Abstract

Imagine an idealized Islamic people named “Kazanistan.” Is realistic utopia a fantasy? Using an intellectual device reminiscent of Montesquieu’s evocation of oriental despotism in his Persian Letters as a pretext allowing him to criticize eighteenth-century European monarchies, a columnist has recently reflected on the “fantasy nation” that certain Americans dream of. What would exemplify a Neoconservative vision of society as put forward in debates about questions of social justice in the United States? asked Nicholas D. Kristof in the New York Times (June 4, 2011). He presented this question as an enigma and offered a few clues meant to help in guessing what type of society would conform to Neocon ..