As Arendt and Foucault noticed, the sign of a truly modern institution is that it refuses to accept merely outward signs of conformity.
As Arendt observes the final cruel blow is to rob people of any role - as either exploited or exploiter.
Even many of the extreme advocates of neoliberalism don't really pretend to take their own theory that seriously.
If you regulate systems by exams you end up corrupting educational standards.
Emilie Whitaker's term "blame devolution" perfectly describes modern management.
Aristotle would not identify the United Kingdom as any kind of meaningful democracy.
Life of course (by which I also mean death) is designed to balance things out. To allow the new to replace the old.
Measuring has always been political.
To the religious this paradox is resolved through faith and an acknowledgement of the mystery of certain fundamental truths - but to the non-religious this seems like a cop-out.
Dante understood that it is good we are all different; but dangerous that we don't find our true fate.
There is nothing 'natural' about the welfare state and it takes work to get a good one.
If you think your gifts entitle you to a better deal then ask yourself who gave you those gifts. It was certainly not yourself.
A poetic reflection on our times.
It seems like a new form of aristocratic rule has evolved within the welfare state itself.
Progress is not inevitable. Elites can maintain their grip on power for centuries.
If we want citizenship to be real - for everyone - then we must transform how our society works.
The size of the welfare state is a poor measure of its value.
Sometimes critics of the welfare state seem to be against the welfare state, but it often turns out that they are really offering different visions of the welfare state.
The idea of citizenship does not belong to any one political theory. If taken seriously it would temper the extreme and anti-democratic nature of all the main political theories.
Passport-Citizenship is a corruption of citizenship - it empties citizenship of its real value. Citizenship is a critical moral ideal and is essential to the development of a fair society.
It is hard to imagine the kind of oppression that makes the camp or the institution welcome.
We should not be afraid of the language of entitlements for entitlements give meaning to the idea of rights.
Reflections on Les Murray's poem Dog Fox Field
Reflections on the wisdom of Jane Addams