Heidegger. L'introduction du nazisme dans la philosophie. Autour des séminaires inédits de 1933–1935, Emmanuel Faye, Paris, Albin Michel, 2005, 567 pages.

Pour un lecteur de Heidegger, l'ouvrage d'Emmanuel Faye est assez pénible. En faire une critique est périlleux car, en défendant la possibilité de lire Heidegger, on risque d'être catégorisé comme penseur nazi (rien de moins), fût-ce à son insu, et, en acceptant la démonstration de Faye, on s'interdit l'accès à une pensée qui a eu une influence décisive sur la philosophie contemporaine.

Qu'allons-nous faire des pauvres?, Campbell, Bonnie (sous la direction de), Paris : Éditions l'Harmattan, 2005.

L'ouvrage collectif dirigé par Bonnie Campbell, sous-titré “ réformes institutionnelles et espaces politiques ou les pièges de la gouvernance pour les pauvres ” aborde des thèmes fondamentaux : la mise en forme du politique dans les stratégies de lutte contre la pauvreté, la manière dont il est déployé et se structure et son impact sur les espaces politiques et la pauvreté. Il jette un regard novateur sur les processus d'ancrage et de légitimation liés à la reconfiguration du politique dans le cadre des nouvelles stratégies de lutte contre la pauvreté. Contenant plusieurs études de cas sur l'Afrique et l'Amérique latine, le livre soulève des problématiques vastes et fécondes dont la portée devrait intéresser des chercheurs de différentes disciplines et les praticiens du développement international. Basé sur une approche holistique, articulant le politique, l'économique et le social, l'ouvrage permet de saisir la logique des dynamiques en cours dans les pays concernés, logique étrangement similaire à celle de nos sociétés, et c'est pourquoi il nous interpelle tous. Aussi à la question “ qu'allons-nous faire des pauvres ”, fait écho une question analogue : “ qu'allons-nous faire de nos pauvres ?”. Cet ouvrage collectif, à la fois théorique et pratique, est riche par le questionnement qu'il provoque, bien qu'il soit construit avec modestie et solidité.

James Madison: The Theory and Practice of Republican Government, Samuel Kernell, ed., Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003, pp. ix, 381.

The result of a conference celebrating James Madison's 250th birthday in 2001, this collection of essays is full of valuable insights on important aspects of his political science. At a time when historians give much less consideration to the politics of the Founding than they used to, these essays are a welcome reminder of the importance of the questions still remaining.

America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global World Order, Stefan Halper and Jonathan Clarke, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 339

George Will, the American Tory commentator, recently wrote in Newsweek that “neoconservatives alarm almost everyone who isn't one—and especially dismay real conservatives” (emphasis in original). America Alone is a forceful expression of that dismay by two authors with impeccable conservative credentials. Halper served in the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations and is director of the Donner Atlantic Studies Programme at Cambridge University; Clarke, a former British foreign service officer, is a fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington. Their book is both a comprehensive, well documented, no-holds-barred attack on neo-conservative foreign policy—its advocacy of force as a first resort, its unilateralism, its exclusive focus on the Middle East, its total lack of realism—and a defence of what they consider the mainstream Republican foreign policy tradition, which promotes American values and interests using the whole palette of diplomatic, economic, and cultural instruments, as well as military force. The authors are appalled at how neo-conservative policy has squandered the world's post-9/11 sympathy and led to America's isolation from most of its traditional allies. As “limited government conservatives” they are alarmed at the effect of the neo-conservative siege mentality (“World War IV”) on domestic policy and politics, since a “state of constant warfare has the effect of transferring power to the center” (30). They deeply resent the neo-conservatives' claim to Reagan's legacy by creating “a false history” (chapter 5) and argue persuasively that Reagan's foreign policy was solidly in the Republican realist tradition.

Love and Politics: Re-interpreting Hegel, Alice Ormiston, SUNY series in Hegelian Studies; Albany: State University of New York Press, 2004, pp. ix, 164.

John, Paul, George and Ringo remind us that “all you need is love.” I suspect most would agree with The Beatles when, pausing in our scholarly endeavours, we glance about at the gloomy train wreck of many a personal relationship. When we return to our vocation's most gripping questions—How are community and individual autonomy to be harmonized? How is reason to be satisfied and yet ordinary emotional experience affirmed? How can democratic institutions be strengthened against technocratic thinking and control?—love is no doubt put aside and the serious work of theorizing real solutions begins. Ormiston's project is to rescue love as a solution to just such questions.

Integrating Cognitive and Rational Theories of Foreign Policy Decision Making, Alex Mintz, ed., New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002, pp. 175

Heuristic method uses formal reasoning that is based on experience, often because there is no precise and/or relevant algorithm available. Heuristic reasoning is guided by trial and error. It is convincing without being rigorous. Heuristic method is basically a rule of thumb or other simplifications that allow drawing conclusions without being certain.

The Cambridge History of Twentieth-Century Political Thought, Terence Ball and Richard Bellamy, eds., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. xi, 754.

This volume is the last of the Cambridge Histories of Political Thought. The editors call the series “monumental” and they are correct. Cambridge has provided a comprehensive academic reference of the highest quality. The editors have assembled 29 authors who have distinguished careers in political thought. The overall quality of their contributions is excellent, just as the hand of the editors is found in the articles without interfering. Overall this is a splendid reference.

Le gouvernement du monde. Une critique politique de la globalisation, Jean François Bayart, Paris : Fayard, 2004, 448 pages.

La mondialisation constitue-t-elle une nouvelle ontologie dans le domaine des relations internationales? C'est la question principale qu'essaie d'aborder cet ouvrage de Jean François Bayart. Selon l'auteur en effet, la globalisation demande à être saisie dans son historicité, c'est-à-dire, dans sa banalité. Parce qu'elle est une configuration historique, la globalisation est singulière. Elle est un régime spécifique de pouvoir et d'accumulation et, en tant que telle, elle appelle un traitement ordinaire.

Leo Strauss, Max Weber, And The Scientific Study Of Politics, Nasser Behnegar, Chicago: U. of Chicago Press, 2003, pp, xiii, 221.

Any serious student of Leo Strauss will be familiar with the fact that Strauss was a serious critic of modern political science. Strauss contended throughout his career that the modern social sciences are one of the driving forces currently driving modern liberalism into a state of crisis. In Leo Strauss, Max Weber and The Scientific Study of Politics, Nasser Behnegar encapsulates Strauss' critique of the modern social sciences in an accessible and easy to read text.

The Decline of Politics: Governance, Globalization and the Public Sphere, Peter Marden, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003, pp. xvi, 286

Here is a book that takes readers above and beyond the usual one-dimensional approach to globalization, all too often couched in economics, with which we have become familiar of late. Marden's Decline of Politics will reward those readers who are looking for a multifaceted analysis of global trends, and will intrigue and challenge those who believe that they already understand them.

The Politics of Liberty in England and Revolutionary America, Lee Ward, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. x, 459.

This book is a valuable contribution to scholarship on seventeenth and eighteenth century political thought. It will be of particular interest to those who study theories of natural rights, the relationship between religion and politics, constitutionalism and the American founding. The most commendable quality of Ward's book is its even-handedness. Methodologically, Ward combines a detailed reading of important texts with continuous attention to context, engaging the literature distinctive to both approaches. Interpretively, he treats every author he discusses with generosity, revealing what is most significant and compelling about each of them. Politically, the story he tells corrects narratives that overemphasize the role of either liberalism or republicanism in Anglo-American thought. He follows both traditions as they oppose divine right theory together as rival elements of “radical Whig” thinking, collaborate in the defence of natural liberty, and combine to form the basis of the American regime.

L'empire blessé : Washington à l'épreuve de l'asymétrie, Barthélemy Courmont, Québec : Presses de l'Université du Québec, 2005, 271 pages.

Dans son livre récent, Barthélémy Courmont soutient que l'empire américain fait face à une multiplication d'adversaires asymétriques depuis quelques années. À l'époque d'autres empires, on les appelait les “ barbares ”; aujourd'hui, c'est une multitude de groupes qui sont considérés comme menaçants ou terroristes. Les réponses politiques américaines ne sont plus adéquates pour faire face à de tels adversaires, dont la variété rend inopérante toute solution uniforme. Si l'empire américain veut éviter de suivre dans leur chute tous les autres empires qui l'ont précédé dans l'histoire, ses décideurs devront développer des solutions adaptées aux nouveaux opposants et aux menaces que ces derniers suscitent. Sinon, les coups répétés assénés par les opposants mineront la suprématie mondiale des États-Unis.

September 11: Consequences for Canada, Kent Roach, Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003, pp. ii, 272.

This is an important book. It is scholarly, timely, and provocative. It has two chief aims. The first, as the title suggests, is in Kent Roach's words “to provide a critical assessment of the consequences of September 11 for Canada” (18). The second is to suggest how in his estimation Canada's anti-terrorism policies should evolve. To these ends the various chapters in September 11 examine post-9/11 developments in Canadian law and democracy, in Canada's immigration and security policies, and in Canadian sovereignty. In their sum these chapters provide a masterly treatment of the challenges posed to this country by a defining moment in both contemporary international relations and the “special” Canadian-American relationship. Given the depth and scope of this work, no brief review can do justice to it. Its finely-tuned yet erudite legal arguments deserve to be read closely.

Power, Terror, Peace, and War, Walter Russell Mead, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004, pp. viii, 226.

The Foreign Policy of George W. Bush: Values, Strategy, Loyalty, Alexander Moens, Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2004, pp. 227

The foreign policy of George W. Bush's administration has prompted a downpour of books, reflecting its vigorous response to the events of September 11, 2001, its highly controversial decision to invade Iraq, and its persistent defiance of the received opinions of foreign policy elites and international relations experts around the world.

Idéologies, idéal démocratique et régimes politiques, Terence BalI, Richard Dagger, Jean Des Lauriers et Pascal St-Pierre, Saint-Laurent : ERPI, 2005, 536 p.

En mars 2000, nous donnions dans cette revue le compte rendu de la troisième édition américaine de l'ouvrage de BalI et Dagger dont nous disions le plus grand bien. Cinq ans plus tard, nous présentons la version québécoise de cet ouvrage par Jean Des Lauriers. Le manuel de BalI et Dagger a été conçu pour le premier cycle de l'enseignement universitaire américain; l'adaptation qu'en a faite Des Lauriers est donc utilisable aux niveaux collégial et universitaire de notre système scolaire.

Private Power and Global Authority: Transnational Merchant Law in the Global Political Economy, A. Claire Cutler, Cambridge Studies in International Relations; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. xiv, 306

In Private Power and Global Authority, Claire Cutler presents a theoretically rich and historically detailed account of the interrelationship between transnational merchant law and broader patterns of restructuring in the global political economy. More specifically, she draws upon an historical materialist framework to demonstrate how “fundamental transformations in global power and authority are enhancing the significance of the private sphere in both the creation and enforcement of international commercial law” (1). In doing so, Cutler reveals the power relations and political implications inherent to this seemingly functional realm. At the same time, she looks through the other end of the telescope to show the broadly constitutive role that transnational merchant law has played in the transformation and legitimation of the emerging neoliberal order. In this sense, the changes that Cutler identifies in transnational merchant law both reflect, and help to constitute, broader changes in the global political economy.

Democracy Defended, Gerry Mackie, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. xvi, 483.

Democracy Defended is a sustained assault on an influential figure in contemporary political science: William Riker, oft-cited founder of the “positive political theory” approach, the emperors of which may or may not be far more shabbily dressed than they care to admit. Mackie's effort is impressive, and will delight those who are already suspicious of Riker's “Rochester School,” but the book deserves serious engagement by those working within this analytic tradition. In the same spirit as Donald Green and Ian Shapiro's Pathologies of Rational Choice (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), Mackie calls attention to a glaring gap between an elegant theory and the world it purports to explain—supposing, of course, that rational choice is best understood as an explanatory approach rather than a normative enterprise (it could be both).

Global Complexity, John Urry, London: Polity, 2003 pp. xi, 172

In Global Complexity, John Urry provides at once relatively familiar discussions of globalization and complexity theory and a series of new insights for how complexity theory can be deployed to understand globalization. In fact Urry's discussion blends the analysis of globalization and complexity theory so thoroughly that he makes a convincing case that globalization is inexplicable without complexity theory. The book is long on big (well-conceived) ideas, description and anecdotal evidence and a bit short on specific applications and direction for proceeding with a complexity research agenda. Taken as a whole, Urry provides a compelling case for complexity and Global Complexity should be considered an important entry in both the globalization and complexity theory literatures.

Altermondialisation, économie et coopération internationale, Louis Favreau, Gérald Larose et Abdou Salam Fall (sous la direction de), Sainte Foy : Presses de l'Université du Québec, 2004, 384 p.

Six ans se sont écoulés depuis les manifestations de Seattle. Le mouvement altermondialiste, à l'origine uni par le refus d'une mondialisation néolibérale, en est maintenant à une étape cruciale de son développement, car il doit désormais proposer plus concrètement des mesures et des projets permettant de réaliser une mondialisation plus équitable, plus juste et plus démocratique. L'ouvrage Altermondialisation, économie et coopération internationale est issu d'une conférence intitulée Le Sud … et le Nord dans la mondialisation : quelles alternatives? Tenue à Gatineau en septembre 2003, elle a réuni des chercheurs et des acteurs d'organisations de la société civile, de groupes et associations communautaires, ainsi que des représentants des milieux syndicaux et de groupes de femmes qui sont impliqués dans des projets de coopération internationale. L'ouvrage répertorie un ensemble d'initiatives et d'innovations relevant de la solidarité socioéconomique Nord-Sud qui s'inscrivent dans un mouvement visant à offrir un “ nouveau ” modèle de développement. On peut distinguer deux catégories de contributions au volume; celles qui relatent des pratiques et expériences issues d'organisations de coopération internationale (OCI) et celles, plus analytiques, qui présentent, dans leur contexte, l'évolution des mouvements sociaux et politiques ou qui offrent une réflexion sur les débats et les défis auxquels ces mouvements sont confrontés.

Les territoires de la mondialisation, Guy Mercier (sous la direction de), Québec : Presses de l'Université Laval, 2004, 91 p.

Cet ouvrage collectif sous la direction de Guy Mercier, qui est Professeur à l'Université Laval au Québec (Canada), prolonge un débat entamé au salon international du livre de Québec le 25 avril 2002. Ce sont quatre géographes réputés qui discutent de l'actuelle mondialisation des économies et des moeurs. Il s'agit de Paul Claval, professeur émérite à la Sorbonne à Paris, Rodolphe De Konnick, professeur à l'Université de Montréal, Angelo Turco, professeur à l'Université Degli Studi (L'Aquila) et enfin, Augustin Berque, directeur de recherche à l'École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS) à Paris.