Leo Strauss and Anglo-American Democracy A Conservative Critique

Leo Strauss and Anglo-American Democracy critically interprets Strauss's political philosophy from a conservative perspective. Most mainstream readers of Strauss have either condemned him from the Left as an extreme right-wing opponent of liberal democracy or celebrated him from the Right as a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author Havers, Grant N
Format eBook
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Press 2013
Northern Illinois University Press
NIU Press
Edition1
Subjects
Conservatism
Democracy
Great Britain
History
PHILOSOPHY
Political
Political Ideologies
POLITICAL SCIENCE
RELIGION
Strauss, Leo
United States
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Summary:Leo Strauss and Anglo-American Democracy critically interprets Strauss's political philosophy from a conservative perspective. Most mainstream readers of Strauss have either condemned him from the Left as an extreme right-wing opponent of liberal democracy or celebrated him from the Right as a traditional defender of Western civilization. Rejecting both portrayals, Grant N. Havers shifts the debate beyond the conventional parameters stating that Strauss was neither a man of the Far Right nor a conservative but. in fact a secular Cold War liberal. In Leo Strauss and Anglo-American Democracy Havers contends that the most troubling implication of Straussianism is that it provides an ideological rationale for the aggressive spread of democratic values on a global basis while ignoring the preconditions that make these values possible. Concepts such as the rule of law, constitutional government, Christian morality, and the separation of church and state are not easily transplanted beyond the historic confines of Anglo-American civilization, as recent wars to spread democracy have demonstrated.
ISBN:9781609090944
1609090942
0875804780
9780875804781
DOI:10.7591/j.ctv177tc06