This study presents an attempt to understand the political and aesthetic relationship between two of Modernism’s most enigmatic authors, Wyndham Lewis and Ford Madox Ford by examining their novelistic practice in light of their writings on politics and social criticism. A close look at the use of ironic distance, a hallmark feature in our understanding of modernist fiction, in Tarr (1918) and The Good Soldier (1915) reveals both authors conscious effort to distance themselves from their novel’s subjects, Fredric Tarr and John Dowell respectively. In light of both novels’ satirical element, a scathing attack on bourgeois narcissism caused by the wealthier class’ persistent attempts to identify with hollow and self serving social roles through the sham-aristocratic prestige created by England’s pre-war commodity culture, and the fact that both Fredric Tarr and John Dowell are artist figures that somehow resemble their creators, this project reinterprets Ford and Lewis’ ironic distance as an instance of self-distanciation. From this we can infer that both Ford and Lewis were invested in the modernist idea of impersonality, not just as a artistic or literary technique, but as the artist’s only means of escaping the narcissistic and slothful trap of modern subjectivity, and that, along with the production of modernist art, they saw a continual self-effacement as the price of authenticity, therefore inspiring in them the conviction to live as “uncelebrated stylists.”

This study presents an attempt to understand the political and aesthetic relationship between two of Modernism’s most enigmatic authors, Wyndham Lewis and Ford Madox Ford by examining their novelistic practice in light of their writings on politics and social criticism. A close look at the use of ironic distance, a hallmark feature in our understanding of modernist fiction, in Tarr (1918) and The Good Soldier (1915) reveals both authors conscious effort to distance themselves from their novel’s subjects, Fredric Tarr and John Dowell respectively. In light of both novels’ satirical element, a scathing attack on bourgeois narcissism caused by the wealthier class’ persistent attempts to identify with hollow and self serving social roles through the sham-aristocratic prestige created by England’s pre-war commodity culture, and the fact that both Fredric Tarr and John Dowell are artist figures that somehow resemble their creators, this project reinterprets Ford and Lewis’ ironic distance as an instance of self-distanciation. From this we can infer that both Ford and Lewis were invested in the modernist idea of impersonality, not just as a artistic or literary technique, but as the artist’s only means of escaping the narcissistic and slothful trap of modern subjectivity, and that, along with the production of modernist art, they saw a continual self-effacement as the price of authenticity, therefore inspiring in them the conviction to live as “uncelebrated stylists.”

In some of the most established and supposedly immutable liberal democracies, diverse social groups are losing con fi dence not only in established democratic institutions, but in the idea of liberal representative democracy itself. Meanwhile, an illiberal and anti-egalitarian transformation of democracy evolves at an apparently unstoppable pace. This democratic fatigue syndrome , the present article suggests, is qualitatively di ff erent from the crises of Democracy which have been debated for some considerable time. Focusing on mature democracies underpinned by the ideational tradition of European Enlightenment, the article theorizes this Syndrome and the striking transformation of democracy in terms of a dialectic process in which the very norm that once gave birth to the democratic project - the modernist idea of the autonomous subject - metamorphoses into its gravedigger, or at least into the driver of its radical reformulation. The article further develops aspects of my existing work on second-order emancipation and simulative democracy . Taking a theoretical rather than empirical approach, it aims to provide a conceptual framework for more empirically oriented analyses of changing forms of political articulation and participation.

摘要 觀察著作權法的演進，可說是一部為因應新興科技帶來著作利用型態改變，所造成衝擊的歷史。而現今著作權法面對資訊科技進步，所造成的法制衝擊時，卻因採取反規避措施等激烈的因應手段，造成著作權法制針對數位著作保護之爭議，出現了原先為平衡權利人利益與促進文化創作發展之兩大目的，發生了失衡的現象。該現象的發生，似乎於某種層度上，驗證了德國學者哈伯瑪斯（Jürgen Habermas）於觀察資本主義社會演進的歷史脈絡後，結合馬克斯的社會進化觀點與盧曼的系統論，所主張的晚期資本主義下的四重危機。 而隨著國際間有關數位著作保護的立法趨勢，無形中賦予了著作權人擁有對於他人接近其著作，幾乎完全的管制權利；而合理使用原則之適用卻遭受科技管制的嚴重限縮，使得著作權的保護對象，究竟是表達方式或是無形的概念，產生了保護界限的模糊，著作權法制似乎已轉往著作權利人之一方傾斜。如此的法制發展，將可能造成法律系統的內在衝突與矛盾，危及系統存在的正當性，進而產生數位著作權法制上的合法性危機。 本文試圖依循哈伯瑪斯有關溝通理性與擴大參與以型塑公共領域的主張，尋求爭議解決的可能途徑。並試圖藉由新興之創作共享授權機制（Creative Commons），結合網際網路之互動特性，嘗試探討網路中出現創作之公共領域（Public Sphere）的可能性。並期待開啟以強化社會對話與互動的溝通模式，來尋求爭議問題解決的討論開端。 / Abstract The evolution of Copyright Act reflects the change of publication displaying methods due to technology. Legislators create Anti-Circumvention Provision in reaction to the shock of technology progression on Copyright Act. However, these provision triggers the debate on the purpose of Copyright Act on publication protection, whether it is to protect the obligees or to enhance publication development. This phenomenon verifies Jürgen Habermas’s argument on the four crises under advanced capitalism, which combines Marx’s evolution of society, Luhmann’s system theory, and Habermas’s own observation on the transformation of Capitalism. The legislative trend on digital copyright protection gives the obligees almost complete control over their writings. However,“fair use” is limited by technology restrain. As a result, the Copyright Act seems to be tilted towards obligees. Such development may create inner conflict and endanger the legitimation of the law system. Moreover, the legitimation crisis on Copyright Act may be aroused. This thesis is aimed to solve the debate based on Harbemas’s claim on creating public sphere through rational communication and enlarging participation. For example, the writer combines creative commons and the interactive feature of the Internet to explore the possibility of public sphere on the Internet. In sum, this thesis is intended to resolve the Copyright Act problem.

Thesis title: Right to health and legitimate expectations in perspective of the standards and above-standards in Czech health care system This diploma thesis deals with the legal regulation of the right to health as a social right. In the first chapter, the genesis of the social rights, their specific characteristics and the social rights' role in relation to civil and political rights are analysed for the purpose of interpretation of the right to health. The actual problematics of legitimation crisis based on the states' inability to fulfil the obligations and expectations rising from social rights are later discussed. In relation to the socio-legal context, the international legislation as well as some specific national legislation of the right to health are analysed in detail within subsequent chapter. With this regard, the practice of the courts as well as the practice of the quasi-judicial bodies is considered in the following chapter, especially with respect to the right to health and its relation to some civil and political rights. The standardization process of right to health within this decision-making practice is also examined. Moreover, the right to health is explored in perspective of the Czech legislation. The diploma thesis deals with the content and the protection of the...

L’émergence de la Chine dans le système international post-guerre froide pose un défi pour la position hégémonique des États-Unis et l’ordre mondial libéral. Lorsqu’ils tentent d’expliquer ce défi, les spécialistes tendent à se concentrer uniquement soit sur le hard power chinois (en particulier, sa puissance militaire) soit sur son soft power (l’attrait de sa culture et idéologie). Cette thèse développe un cadre d’analyse alternatif inspiré de la sociologie de Pierre Bourdieu, articulé autour de la notion de pouvoir symbolique. Elle conçoit la politique internationale en termes d’une lutte symbolique (entre, par exemple, une orthodoxie et une hétérodoxie) dont l’issue est déterminée par au moins trois facteurs cruciaux : contexte, capital et lieux communs. Ce cadre est appliqué à l’analyse du nouveau rôle de la Chine dans le monde depuis la fin de la guerre froide, lequel est indiscutablement l’un des développements les plus remarquables des relations internationales des temps modernes. La thèse démontre que la Chine ne défie pas l’hégémonie des États-Unis et l’ordre mondial libéral au sens conventionnel de la puissance matérielle ou de l’idéologie, mais plutôt au niveau symbolique. La thèse soutient que la conjonction des trois facteurs susmentionnés a été nécessaire à l’influence mondiale de la Chine : (1) la crise de légitimation des États-Unis (sur les plan économique, politique et idéologique), couplée à l’extraordinaire ascension de nouvelles puissances dans le système international comme la Chine, ont créé un contexte historique favorable ou « condition de possibilité »; (2) l’énorme capital symbolique accumulé par la Chine, en raison non seulement de son nouveau statut de grande puissance, mais aussi de son approche pragmatique des questions nationales et internationales, en a fait une source d’inspiration convoitée mondialement ; (3) la mobilisation stratégique par la Chine de son capital symbolique, sous la forme d’un ensemble de lieux communs ‘rhétoriques’, a grandement contribué à légitimer sa puissance, en particulier aux yeux des élites dirigeantes dans le monde en développement, dissimulant ainsi le caractère asymétrique et arbitraire de ses relations. Ensemble, ces trois éléments –contexte, capital, lieux communs– expliquent le pouvoir symbolique de la Chine, c’est-à-dire la perception selon laquelle, contrairement aux États-Unis, elle propose des réponses pertinentes et cohérentes aux problèmes d’organisation sociale, économique et politique de ce monde. L’ascension de la Chine remet ainsi en question le « méta-capital » des États-Unis, c’est-à-dire son monopole sur la production du capital économique, social, culturel et symbolique. L’accent mis sur cette dimension symbolique de la lutte pour définir et imposer la « vision légitime du monde social et ses divisions » révèle une rupture avec la pratique conventionnelle de la politique des grandes puissances, au profit d’une transformation pacifique du système international et d’une diplomatie symbolique. Cet accent sur le pouvoir symbolique ouvre des avenues prometteuses pour l’étude du changement et des sources d’autorité sur la scène politique mondiale, traditionnellement définie comme « anarchique ». / China’s rise within the international system in the post-Cold War era challenges the hegemonic position of the United States and the Western liberal order. In trying to explain this challenge, scholars tend to either focus on Chinese hard power (in particular, its military power) or on its soft power (the attractiveness of its culture and ideology). This thesis develops an alternative Bourdieu-inspired framework addressing symbolic power. It conceptualizes international politics in terms of a symbolic struggle (such as that between orthodoxy and heterodoxy) whose outcome is determined by at least three crucial factors: context, capital and commonplaces. The framework is applied to the analysis of China’s new world role, which is arguably one of the most remarkable developments in modern international relations. The thesis shows that China does not challenge U.S. hegemonic position and the Western liberal order in the conventional sense of material power or ideology, but rather at the symbolic level. The thesis argues that the combination of the three above-mentioned factors has been necessary to China’s worldwide influence : (1) the legitimation crisis of the United States (economically, politically and ideologically), paired with the extraordinary rise of new illiberal powers on the world scene such as China, created a favourable historical context or “condition of possibility”; (2) the huge amount of symbolic capital accumulated by China, not only because of its new status as a great power, but also because of the success of its pragmatic approach to national and international issues, made it become a source of inspiration for countries across the world; (3) the strategic mobilization by China of its symbolic capital, in the form of ‘rhetorical’ commonplaces, greatly contributed to legitimize its power, especially in the eyes of ruling elites in the developing world, thereby dissimulating the asymmetric and arbitrary nature of the Chinese power and relations. Together, these three components -context, capital, and commonplaces- explain the emergence of China as a symbolic power, i.e. the perception that, unlike the United States, China now has the authority to speak the truth and to define causes of and remedies for certain problems and crises. China’s rise challenges the Unites States’ ‘meta-capital’, that is, its monopoly on the production of economic, social, cultural, and symbolic capital. The focus on this symbolic dimension as a ‘weapon’ in the struggle to define and impose the “legitimate vision of the social world and its divisions” reveals a rupture in the conventional practice of great powers politics, pointing to a peaceful transformation of the international system and symbolic diplomacy. It shows that a focus on symbolic power opens promising avenues for the study of change and sources of authority in world politics, traditionally defined as “anarchic”.