Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Machiavelli and Machiavellism

MACHIAVELLI AND MACHIAVELLISM: AN ONGOING AFFAIR:
POLITICAL REALISM VERSUS POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Dr Cesare Cuttica
Luigi Einaudi Foundation, Turin

Thursday, November 13 2008
2:30 p.m.
Arts Building, room 160

Dr.Cesare Cuttica obtained his first degree in Philosophy at the University of Pavia (Italy) and his MA and PhD in History at the European University Institute (Florence) in 2007. He has since been an Associate Tutor at the University of Sussex in Great Britain and Research Fellow at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC.

Dr. Cuttica is now doing postdoctoral work at the University of Pittsburgh in the History Department and at the European Union Centre of Excellence with a grant provided by the Luigi Einaudi Foundation (Turin).

The lectures in this series have also been made possible through the generosity of the Italian Cultural Institute and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rome.
Charles Taylor inaugure un nouveau forum interuniversitaire

I missed this when it came out, but the news office at U de Montreal did a nice write-up of the inaugural GRIPP lecture given by Charles Taylor in September.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

International Political Economy opening, McGill University

International Relations

The Department of Political Science invites applications for a tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level in the area of International Relations, with a specialization in international political economy, broadly understood. The Department seeks applicants whose research is theoretically and empirically informed, who possess strong training in qualitative and/or quantitative and/or formal methods, and who can teach effectively at the undergraduate and graduate levels. An applicant’s record of performance must provide evidence of outstanding research potential. Candidates should have already completed the PhD or be very near completion. Applications should include a curriculum vitae, graduate transcript, three letters of reference, a sample of written work and materials pertinent to teaching skills. The position start date is August 1, 2009. Review of applications will begin in January 2009 and will continue until the position is filled. For more information about the Department and University, visit our web site at www.mcgill.ca/politicalscience/.

PLEASE FORWARD SUPPORTING MATERIALS TO:

Professor Richard Schultz
James McGill Professor and Chair
Department of Political Science
McGill University
855 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 2T7

All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply; however, in accordance with Canadian immigration requirements, priority will be given to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada. McGill University is committed to equity in employment and diversity. It welcomes applications from indigenous peoples, visible minorities, ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, women, persons of minority sexual orientations and gender identities and others who may contribute to further diversification.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Private Law Models for Public Law Concepts

How did I miss this over the summer? An excellent article on a number of intersecting important topics.

Daniel Lee, "Private Law Models for Public Law Concepts: The Roman Law Theory of Dominium in the Monarchomach Doctrine of Popular Sovereignty," The Review of Politics (2008), 70:370-399

The essay traces the juridical origins of the modern doctrine of popular sovereignty as developed by the monarchomach jurists of the late sixteenth century. Particularly, the use of doctrines from the Roman law of property explains the sovereign right of the people to resist and reconstitute the commonwealth. Reviving the civilian concept of dominium during the French Wars of Religion and dynastic royal politics, these radical jurists articulated the claim that the people, not kings, have property rights over the commonwealth. By conceptualizing the people corporately as property-owners in this way, they were able to draw on legal arguments from Roman law to justify popular resistance as an assertion of a corporate property right. In doing so, the monarchomachs expressed an elaborate theory of state and sovereignty within the grammar of the Roman private law.
Public Intellectual 2.0

A new essay by Dan Drezner at the Chronicle on social scientists, bloggers, and declinist narratives about public intellectuals.