Martha Nussbaum - "The Monarchy of Fear" - Aziz Huq

“Nussbaum is one of the most accomplished political and moral philosophers of our time…there is almost no domain of political and moral life and thought that her work and apparently endless curiosity have not explored.”
—William Adams, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts

Martha Nussbaum discusses Monarchy of Fear: A Philosopher Looks at our Political Crisis. She will be joined in conversation by Aziz Huq, the Frank and Bernice J. Greenberg Professor of Law at the University of Chicago. A Q&A and signing will follow the discussion.

At the Co-op

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About the book: For decades Martha C. Nussbaum has been an acclaimed scholar and humanist, earning dozens of honors for her books and essays. In The Monarchy of Fear she turns her attention to the current political crisis that has polarized American since the 2016 election. Although today’s atmosphere is marked by partisanship, divisive rhetoric, and the inability of two halves of the country to communicate with one another, Nussbaum focuses on what so many pollsters and pundits have overlooked. She sees a simple truth at the heart of the problem: the political is always emotional. Globalization has produced feelings of powerlessness in millions of people in the West. That sense of powerlessness bubbles into resentment and blame. Blame of immigrants. Blame of Muslims. Blame of other races. Blame of cultural elites. While this politics of blame is exemplified by the election of Donald Trump and the vote for Brexit, Nussbaum argues it can be found on all sides of the political spectrum, left or right. Drawing on a mix of historical and contemporary examples, from classical Athens to the musical Hamilton, The Monarchy of Fear untangles this web of feelings and provides a roadmap of where to go next.

About the author: Martha C. Nussbaum is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics, appointed in the Philosophy Department and the Law School of the University of Chicago. She gave the 2016 Jefferson Lecture for the National Endowment for the Humanities and won the 2016 Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy, which is regarded as the most prestigious award available in fields not eligible for a Nobel. She has written more than twenty-two books, including Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions; Anger and Forgiveness: Resentment, Generosity, Justice; Not For Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities; and The Monarchy of Fear.

About the interlocutor: Aziz Huq’s teaching and research interests include constitutional law, criminal procedure, federal courts, and legislation. Huq worked as Associate Counsel and then Director of the Liberty and National Security Project of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, litigating cases in both the US Courts of Appeals and the Supreme Court. He was also a Senior Consultant Analyst for the International Crisis Group, researching constitutional design and implementation in Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka. He clerked for Judge Robert D. Sack of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and then for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the Supreme Court of the United States. Huq has written for the New York Times, The Nation, and Boston Review. He has contributed or authored six books including How to Save a Constitutional Democracy recently published with University Chicago Press.