Books & ideas

Hayek: Theorist and Activist

Mounir Zakriti — 2025-02-27T07:30:00Z

Hayek always presented his reconstruction of liberalism as a utopia, based on the idea of a spontaneous, self-regulating social order, against the chimera of social justice.

John Stuart Mill: Between elitism and democracy

Ludmilla Lorrain — 2024-10-01T13:49:58Z

In a book that is part history of ideas, part political essay, Camille Dejardin argues that John Stuart Mill's oeuvre is useful for understanding contemporary issues, notably the ecological crisis and related economic change. Yet she does so while advancing some half-truths.

Making Tomorrow Another Day

Jean-Louis Fabiani — 2024-04-23T05:46:52Z

Is another world possible? Answering this question requires us to first ask ourselves what “possible” might mean. We must return to the classics: from Aristotle to Bourdieu, many authors can help us understand what an alternative might look like.

Utopia, Dystopia

Ophélie Siméon — 2021-05-17T07:00:00Z

As literary concepts, “utopia” and “dystopia” have functioned as powerful tools of social and political critique, as they propose alternative visions of the future gone good or wrong. Gregory Claeys explores this dual nature, and its potential for imagining social change, while tracing back the historical roots and uses of utopianism.

William Thompson, a Pioneer of European Socialism

Caroline Gomes — 2019-12-05T08:00:00Z

An Irish landowner, economist, philosopher and defender of women's rights, William Thompson was one of the greatest Socialist figures before Marx. Nowadays neglected, his thought nevertheless has many echoes with important contemporary debates, from the critique of capitalism to the rise of feminism.

Is There an End to Productivism?

Jean Bérard — 2019-07-11T07:00:00Z

The most influential doctrines (Liberal, Socialist, Marxist) that have competed since the 19^th century to define the future of industrial society are all designed to support a productivist society. This hegemony has marginalised the ecological alternatives. Is their dominance coming to an end?

Reevaluating Terror in the French Revolution

Charles Walton — 2019-01-28T07:00:00Z

Was the French Revolution bound to become authoritarian? Do revolutionary ideologies always lead to violence? Annie Jourdan's book reconfigures mainstream narratives of the Revolution and provides an alternative interpretation of the ‘Reign of Terror'.

From Marx to Marxism: Histories of an Idea

Ophélie Siméon — 2018-05-07T07:00:00Z

Two hundred years after Karl Marx's birth, Gregory Claeys takes a new look at the thinker's intellectual formation, wide-ranging posterity and continued relevance in the 21^st century.

Miguel Abensour: Emancipation through Utopia

Nicolas Poirier — 2018-02-08T08:00:00Z

Miguel Abensour profoundly renewed thinking about democracy. His political philosophy paid close attention to the desire for emancipation and was based on an original conception of utopia breaking with the mythology of the ‘ideal city' or of a ‘good society'.

Wealth for All?

Jérôme Gautié — 2016-09-08T07:00:00Z

At a time when the French government has reignited the debate over a universal minimum income, Philippe Askenazy reconsiders the question of wealth redistribution. He maintains that intervention must occur at a much earlier stage, not through taxation or generalized access to property, but by making base incomes equal through a revalorization of work.