Aufsätze

Anton Holzer: Der lange Schatten von Abu Ghraib. Schaulust und Gewalt in der Kriegsfotografie

(Summary: Situating images from Abu Ghraib as well as other images of war within a broader and more long-term context of media history and the history of photography enhances our perspective on events and offers new insights into often neglected aspects of the relationship between photography and violence. Three possible approaches to this relationship, which are delineated by the terms (sensationalist) curiosity, touch, and visitation, are outlined; these concepts illustrate how such images become specters that spook about endlessly, propelled by the liaison between lust and violence.)

Arnd Bauerkämper, Dieter Gosewinkel, Sven Reichardt: Paradox oder Perversion? Zum historischen Verhältnis von Zivilgesellschaft und Gewalt

(Summary: This introduction to the issue’s focus begins by examining the normative dimensions underlying current definitions of civil society. Five elements of a new perspective on the concept of civil society are outlined; these emerge when the relationship between civility, civil society, and violence are considered. The suggested avenues of investigation aim to analyze rather than overlook normative content, as a key aspect of the concept of civil society.)

Sheri Berman: Gesellschaft, Konflikt und Zivilgesellschaft

(Summary: Rather than promoting democracy and social harmony, civil society can, under certain conditions, play a key role in facilitating violence, social conflict and the rise of anti-democratic political movements. Where states and political institutions are weak and/or lacking in legitimacy, increasing civil society activity is likely to indicate and perhaps exacerbate political and social problems as well as a growing potential for conflict and violence. The collapse of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Nazis in the 1930s, on the one hand, and the emergence of radical Islamism in parts of the contemporary Arab world, on the other, are just two of the many historical and contemporary cases of such a dynamic. Shedding light on them will not only help us understand one of the most important tragedies of the twentieth century and one of the key problems of the young twenty-first; it will also offer insights into the factors contributing to the rise and success of radical extremist movements across time and space.)

Wolfgang Knöbl: Zivilgesellschaft und staatliches Gewaltmonopol. Zur Verschränkung von Gewalt und Zivilität

(Summary: This essay argues that theories of civil society have difficulty explaining divergent levels of violence within and between societies. From a comparative perspective, the most convincing explanations in this respect are those focusing on peculiar (historical) forms of state-building. Networks of civil-society actors alone usually lack the ability to regulate intra-societal violence as well as the means to prevent wars between states.)

Dominique Colas: Zivilgesellschaft. Eine historische und begriffliche Annäherung

(Summary: An increasing popular concept since the 1970s, civil society gained momentum in the 1990s as many credited it with speeding the collapse of Eastern European communism, and is now acquiring a new, global dimension in relation to non-governmental political players. This success story is based not only on political developments, but also on the idea’s origin in Greek political philosophy, its long-standing influence on Western political theory, and the proliferation of its divergent – and at times even opposing – meanings. In retracing this history, the essay contrasts the various conceptual systems that utilized the term – from Aristotle, Augustine, and Luther to Hobbes, Rousseau, Hegel and Marx.)

Diskussion

Kosmopolitisches versus nationales Erinnern. Eine Diskussion zwischen Daniel Levy, Natan Sznaider, Jackie Feldman

(Summary: In a contribution to the October / November 2005 issue of Mittelweg 36 (Individual Suffering and Strengthening the Nation: Non-cosmopolitan Remembrance of the Shoah in Israel), Jackie Feldman discussed the limits of cosmopolitan remembrance of the Holocaust. In that text, he referred to arguments proposed by Daniel Levy and Natan Sznaider, who reply here to Jackie Feldman’s critique. Their statement is followed by Jackie Feldman’s brief response.)

In der Literaturbeilage

Thorsten Bonacker: Der fragmentierte Frieden. Der Weltfrieden im politischen Programm der Moderne

Wolfgang Kraushaar: Aus der Protest-Chronik