Work

The Politics of Hope, Democracy in Crisis: Cycles in the Human Body, Chinese History, and American Politics

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This interdisciplinary study discusses the political implications of three interrelated cyclical theories articulated in twentieth-century America: Walter B. Cannon’s notion of homeostasis in the human body, John K. Fairbank’s analysis of the dynastic cycle in Chinese history, and Arthur Schlesinger Jr’s view of cycles in American politics. By intertwining the theories with the trajectories of early-century progressivism, Cold War liberalism, and the postwar New Deal order, this article argues that these three liberal intellectuals expressed in common a faith in the vitality of American democracy during its successive crises. Their hopeful worldview rested on their understanding of democracy. Cannon, Fairbank, and Schlesinger upheld democracy not as a specific political system built in their country but rather as an endless and open-ended project by which individual women and men would reshape their common destiny.

Source: Modern Intellectual History

DOI: 10.1017/s1479244326100511

Author: Ilnyun Kim

Institution: Ewha Womans University

Language: English

Topic: Political Theory and Democracy

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,550

Funders: National Research Foundation, Ministry of Education, National Research Foundation of Korea