All constitutions are ultimately about power, Sheldon Wolin writes: about how power is used and by whom, according to what understandings, and to whose advantage. The provisions of our own Constitution regarding slavery-and disregarding women-show that even a liberal constitution does not legitimate all types of politics. What is constituted, rather, are conditions that favor certain forms of politics over others.

The Presence of the Past explores the relationship between present-day American politics and the COnstitution of 1787. Wolin does not attempt to establish the "real" meaning of the document or the "intent" of the Founders. ("A constitution is not a revelation and the Philadelphia Convention was not an epiphanic moment.") Instead, he examines the Constitution from a breathtaking variety of perspectives, drawing meanings from the text that is our richest source of American values, myths, ideologies, and theories. And he shows how the Constitution created the American version of the modern state and how the ideology of bicentennialism works to obscure the contradictions between the state and democracy.

In a variety of ways, The Presence of the Past concerns itself with kinds of loss-the loss of democratic values, the weakening of democratic elements in our institutions, the stifling of democratic hopes. In the explorations of our constitutional culture, Wolin connects a wide range of topics, from a discussion of the Federalist Papers to the Irangate scandal, from the dieas of Montesquieu and Tocqueville to the political implications of Allan Bloom's polemic on education.

About the Author

Sheldon Wolin has been professor of politics at Princeton University and at the University of California, Berkeley. He also served as Eastman Professor at the University of Oxford. Among his books is the classic Politics and Vision: Continuity and Innovation in Western Political Thought.

Reviews
In this book, our foremost theorist of the political moves beyond his classical work to a critique of the state... For Wolin, the past must live through a memory of past injustices and the experience of political action. He quotes Richard Hooker to the effect that five hundred years of acts are ours. In defending the value of political experience, Wolin stays true to his distinctive ground. American Political Science Review. The enlightenment so generously supplied by Wolin reveals a grim view of the American Republic in the wake of its Bicentennial celebrations... Clearly this is a very important book, and I recommend it most highly. Journal of Politics



Book Information
ISBN 9780801841163
Author Sheldon Wolin
Format Paperback
Page Count 248
Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press
Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press
Weight(grams) 369g