are the chief challenges posed to contemporary democracy by modern technology, and how can democratic theory best respond to, or at least reflect on, those challenges? Inhabiting the kind of technologically advanced era in which we live, what sources are available within political theory for theoretical insight concerning the problem of democratic engagement with technology? The purpose of this volume is to canvas a broad range of theorists and theoretical traditions in order to address these questions, including Hegel and Marx, Rousseau and John Dewey, Heidegger and Simone Weil, Habermas and Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt and Hans Jonas. Commentaries on all these important thinkers -- focused on the issue of contemporary technology as posing unique social and political challenges for democratic political life -- yields rich and ambitious resources for theoretical reflection. "--Provided by publisher.

"Discussing the major theories of political leadership with a focus on contemporary challenges that political leaders face worldwide, this research companion provides a comprehensive and up-to-date resource for an international readership. The editors combine empirical and normative approaches to emphasize the centrality of political culture, as well as the limits of culture and the universal demands of innovative adaptation. The volume examines: classical and contemporary theories of political leadership; great leadership, both national and international; politically influential religions and religious-political leadership; social movements' leadership; tensions between political leadership and other forms of leadership (e.g. judicial, corporate); and, postmodern and feminist challenges to traditional notions of political leadership. Above all, this volume is a guide for further research in political leadership theories, comparative case studies of political leadership, and the clarification of future contexts for political leadership."--Publisher description