Founding Statement

"Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand. . ."
     ~The Second Coming

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     The poet, William Butler Yeats, wrote these words in response to the Russian revolution of 1917, when the governmental and social systems of the world seemed to be undergoing profound convulsions, challenging the order of things that be. Seventy-five years later, the world again appears to be experiencing similar convulsions, shaking the foundations of conventional order. During the life of this journal, the world has seen:  the collapse of the Berlin wall and the reunification of Germany, the Tienanmen Square massacre in Beijing, and the collapse of the Soviet and Yugoslavia along with the resulting civil war and unrest in those regions. In our own country, as well, we have seen:  an invasion of Panama, two wars with Iraq, an unprecedented sexual harassment charge against a Supreme Court nominee, riots in Los Angeles in response to the criminal justice system's failure to respond to black citizen's brutal beating by police, and most recently, the tragedies of September 11th.  The blood dimmed tide is loosed and the ceremony of innocence is drowned.
      These events challenge our conceptions of fundamental rights and ordered liberty. It is only right that they should. While the last decade has witnessed the death of communism, the decades ahead will surely mark the demise of western political and cultural hegemony. Neither the political economies of the world, nor our global environment could long endure the continued demands of conformity to these two preeminent superpowers. Their demise promises the expansion of human freedom as much as it threatens chaos.
      From the ashes of these two titanic states of east and west, must arise a liberated humanity that will implement a world government of polycentric order and culture for the advancement of human freedom. In other words, the survival of human freedom depends upon an universal embrace of cultural and intellectual pluralism. In such a world, the full diversity of human voices must be heard, passion must inspire reason, science must serve human needs, and new insight must evolve out of old disputes.
      This hopeful vision of the future has inspired the founders of the Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review to dedicate their time and efforts to the creation of an open forum, international in scope, for debate on fundamental issues of human freedom and ordered liberty-a forum free from ideologically and institutionally sanctioned pronouncements of truth and value. It is the founders' view that concepts such as Oliver Wendell Holmes' "market place of ideas" have, in our intensely competitive world, sold short interests in the political and civil rights of individuals. We, therefore, seek to contribute a medium for debate where market rules of supply and demand are supplanted by more critical interests in the survival of human liberty. Such a view recognizes the interdependence of seemingly contradictory ideas; and, consequently, puts a high premium on diversity and freedom from systematization. Yet, the founders also recognize the dangerous, self-destructive tendency in humanity which threatens freedom and order. Therefore, it is the mission of this review to foster within its pages a thoughtful and sophisticated discourse on political and civil rights. We seek to create a new center of intellectual coherence where things will hold, though with greater accommodation for difference, and where the best are full of passionate intensity. This is our revelation which is at hand: a renewal of The Debate over political and civil rights.

Temple University Beasley School of Law

Temple Political & Civil Rights Law Review
Temple University Beasley School of Law
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Philadelphia, PA 19122

© 2007 Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review