'What is to be done?'

A pamphlet by this title was written just over a century ago by one Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known to the world as Lenin. Now Comment has re-posed the question as it begins a new series of weekly articles. Editor Gideon Strauss opens with his introductory remarks, unsurprisingly titled, What is to be done?, announcing a new neocalvinist manifesto, arriving, like one of the great 19th-century Russian novels, in weekly instalments.

I will let you guess the author of the first contribution in the series: What is to be done … in political theory? This article notes that the two most influential political theorists of the modern era, John Locke and Karl Marx, were antipolitical yet contributed to the general drift towards statism in contemporary political practice. It goes on to survey four recent efforts to renew political theory, concluding with six signposts towards a better alternative.

While we're on the subject, I might also draw your attention to a piece by Michael C. Hogeterp, Broadbent’s Lament … and a politics of hopeful citizenship? Mr. Hogeterp works for the Christian Reformed Church in government relations and is a 1992 graduate in political science from Redeemer University College. The alert reader will take note of the reference to Bernard Crick's writings in this article and the political theory article. Coincidence? Um, not exactly.