Ebbs and flows of liberalism: In choosing this subject, I have subscribed to the assumption that political history takes turns, not unlike the alternating rhythms of social change. It turns from faith to the mirage of earthly salvation; from an eschatological war to the susceptibility toward acquiescence; and from ideological animation to the cynical contests for power and one’s own self‑seeking interests. According to this premise, the ideo‑political construction of a liberal micro‑history is curtailed by the growth and withering — (...) the ebb and flow — of the proclivity to freedom. (shrink)

On the example of a workload dispute (a version of a ‘border dispute’) I present the general problem of two persons – M and P – with equal entitlements to one commodity, which is equally desired by both of them. They are both moderately altruistic; they are not angels untempted by a selfish willingness to get their own way, nor are they devils, who want to destroy others even if it leads to self-destruction. As human beings operating in a world (...) of limited goods, they are so physically and intellectually feeble that neither of them is able to permanently enslave the other and submit him to the second person’s will. Such being the case, each solution to the problem means that the profit of one person is the loss of the second. The question, whether justice is possible at all, suggests itself whether in a situation when people are more or less equal, or with limited altruism and/or selfishness and scarce resources. (shrink)

Important problems of justice are raised by a project according to which the sovereign gives to victims the right to pardon a wrongdoer orally or in a testament. The author supports such an individualization of the right to pardon, which would turn the state into a contractor who is hired by citizens exclusively to guarantee them security and self-possession.