Caesarism, Charisma and Fate. Historical Sources and Modern Resonances in the Work of Max Weber by Peter Baehr (review)

Abstract

258 Max Weber Studies at that time on '(1) the holding of views which are politically acceptable in court circles and polite society, and (2) assent to a certain minimum level of church beliefs (whether genuine or otherwise). In Germany freedom of science exists within the boundaries of political and religious acceptability - and not outside them' (pp. 67-68). Weber adds that if we adopt this 'curious concept' of academic freedom then the consequences are as follows: (1) On admission to a chair, the professor can and should be examined not only for his scientific qualifications, but also for his loyalty toward the current political rulers and ecclesiastical custom. (2) Any public protest against the prevailing political system can cost the person occupying the chair his job. 3) In contrast, in the lecture hall, which is closed to the public and hence exempt from criticism, the teacher, once appointed, may express himself as he chooses, 'independently of all authorities' (p. 70). It is here that, as Dreijmanis suggests in his introduction, a number of connections emerge with the text of 'Science as a Vocation', in which Weber draws attention to the political limits of science and to the responsibilities of professors within the lecture hall. The above passages perhaps even go beyond this by calling into question the broader institutional politics of what he elsewhere calls 'value freedom'. In sum, it is the strength of these 'articles on academia' that carry this book. These include other important statements on the transactions of the first German Confer ence of Sociologists, where Weber talks of his interest in the sociology of the press (pp. 80-98), and on the inception of the German Sociological Society, through the course of which Weber reflects on the struggle for the value of sociology to be recog nised in Germany at that time (pp. 98-103). Read together, these articles, along with a later commentary on the subsequent difficulties faced by the German Sociological Society (see pp. 147-50), give valuable insight into both the political dynamics of German universities at the outset of the Twentieth Century and the early associa tional interests of the discipline. For these reasons, I would recommend this book to experienced Weber readers in spite of its editorial shortcomings. Nicholas Gane University of York, UK Peter Baehr, Caesarism, Charisma and Fate. Historical Sources and Modern Resonances in the Work of Max Weber (New Brunswick, NJ and London: Transaction Publishers, 2008), 243pp. ISBN 9781412808132. $44.95. Peter Baehr has packed two quite different books in one volume. The first part, 'From Caesarism to Charisma' is a 'streamlined and updated form' of Baehr's previous book, Caesar and the Fading of the Roman World: A Study in Republicanism and Caesarism (1998), which in the author7s perception has been ignored by social scientists since they took it for a book on the fall of the Roman Republic (p. 1). This part of some 100 pages is supplemented by an appendix of 25 pages on 'Caesar in America' that is during the founding period of the USA. Between them is sandwiched Part 2, 'Fate and Fate Communities', 70 pages on the reaction to the SARS Emergency of spring 2003 in Hong Kong, where Baehr currently works as professor of sociology.© Max Weber Studies 2011. Book Reviews 259 Part I is an account on the genesis of the concept of Caesarism which should become one of the pillars on which Weber erected his theory of charismatic leader ship/rule/ domination. Baehr traces the debate within the tradition of so-called clas sical republicanism from Machiavelli onwards in which on the one hand Caesar was unanimously denounced as the destroyer of republican liberty and on the other Cato the Younger praised as the embodiment of republican virtue. Though mentioned shortly by Baehr, especially in his appendix on the opposition of the American Anti Federalists against a strong president being commander-in -chief of a standing army and thus suspected of seizing power like Caesar, one should stress that since the late 17th century 'Cromwell' was used interchangeably with 'Caesar7 for this spectre as should happen again in the polemics against Napoleon I. Though in retrospect he appeared...