Latest news with #Deneen
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Nikkei Asia
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Nikkei Asia
Trump is 'vehicle' for post-liberal backlash: political theorist
Patrick Deneen says the more liberalism has succeeded, the more it has failed. (Photo by Liv Berger) RINTARO TOBITA WASHINGTON -- The rise of free market economics and the expansion of social liberation have sparked a backlash that U.S. President Donald Trump tapped into in his rise to power, said Patrick Deneen, professor of political theory at the University of Notre Dame. Deneen is the author of "Why Liberalism Failed," which has won praise from former President Barack Obama. Vice President JD Vance has cited Deneen as a major intellectual influence.
Yomiuri Shimbun
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Yomiuri Shimbun
End of Cold War Spelled Trouble for Liberalism
The world is in great turmoil. In the war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, the brutal fighting continues to drag on, and in the United States, the Trump administration is causing concern among its allies. So what will the international order look like going forward? Behind all this turmoil lurks an ideological climate that is critical of liberalism. In other words, the ideals of liberalism, which spread around the globe as universal ideals following the end of the Cold War, are now facing criticism and backlash around the world. In fact, criticism, dissatisfaction, anger and hostility toward liberalism have emerged as the driving force behind politics in some major countries. From Russian President Vladimir Putin's perspective, the spread of liberal and democratic thought and its arrival in the former Soviet republics of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova is a national security threat to his country. This development can be seen as one side of a coin, the obverse side being an eastward expanding NATO and an expanding sphere of U.S. influence. At the same time, the United States, which has embodied liberalism since its founding, has seen its own steady uptick in critiques of such thinking. For instance, in his 2018 book 'Why Liberalism Failed,' Prof. Patrick Deneen of the University of Notre Dame, whose philosophy is close to that of the Trump administration and is close to U.S. Vice President JD Vance, argued that liberalism 'has failed because it has succeeded.' Deneen predicted that in response to the anger and fear felt by the public following the collapse of liberalism, a populist nationalist dictatorship or a military dictatorship would be highly likely. After the end of the Cold War, paeans were made to the triumph of democracy and liberal economics over the communist system. As can be seen in Francis Fukuyama's 'The End of History?' essay, published in 1989, there was a growing utopian belief that foresaw the inevitable spread of liberalism around the world. However, history has not come to an end so easily. John Gray, a former professor at the London School of Economics, was one of the first scholars who warned against such optimistic thinking and criticized it, and he published many papers on the history of liberal thought. In his book 'False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism' — published in 1998, or 20 years before Deneen's own book critical of liberalism — Gray argued there was a rather strong possibility that the United States' laissez-faire economics would implode as emerging economic powers challenged its hegemonic place in the world economy. For 30 years after the end of the Cold War, we blindly believed in the utopian idea that liberal economics and democracy would expand across the world, and we have looked optimistically toward the future world order. But now we are faced with Russia's relentless aggression and violence against Ukraine. On top of that, we have witnessed the Trump administration pull back on international cooperation and challenge global norms time and time again. Lessons from history 'The Counter-Enlightenment' is an essay written by British political theorist Isaiah Berlin, who was one of the most renowned thinkers in the second half of the 20th century and lectured at the University of Oxford for many years. It provides a useful guide to the dynamics of world politics. In his essay, Berlin focuses on the spread of a backlash rooted in the culture, history and traditions of each region in response to the Enlightenment's rationalism and faith in science, which spread throughout Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. He warned that 'Cosmopolitanism is the shedding of all that makes one most human, most oneself.' This way of thinking prompted many to believe that the uniqueness and culture of each nation and region should be preserved. For instance, German philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder, who lived in the 18th and 19th centuries, opposed the spread of Enlightenment ideals and acknowledged that 'There is a plurality of incommensurable cultures.' He maintained that 'To belong to a given community, to be connected with its members by indissoluble and impalpable ties of common language, historical memory, habit, tradition and feeling, is a basic human need.' Berlin also focused on French conservative thinkers such as the Catholic Joseph de Maistre. De Maistre 'held the Enlightenment to be one of the most foolish, as well as the most ruinous, forms of social thinking,' Berlin wrote, adding that, 'The conception of man as naturally disposed to benevolence, cooperation and peace, or, at any rate, capable of being shaped in this direction by appropriate education or legislation, is for [de Maistre] shallow and false.' De Maistre, according to Berlin, believed nature to be 'a field of unceasing slaughter' and that 'Men are by nature aggressive and destructive; they rebel over trifles.' Berlin saw the anti-Enlightenment movement in the 19th century as a reaction to the Enlightenment, and in the same way, we are now witnessing a reaction against the universalist, rationalistic liberalism of the post-Cold War period. Taking a bird's-eye view of the history of the past 150 years, a tendency appears that when you have the spread of utopianism based on the ideas of Enlightenment liberalism, there is a subsequent outburst of anti-Enlightenment thought or nationalism in reaction. Russia, the United States and China are all seeing criticism of liberalism and a rise of nationalism, and the same can be said for many European countries where far-right forces are on the rise. The anti-Enlightenment movement that began in the 19th century, the Romantic movement that defended each culture and tradition, and the rise of nationalism all culminated in World War I. Then, in the 1930s, the rise of fascism and Nazism as a critique of liberalism led to World War II. In our post-Cold War era, Russia is continuing a major war against Ukraine, but we are not yet in another world war. What we can do now is reconcile these two modes of thinking — the liberal international order that is based on free trade and democracy, the very foundations of the post-World War II international order, and the anti-Enlightenment thought critical of liberalism that is flaring up in the world's major countries. In his 1939 book 'The Twenty Years' Crisis, 1919-1939,' British historian E.H. Carr, who sought peace in the late 1930s, explored ways to optimally merge utopianism and realism. After the '30 years' crisis,' in which post-Cold War utopianism collapsed, the world remains plagued by crises, uncertainty and conflict. We must find a new balance. Yuichi Hosoya Yuichi Hosoya is a professor of international politics at Keio University and the author of numerous books on British, European and Japanese politics and foreign affairs, including 'Security Politics in Japan: Legislation for a New Security Environment.' The original article in Japanese appeared in the June 1 issue of The Yomiuri Shimbun.
Observer
31-05-2025
- Politics
- Observer
I'm normally a mild guy. Here's what's pushed me over the edge
When I was a baby pundit, my mentor, Bill Buckley, told me to write about whatever made me angriest that week. I don't often do that, mostly because I don't get angry that much — it's not how I'm wired. But this week, I'm going with Bill's advice. On Monday afternoon, I was communing with my phone when I came across a Memorial Day essay that Notre Dame political scientist Patrick Deneen wrote in 2009. In that essay, Deneen argued that soldiers aren't motivated to risk their lives in combat by their ideals. He wrote, 'They die not for abstractions — ideas, ideals, natural right, the American way of life, rights, or even their fellow citizens — so much as they are willing to brave all for the men and women of their unit.' This may seem like a strange thing to get angry about. After all, fighting for your buddies is a noble thing to do. But Deneen is the Lawrence Welk of postliberalism, the populariser of the closest thing the Trump administration has to a guiding philosophy. He's a central figure in the national conservatism movement, the place where a lot of Donald Trump acolytes cut their teeth. In fact, in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, JD Vance used his precious time to make a point similar to Deneen's. Vance said, 'People will not fight for abstractions, but they will fight for their home.' Elite snobbery has a tendency to set me off, and here are two guys with advanced degrees telling us that regular soldiers never fight partly out of some sense of moral purpose, some commitment to a larger cause — the men who froze at Valley Forge, the men who stormed the beaches at Normandy and Guadalcanal. But that's not what really made me angry. It was that these little statements point to the moral rot at the core of Trumpism, which every day disgraces our country, which we are proud of and love. Trumpism can be seen as a giant attempt to amputate the highest aspirations of the human spirit and to reduce us to our most primitive, atavistic tendencies. Before I explain what I mean, let me first make the obvious point that Deneen's and Vance's assertions that soldiers never fight for ideals is just plain wrong. Of course warriors fight for their comrades. And of course there are some wars such as Vietnam and Iraq, where Vance served, where the moral causes are unclear or discredited. But when the moral stakes are made clear, most soldiers are absolutely motivated in part by ideals — even in the heat of combat. For his book 'For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War,' the great historian James M McPherson read about 25,000 letters and 249 diaries from soldiers who fought in that war. Their missives were filled with griping about conditions, about the horrors of war — they had no need in their private writings to sugarcoat things. But of the 1,076 soldiers whose writings form the basis of his book, McPherson found that 68 per cent of the Union soldiers and 66 per cent of the Confederate soldiers explicitly cited 'patriotic motivations' (as they interpreted them) as one reason they went into combat. Other soldiers were probably also motivated by their ideals, but they found it too obvious to mention. 'Sick as I am of this war and bloodshed as much oh how much I want to be home with my dear wife and children,' a Pennsylvania officer wrote, 'every day I have a more religious feeling, that this war is a crusade for the good of mankind.' An Indiana man wrote, 'This is not a war for dollars and cents, nor is it a war for territory — but it is to decide whether we are to be a free people — and if the Union is dissolved I very much fear that we will not have a republican form of government very long.' People who are more theologically advanced than I have a name for that kind of dehumanisation: spiritual warfare. All of us humans have within us a capacity for selfishness and a capacity for generosity. Spiritual warfare is an attempt to unleash the forces of darkness and to simultaneously extinguish the better angels of our nature. Trump and Vance aren't just promoting policies; they're trying to degrade America's moral character to a level more closely resembling their own. Years ago, I used to slightly know both Deneen and Vance. Vance has been in my home. We've gone out for drinks and coffee. Until Inauguration Day, I harbored him no ill will. Even today, I've found I have no trouble simultaneously opposing Trump policies and maintaining friendship and love for friends and family who are Trump supporters. In my experience, a vast majority of people who support Trump do so for legitimate or at least defensible reasons. But over the past four months, a small cabal at the top of the administration — including Trump, Vance, Miller and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought — have brought a series of moral degradations to the nation those Union soldiers fought and died for: the betrayal of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine, the cruel destruction of so many scientists' life projects, the ruination of PEPFAR. According to the HIV Modeling Consortium's PEPFAR Impact Tracker, the cuts to that programme alone have already resulted in nearly 55,000 adult deaths and nearly 6,000 dead children. We're only four months in. Moral contempt is an unattractive emotion, which can slide into arrogance and pride, which I will try to struggle against. In the meantime, it provoked this column from a mild-mannered guy on a beautiful spring day. — The New York Times. David Brooks Brooks is a book author and political and cultural commentator
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
More KY universities could award advanced degrees under new law
Murray State University is seeking approval to begin training veterinarians. (Murray State photo) Legislation to create schools of veterinary and osteopathic medicine in Kentucky went nowhere in the recently-adjourned General Assembly, but lawmakers did open a path for more public universities to offer such professional and advanced degree programs. Senate Bill 77, which received bipartisan support in the General Assembly and was signed into law by Gov. Andy Beshear, allows the state's comprehensive universities for the first time to seek approval to start professional programs such as medicine or architecture and to offer doctor of philosophy degrees. The new law also creates a framework for the Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) to review a university's proposal and make a recommendation to the legislature about whether it is viable and should be funded. Eastern Kentucky University wants to open a school of osteopathic medicine and aims to graduate its first class of physicians in 2034. Murray State University has been working to win approval to open a veterinary medicine school and got a boost last year when the legislature allocated $60 million to construct a new veterinary sciences building now in the design phase. Western Kentucky University wants to start research doctoral programs. All of those proposals were introduced as bills during the recently concluded 2025 regular session. None received a committee hearing; instead, lawmakers created a process for deciding when the state needs such programs and to consider the costs. The framework outlined in the law allows lawmakers to have in-depth information, particularly about the financial stability and viability of a proposal, before voting to fund a new program, said Sen. Matthew Deneen, an Elizabethtown Republican. In an interview, Deneen said the legislation 'was an opportunity to expand the opportunity' for comprehensive universities in the state to offer more doctoral programs. Besides EKU, Murray and Western, the comprehensive universities are Morehead State and Northern Kentucky universities. 'It's important to have a framework like this and guidelines in place so that we can make better decisions for the people of the commonwealth, for our students, because ultimately the things that we're doing here are going to impact the offerings at these comprehensive universities,' Deneen said. 'And it's going to allow them to meet the goals of not only their students but of the overall commonwealth.' The new law directs CPE to review how the proposed program would align with the goals and mission of the university, the statewide or regional need for the program and demand by students and employers for the program. Universities must also show CPE how the program compliments existing programs, provide a five-year budgetary analysis, possible curriculum and more. Before submitting a new proposal, the law says that a comprehensive university must meet some student success measures such as having a first-to-second year retention rate and a six-year graduation rate that is in the 75th percentile of all comprehensive universities nationwide and the 80th percentile of all comprehensive universities within the Southern Regional Education Board. Now, CPE is creating policies to determine the eligibility for the new professional programs. Travis Powell, vice president and general counsel of CPE, said the process will likely be similar to how CPE has approved other academic programs in the past. 'Right now we are in the process of determining initial eligibility … to see who is even eligible to offer programs based on the student success measures that have to be in place and the reserve funding they have to keep,' Powell said. Under the new law, CPE can recommend if proposals that will include a funding request to the General Assembly should be funded, Powell said. CPE already makes biennial budget requests to the legislature. The next state budget will be considered in 2026. EKU's plan to open an osteopathic medicine school would include asking the legislature for nearly $50 million to meet accreditation requirements for reserve funds. EKU President David McFaddin told the Lantern the university's work starts this spring to verify data needed for CPE's review of the proposal as well as gaining a pre-accrediation status with the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (COCA). While McFaddin acknowledged it is an 'aggressive timeline,' EKU plans to have the first class of students graduating in 2034. The law does 'open the door' for all of the state's comprehensive universities to offer degrees that 'may connect back with the overall needs of Kentucky,' McFaddin said. 'I think at the end of the day for our public institutions, making sure that we're mapping those degree programs to our community needs to our workforce needs to our economic needs are critically important,' he added. Murray State recently praised the passage of Senate Bill 77 as the university works toward opening a veterinary medical school. In a statement to the Kentucky Lantern, Murray State said a task force will review the development of a course of study for the professional degree program and that the university is 'very grateful' to lawmakers and the governor for supporting the bill. WKU also praised the passage of the new law, 'which moves WKU one step closer to offering PhD programs as we pursue Carnegie R2 status,' said Jace Lux, a university spokesperson in an email. The Carnegie Commission on Higher Education in 1970 created a classification system for institutions. R2 designates mid-level research universities. R1 is the highest level and includes the University of Kentucky and University of Louisville. 'The CPE is currently developing a process to review and approve new PhD programs,' Lux said. 'Once that process is finalized and shared with us, we will begin seeking approval for our first PhD in the field of Data Science.'
