DOIAbstract
This article examines Luhmanns contributions to contemporary political theory from a different light than has been made available thus far in Anglo-American political theory. More specifically, I argue that social systems theory makes a provoking and productive intervention in the ongoing debate on competing conceptions of critique and normativity. I first compare Luhmanns approach with that of Foucaults and show that systems theory powerfully interrogates the sociological validity of the structure of normativity often found in the currently prominent liberal-universalist political theory. Later in the article, however, I identify a central theoretical problem in Luhmanns brand of systems theory – namely a highly constricted notion of polit...
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