Michael Ignatieff

In this article, I draw on Judith Shklar to provide an alternative to the liberal model of military intervention proposed in the last few years by intellectuals such as Michael Ignatieff. I suggest that Ignatieff misunderstands Shklar's liberalism of fear when he appropriates it as a foundation for military intervention on behalf of human rights. Through a reading of his Tanner Lectures Human Rights as Politics. Human Rights as Idolatry on one hand, and drawing on Shklar's entire body of work on the other, I highlight the profound differences separating these authors with regard to: their stance on natural law; the question of foundations and moral universals; the question of voice (Who speaks on behalf of the op-pressed?); and their general stance with respect to the legacy of colonialism. I pit what I call Shklar's activism against Ignatieff's interventionism, and put forward a reading of «putting cruelty first» as opening a forum for contestation across nations and cultures.

Fuego y Cenizas: éxito y fracaso en la política, de Michael Ignatieff (2014), presenta las experiencias y reflexiones sobre la política, los políticos, la democracia, el partidismo y el derecho a ser escuchado que el autor vivió durante su vida política. Es un intento por describir lo que la política es y lo que debería ser, dirigido a quienes nos interesa adentrarnos en este mundo, ya sea desde la consultoría, la academia o algún puesto. Ignatieff fue profesor de política y luego se convirtió en el líder del Partido Liberal de Canadá y en el líder de la oposición desde 2008 hasta 2011. Una carrera política marcada por grandes derrotas y duras victorias. A pesar de mencionar que el libro será una crítica analítica, al final del libro nos queda una sensación de que hay bastante de defensa personal. Sin embargo, el libro es un gran recurso para explorar la política como vocación y estilo de vida, la derrota como elemento fundamental en el crecimiento de los políticos y una llamada que nos empuja a ir hacia adelante como una estrella que nos guía.

Este paper foi publicado como capítulo de livro em 2005. Seu conteúdo ainda é atual. Trata do debate entre comunitaristas e liberais acerca da possibilidade de direitos à proteção de valores ou interesses particulares (comunitários) em sociedades baseadas em valores liberais.

A review essay concerning the disturbing book by Canadian philosopher, Michael Ingatieff, The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in the Age of Terror (Princeton University Press, 2004). This review essay critic ally examines the disastrous consequences of the politics of fright and the ethics of the " lesser evil " as advocated by Michael Ignatieff. In light of his arguments, this paper unravels the assumptions at the heart of his theory and raises certain problems with the way he formulates the issue of political ethics as well as his recommendations for American policy makers (who seem to be the target audience of this book).

One of the most prominent critical discourses of recent decades involves examining how and why particular groups define themselves, not only through positive self-identifications but also (and perhaps more importantly) through exclusionary negative definitions. Whether considered in terms of nationality, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, race, religion, social class, or a host of other contexts, the ways in which human communities define who is “in” and who is “out” has a profound effect on nearly every aspect of life. During this course, we will look at eight novels and four films that depict and comment upon some of the various processes by which intra- and intercultural relationships become defined by a process of determining what is “normal” and what is “abnormal,” “freakish,” or “the other” with an eye towards understanding how and why such constructions arise and are maintained.

Abstract This article links Michael Ignatieff's need to write memoir to his desire to explore what family, public service, and citizenship can mean when they are thought together. Ignatieff does not yet use memoir as most politicians do, to recall what public life was like or to set records straight. He writes as part of a process of self-invention and reinvention.