Gerald Stourzh

Until the eighteenth century, Western societies were hierarchical ones. Since then, they have transformed themselves into societies dominated by two features: participatory democracy and the protection of human rights. In Modern Isonomy, distinguished political theorist Gerald Stourzh unites these ideas as "isonomy." The ideal, Stourzh argues, is a state, and indeed a world, in which individual rights, including the right to participate in politics equally, are clearly defined and possessed by all. Stourzh begins with ancient Greek thought contrasting isonomy-which is associated with the rule of the many-with "gradated societies," oligarchies, and monarchies. He then discusses the American experiment with the development of representative democracy as well as the French Revolution, which proclaimed that all people are born and remain free and with equal rights. But progress on the creation and protection of rights for all has been uneven. Stourzh discusses specifically the equalization of slaves, peasants, women, Jews, and indigenous people. He demonstrates how deeply intertwined the protection of equal rights is with the development of democracy and gives particular attention to the development of constitutional adjudication, notably the constitutional complaint of individuals. He also discusses the international protection human rights. Timely and thought-provoking, Modern Isonomy is an erudite exploration of political and human rights.

Until the eighteenth century, Western societies were hierarchical ones. Since then, they have transformed themselves into societies dominated by two features: participatory democracy and the protection of human rights. In Modern Isonomy, distinguished political theorist Gerald Stourzh unites these ideas as "isonomy." The ideal, Stourzh argues, is a state, and indeed a world, in which individual rights, including the right to participate in politics equally, are clearly defined and possessed by all. Stourzh begins with ancient Greek thought contrasting isonomy-which is associated with the rule of the many-with "gradated societies," oligarchies, and monarchies. He then discusses the American experiment with the development of representative democracy as well as the French Revolution, which proclaimed that all people are born and remain free and with equal rights. But progress on the creation and protection of rights for all has been uneven. Stourzh discusses specifically the equalization of slaves, peasants, women, Jews, and indigenous people. He demonstrates how deeply intertwined the protection of equal rights is with the development of democracy and gives particular attention to the development of constitutional adjudication, notably the constitutional complaint of individuals. He also discusses the international protection human rights. Timely and thought-provoking, Modern Isonomy is an erudite exploration of political and human rights.

After World War II, Austria was occupied by Soviet, American, British, and French forces. This study provides the history of the treaty that was negotiated in order to end this occupation. In the Moscow Declaration of 1943, the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union had declared that Austria should be liberated from Nazi rule and reconstructed as an independent state. After the war, however, this goal was soon overshadowed by security and power considerations, and then by the Cold War. While the West strove to safeguard Austria’s independence from communist expansion, the USSR refused to finalize a treaty and to withdraw from its zone in the eastern part of the country. In the end it took until 1955 to come to an agreement and receive Soviet consent for a treaty. An important Soviet precondition for agreeing to withdraw was Austria becoming a permanently neutral country. The roots of Austria’s neutrality as traced in this volume were not only linked to Soviet, but also to Austrian considerations. Based on US, Soviet, British, French, German, Swiss and Austrian documents, the book analyzes the risks, pitfalls and blockades that had to be avoided and overcome before Austria could finally regain its independence and be reconstructed.

Gerald Stourzh wendet sich im Titelessay gegen Tendenzen einer Verengung der osterreichischen Geschichte auf die Geschichte des Territoriums der heutigen Republik. Etwa die Halfte der Studien behandelt Zusammenhange von Multiethnizitat und Verfassungswandel im spaten Habsburgerreich. Der "Ethnisierung" Altosterreichs ist auch eine neue Arbeit in Auseinandersetzung mit rezenten amerikanischen Interpretationsansatzen gewidmet. Der Essay "Verfassungsgerichtsbarkeit und Grundrechtsdemokratie" ordnet die osterreichische Entwicklung in den Rahmen der westlichen Rechtskultur ein. Weitere Themen sind die osterreichische Aussenpolitik angesichts der nationalsozialistischen Bedrohung sowie zwei Profile grosser auslandischer Historiker mit engen Bindungen zu Osterreich, Angelo Ara und Jean Rudolf von Salis.

Dieser Band enthalt drei der fur Werk und Personlichkeit des osterreichischen Historikers aufschlussreichsten Arbeiten: den autobiographischen Essay "Spuren einer intellektuellen Reise", die Studie "Konversionen auf dem Hohepunkt: Gustav Mahler, Karl Kraus und das Wien des fin de siecle", sowie die Wiener Abschlussvorlesung "Menschenrechte und Genozid". Die zwei erstgenannten Arbeiten werden hier erstmals in deutscher Sprache, vom Autor selbst aus dem Englischen ubertragen, veroffentlicht.

Spanning both the history of the modern West and his own five-decade journey as a historian, Gerald Stourzh's sweeping new essay collection covers the same breadth of topics that has characterized his career - from Benjamin Franklin to Gustav Mahler, from Alexis de Tocqueville to Charles Beard, from the notion of constitution in seventeenth-century England to the concept of neutrality in twentieth-century Austria. This storied career brought him in the 1950s from the University of Vienna to the University of Chicago - of which he draws a brilliant picture - and later took him to Berlin and eventually back to Austria. One of the few prominent scholars equally at home with U.S. history and the history of central Europe, Stourzh has informed these geographically diverse experiences and subjects with the overarching themes of his scholarly achievement: the comparative study of liberal constitutionalism and the struggle for equal rights at the core of Western notions of free government. Composed between 1953 and 2005 and including a new autobiographical essay written especially for this volume, "From Vienna to Chicago and Back" will delight Stourzh fans, attract new admirers, and make an important contribution to transatlantic history.