alberto spektorowski | Tel Aviv University (original) (raw)
Papers by alberto spektorowski
Religions, Jan 7, 2024
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
In "European Studies: Past, Present, and Future" by Erik Jones, 2020
Umansky, K., Spektorowski, A., & Busher, J. (2020). CAN EUROPE RECOVER FROM ITS LATEST WAVE OF US... more Umansky, K., Spektorowski, A., & Busher, J. (2020). CAN EUROPE RECOVER FROM ITS LATEST WAVE OF US-VERSUS-THEM POLITICS? In E. JONES (Ed.), European Studies: Past, Present, Future (pp. 107–110). Agenda Publishing. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv103xddx.29
Umansky, K., Spektorowski, A., & Busher, J. (2020). CAN EUROPE RECOVER FROM ITS LATEST WA... more Umansky, K., Spektorowski, A., & Busher, J. (2020). CAN EUROPE RECOVER FROM ITS LATEST WAVE OF US-VERSUS-THEM POLITICS? In E. JONES (Ed.), European Studies: Past, Present, Future (pp. 107–110). Agenda Publishing. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv103xddx.29
Global Review of Ethnopolitics, 2003
This article focuses on one of the most contested issues in current European politics, the enlarg... more This article focuses on one of the most contested issues in current European politics, the enlargement of regionalism and the ensuing weakening of the nation-state. This outcome has been received enthusiastically by several liberal scholars and politicians who believe that the strengthening of regional identities guarantees more democratic accountability and liberal rights and will protect against narrow nationalism. This article attempts to challenge this view, by highlighting two particular expressions, one ideological and the other political, of the new politics of regionalism. One fact is striking: not only democrats but some of the most sophisticated and theoretically demanding anti-liberal, radical right groups in Europe are enthusiastic about the idea of a post nation-state Europe and supportive of a regionalist 'Europe des peoples'. This claim in itself does not mean that regionalist policies are necessarily anti-liberal; however, it raises some questions as to the motives behind the right-wing strategic shift from nationalism to European ethnoregionalism. The issue this article wishes to examine is how an ethnoregional strategy contributes to a right-wing exclusionist vision of a culturally homogeneous, immigrant free and economically strong Europe. In order to examine this, I will focus on the ideas of two different but complementary political movements: the French New Right, which fulfilled a leading ideological role in France and Europe during the 1980s and early 1990s, and the Italian regionalist movement the Lega Nord (Lipset 1981: 472).
Journal of the History of Ideas, 2002
According to the late Isaiah Berlin, the origins of fascism can be found in Joseph de Maistre's p... more According to the late Isaiah Berlin, the origins of fascism can be found in Joseph de Maistre's political thought. 1 This well-known thesis was anticipated by Carl Schmitt, a conservative Catholic intellectual who served as one of the most prominent jurists of the Third Reich. He rescued the intellectual contributions of Joseph de Maistre and Donoso Cortés from obscurity by identifying them as the forerunners of his own non-normative theories of dictatorship. I suggest that by advancing such a claim Carl Schmitt paved the way toward a theoretical understanding of the notion of political authoritarianism characterized by what he defined as "non-normative decisionism." By interpreting Maistre and Cortés in this way, Schmitt was preparing his own political shift away from Catholic conservatism towards political authoritarianism, fascism, and National Socialism. At the same time, by removing the legitimacy of political decisionism embedded in traditionalist political thought, he eliminated the possibility of that middle road between fascism and liberalism known as traditionalist authoritarianism. The purpose of this study is to represent the Maistre-Donoso Cortés theoretical synthesis, in contrast to the thought of Carl Schmitt, as the cornerstone of a type of traditionalist political authoritarianism which paradoxically opposes Schmitt's idea of authoritarian rule. I suggest that Maistre could hardly be considered a non-legitimate decisionist or a prophet of fascism, since despite surpassing Maistre's defense of monarchical restoration, Donoso Cortés could hardly be connected to Schmitt's fascist decisionism. Moreover, precisely the model of traditional authoritarianism advocated by Maistre and
Journal of Political Ideologies, 2003
... and a rejection of the basic precepts of the modern Enlightenment, in the name of an ... repr... more ... and a rejection of the basic precepts of the modern Enlightenment, in the name of an ... represented a new type of anti-Marxian Left and a new type of anti-conservative Right ... Opposing economic laissez-faire it proposed a new type of state capitalism developed under a corporatist ...
Polity, 2000
... as a new type of pro-ductivist communitarian socialism that should remain closed to the "... more ... as a new type of pro-ductivist communitarian socialism that should remain closed to the "others."Jews, foreigners, liberals, etc., are by ... Nonetheless, France's self-confidence in its civilizing mission hin-dered its ability to understand the values of different moral codes. ...
This article aims to contribute to the ongoing debate over population politics and the perceived ... more This article aims to contribute to the ongoing debate over population politics and the perceived reinvigoration of eugenic practices in “people’s home” countries. The ability of governments to subsidize genetic technologies or familial lifestyle choices also gives them the ability to choose who has access to these technologies and in so doing the ability to favor the procreation of one group over another. The authors suggest that such subsidization is used under the guise of productivist strategies by nations interested first and foremost in preserving their ethno-national identity. Although these countries, adhering to liberal democratic economics, profess to reward productivity, there seems to be more than a coincidental relationship between the “productive ” and the ethnic national stock. The authors use as a case study a comparison between Israel and Sweden to show how such eugenic strategies arose over time in people’s home countries that synthesized productivism and national w...
List of Contributors Introduction S.Ben-Ami PART ONE: COLLECTIVE IDENTITY, INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM AND... more List of Contributors Introduction S.Ben-Ami PART ONE: COLLECTIVE IDENTITY, INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM AND THE MODERN STATE: THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS Modernity and National Identity W.Kymlicka Towards the Rehabilitation of 'Nation Building' and the Reconstruction of Nations R.Kook Culture Is Not Enough: A Democratic Critique of Liberal Multiculturalism Y.Peled & J.Brunner PART TWO: ETHNIC STRIFE AND THE STATE OF WESTERN EUROPE Catalan and Basque Nationalism: Contrasting Patterns S.G.Payne Ethnicity, Multiculturalism and Society in Germany M.Zuckerman The New Right and the Intellectual Elaboration of Ethnic Europe: From Racism to the Politics of Differentialism A.Spektorowski PART THREE: ETHNIC CHALLENGES IN SETTLER STATES Minority Protest and the Emergence of Ethnic Regionalism: Palestinian-Arabs in the Israeli 'Ethnocracy' O.Yiftachel Nationalism and Non-racialism in South Africa G.Shafir Rethinking Multinational Space: The Quebec Referendum and Beyond A.G.Gangon Modernity...
History of Political Thought, 1996
This analysis seeks to contribute to the understanding of the development of fascism by studying ... more This analysis seeks to contribute to the understanding of the development of fascism by studying the ideological left-to-right evolution of an intellectual from a peripheral country. I suggest that this intellectual evolution proves the universality of the ideological developments that preceded fascism, and sheds new light on the ideological interaction between fascism as a European political culture and local nationalist uprisings against liberal democracy and dependence on foreign financial power.
The controversy over the demands of Islamic schoolgirls in France to don veils in public schools ... more The controversy over the demands of Islamic schoolgirls in France to don veils in public schools evolved from a local debate concerning the propriety of displaying cultural distinctions in public into a larger, the-oretical issue focusing on the principle of tolerance in liberal society.l On the one hand, France’s particular tradition of national republican-ism and its integrationist notions of citizenship could hardly be defined as liberal. On the other hand, liberalism itself is ambiguous on the question of ethnic demands in the public sphere. In fact, the liberal tradition rests on a secular concept of citizenship and a clear division between the public and private spheres.2 Several theories of radical democratism have tried to demonstrate the incompetence of liberal democracy to deal with ethnic demands.3
... Autor : Buchrucker, Cristian. Título : Nacionalismo y peronismo : la Argentina en la crisis i... more ... Autor : Buchrucker, Cristian. Título : Nacionalismo y peronismo : la Argentina en la crisis ideologica mundial, 1927-1955. P. imprenta : Buenos Aires. 1999. 2a ed.. 410 p.. Descriptores : PARTIDO JUSTICIALISTA; PERONISMO; NACIONALISMO; POLITICA ARGENTINA. ...
The fierce debates surrounding the 'emergence' of Muslim communities in Europe ensued in ... more The fierce debates surrounding the 'emergence' of Muslim communities in Europe ensued in the resurgence of nationalism. The current article introduces an original criticism to the ongoing debates surrounding the return of Europe's national pride. This article suggests that Muslim demands for freedom of religion that were founded in Islamic theological perspectives, have catalyzed the restriction of liberal universalistic perspectives to such freedoms. In this study I present how such demands facilitated the advancement of a newly crafted liberal form of nationalism, best identified in Europe's progressing limitation of the right of freedom of religion in various European nations.
Religions, Jan 7, 2024
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
In "European Studies: Past, Present, and Future" by Erik Jones, 2020
Umansky, K., Spektorowski, A., & Busher, J. (2020). CAN EUROPE RECOVER FROM ITS LATEST WAVE OF US... more Umansky, K., Spektorowski, A., & Busher, J. (2020). CAN EUROPE RECOVER FROM ITS LATEST WAVE OF US-VERSUS-THEM POLITICS? In E. JONES (Ed.), European Studies: Past, Present, Future (pp. 107–110). Agenda Publishing. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv103xddx.29
Umansky, K., Spektorowski, A., & Busher, J. (2020). CAN EUROPE RECOVER FROM ITS LATEST WA... more Umansky, K., Spektorowski, A., & Busher, J. (2020). CAN EUROPE RECOVER FROM ITS LATEST WAVE OF US-VERSUS-THEM POLITICS? In E. JONES (Ed.), European Studies: Past, Present, Future (pp. 107–110). Agenda Publishing. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv103xddx.29
Global Review of Ethnopolitics, 2003
This article focuses on one of the most contested issues in current European politics, the enlarg... more This article focuses on one of the most contested issues in current European politics, the enlargement of regionalism and the ensuing weakening of the nation-state. This outcome has been received enthusiastically by several liberal scholars and politicians who believe that the strengthening of regional identities guarantees more democratic accountability and liberal rights and will protect against narrow nationalism. This article attempts to challenge this view, by highlighting two particular expressions, one ideological and the other political, of the new politics of regionalism. One fact is striking: not only democrats but some of the most sophisticated and theoretically demanding anti-liberal, radical right groups in Europe are enthusiastic about the idea of a post nation-state Europe and supportive of a regionalist 'Europe des peoples'. This claim in itself does not mean that regionalist policies are necessarily anti-liberal; however, it raises some questions as to the motives behind the right-wing strategic shift from nationalism to European ethnoregionalism. The issue this article wishes to examine is how an ethnoregional strategy contributes to a right-wing exclusionist vision of a culturally homogeneous, immigrant free and economically strong Europe. In order to examine this, I will focus on the ideas of two different but complementary political movements: the French New Right, which fulfilled a leading ideological role in France and Europe during the 1980s and early 1990s, and the Italian regionalist movement the Lega Nord (Lipset 1981: 472).
Journal of the History of Ideas, 2002
According to the late Isaiah Berlin, the origins of fascism can be found in Joseph de Maistre's p... more According to the late Isaiah Berlin, the origins of fascism can be found in Joseph de Maistre's political thought. 1 This well-known thesis was anticipated by Carl Schmitt, a conservative Catholic intellectual who served as one of the most prominent jurists of the Third Reich. He rescued the intellectual contributions of Joseph de Maistre and Donoso Cortés from obscurity by identifying them as the forerunners of his own non-normative theories of dictatorship. I suggest that by advancing such a claim Carl Schmitt paved the way toward a theoretical understanding of the notion of political authoritarianism characterized by what he defined as "non-normative decisionism." By interpreting Maistre and Cortés in this way, Schmitt was preparing his own political shift away from Catholic conservatism towards political authoritarianism, fascism, and National Socialism. At the same time, by removing the legitimacy of political decisionism embedded in traditionalist political thought, he eliminated the possibility of that middle road between fascism and liberalism known as traditionalist authoritarianism. The purpose of this study is to represent the Maistre-Donoso Cortés theoretical synthesis, in contrast to the thought of Carl Schmitt, as the cornerstone of a type of traditionalist political authoritarianism which paradoxically opposes Schmitt's idea of authoritarian rule. I suggest that Maistre could hardly be considered a non-legitimate decisionist or a prophet of fascism, since despite surpassing Maistre's defense of monarchical restoration, Donoso Cortés could hardly be connected to Schmitt's fascist decisionism. Moreover, precisely the model of traditional authoritarianism advocated by Maistre and
Journal of Political Ideologies, 2003
... and a rejection of the basic precepts of the modern Enlightenment, in the name of an ... repr... more ... and a rejection of the basic precepts of the modern Enlightenment, in the name of an ... represented a new type of anti-Marxian Left and a new type of anti-conservative Right ... Opposing economic laissez-faire it proposed a new type of state capitalism developed under a corporatist ...
Polity, 2000
... as a new type of pro-ductivist communitarian socialism that should remain closed to the "... more ... as a new type of pro-ductivist communitarian socialism that should remain closed to the "others."Jews, foreigners, liberals, etc., are by ... Nonetheless, France's self-confidence in its civilizing mission hin-dered its ability to understand the values of different moral codes. ...
This article aims to contribute to the ongoing debate over population politics and the perceived ... more This article aims to contribute to the ongoing debate over population politics and the perceived reinvigoration of eugenic practices in “people’s home” countries. The ability of governments to subsidize genetic technologies or familial lifestyle choices also gives them the ability to choose who has access to these technologies and in so doing the ability to favor the procreation of one group over another. The authors suggest that such subsidization is used under the guise of productivist strategies by nations interested first and foremost in preserving their ethno-national identity. Although these countries, adhering to liberal democratic economics, profess to reward productivity, there seems to be more than a coincidental relationship between the “productive ” and the ethnic national stock. The authors use as a case study a comparison between Israel and Sweden to show how such eugenic strategies arose over time in people’s home countries that synthesized productivism and national w...
List of Contributors Introduction S.Ben-Ami PART ONE: COLLECTIVE IDENTITY, INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM AND... more List of Contributors Introduction S.Ben-Ami PART ONE: COLLECTIVE IDENTITY, INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM AND THE MODERN STATE: THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS Modernity and National Identity W.Kymlicka Towards the Rehabilitation of 'Nation Building' and the Reconstruction of Nations R.Kook Culture Is Not Enough: A Democratic Critique of Liberal Multiculturalism Y.Peled & J.Brunner PART TWO: ETHNIC STRIFE AND THE STATE OF WESTERN EUROPE Catalan and Basque Nationalism: Contrasting Patterns S.G.Payne Ethnicity, Multiculturalism and Society in Germany M.Zuckerman The New Right and the Intellectual Elaboration of Ethnic Europe: From Racism to the Politics of Differentialism A.Spektorowski PART THREE: ETHNIC CHALLENGES IN SETTLER STATES Minority Protest and the Emergence of Ethnic Regionalism: Palestinian-Arabs in the Israeli 'Ethnocracy' O.Yiftachel Nationalism and Non-racialism in South Africa G.Shafir Rethinking Multinational Space: The Quebec Referendum and Beyond A.G.Gangon Modernity...
History of Political Thought, 1996
This analysis seeks to contribute to the understanding of the development of fascism by studying ... more This analysis seeks to contribute to the understanding of the development of fascism by studying the ideological left-to-right evolution of an intellectual from a peripheral country. I suggest that this intellectual evolution proves the universality of the ideological developments that preceded fascism, and sheds new light on the ideological interaction between fascism as a European political culture and local nationalist uprisings against liberal democracy and dependence on foreign financial power.
The controversy over the demands of Islamic schoolgirls in France to don veils in public schools ... more The controversy over the demands of Islamic schoolgirls in France to don veils in public schools evolved from a local debate concerning the propriety of displaying cultural distinctions in public into a larger, the-oretical issue focusing on the principle of tolerance in liberal society.l On the one hand, France’s particular tradition of national republican-ism and its integrationist notions of citizenship could hardly be defined as liberal. On the other hand, liberalism itself is ambiguous on the question of ethnic demands in the public sphere. In fact, the liberal tradition rests on a secular concept of citizenship and a clear division between the public and private spheres.2 Several theories of radical democratism have tried to demonstrate the incompetence of liberal democracy to deal with ethnic demands.3
... Autor : Buchrucker, Cristian. Título : Nacionalismo y peronismo : la Argentina en la crisis i... more ... Autor : Buchrucker, Cristian. Título : Nacionalismo y peronismo : la Argentina en la crisis ideologica mundial, 1927-1955. P. imprenta : Buenos Aires. 1999. 2a ed.. 410 p.. Descriptores : PARTIDO JUSTICIALISTA; PERONISMO; NACIONALISMO; POLITICA ARGENTINA. ...
The fierce debates surrounding the 'emergence' of Muslim communities in Europe ensued in ... more The fierce debates surrounding the 'emergence' of Muslim communities in Europe ensued in the resurgence of nationalism. The current article introduces an original criticism to the ongoing debates surrounding the return of Europe's national pride. This article suggests that Muslim demands for freedom of religion that were founded in Islamic theological perspectives, have catalyzed the restriction of liberal universalistic perspectives to such freedoms. In this study I present how such demands facilitated the advancement of a newly crafted liberal form of nationalism, best identified in Europe's progressing limitation of the right of freedom of religion in various European nations.