Leading the People: On the Centennial of Max Weber’s “Politics as a Vocation”


Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Session Description

The centennial of Max Weber’s “Politics as a Vocation” is particularly timely. The political radicalizations and democratic experimentations in the wake of World War I – as well as tectonic shifts in international power relations – all resonate with today’s sense of crisis and change. In response to German loss and revolutionary politics, Weber grappled with the meaning of modern politics without giving in to the intellectual revolt against reason. Instead, suspended in a deep tension between Kantian moral imperatives and a Nietzschean view of the modern cultural world, Weber crafted one of the most influential diagnoses of political modernity. His turn to ethical character and leadership democracy in “Politics as a Vocation” has influenced thinkers and practitioners across disciplines and political orientations, on the left (i.e., the Frankfurt School) as well as on the right (i.e., Carl Schmitt, Leo Strauss). This is due, not only to the clarity and force of his arguments, but because the text productively complicates and dramatically heightens the tensions between ethics and politics, values and leadership.



This roundtable engages with the ideas, controversies and legacies “Politics as a Vocation” has sparked. It asks why we continue to turn to the text in our teaching and research; what it stands for; what it can illuminate; and what its history signifies for us. In addition, we will offer interpretations of the main questions of the text, bringing them to bear not only on Weber’s other works and the traditions he inspired but also on more contemporary debates. Who is his “genuine politician” that brings passion, judgment, and charisma to the existential and moral task of politics? Are there ways Weber can tell us what responsible political action looks like? As a critic of revolutionary politics, pure power politics, and naive idealism alike, can Weber indicate moments in which the means towards specific ends are justified? And given that his understanding of democracy deemphasizes ideals such as equality, justice or self-rule, what is left in democracy for Weber? What is the role of nationalism? What emphasis is placed on civic education, and on faith? Can Weber’s argument shed light on current populist revolts? One hundred years after Weber gave his lecture “Politics as a Vocation” in 1919 in a moment of personal political failure and massive (inter)national transformations, this roundtable will explore the salience of its themes and connections for political reflection in the past, present and future.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 1: Political Thought and Philosophy: Historical Approaches

Chair

• Karuna Mantena Columbia University

Presenters

• Joshua L. Cherniss Georgetown University

• Carmen Lea Dege Yale University

• Stefan Eich Georgetown University

• Pratap B. Mehta Ashoka University

• David Owen University of Southampton

• Shalini Satkunanandan University of California, Davis