Alain Finkielkraut
David Suchoff (English) and Kevin O'Neill, translators, with an introduction by Suchoff
University of Nebraska Press, 1997
This book, part of the University of Nebraska's "Texts and Contexts" series,
is the second Alain Finkielkraut text translated by David Suchoff and Kevin
O'Neill (the first, The Imaginary Jew, was recently published in
paperback).Finkielkraut, a controversial European intellectual, writes that love is "a
word that signifies both charity and greed, generosity and avarice, the act of
giving and of taking."Finkielkraut tackles in this volume--and under the rubric of love--the
apparently disparate notions of universalism and "otherness." He concludes that
they are, in fact, inseparable. "Rather than view multicultural diversity as
antithetical to Western ideals or as a destructive challenge to cultural
tradition," Suchoff writes in the introduction, "Finkielkraut sees cultural
difference as the rightful claim that the Other makes to be included, as
different, within the tradition of universal rights." [EXCERPT]
Elections in Cyberspace: Toward A New Era in American Politics
Anthony Corrado (government) and Charles Firestone, eds.
The Aspen Institute, 1997
During the 1996 presidential election, the Aspen Institute and the American
Bar Association Standing Committee on Election Law sponsored a conference to
examine the effects of new electronic communications technologies on political
campaigns. This report, with an introductory paper by Associate Professor of
Government Anthony Corrado, is the product of that conference.
Corrado's essay summarizes the conference findings and recommendations. On the
whole, the Internet is presented as having a wealth of potential for effecting
positive change in the political process. The benefits, write Charles Firestone
of The Aspen Institute and Pauline Schneider of the American bar Association in
their foreword, include "greater access to candidates and the electoral
process; better information on candidates, ballot issues and government
services; cheaper and faster candidate access to voters; potentially greater
access for minor party candidates; electronic voting for referendums and
political candidates; enhanced civic networking; and the creation of new
communities of interest within the electorate to address issues of regional
importance."
Corrado, who is a nationally recognized authority on cyber-politics, also
outlines the potential pitfalls of heavy reliance on electronic politics. With
citizens and voters able to communicate more easily with legislators and
candidates--via e-mail, chat groups, teleconferencing and other
methods--governing could become a matter of taking the daily pulse of
constituents and acting in response to it. Not only does that leave out the
significant numbers of American who have no access to the Internet or lack the
computer skills necessary to exploit the worldwide network, it could stifle the
minority under an avalanche of majority opinion. Considering that he is writing
on the lip of the 21st century, it is particularly wry of Corrado to reach back
to the 18th for cautionary words on this topic. "In The Federalist
Papers," he writes, "James Madison warned of the dangers to free government
posed by `factions,' that is, groups of citizens motivated by particular
interests rather than the public interest as a
whole. . . . These barriers have steadily eroded throughout
this century and will be all but eliminated in an electronic republic."
But, Corrado says, if the Internet is used to expand debate and increase voter
awareness and participation, "public life will be carried out through the type
of dialogue and interaction that our nation's founders envisioned as the
essence of democratic governance."