Kadish Center for Morality, Law & Public Affairs

Freedom of Contract Abstract  Freedom of Contract justifies enforcement of contract law through its role in enhancing individual autonomy defined as self-determination. The book addresses the big questions of contract theory, answers longstanding doctrinal debates in contract law and points the way to justified reforms. Part 1 of the book – Liberal Contract Theory – is included here. It […]

Lenin's Theory of Self-Determination Abstract  In the Marxist tradition, V. I. Lenin is associated with the thesis that all nations have the right to self-determination. Although self-determination had earlier philosophical […]

ATLANTIC RECONSTRUCTION: EMPIRE, RACE, AND THE MAKING OF POLITICAL PERSONHOOD Abstract  This paper develops a Du Boisian theory of democratization, linking the formation of the rights-bearing person to the reimposition of the global colorline. Literatures on rights formation have traditionally focused on national polities, even if these cases were empires, and questions about the rights-bearing […]

Can Black Liberalism Save US?: The Case for Prudential Politics Abstract  This paper challenges important critiques of liberalism raised by Eddie Glaude, Fredrick C. Harris, and Michael Dawson. Drawing on a rich and under-theorized archive of African American liberal thought, I distinguish mainstream black liberalism—as a framework for constructive social transformation—from neoliberalism on the political […]

Illiberal America and the Invention of the Liberal Tradition Abstract  A storm of illiberalism, building in the United States for years, unleashed its destructive force in the Capitol insurrection of […]

Cold War Right Liberalism: The Case of Leo Strauss and the Straussians Abstract  Recently, Samuel Moyn of Yale University has contended that the left is suffering under truncated political ambitions […]

The Twilight of Liberalism: The Eclipse of Freedom in An Age of Autonomy Abstract  This paper argues that the faltering trajectory of political liberalism arises not from external challenges but […]

Toward a Freedom-Centered Feminist Historiography Abstract  This paper engages debates about the relationship between past and present feminisms to explore the political stakes of historiographic practice. The received metaphor for […]

After Liberal Utopia: Judith Shklar on Injustice, Pessimism, and Political Reform Abstract  Judith Shklar’s “liberalism of fear” has captivated interpreters since its original publication nearly 60 years ago. However, as Forrester (2011) has argued, the focus on this text has wrongly cast her as a Cold War liberal solely focused on a negative conception of […]