Roberto Mangabeira Unger

Roberto Mangabeira Unger (2007)

Envelope from Law in Modern Society. Toward a Criticism of Social Theory , 1976

Roberto Mangabeira Unger (* 1947 in Rio de Janeiro ) is a Brazilian philosopher and political scientist . He was the first Minister for Strategic Affairs from 2007–2009.

Life

Unger was born into a distinguished political family. His mother, poet and journalist, was co-editor of a feminist magazine in the 1920s (her colleague Leda Collor was the mother of Fernando Collor de Mello , who later became President of Brazil), and his uncle João was the founder of the Brazilian Socialist Party. But his grandfather had the greatest political influence on him. Octávio Mangabeira was Brazil's foreign minister before he fled the fascist Getúlio Dornelles Vargas regime . After the Second World War he returned and founded the National Democratic Union .

When Unger enrolled at Harvard Law School in 1969 , his goal was to return to Brazil after graduation to pursue a career in law and politics. However, the following year there was a military coup in Brazil (Unger's sister was captured and was only released again when the regime released political prisoners in exchange for the Swiss ambassador kidnapped by radical opponents of the regime ). Deprived of his home in this way, Unger decided to stay in the United States and began teaching after graduating. At the age of 22, he became the youngest Harvard professor of all time.

Based on his interest in European philosophy and for Max Weber and Karl Marx , he developed a negative attitude towards liberal political philosophy, which in his opinion reduces life to antinomies : rules versus values, reason versus desire. In addition, the American system is not based on neutral principles, but on special power relations.

He thus developed into one of the first representatives of critical legal studies in the USA. When Duncan Kennedy , Morton Horwitz, and other left-wing lecturers came to Harvard, it became a movement. The first time they came into the focus of general interest when Paul Bator moved to Chicago , because he had stated that the CLS supporters would poison the atmosphere at the university. The faculty at Harvard received the name " Beirut of Law" in the press . In the following years there were always fierce arguments about Unger's theses.

In 1987 he published his major work Politics . In it, he criticized the constitutionalism of the 18th century, which, in Unger's view, under the pretext of protecting certain constitutional agreements, does not strengthen democracy, but turns politics into a competition for advantages in frozen institutions. On the other hand, he turned against Marx. Its historical inevitability curbs hope for change. Unger rejects the idea that the state can best ensure equality, because that means above all concentrating undemocratic power in the hands of the state.

In 1987 Unger was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , in 2018 to the British Academy .

Works

• Roberto Mangabeira Unger: Against the practical necessity . For left politics. Wagenbach, Berlin 2007 ( review in double room ).

Web links

Commons : Roberto Mangabeira Unger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Roberto Mangabeira Unger in the catalog of the German National Library
• www.robertounger.net → Roberto Unger at Harvard