Anon. "Capitalism Under Assault." ADBUSTERS July 23, 2008.

Not long ago, Roberto Mangabeira Unger was leading a life of academic stardom, working as a professor at Harvard Law School. The 60-year-old had first joined the faculty at age 24. By 29, he became one of the youngest tenured professors in the school’s history. His prominence expanded far beyond the field of law. Unger wrote prodigiously, churning out an endless stream of ideas about philosophy, politics, economics and social theory. He was, and he remains, a committed, radical leftist; he embraces the very idea of radicalism as a central pillar of his political philosophy. But now Unger has the chance to change history’s course. The Rio de Janeiro native was appointed last summer to be a minister in the government of Brazil. He has long been a critic of Brazil’s various governing regimes, including that of the man who appointed him, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. But now Unger is working from within government, instead of as an outsider. He will be the minister for strategic affairs – a job many call the “Minister of Ideas.” The question is whether his ideas will survive the cut and thrust of governmental politics, or be rendered as merely – in the most belittling sense of the word – academic. . . . Read the rest here: http://www.adbusters.org/magazine/77/capitalism_under_assault.html.

Romano, Carlin. "Boss Nova." CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION June 6, 2008.

Roberto Mangabeira Unger is not the first philosopher to snare, so to speak, a state office of his own, or a fancy car and driver. Plato advised Dionysius the Younger of Syracuse. Hume served as an undersecretary of state. Leibniz did a stint as an imperial privy councilor in Vienna. Nobody says philosophers can't get their hands dirty in politics. . . . Read the rest here: http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i39/39b00601.htm.