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The crisis of liberal democracy has less to do with violent assaults on its internal makeup from either domestic or foreign agents than with what has been identified, although in entirely different contexts and sets of circumstances, by earlier political theorists as a “legitimation crisis.” At the same time, such a legitimation crisis arises not from the failure of liberal institutions to “represent” the generic will or interests of their constituents but out of the impossibility of any conceivable politeia emerging from the complete evanescence of the general equivalent for a global political economy.

Luke’s primary purpose is theological, but he is also interested in preparing his readers for persecution, whatever its source, and he is concerned with “legitimation”: the process whereby those who become members of a new order need to have it explained and justified, especially if they have commitments that bind them to the old. Luke portrays some Roman officials negatively; he portrays many more positively. As Luke’s narrative begins, Mary’s obedience to Caesar is God’s instrument, bringing her to the place where she may fulfill God’s purpose; as it ends, Paul’s Roman citizenship is God’s instrument, protecting him and bringing him to proclaim the gospel in Rome. 1 Peter tells believers to “honor” the Emperor, though they are to “fear” no one but God. The seer of Revelation attacks Rome for what he sees as its idolatry (worship of emperor and empire), but even he does not counsel resistance to Rome or rebellion.

Formulating the Dead Negev Doctrine During the Israeli Period Chapter abstract: This chapter focuses on the history and impact of the Dead Negev Doctrine—the legal doctrine utilized by the Israeli government and judiciary to dispossess Bedouin Arab communities of their lands. The chapter begins with the land claims lodged by the Bedouins in the early 1970’s and the special governmental committee established in response in 1975 (headed by Pliah Albeck of the State Attorney Office, the mastermind behind the DND). The chapter shows how the DND manipulated Ottoman and British law to determine that all Bedouin lands in the Negev should be classified as mewat and thus “state land,” and how it defined the Bedouin claimants as trespassers on their own lands. First adopted by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1984 in the al-Hawashlah precedent, and applied to hundreds of cases since, the doctrine has led to major evictions, crops’ demolitions, and house demolitions by the Israeli state.

This chapter examines the government's efforts to maintain public consent and support for the war. Historians have tended to assume that public opinion about the war was overwhelmingly negative; this chapter disputes such a view, and describes a range of more supportive, resolute attitudes. The efforts of the government, both central and local, to encourage support for the war through propaganda, persuasion and the careful provision of legitimation for demands are described. This chapter also considers the extent of resistance to government demands, arguing that historians have overstated this problem. Although there was clearly reluctance to comply with troublesome and expensive demands, in most cases there was a recognition among local elites and the wider political community that the demands were necessary, and there was remarkably little open complaint or protest. Where complaints did arise, they tended to be because of anomalous demands or those perceived as unjust, and resistance tended not to become general or widespread. Finally, this chapter analyses the internal organisation of the lord lieutenancies, describing the mechanism for implementing demands in the localities.

Historians rarely write about the fifteenth century in north India. When they do, it is within certain set frames, for instance, as an interregnum, or as part of ‘regional’ histories. Occasionally, they write about the ferment of the bhakti ‘movement’ during the period. Tracing the narrow lanes of this historiography, the chapter also points to recent researches that raise some interesting questions. These relate to military labour, literary cultures, vernacularization, multilingualism, and so on. Apart from taking a critical stock of this historiography, the chapter explores how literary history might be fruitfully linked to ‘mainstream’ political history. It analyses meanings of, and the relationship between, literature, history, and power. Texts are not just innocent sources and repository of information. They are also seen as interventions in an ongoing conversation with other texts in the same and related themes and areas.