idea in the contemporary world,” he wrote in one of his last books,
“leads a double life. This is not because some mysterious symmetry is
at work, but because only a very limited number of changes have any
significant chance of succeeding. So the Left and the Right necessarily
explore a relatively narrow range of possible futures and, when they are
serious, respond to the same reality in fundamentally different ways.”^5
Throughout this book, we have seen this structured conversation at
work over a remarkable range of ideas, from the nineteenth-century
workers’ right to vote to the contemporary claims of ethnic minorities
to be recognized and treated as equal, and from the fight for socialism
to the recent idea of a Global Compact. In a world where democratic
politics seems hard-pressed to follow the rapid and global expansion
of market forces, the universal prevalence of this language should
be seen as a hopeful sign. The lack of cohesive and encompassing
ideologies that can articulate the divergent expectations of citizens is
indeed one of the most pressing problems of emerging democracies.
Without a common currency to articulate differences, political debates
tend to remain inchoate, and centered on personalities, images, and
patronage.^6 Arguing collectively becomes difficult, and democratic
deliberation is impaired. This book suggests that global politics is
already endowed with such a common currency. This is good news for
democracy, and good news for the world as well.
Some readers will see our book as a political essay rather than a
work of social science. Others will consider that in insisting so much
on the left and the right, we condemn ourselves to a simplistic,
ideological view of the world. This type of reaction – which is prob-
ably unavoidable – raises the question of objectivity and relevance in
the social sciences. In a manner that would nowadays seem quaint,
Max Weber argued for universal aims in the social sciences, and sug-
gested accordingly that “a correct scientific proof...must be acknow-
ledged as correct even by a Chinese.” In spite of his politically incorrect
language, Weber was right to think that the scientific enterprise
required rigorous theoretical arguments and a respect for empirical
evidence that could stand the test of critical inquiry. At the same time,
(^5) Michael Harrington,The Next Left: The History of a Future, New York, Henry
Holt, 1986, p. 15.
(^6) Thomas Carothers,Confronting the Weakest Link: Aiding Political Parties in
New Democracies, Washington, DC, Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace, 2006, p. 11.
234 Left and Right in Global Politics