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The Liberalism of Fear and the Counterrevolutionary Project

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2012

Robert Meister
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Extract

Much of Catherine Lu's response resonates in tone and substance with my article. Like me, Lu speaks in the language of moral psychology and relies heavily on the later work of that preeminent moral psychologist among liberal theorists, Judith Shklar. She agrees, moreover, with both Shklar and me that victimhood (and the fear it produces) is morally damaging more often than not, and that the recent literature on human rights, which focuses on the relation of victim and perpetrator, tends to let the beneficiaries of systemic injustice off the hook. Lu and I, thus, share much common ground that other respondents might have contested, and I am grateful that her perceptive criticisms focus on points within my argument that I am pleased to elaborate.

Type
Debate
Information
Ethics & International Affairs , Volume 16 , Issue 2 , September 2002 , pp. 118 - 123
Copyright
Copyright © Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs 2002

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References

1 Robert Meister, “Ways of Winning:The Costs of Moral Victory in Transitional Regimes”(prepared for the conference, “Forgiveness: Traditions and Implications,” Obert C.and Grace A.Tanner Humanities Center, University of Utah, April 13–15,2000).

2 Shklar, Judith N Putting Cruelty First in Ordinary Vices 1984 CambridgeHarvard University Press 744Google Scholar.

3 Shklar, Judith NRosenblum, Nancy L The Liberalism of Fear in Liberalism and the Moral Life 1989 CambridgeHarvard University Pressp.29Google Scholar. See also Shklar, “Putting Cruelty First,” esp. pp. 24ff.

4 As Shklar puts it:“Somehow injustice and justice are not psychologically complementary, nor are they exact opposites.”Shklar, Judith NThe Faces of Injustice 1990 New HavenYale University Pressp.101Google Scholar.

5 See Shklar, Judith NYack, Bernard A Life of Learning in Liberalism Without Illusions 1996 ChicagoUniversity of Chicago PressGoogle Scholar).

6 Shklar's dissertation advisor, Carl Friedrich, was a leader in this movement.See, e.g., Friedrich, Carl JTotalitarianism 1954 CambridgeHarvard University PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar); and Friedrich, Carl JBrzezinski, ZbigniewTotalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy 1956 CambridgeHarvard University PressGoogle Scholar). The younger generation ofShklar's colleagues when she joined the Harvard faculty contributed to this line of thought. See, e.g., Ulam, AdamThe New Face of Soviet Totalitarianism 1963 CambridgeHarvard University PressCrossRefGoogle Scholar); and Brzezinski, ZbigniewHuntington, Samuel PPolitical Power: USA/USSR 1964 New YorkViking PressGoogle Scholar).

7 See Shklar, Judith NAmerican Citizenship: The Quest for Inclusion 1991 CambridgeHarvard University PressGoogle Scholar).

8 Shklar, The Liberalism of Fear p.21Google Scholar.

9 Schmitt, CarlSchwab, GeorgeThe Concept of the Political 1996 ChicagoUniversity of Chicago Pressp.71Google Scholar.

10 Shklar, Putting Cruelty First 1523Google Scholar, esp. p. 21.

11 For a contrasting view, see Ackerman, BruceThe Future ofLiberal Revolution 1992 New HavenYale University PressGoogle Scholar).

12 For a valuable study of the hypocrisies concealed by this moral logic, see Feher, MichelPowerless by Design: The Age of the International Community 2000 Durham, N.C.Duke University PressGoogle Scholar).

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14 Berlant, LaurenSarat, AustinKearns, Thomas R The Subject of True Feeling: Pain, Privacy, and Politics in Cultural Pluralism, Identity Politics and the Law 1991 Ann ArborUniversity of Michigan Press 7273Google Scholar.

15 Ibid., p.53Google Scholar.

16 Ibid., p.54Google Scholar.

17 Ibid., pp.7678Google Scholar. (The preceding three paragraphs are adapted from Meister,“Ways of Winning.”)

18 Klein, Melanie Some Reflections on the Oresteia in The Writings of Melanie Klein vol. 3 Money-Kyrle, R ENew YorkFree Press 1975 280–84298Google Scholar.

19 Alford, C FredMelanie Klein and Critical Social Theory 1989 New HavenYale University Pressp.107Google Scholar.

20 Brooks, PeterThe Melodramatic Imagination: Balzac, Henry James, Melodrama, and the Modes of Excess 1976 New HavenYale University Press 1112Google Scholar.