BRAVE-NEW-WORLD - THE NEW CONTEXT OF POLI TICS

The idea of enlightenment, that an increase in knowledge automatically permits an increase in social control, has become obsolete. Human int ervention in nature and in social life has increasingly produced new, man-made uncertainty. The changes that have accelerated this developme nt in recent decades can be categorized into three groups: globalizati on, the emergence of a post-traditional social order and the penetrati on of social reflexivity into more and more spheres of life. These cha nges have a long-term effect on the context of politics. This article portrays the basic framework for radical, reformulated politics that c ombines important basic values of philosophical conservatism with thos e of socialist thinking in a contemporary form.