Search

Search Results

• Neo-Hobbesian democracy: The theory of modus vivendi and democratic legitimacy

  25-41

  Milán Pap

  Views:

  44

  In political theory, the criticism of Rawlsian constructivist liberalism has been articulated in
  theories of political realism. John Gray, one of the promoters of realist liberalism, recommends
  a neo-Hobbesian way of social coexistence which is based on the conflictual and antagonistic
  idea of political life. It takes social values and forms of life as incommensurable in modern
  multicultural societies. Taking value-pluralism and its conflicts seriously, a theory of modus
  vivendi has been articulated among realist political thinkers. Being a post-liberal (or post-Enlightenment) theory, modus vivendi is more a practice oriented and open-ended theory than
  philosophical constructions based on high morality. Modus vivendi theorists make an emphasis
  on the peaceful co-existence of social groups and a moral minimum of the political society. One of
  the deficiency of the theory is that it says not much about democracy, though it would be highly
  useful according to two contextual considerations.On the one hand, a modern political system
  would be impossible or outrageous without any form of democratic legitimacy. On the other
  hand, there is an exhaustion of the liberal project(s) and the societies featured by multicultural
  prosperity. Besides constitutional protection, defending democracy in this new context means
  balancing between cultural and other value-oriented groups in modern societies. In my paper,
  I make an attempt to examine the concept of democracy in the light of modus vivendi theory.

• The Civis and the In-migrants: Spatial Patterns of Industrial Modernization in Debrecen 1870

  186-241

  Janos Mazsu

  Views:

  72

  Scholars engaged in research into the history of Debrecen have long been eager to get an
  answer – beyond their specific research inquiries – to the question whether the development of
  the city had had unique features and if they had what would hallmark the unique character of
  development? Was there or is there a kind of “Debrecenness”?
  My study examines – with the help of a GIS relational database (DTTTA1870) – what
  peculiarities can be grasped in the transformation of the traditional spatial and social structure
  of Debrecen enforced by the political change and industrial modernization processes two
  decades after the change of feudal regime (1848/49).
  The analysis focuses on whether the alteration process of the factors determining the social
  status (residential segregation, neighborhood, spatial segregation and coexistence, other spatial
  and social hierarchical characteristics) in the cases of the “deep-rooted Debrecen residents”
  (cívis) and of the settlers showed specific types described in the literature or showed specific
  features.