Todd Weir and Hugh McLeod (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197266915
- eISBN:
- 9780191938177
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266915.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, History of Religion
This volume explores how conflicts between secularist ideologies and religious faiths shaped global history in the twentieth century. The chapters approach the dynamic effects of these struggles by ...
More
This volume explores how conflicts between secularist ideologies and religious faiths shaped global history in the twentieth century. The chapters approach the dynamic effects of these struggles by focussing on ‘apologetics’, i.e. the discourses, strategies and institutions deployed by religious and secularist actors on the front lines to articulate the faith and defend against the enemy. From the futurology of HG Wells to Cold War evangelicalism to the contentious negotiations over Islam between Communists and the royal house in 1970s Morocco, apologetics is here revealed to be a key site interaction across ideological boundaries. By bringing the dynamics of religious and secular apologetics into a comparative perspective, with examples drawn from Western Europe, the USSR, the USA, North Africa and Asia, the chapters offer new perspectives on the religious dimension of local and global religious politics between the First World War and the end of the Cold War.Less
This volume explores how conflicts between secularist ideologies and religious faiths shaped global history in the twentieth century. The chapters approach the dynamic effects of these struggles by focussing on ‘apologetics’, i.e. the discourses, strategies and institutions deployed by religious and secularist actors on the front lines to articulate the faith and defend against the enemy. From the futurology of HG Wells to Cold War evangelicalism to the contentious negotiations over Islam between Communists and the royal house in 1970s Morocco, apologetics is here revealed to be a key site interaction across ideological boundaries. By bringing the dynamics of religious and secular apologetics into a comparative perspective, with examples drawn from Western Europe, the USSR, the USA, North Africa and Asia, the chapters offer new perspectives on the religious dimension of local and global religious politics between the First World War and the end of the Cold War.
C. Jason Throop
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197266830
- eISBN:
- 9780191938160
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266830.003.0004
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Social and Cultural Anthropology
This chapter examines local mooded responses to two devastating typhoons – Typhoon Sudal (2004) and Super Typhoon Maysak (2015) – both of which hit the island of Yap (Federated States of Micronesia) ...
More
This chapter examines local mooded responses to two devastating typhoons – Typhoon Sudal (2004) and Super Typhoon Maysak (2015) – both of which hit the island of Yap (Federated States of Micronesia) about a decade apart. Situating these events within a broader ethnographic and historical discussion of typhoons and local Yapese orientations to them, a central goal of the chapter will be to illustrate how an ontologically responsive, politically inflected, and morally attuned mood of despair anticipated, and in part patterned, the conditions of possibility and forms of vulnerability arising in, from, and alongside them. The chapter concludes by arguing that a phenomenological anthropological analysis of despair – which arises when possibilities inherent in a given world collapse, thus rendering us radically exposed and vulnerable – discloses the eroding conditions of possibility that define the parameters of contemporary life in Yap. Taking such moods seriously, is not, in this regard, merely an ontological imperative, but an ethical and political one as well.Less
This chapter examines local mooded responses to two devastating typhoons – Typhoon Sudal (2004) and Super Typhoon Maysak (2015) – both of which hit the island of Yap (Federated States of Micronesia) about a decade apart. Situating these events within a broader ethnographic and historical discussion of typhoons and local Yapese orientations to them, a central goal of the chapter will be to illustrate how an ontologically responsive, politically inflected, and morally attuned mood of despair anticipated, and in part patterned, the conditions of possibility and forms of vulnerability arising in, from, and alongside them. The chapter concludes by arguing that a phenomenological anthropological analysis of despair – which arises when possibilities inherent in a given world collapse, thus rendering us radically exposed and vulnerable – discloses the eroding conditions of possibility that define the parameters of contemporary life in Yap. Taking such moods seriously, is not, in this regard, merely an ontological imperative, but an ethical and political one as well.
Nicola Lacey and David Soskice
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780197266922
- eISBN:
- 9780191938184
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197266922.003.0001
- Subject:
- Law
The propositions that social inequality shapes crime and punishment, and that crime and punishment themselves cause or exacerbate inequality, are conventional wisdom. Yet, paradoxically, they are ...
More
The propositions that social inequality shapes crime and punishment, and that crime and punishment themselves cause or exacerbate inequality, are conventional wisdom. Yet, paradoxically, they are also controversial. In this volume, historians, criminologists, lawyers, sociologists and political scientists come together to try to solve this paradox. This introduction examines some of the main intersections and points of productive dialogue emerging from the essays, organised around two key themes: the insights to be gained by moving between different levels of analysis; and the importance of the perspective provided by comparative and historical lenses. It concludes that a high crime/punishment/inequality equilibrium is associated with deep failures of incorporation, integration and inclusion in the social, political and economic systems which it afflicts. And these failures of inclusion operate in terms of certain key dynamics: segregation; de facto or de jure disenfranchisement; and failures of coordinating capacity which are premised not only on institutional design but also on the diversity of and conflict between interests.Less
The propositions that social inequality shapes crime and punishment, and that crime and punishment themselves cause or exacerbate inequality, are conventional wisdom. Yet, paradoxically, they are also controversial. In this volume, historians, criminologists, lawyers, sociologists and political scientists come together to try to solve this paradox. This introduction examines some of the main intersections and points of productive dialogue emerging from the essays, organised around two key themes: the insights to be gained by moving between different levels of analysis; and the importance of the perspective provided by comparative and historical lenses. It concludes that a high crime/punishment/inequality equilibrium is associated with deep failures of incorporation, integration and inclusion in the social, political and economic systems which it afflicts. And these failures of inclusion operate in terms of certain key dynamics: segregation; de facto or de jure disenfranchisement; and failures of coordinating capacity which are premised not only on institutional design but also on the diversity of and conflict between interests.
Wolfgang C. Müller
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198293866
- eISBN:
- 9780191599156
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198293860.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Since the constitutional reform of 1929, Austria comes under the rubric of semi‐presidentialism as defined in this volume: alongside the chancellor (prime minister), who is fully responsible to ...
More
Since the constitutional reform of 1929, Austria comes under the rubric of semi‐presidentialism as defined in this volume: alongside the chancellor (prime minister), who is fully responsible to parliament, there is a directly elected president, who appoints the government and can dismiss it, although in practical terms the president has very little accountability. Nevertheless, Austria is generally considered as a parliamentary system by leading comparativists, and indeed it is parliamentary elections rather than presidential elections that decide the distribution of power. This chapter concentrates on the post‐war period, although the interwar years are also important for understanding the gap between the large constitutional powers and limited role that presidents have actually played. It draws on the literature on the Austrian presidency, original archival work, and interviews with political actors. The different sections of the chapter are: The Historical Legacy of Introducing Semi‐Presidentialism; Constitutional Powers and Their Practical Relevance; The Presidency and Party Politics; and Conclusion.Less
Since the constitutional reform of 1929, Austria comes under the rubric of semi‐presidentialism as defined in this volume: alongside the chancellor (prime minister), who is fully responsible to parliament, there is a directly elected president, who appoints the government and can dismiss it, although in practical terms the president has very little accountability. Nevertheless, Austria is generally considered as a parliamentary system by leading comparativists, and indeed it is parliamentary elections rather than presidential elections that decide the distribution of power. This chapter concentrates on the post‐war period, although the interwar years are also important for understanding the gap between the large constitutional powers and limited role that presidents have actually played. It draws on the literature on the Austrian presidency, original archival work, and interviews with political actors. The different sections of the chapter are: The Historical Legacy of Introducing Semi‐Presidentialism; Constitutional Powers and Their Practical Relevance; The Presidency and Party Politics; and Conclusion.
William Nylen
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198781837
- eISBN:
- 9780191598968
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198781830.003.0017
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
In the 1980s, the Workers Party in Brazil faced an institutional challenge: to adapt its orthodox socialism to the realities of governance without loosing its commitment to a transformative socialist ...
More
In the 1980s, the Workers Party in Brazil faced an institutional challenge: to adapt its orthodox socialism to the realities of governance without loosing its commitment to a transformative socialist agenda. This study analyses the process of party building through three experiences with local governance by the PT in the north‐eastern state of Ceará. Strict adherence to the party line generated the spectacular failure of the first PT administration in the area and led to a more pragmatic vision within the party to winning and maintaining electoral power. The PT constructed new public support and made significant electoral gains, based on a platform calling for the provision of credible public services and a responsive and participatory governance process. The failure and success of PT governments in this region have contributed to an internal learning process and institutional debates at both the regional and national levels.Less
In the 1980s, the Workers Party in Brazil faced an institutional challenge: to adapt its orthodox socialism to the realities of governance without loosing its commitment to a transformative socialist agenda. This study analyses the process of party building through three experiences with local governance by the PT in the north‐eastern state of Ceará. Strict adherence to the party line generated the spectacular failure of the first PT administration in the area and led to a more pragmatic vision within the party to winning and maintaining electoral power. The PT constructed new public support and made significant electoral gains, based on a platform calling for the provision of credible public services and a responsive and participatory governance process. The failure and success of PT governments in this region have contributed to an internal learning process and institutional debates at both the regional and national levels.
Jorgen S. Nielsen (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780748646944
- eISBN:
- 9780748684281
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748646944.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
After an introduction by the editor this book presents fifteen studies from across Europe, including the eastern part, many of them comparative across countries. The chapters are arranged in four ...
More
After an introduction by the editor this book presents fifteen studies from across Europe, including the eastern part, many of them comparative across countries. The chapters are arranged in four parts. The first focuses particularly on local and national elections, and the second part on broader questions of political integration, especially among women and youth. Part three looks out how institutions, Muslim and local or national, can facilitate and contribute to directing the particular ways in which political integration can be channelled or hindered. Finally, the fourth part investigates two examples of political activism which challenge accumulated political practices.Less
After an introduction by the editor this book presents fifteen studies from across Europe, including the eastern part, many of them comparative across countries. The chapters are arranged in four parts. The first focuses particularly on local and national elections, and the second part on broader questions of political integration, especially among women and youth. Part three looks out how institutions, Muslim and local or national, can facilitate and contribute to directing the particular ways in which political integration can be channelled or hindered. Finally, the fourth part investigates two examples of political activism which challenge accumulated political practices.
Derrick E. White
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780813037356
- eISBN:
- 9780813041605
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813037356.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This book examines how the Institute of the Black World (IBW), led by historian, theologian, and political activist Vincent Harding, mobilized Black intellectuals in identifying strategy to continue ...
More
This book examines how the Institute of the Black World (IBW), led by historian, theologian, and political activist Vincent Harding, mobilized Black intellectuals in identifying strategy to continue the Black Freedom Struggle in the 1970s. Harding and colleagues founded the IBW in Atlanta, Georgia in 1969. Under Harding's leadership, it became an activist think tank that evaluated Black Studies for emerging programs, developed a Black political agenda for the 1970s with Black elected officials and grassroots activists, and mediated ideological conflicts among Black activists. Relying on the input from an array of activist-intellectuals, the IBW eschewed ideological rigidity, whether in the form of liberalism, Marxism, or Black Nationalism, for a synthetic and pragmatic analytic framework forged through debate and designed to generate the largest amount of political and activist support. It used its network of intellectuals and activists to emphasize structural racism and a racialized political economy, each of which was designed to foster broad consensus in the Black activist community on difficult issues in the 1970s.Less
This book examines how the Institute of the Black World (IBW), led by historian, theologian, and political activist Vincent Harding, mobilized Black intellectuals in identifying strategy to continue the Black Freedom Struggle in the 1970s. Harding and colleagues founded the IBW in Atlanta, Georgia in 1969. Under Harding's leadership, it became an activist think tank that evaluated Black Studies for emerging programs, developed a Black political agenda for the 1970s with Black elected officials and grassroots activists, and mediated ideological conflicts among Black activists. Relying on the input from an array of activist-intellectuals, the IBW eschewed ideological rigidity, whether in the form of liberalism, Marxism, or Black Nationalism, for a synthetic and pragmatic analytic framework forged through debate and designed to generate the largest amount of political and activist support. It used its network of intellectuals and activists to emphasize structural racism and a racialized political economy, each of which was designed to foster broad consensus in the Black activist community on difficult issues in the 1970s.
Muhamad Ali
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781474409209
- eISBN:
- 9781474418799
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474409209.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This book explores the ways in which Islam and European colonialism shaped modernity in the Indo-Malay world. Focusing on Indonesia and Malaysia, it looks at how European colonial and Islamic ...
More
This book explores the ways in which Islam and European colonialism shaped modernity in the Indo-Malay world. Focusing on Indonesia and Malaysia, it looks at how European colonial and Islamic modernising powers operated in the common and parallel domains of organization, government and politics, law and education in the first half of the twentieth century. Through its critical approach to the interplay of Islamic religious rfrom and dynamics of both British and Dutch colonialisms, this work of comparative history illuminates perspective on the rather different shapes that Islam and Muslim societies have taken in the neighboring nation-states of modern Malaysia and Indonesia. It shows that colonialisation was able to co-exist with Islamisation, arguing that Islamic movements were not necessarily antithetical to modernisation, nor that Western modernity was always anathema to Islamic and local custom. Rather, in distinguishing religious from worldly affairs, they were able to adopt and adapt modern ideas and practices that were useful or relevant while maintaining the Islamic faith and ritual that they believed to be essential. Moving beyond binaries such as Orientalist versus Islamic and modernity versus Islam, it offers historical evidence and theoretical engagement with Islamic religious reform and European colonial modernisation in particular, and with religion, modernity, and tradition in general. In developing an understanding of the common ways in which Islam was defined and treated in Indonesia and Malaysia, we can gain a new insight to Muslim politics and culture in Southeast Asia.Less
This book explores the ways in which Islam and European colonialism shaped modernity in the Indo-Malay world. Focusing on Indonesia and Malaysia, it looks at how European colonial and Islamic modernising powers operated in the common and parallel domains of organization, government and politics, law and education in the first half of the twentieth century. Through its critical approach to the interplay of Islamic religious rfrom and dynamics of both British and Dutch colonialisms, this work of comparative history illuminates perspective on the rather different shapes that Islam and Muslim societies have taken in the neighboring nation-states of modern Malaysia and Indonesia. It shows that colonialisation was able to co-exist with Islamisation, arguing that Islamic movements were not necessarily antithetical to modernisation, nor that Western modernity was always anathema to Islamic and local custom. Rather, in distinguishing religious from worldly affairs, they were able to adopt and adapt modern ideas and practices that were useful or relevant while maintaining the Islamic faith and ritual that they believed to be essential. Moving beyond binaries such as Orientalist versus Islamic and modernity versus Islam, it offers historical evidence and theoretical engagement with Islamic religious reform and European colonial modernisation in particular, and with religion, modernity, and tradition in general. In developing an understanding of the common ways in which Islam was defined and treated in Indonesia and Malaysia, we can gain a new insight to Muslim politics and culture in Southeast Asia.
Peter Cox and Till Koglin (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781447345152
- eISBN:
- 9781447345640
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781447345152.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
Academic texts on cycling research are expanding rapidly. A dominant theme among these is the use of infrastructure measures to assist promotion of cycling as part of a movement towards sustainable ...
More
Academic texts on cycling research are expanding rapidly. A dominant theme among these is the use of infrastructure measures to assist promotion of cycling as part of a movement towards sustainable mobility. Physical infrastructure is currently posited as the primary key to unlock cycling’s potential as a primary mode of sustainable transport. Individual studies rarely stand together to be read back to back, in order to allow comparison between them. The privilege of academic conferences is that they allow the attendee to compare and contrast different academic agendas and concerns of researchers, and to engage in conversation between them. This volume provides a comparative assessment of existing and historic struggles over cycling infrastructure. The aim of this volume is to bring a selection of those parallel voices together and to initiate that dialogue for a wider audience. It is argued that planning is one element of the operation, but what results is often very different from even the most comprehensive strategic imagination. Underlying this chaos however, is a lurking sense that the broader lessons of infrastructure provision for cycling needs to be connected with the political analyses of infrastructuring that derive from wider studies. The book concludes that infrastructures are in constantly in flux, contentious and contended. Furthermore, it concludes that politics is also embodied; lived out in the spaces of mundane and everyday travel.Less
Academic texts on cycling research are expanding rapidly. A dominant theme among these is the use of infrastructure measures to assist promotion of cycling as part of a movement towards sustainable mobility. Physical infrastructure is currently posited as the primary key to unlock cycling’s potential as a primary mode of sustainable transport. Individual studies rarely stand together to be read back to back, in order to allow comparison between them. The privilege of academic conferences is that they allow the attendee to compare and contrast different academic agendas and concerns of researchers, and to engage in conversation between them. This volume provides a comparative assessment of existing and historic struggles over cycling infrastructure. The aim of this volume is to bring a selection of those parallel voices together and to initiate that dialogue for a wider audience. It is argued that planning is one element of the operation, but what results is often very different from even the most comprehensive strategic imagination. Underlying this chaos however, is a lurking sense that the broader lessons of infrastructure provision for cycling needs to be connected with the political analyses of infrastructuring that derive from wider studies. The book concludes that infrastructures are in constantly in flux, contentious and contended. Furthermore, it concludes that politics is also embodied; lived out in the spaces of mundane and everyday travel.
Janet Carsten and Simon Frith (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- January 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780197265864
- eISBN:
- 9780191772016
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265864.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, World Early Modern History
The content derives from the British Academy’s public lecture programme which presents specialist research in an accessible manner. The papers range in subject matter over music, psychology, history, ...
More
The content derives from the British Academy’s public lecture programme which presents specialist research in an accessible manner. The papers range in subject matter over music, psychology, history, economics and linguistics, demonstrating the depth and breadth of scholarship in the humanities and social sciences that the British Academy champions.Less
The content derives from the British Academy’s public lecture programme which presents specialist research in an accessible manner. The papers range in subject matter over music, psychology, history, economics and linguistics, demonstrating the depth and breadth of scholarship in the humanities and social sciences that the British Academy champions.
Phillip Cole
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748622009
- eISBN:
- 9780748671908
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748622009.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Moral Philosophy
This book explores a contradiction at the heart of modern thought about what it is to be human: the belief that human beings cannot commit a radically evil act purely for its own sake, and the ...
More
This book explores a contradiction at the heart of modern thought about what it is to be human: the belief that human beings cannot commit a radically evil act purely for its own sake, and the evidence that radically evil acts are committed, not by ‘monsters’, but by ordinary human beings. This contradiction can be seen most clearly when we consider the most extreme forms of evil – war crimes, serial killers, sex offenders, children who kill. This book shows that the traditional position – that evil is an active force creating monsters in human shape – is still at work, both in the popular imagination, cultivated in fiction and film, and in real form in politics and the media, most recently in relation to migrants and ‘terrorists’. Drawing on philosophical ideas as well as on theological perspectives, psychological theories and fictional representations, this book asks us to reconsider our understanding of human nature. It reaches the radical conclusion that the discourse of evil is mythological, such that describing any agent as evil is to make them a mythical figure, lying beyond the human realm. The only protection against such figures is their complete destruction. This mythic discourse of evil has played its role in some of the most terrible events in human history, encouraging people to the most extremely vindictive and violence acts against those who have been identified as the ‘evil enemy.’Less
This book explores a contradiction at the heart of modern thought about what it is to be human: the belief that human beings cannot commit a radically evil act purely for its own sake, and the evidence that radically evil acts are committed, not by ‘monsters’, but by ordinary human beings. This contradiction can be seen most clearly when we consider the most extreme forms of evil – war crimes, serial killers, sex offenders, children who kill. This book shows that the traditional position – that evil is an active force creating monsters in human shape – is still at work, both in the popular imagination, cultivated in fiction and film, and in real form in politics and the media, most recently in relation to migrants and ‘terrorists’. Drawing on philosophical ideas as well as on theological perspectives, psychological theories and fictional representations, this book asks us to reconsider our understanding of human nature. It reaches the radical conclusion that the discourse of evil is mythological, such that describing any agent as evil is to make them a mythical figure, lying beyond the human realm. The only protection against such figures is their complete destruction. This mythic discourse of evil has played its role in some of the most terrible events in human history, encouraging people to the most extremely vindictive and violence acts against those who have been identified as the ‘evil enemy.’
Akeel Bilgrami (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231170802
- eISBN:
- 9780231541015
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231170802.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religious Studies
What is the character of secularism in countries that were not pervaded by Christianity, such as China, India, and the nations of the Middle East? To what extent is the secular an imposition of ...
More
What is the character of secularism in countries that were not pervaded by Christianity, such as China, India, and the nations of the Middle East? To what extent is the secular an imposition of colonial rule? How does secularism comport with local religious cultures in Africa, and how does it work with local forms of power and governance in Latin America? Has modern secularism evolved organically, or is it even necessary, and has it always meant progress? A vital extension of Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age, in which he exhaustively chronicled the emergence of secularism in Latin Christendom, this anthology applies Taylor’s findings to secularism’s global migration. Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, Rajeev Bhargava, Akeel Bilgrami, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Sudipta Kaviraj, Claudio Lomnitz, Alfred Stepan, Charles Taylor, and Peter van der Veer each explore the transformation of Western secularism beyond Europe, and the collection closes with Taylor’s response to each essay. What began as a modern reaction to—as well as a stubborn extension of—Latin Christendom has become a complex export shaped by the world’s religious and political systems. Brilliantly alternating between intellectual and methodological approaches, this volume fosters a greater engagement with the phenomenon across disciplines.Less
What is the character of secularism in countries that were not pervaded by Christianity, such as China, India, and the nations of the Middle East? To what extent is the secular an imposition of colonial rule? How does secularism comport with local religious cultures in Africa, and how does it work with local forms of power and governance in Latin America? Has modern secularism evolved organically, or is it even necessary, and has it always meant progress? A vital extension of Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age, in which he exhaustively chronicled the emergence of secularism in Latin Christendom, this anthology applies Taylor’s findings to secularism’s global migration. Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, Rajeev Bhargava, Akeel Bilgrami, Souleymane Bachir Diagne, Sudipta Kaviraj, Claudio Lomnitz, Alfred Stepan, Charles Taylor, and Peter van der Veer each explore the transformation of Western secularism beyond Europe, and the collection closes with Taylor’s response to each essay. What began as a modern reaction to—as well as a stubborn extension of—Latin Christendom has become a complex export shaped by the world’s religious and political systems. Brilliantly alternating between intellectual and methodological approaches, this volume fosters a greater engagement with the phenomenon across disciplines.
Gerald Moore
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748642021
- eISBN:
- 9780748671861
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748642021.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Politics of the Gift stages a series of dialogues between major 20th-century figures to show how the concept of the gift serves as a driving thematic and problematic of recent French thought. Through ...
More
Politics of the Gift stages a series of dialogues between major 20th-century figures to show how the concept of the gift serves as a driving thematic and problematic of recent French thought. Through readings of work by Marcel Mauss, Martin Heidegger, Jacques Lacan, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Nancy, amongst others, it also and moreover shows the concept of the gift to be a nexus through which rival discourses of phenomenology, anthropology, politics and psychoanalysis coalesce into the broadly consensual paradigm of what has become poststructuralism. Moore traces the ‘inheritance’ or the ‘becoming’ of the gift as a concept, from its heterogeneous origins in philosophy and the nascent social sciences right up to the role it plays in deconstruction. The book locates the origins of French poststructuralism in a ‘crisis in philosophy’, an increasingly ‘antiphilosophical’ mood that results from the perceived failure of philosophers via-à-vis the politics of liberal modernity. Disillusioned with the Marxian critique of political economy, but no less enamoured with the humanism of ‘Anthropology’, and facing constant accusations – exemplified by the so-called ‘Heidegger Affair’ – of dangerous indifference toward the institutions of democracy, we see how two generations of thinkers were forced to renegotiate the traditionally hierarchical relationship between philosophy and politics, so as to stave off the threat of being eclipsed by changes in the intellectual landscape. French poststructuralism emerges from this as the sustained attempt to think politics beyond the horizons of both political economy and phenomenology, in terms of an impossible exchange.Less
Politics of the Gift stages a series of dialogues between major 20th-century figures to show how the concept of the gift serves as a driving thematic and problematic of recent French thought. Through readings of work by Marcel Mauss, Martin Heidegger, Jacques Lacan, Gilles Deleuze, Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Nancy, amongst others, it also and moreover shows the concept of the gift to be a nexus through which rival discourses of phenomenology, anthropology, politics and psychoanalysis coalesce into the broadly consensual paradigm of what has become poststructuralism. Moore traces the ‘inheritance’ or the ‘becoming’ of the gift as a concept, from its heterogeneous origins in philosophy and the nascent social sciences right up to the role it plays in deconstruction. The book locates the origins of French poststructuralism in a ‘crisis in philosophy’, an increasingly ‘antiphilosophical’ mood that results from the perceived failure of philosophers via-à-vis the politics of liberal modernity. Disillusioned with the Marxian critique of political economy, but no less enamoured with the humanism of ‘Anthropology’, and facing constant accusations – exemplified by the so-called ‘Heidegger Affair’ – of dangerous indifference toward the institutions of democracy, we see how two generations of thinkers were forced to renegotiate the traditionally hierarchical relationship between philosophy and politics, so as to stave off the threat of being eclipsed by changes in the intellectual landscape. French poststructuralism emerges from this as the sustained attempt to think politics beyond the horizons of both political economy and phenomenology, in terms of an impossible exchange.
Benjamin Noys
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748638635
- eISBN:
- 9780748671915
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748638635.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This book aims to rehabilitate a thinking of negativity within and against the usual forms of contemporary Continental Theory. It identifies and presents an analysis of the dominant tone of ...
More
This book aims to rehabilitate a thinking of negativity within and against the usual forms of contemporary Continental Theory. It identifies and presents an analysis of the dominant tone of ‘affirmationism’ in contemporary theory: the insistence on starting from the affirmation of metaphysical ontologies, the inventive potential of the subject, the necessity for the production of novelty, and a concomitant suspicion of the negative and negativity. Despite all the conflicts and ‘wars’ of contemporary theory, this tone remains an unstated point of unification. Although it was often developed to resist the corrosive effects of contemporary capitalism, this work argues that affirmationism remains bound to its ideological coordinates in its emphasis on production, creativity, and invention. Critically reconstructing this ‘affirmationism’ through the work of Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, Bruno Latour, Antonio Negri, and Alain Badiou, the book also recovers from their work a disavowed thinking of negativity. Dependent on negativity, despite their claims to affirmation, this dependence allows a critique of the reliance on affirmation. Also, this negativity is turned against this affirmative tone to develop a more sharply-focused political analysis of theory, and to suggest the possible politics emerging from a relational thinking of negativity.Less
This book aims to rehabilitate a thinking of negativity within and against the usual forms of contemporary Continental Theory. It identifies and presents an analysis of the dominant tone of ‘affirmationism’ in contemporary theory: the insistence on starting from the affirmation of metaphysical ontologies, the inventive potential of the subject, the necessity for the production of novelty, and a concomitant suspicion of the negative and negativity. Despite all the conflicts and ‘wars’ of contemporary theory, this tone remains an unstated point of unification. Although it was often developed to resist the corrosive effects of contemporary capitalism, this work argues that affirmationism remains bound to its ideological coordinates in its emphasis on production, creativity, and invention. Critically reconstructing this ‘affirmationism’ through the work of Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze, Bruno Latour, Antonio Negri, and Alain Badiou, the book also recovers from their work a disavowed thinking of negativity. Dependent on negativity, despite their claims to affirmation, this dependence allows a critique of the reliance on affirmation. Also, this negativity is turned against this affirmative tone to develop a more sharply-focused political analysis of theory, and to suggest the possible politics emerging from a relational thinking of negativity.
David Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- September 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474430210
- eISBN:
- 9781474481151
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474430210.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
Dreaming of Freedom in South Africa examines for the first time the many different texts imagining the future after the end of apartheid. Focused on well-known and obscure literary texts from the ...
More
Dreaming of Freedom in South Africa examines for the first time the many different texts imagining the future after the end of apartheid. Focused on well-known and obscure literary texts from the 1880s to the 1970s, as well as the many manifestos and programmes setting out visions of the future, this book charts the dreams of freedom of five major traditions of anti-colonial and anti-apartheid resistance: the African National Congress (ANC), the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), the Non-European Unity Movement (NEUM) and the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC). The works of a number of South African literary figures are discussed, including Olive Schreiner, S. E. K. Mqhayi, Alan Paton, Karel Schoeman, Jordan Ngubane, Winnifred Holtby, Ethelreda Lewis, Dora Taylor, Livingstone Mqotsi, Peter Abrahams, Richard Rive, Lauretta Ngcobo and Bessie Head. Political thinkers analysed include Nelson Mandela, R. F. A. Hoernlé, Albert Luthuli, Clements Kadalie, A. W. G. Champion, Edward Roux, James La Guma, Alfred Nzula, I. B. Tabata, Ben Kies, Anton Lembede, A. P. Mda and Robert Sobukwe. The theoretical dimensions of the study are orientated in relation to major Marxist critics of utopianism like Marx, Friedrich Engels, Leon Trotsky and Ernst Bloch, as well as to thinkers like Hannah Arendt, Immanuel Wallerstein, James C. Scott and Jay Winter. More than an exercise in historical excavation, Dreaming of Freedom in South Africa raises challenging questions for the post-apartheid present.Less
Dreaming of Freedom in South Africa examines for the first time the many different texts imagining the future after the end of apartheid. Focused on well-known and obscure literary texts from the 1880s to the 1970s, as well as the many manifestos and programmes setting out visions of the future, this book charts the dreams of freedom of five major traditions of anti-colonial and anti-apartheid resistance: the African National Congress (ANC), the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU), the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), the Non-European Unity Movement (NEUM) and the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC). The works of a number of South African literary figures are discussed, including Olive Schreiner, S. E. K. Mqhayi, Alan Paton, Karel Schoeman, Jordan Ngubane, Winnifred Holtby, Ethelreda Lewis, Dora Taylor, Livingstone Mqotsi, Peter Abrahams, Richard Rive, Lauretta Ngcobo and Bessie Head. Political thinkers analysed include Nelson Mandela, R. F. A. Hoernlé, Albert Luthuli, Clements Kadalie, A. W. G. Champion, Edward Roux, James La Guma, Alfred Nzula, I. B. Tabata, Ben Kies, Anton Lembede, A. P. Mda and Robert Sobukwe. The theoretical dimensions of the study are orientated in relation to major Marxist critics of utopianism like Marx, Friedrich Engels, Leon Trotsky and Ernst Bloch, as well as to thinkers like Hannah Arendt, Immanuel Wallerstein, James C. Scott and Jay Winter. More than an exercise in historical excavation, Dreaming of Freedom in South Africa raises challenging questions for the post-apartheid present.
Nicholas Copeland
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781501736056
- eISBN:
- 9781501736070
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501736056.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Political History
What forces hinder decolonization efforts on the neoliberal terrain? In the aftermath of a genocidal scorched earth campaign, Mayas in the town of San Pedro Necta encountered a formidable ...
More
What forces hinder decolonization efforts on the neoliberal terrain? In the aftermath of a genocidal scorched earth campaign, Mayas in the town of San Pedro Necta encountered a formidable democracy-development machine designed to displace radical class politics into private market advancement and local, indigenous-led electoral politics. Sampedranos regarded neoliberal democracy and development not as empty, depoliticized forms or colonial impositions, but as hard-won victories that met immediate needs and echoed revolutionary and local struggles. This historical ethnography examines how these governmentalized spaces fell short, simultaneously enabling and disfiguring an ethnic resurgence that fractured in a dispiriting atmosphere of pessimism, self-interest, deception, and mistrust. These dynamics fueled authoritarian populism but also radical reimaginings of democracy and development from below. These findings shed new light on rural politics in Guatemala and across neoliberal and post-conflict settings.Less
What forces hinder decolonization efforts on the neoliberal terrain? In the aftermath of a genocidal scorched earth campaign, Mayas in the town of San Pedro Necta encountered a formidable democracy-development machine designed to displace radical class politics into private market advancement and local, indigenous-led electoral politics. Sampedranos regarded neoliberal democracy and development not as empty, depoliticized forms or colonial impositions, but as hard-won victories that met immediate needs and echoed revolutionary and local struggles. This historical ethnography examines how these governmentalized spaces fell short, simultaneously enabling and disfiguring an ethnic resurgence that fractured in a dispiriting atmosphere of pessimism, self-interest, deception, and mistrust. These dynamics fueled authoritarian populism but also radical reimaginings of democracy and development from below. These findings shed new light on rural politics in Guatemala and across neoliberal and post-conflict settings.
Jack Hayward and Sudhir Hazareesingh
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197262788
- eISBN:
- 9780191754210
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262788.003.0022
- Subject:
- History, Historiography
Vincent Wright, a towering figure in political science, was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1995. He had specialised in the history of French public administration and, on moving to Oxford ...
More
Vincent Wright, a towering figure in political science, was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1995. He had specialised in the history of French public administration and, on moving to Oxford to an Official Fellowship at Nuffield College, turned more to comparative politics. Wright was co-founder of the journal West European Politics. Obituary by Jack Hayward FBA and Sudhir Hazareesingh.Less
Vincent Wright, a towering figure in political science, was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 1995. He had specialised in the history of French public administration and, on moving to Oxford to an Official Fellowship at Nuffield College, turned more to comparative politics. Wright was co-founder of the journal West European Politics. Obituary by Jack Hayward FBA and Sudhir Hazareesingh.
Esen Kirdis
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- January 2020
- ISBN:
- 9781474450676
- eISBN:
- 9781474464840
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474450676.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
Although regarded as a single community of Islamists, Islamic political movements utilise vastly different means to pursue their goals. This book examines why some Islamic movements facing the same ...
More
Although regarded as a single community of Islamists, Islamic political movements utilise vastly different means to pursue their goals. This book examines why some Islamic movements facing the same socio-political structures pursue different political paths, while their counterparts in diverse contexts make similar political choices. Based on qualitative fieldwork involving personal interviews with Islamic politicians, journalists, and ideologues – conducted both before and after the Arab Spring – this study draws close comparisons between six Islamic movements in Jordan, Morocco and Turkey. It analyses how some Islamic movements decide to form a political party to run in elections, while their counterparts in the same country reject doing so and instead engage in political activism as a social movement through informal channels. More broadly, this study demonstrates the role of internal factors, ideological priorities and organisational needs in explaining differentiation within Islamic political movements, and discusses its effects on democratisation. In Morocco, this book examines the Movement for Unity and Reform that formed the Party for Justice and Development, and the Justice and Spirituality Movement that eschewed party politics. In Turkey, it examines the National Outlook Movement that is the mother-movement to various Islamic political parties, and the Gülen Movement that has a complicated relationship with incumbent parties. In Jordan, this book examines the Muslim Brotherhood and its political wing the Islamic Action Front Party, and the Quietist Salafis rejecting institutional politics.Less
Although regarded as a single community of Islamists, Islamic political movements utilise vastly different means to pursue their goals. This book examines why some Islamic movements facing the same socio-political structures pursue different political paths, while their counterparts in diverse contexts make similar political choices. Based on qualitative fieldwork involving personal interviews with Islamic politicians, journalists, and ideologues – conducted both before and after the Arab Spring – this study draws close comparisons between six Islamic movements in Jordan, Morocco and Turkey. It analyses how some Islamic movements decide to form a political party to run in elections, while their counterparts in the same country reject doing so and instead engage in political activism as a social movement through informal channels. More broadly, this study demonstrates the role of internal factors, ideological priorities and organisational needs in explaining differentiation within Islamic political movements, and discusses its effects on democratisation. In Morocco, this book examines the Movement for Unity and Reform that formed the Party for Justice and Development, and the Justice and Spirituality Movement that eschewed party politics. In Turkey, it examines the National Outlook Movement that is the mother-movement to various Islamic political parties, and the Gülen Movement that has a complicated relationship with incumbent parties. In Jordan, this book examines the Muslim Brotherhood and its political wing the Islamic Action Front Party, and the Quietist Salafis rejecting institutional politics.
DE STE CROIX
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199255177
- eISBN:
- 9780191719844
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199255177.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This essay examines Aristotle's attitude towards the Athenaion Politeia. Topics discussed include Athenaion Politeia and the Politics; the sources of Aristotle's account of Athenian constitutional ...
More
This essay examines Aristotle's attitude towards the Athenaion Politeia. Topics discussed include Athenaion Politeia and the Politics; the sources of Aristotle's account of Athenian constitutional history, in the Politics and more particularly the Ath. Pol.; an examination of explicit evidence for supposing that Aristotle relied heavily upon Androtion (the representative early Atthidographer) as an authority for his historical material in the Ath. Pol., and Aristotle and the documentary sources.Less
This essay examines Aristotle's attitude towards the Athenaion Politeia. Topics discussed include Athenaion Politeia and the Politics; the sources of Aristotle's account of Athenian constitutional history, in the Politics and more particularly the Ath. Pol.; an examination of explicit evidence for supposing that Aristotle relied heavily upon Androtion (the representative early Atthidographer) as an authority for his historical material in the Ath. Pol., and Aristotle and the documentary sources.
Joseph Mai
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780719096471
- eISBN:
- 9781526124104
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719096471.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This book provides a comprehensive account of Robert Guédiguian’s numerous films since 1980, combining stylistic analyses with historical, political, and generic context. More importantly, it makes ...
More
This book provides a comprehensive account of Robert Guédiguian’s numerous films since 1980, combining stylistic analyses with historical, political, and generic context. More importantly, it makes the case that Guédiguian’s work represents one of the most discretely original but radical projects of contemporary French cinema: to make politically committed films with friends, predominately in a local space, over a long period of time. The book starts with a consideration of the philosophy of friendship and its relation to politics, relation, difference, time, and space. It concentrates on Guédiguian’s early life in the Estaque neighbourhood of Marseilles, where he became politically active and developed the friendships that would continue in his filmmaking, as well as Guédiguian’s disillusionment with the Communist Party. It then examines the political pessimism of the 1980s through Guédiguian’s four early films. The book examines the turn toward local activism and utopianism in the 1990s, and follows Guédiguian’s work as it spreads into diverse experimentation with genres and registers in more recent work. It emphasises Guédiguian’s political assessments and his frequent meditations on history, violence, and utopia. But it returns consistently to the underlying themes of friendship, and thus intervenes at the crossroads of affect, politics, philosophy, and art.Less
This book provides a comprehensive account of Robert Guédiguian’s numerous films since 1980, combining stylistic analyses with historical, political, and generic context. More importantly, it makes the case that Guédiguian’s work represents one of the most discretely original but radical projects of contemporary French cinema: to make politically committed films with friends, predominately in a local space, over a long period of time. The book starts with a consideration of the philosophy of friendship and its relation to politics, relation, difference, time, and space. It concentrates on Guédiguian’s early life in the Estaque neighbourhood of Marseilles, where he became politically active and developed the friendships that would continue in his filmmaking, as well as Guédiguian’s disillusionment with the Communist Party. It then examines the political pessimism of the 1980s through Guédiguian’s four early films. The book examines the turn toward local activism and utopianism in the 1990s, and follows Guédiguian’s work as it spreads into diverse experimentation with genres and registers in more recent work. It emphasises Guédiguian’s political assessments and his frequent meditations on history, violence, and utopia. But it returns consistently to the underlying themes of friendship, and thus intervenes at the crossroads of affect, politics, philosophy, and art.
