Via “A Fistful of Euros”:http://fistfulofeuros.net/archives/000252.php, I see that Norberto Bobbio has died at the age of 94. Like all the best Italian intellectuals, he played an important role in public life; unlike some of them, his contribution to political debate was marked by an extraordinary level of personal integrity and decency. His approach to political theory was difficult to categorize in the usual terms – while he drew both on liberal and social democratic ideas, there was a more radical and subversive tinge to his thought than is usually associated with either of those schools. The “Guardian obit”:http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,1121657,00.html has it about right; “to his credit, he founded no school, while influencing many.” He’ll be missed.