John A. Hall
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153261
- eISBN:
- 9781400847495
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153261.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Civility is desirable and possible, but can this fragile ideal be guaranteed? This book offers the most comprehensive look at the nature and advantages of civility throughout history and in our world ...
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Civility is desirable and possible, but can this fragile ideal be guaranteed? This book offers the most comprehensive look at the nature and advantages of civility throughout history and in our world today. The book expands our understanding of civility as related to larger social forces—including revolution, imperialism, capitalism, nationalism, and war—and the ways that such elements limit the potential for civility. Combining wide-ranging historical and comparative evidence with social and moral theory, the book examines how the nature of civility has fluctuated in the last three centuries, how it became lost, and how it was reestablished in the twentieth century following the two world wars. It also considers why civility is currently breaking down and what can be done to mitigate this threat.Less
Civility is desirable and possible, but can this fragile ideal be guaranteed? This book offers the most comprehensive look at the nature and advantages of civility throughout history and in our world today. The book expands our understanding of civility as related to larger social forces—including revolution, imperialism, capitalism, nationalism, and war—and the ways that such elements limit the potential for civility. Combining wide-ranging historical and comparative evidence with social and moral theory, the book examines how the nature of civility has fluctuated in the last three centuries, how it became lost, and how it was reestablished in the twentieth century following the two world wars. It also considers why civility is currently breaking down and what can be done to mitigate this threat.
Laurence Whitehead
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199253289
- eISBN:
- 9780191600326
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199253285.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
Outlines first the genealogy of current theories of civil society, and then (given their diversity) settles for a stipulative definition. This definition highlights the issues of ‘civility’, and ...
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Outlines first the genealogy of current theories of civil society, and then (given their diversity) settles for a stipulative definition. This definition highlights the issues of ‘civility’, and therefore directs attention to the scope for ‘incivility’ within a democratic framework. After reviewing the potential for tension between ‘civil society’ and ‘democratic citizenship’, it outlines some relevant experiences from new democracies. It concludes that the civil society debate helps to situate processes of democratization in their long‐term societal context, but it also confirms the gap separating theory from ‘really existing’ democratic experiences.Less
Outlines first the genealogy of current theories of civil society, and then (given their diversity) settles for a stipulative definition. This definition highlights the issues of ‘civility’, and therefore directs attention to the scope for ‘incivility’ within a democratic framework. After reviewing the potential for tension between ‘civil society’ and ‘democratic citizenship’, it outlines some relevant experiences from new democracies. It concludes that the civil society debate helps to situate processes of democratization in their long‐term societal context, but it also confirms the gap separating theory from ‘really existing’ democratic experiences.
Philip Pettit
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198296423
- eISBN:
- 9780191600081
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198296428.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The laws that advance the aims of the republic, institutionalize its forms, and establish regulatory controls need to be supported by republican civil norms; the legal republic needs to become a ...
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The laws that advance the aims of the republic, institutionalize its forms, and establish regulatory controls need to be supported by republican civil norms; the legal republic needs to become a civil reality. One reason that widespread civility is needed is that people can be assured of their non‐domination only so far as others recognize normative reasons for respecting them, not just reasons connected to fear of legal sanctions. Another is that if the republic is to be systematically sensitive to the interests and ideas of people—often newly emergent, newly articulated interests and ideas—then there have to be people who are virtuous enough to press appropriate claims; this applies both in the politics of difference and in the politics of common concerns. And a last reason why widespread civility is needed is that the public authorities cannot hope to identify and sanction all offences against republican laws and norms; ordinary people also have to be committed enough to perform in that role or to support the efforts of the authorities. Widespread civility is likely to be supported by the intangible hand of regard‐based sanctioning, since the honourable are destined in most circumstances to be the honoured, and the state must be careful not to impose forms of sanctioning, which might get in the way of that process. Civility or civic virtue may not be so difficult to achieve, as it often seems. It involves not just the internalization of public values and the disciplining of personal desires; given the communitarian nature of freedom as non‐domination, it also involves identification with larger groups, even with the polity as a whole, and access to new and satisfying identities.Less
The laws that advance the aims of the republic, institutionalize its forms, and establish regulatory controls need to be supported by republican civil norms; the legal republic needs to become a civil reality. One reason that widespread civility is needed is that people can be assured of their non‐domination only so far as others recognize normative reasons for respecting them, not just reasons connected to fear of legal sanctions. Another is that if the republic is to be systematically sensitive to the interests and ideas of people—often newly emergent, newly articulated interests and ideas—then there have to be people who are virtuous enough to press appropriate claims; this applies both in the politics of difference and in the politics of common concerns. And a last reason why widespread civility is needed is that the public authorities cannot hope to identify and sanction all offences against republican laws and norms; ordinary people also have to be committed enough to perform in that role or to support the efforts of the authorities. Widespread civility is likely to be supported by the intangible hand of regard‐based sanctioning, since the honourable are destined in most circumstances to be the honoured, and the state must be careful not to impose forms of sanctioning, which might get in the way of that process. Civility or civic virtue may not be so difficult to achieve, as it often seems. It involves not just the internalization of public values and the disciplining of personal desires; given the communitarian nature of freedom as non‐domination, it also involves identification with larger groups, even with the polity as a whole, and access to new and satisfying identities.
Elizabeth Frazer
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198295648
- eISBN:
- 9780191599316
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198295642.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Communitarian politics has emphasized the importance and the value of locality and in spite of recent acknowledgements that local relationships can be problematic from the point of view of justice ...
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Communitarian politics has emphasized the importance and the value of locality and in spite of recent acknowledgements that local relationships can be problematic from the point of view of justice and efficiency, an emphasis on locality constantly creeps back into communitarianism. The same contradictions and problems recur in public policy initiatives focused on locality and community. The value of locality, therefore, needs to be critically analysed in detail.Less
Communitarian politics has emphasized the importance and the value of locality and in spite of recent acknowledgements that local relationships can be problematic from the point of view of justice and efficiency, an emphasis on locality constantly creeps back into communitarianism. The same contradictions and problems recur in public policy initiatives focused on locality and community. The value of locality, therefore, needs to be critically analysed in detail.
Joy Connolly
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691162591
- eISBN:
- 9781400852475
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691162591.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
In recent years, Roman political thought has attracted increased attention as intellectual historians and political theorists have explored the influence of the Roman republic on major thinkers from ...
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In recent years, Roman political thought has attracted increased attention as intellectual historians and political theorists have explored the influence of the Roman republic on major thinkers from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Held up as a “third way” between liberalism and communitarianism, neo-Roman republicanism promises useful, persuasive accounts of civic virtue, justice, civility, and the ties that bind citizens. But republican revivalists, embedded in modern liberal, democratic, and constitutional concerns, almost never engage closely with Roman texts. This book takes up that challenge. With an original combination of close reading and political theory, the book argues that Cicero, Sallust, and Horace inspire fresh thinking about central concerns of contemporary political thought and action. These include the role of conflict in the political community, especially as it emerges from class differences; the necessity of recognition for an equal and just society; the corporeal and passionate aspects of civic experience; citizens' interdependence on one another for senses of selfhood; and the uses and dangers of self-sovereignty and the bodyfantasy. Putting classicists and political theorists in dialogue, the book also addresses a range of modern thinkers, including Kant, Hannah Arendt, Stanley Cavell, and Philip Pettit. Together, the book's readings construct a new civic ethos of advocacy, self-criticism, embodied awareness, imagination, and irony.Less
In recent years, Roman political thought has attracted increased attention as intellectual historians and political theorists have explored the influence of the Roman republic on major thinkers from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment. Held up as a “third way” between liberalism and communitarianism, neo-Roman republicanism promises useful, persuasive accounts of civic virtue, justice, civility, and the ties that bind citizens. But republican revivalists, embedded in modern liberal, democratic, and constitutional concerns, almost never engage closely with Roman texts. This book takes up that challenge. With an original combination of close reading and political theory, the book argues that Cicero, Sallust, and Horace inspire fresh thinking about central concerns of contemporary political thought and action. These include the role of conflict in the political community, especially as it emerges from class differences; the necessity of recognition for an equal and just society; the corporeal and passionate aspects of civic experience; citizens' interdependence on one another for senses of selfhood; and the uses and dangers of self-sovereignty and the bodyfantasy. Putting classicists and political theorists in dialogue, the book also addresses a range of modern thinkers, including Kant, Hannah Arendt, Stanley Cavell, and Philip Pettit. Together, the book's readings construct a new civic ethos of advocacy, self-criticism, embodied awareness, imagination, and irony.
John A. Hall
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153261
- eISBN:
- 9781400847495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153261.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter presents an account of the social origins of civility in the course of an argument distinguishing civility from civil society—or, rather, insisting that civility must be included in the ...
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This chapter presents an account of the social origins of civility in the course of an argument distinguishing civility from civil society—or, rather, insisting that civility must be included in the definition of civil society if that concept is to carry the weight placed upon it. Civil society is a form of societal self-organization that allows for cooperation with the state while permitting individuation. The chapter argues that civil society only “makes sense” when it contains a heavy dose of civility. The initial breakthrough to civilized acceptance of difference in Europe obviously predated the emergence of capitalism. However, capitalism did have something to do with the establishment of a culture of political civility in England, for soft political rule was not always present there; on the contrary, it was a historical achievement.Less
This chapter presents an account of the social origins of civility in the course of an argument distinguishing civility from civil society—or, rather, insisting that civility must be included in the definition of civil society if that concept is to carry the weight placed upon it. Civil society is a form of societal self-organization that allows for cooperation with the state while permitting individuation. The chapter argues that civil society only “makes sense” when it contains a heavy dose of civility. The initial breakthrough to civilized acceptance of difference in Europe obviously predated the emergence of capitalism. However, capitalism did have something to do with the establishment of a culture of political civility in England, for soft political rule was not always present there; on the contrary, it was a historical achievement.
Timothy Fitzgerald
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195300093
- eISBN:
- 9780199868636
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195300093.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Literature
This chapter argues that throughout the vicissitudes of discourses on Religion and religions, there has always been a significant overlap with a parallel discourse on civility and barbarity. By ...
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This chapter argues that throughout the vicissitudes of discourses on Religion and religions, there has always been a significant overlap with a parallel discourse on civility and barbarity. By noticing this overlap of discursive formations we can see a major source of continuity underlying the radical change in cosmological assumptions that have led to the invention of the modern “secular.” The Church, which was also a State, drew on earlier Greek and Roman self‐representations between “our” civility and rationality as against “their” barbarity and madness. Religion as Our Truth is difficult to separate from the self‐representations of Christian male elites as the upholders of a rational civility which provided salvation from pagan madness. As modern ideology transformed the meanings of terms like “religion” and “natural reason,” and generated new dichotomies such as faith and science or private piety and public rationality, the persistent discourse on civility and barbarity became attached to modern imperial and orientalist representations of white, Protestant males, imbued with scientific reason and rational religion, offering the salvational disciplines of civility to barbaric, irrational, and feminine orientals unable to organize their own polities.Less
This chapter argues that throughout the vicissitudes of discourses on Religion and religions, there has always been a significant overlap with a parallel discourse on civility and barbarity. By noticing this overlap of discursive formations we can see a major source of continuity underlying the radical change in cosmological assumptions that have led to the invention of the modern “secular.” The Church, which was also a State, drew on earlier Greek and Roman self‐representations between “our” civility and rationality as against “their” barbarity and madness. Religion as Our Truth is difficult to separate from the self‐representations of Christian male elites as the upholders of a rational civility which provided salvation from pagan madness. As modern ideology transformed the meanings of terms like “religion” and “natural reason,” and generated new dichotomies such as faith and science or private piety and public rationality, the persistent discourse on civility and barbarity became attached to modern imperial and orientalist representations of white, Protestant males, imbued with scientific reason and rational religion, offering the salvational disciplines of civility to barbaric, irrational, and feminine orientals unable to organize their own polities.
David C. Schak
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9789888455973
- eISBN:
- 9789888455492
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789888455973.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
How does civility, defined as considerate treat of others, including strangers, and of the public space, develop in a society? This book aims to answer this question by comparing the processes and ...
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How does civility, defined as considerate treat of others, including strangers, and of the public space, develop in a society? This book aims to answer this question by comparing the processes and outcomes to date of efforts to develop civility in China and Taiwan, two societies that. It first examines the origins and development of civility in Europe questions and whether there was a comparable concept in dynastic China. It follows with arguments for the comparability of China and Taiwan on the basis of their shared cultural heritage, including a conceptual basis for and a history of incivility, authoritarian governance for most of the period since the seventeenth century when the Qing first controlled Taiwan, and top-down civilizing campaigns by the governments of each. It then examines the levels of civility first in China then in Taiwan and examines how Taiwan evolved from an uncivil society composed of myriad small, inward-looking communities, a society in itself, to a very civil society unified by civic nationalism, a society for itself. The concluding chapter examines differences between Taiwan and China that shed light on why the latter has been less successful in developing civility than the former and compares the development of civility with that of democracy, arguing that self-expression values are a prerequisite for both.Less
How does civility, defined as considerate treat of others, including strangers, and of the public space, develop in a society? This book aims to answer this question by comparing the processes and outcomes to date of efforts to develop civility in China and Taiwan, two societies that. It first examines the origins and development of civility in Europe questions and whether there was a comparable concept in dynastic China. It follows with arguments for the comparability of China and Taiwan on the basis of their shared cultural heritage, including a conceptual basis for and a history of incivility, authoritarian governance for most of the period since the seventeenth century when the Qing first controlled Taiwan, and top-down civilizing campaigns by the governments of each. It then examines the levels of civility first in China then in Taiwan and examines how Taiwan evolved from an uncivil society composed of myriad small, inward-looking communities, a society in itself, to a very civil society unified by civic nationalism, a society for itself. The concluding chapter examines differences between Taiwan and China that shed light on why the latter has been less successful in developing civility than the former and compares the development of civility with that of democracy, arguing that self-expression values are a prerequisite for both.
Katherine Beckett and Steve Herbert
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195395174
- eISBN:
- 9780199943319
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195395174.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Law, Crime and Deviance
This chapter tries to explain why banishment reemerged as a leading social control strategy. It lists several developments that contributed to its rise, such as the increase in the homeless ...
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This chapter tries to explain why banishment reemerged as a leading social control strategy. It lists several developments that contributed to its rise, such as the increase in the homeless population and public concern about disorder. It studies broken windows policing and the invalidation of loitering laws and vagrancy. It also identifies some alternative social control mechanisms, including civility and banishment.Less
This chapter tries to explain why banishment reemerged as a leading social control strategy. It lists several developments that contributed to its rise, such as the increase in the homeless population and public concern about disorder. It studies broken windows policing and the invalidation of loitering laws and vagrancy. It also identifies some alternative social control mechanisms, including civility and banishment.
Edward Holberton
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199544585
- eISBN:
- 9780191719981
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199544585.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
The University of Oxford compiled an anthology of poetry in celebration of the Anglo-Dutch peace treaty signed in the spring of 1654. In Chapter 3, this anthology's array of allusions and images of ...
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The University of Oxford compiled an anthology of poetry in celebration of the Anglo-Dutch peace treaty signed in the spring of 1654. In Chapter 3, this anthology's array of allusions and images of rebirth is related to the university's task of educating a post-war elite—a role which gave the university power and authority, but subjected it to external interference and pressures to reform. Looking closely at the poems' telling silences and conditional praise, it is shown how poets contributing to this anthology negotiate a fraught nexus of interests and values as they seek to define a new place for the university in British and European culture. This chapter shows that the university's own process of political adjustment, which involved complex struggles with other institutions, afforded its poets unique insights into the cultural tensions and possibilities that shaped the Protectorate.Less
The University of Oxford compiled an anthology of poetry in celebration of the Anglo-Dutch peace treaty signed in the spring of 1654. In Chapter 3, this anthology's array of allusions and images of rebirth is related to the university's task of educating a post-war elite—a role which gave the university power and authority, but subjected it to external interference and pressures to reform. Looking closely at the poems' telling silences and conditional praise, it is shown how poets contributing to this anthology negotiate a fraught nexus of interests and values as they seek to define a new place for the university in British and European culture. This chapter shows that the university's own process of political adjustment, which involved complex struggles with other institutions, afforded its poets unique insights into the cultural tensions and possibilities that shaped the Protectorate.
Joseph Chan
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691158617
- eISBN:
- 9781400848690
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691158617.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter elaborates on the relationship between Confucian political perfectionism and democracy, suggesting that the two are complementary and can strengthen each other. Democracy promotes ...
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This chapter elaborates on the relationship between Confucian political perfectionism and democracy, suggesting that the two are complementary and can strengthen each other. Democracy promotes Confucian political ends such as the improvement of people's well-being and directly expresses the Confucian ideal political relationship. Meanwhile, the Confucian perfectionist approach to ethics and politics provides a robust ethical foundation for a well-functioning democracy. The chapter argues that Confucian moral education, which is humanity-based rather than citizen-based, provides a stronger incentive for citizens to cultivate civility than liberal civic education, as well as a more comprehensive foundation of virtues. Confucian political perfectionism can also offer some reflection on how to select virtuous and competent people to serve in politics.Less
This chapter elaborates on the relationship between Confucian political perfectionism and democracy, suggesting that the two are complementary and can strengthen each other. Democracy promotes Confucian political ends such as the improvement of people's well-being and directly expresses the Confucian ideal political relationship. Meanwhile, the Confucian perfectionist approach to ethics and politics provides a robust ethical foundation for a well-functioning democracy. The chapter argues that Confucian moral education, which is humanity-based rather than citizen-based, provides a stronger incentive for citizens to cultivate civility than liberal civic education, as well as a more comprehensive foundation of virtues. Confucian political perfectionism can also offer some reflection on how to select virtuous and competent people to serve in politics.
John A. Hall
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153261
- eISBN:
- 9781400847495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153261.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This introductory chapter provides an overview of civility. Civility does not stand in the way of truth and moral development but is rather a precondition for them. Nor is it the case that civility ...
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This introductory chapter provides an overview of civility. Civility does not stand in the way of truth and moral development but is rather a precondition for them. Nor is it the case that civility is tied in some essentialist way to the class-bound eighteenth-century world in which it first reached something of an apogee. On the contrary, civility is important because it allows disagreement to take place without violence and regularizes conflict so that it can be productive. This initial characterization should be taken merely as an orienting device for all that follows. A good deal of light will be cast on the nature of civility by describing the concerns of its enemies, by those who respond to diversity in different ways.Less
This introductory chapter provides an overview of civility. Civility does not stand in the way of truth and moral development but is rather a precondition for them. Nor is it the case that civility is tied in some essentialist way to the class-bound eighteenth-century world in which it first reached something of an apogee. On the contrary, civility is important because it allows disagreement to take place without violence and regularizes conflict so that it can be productive. This initial characterization should be taken merely as an orienting device for all that follows. A good deal of light will be cast on the nature of civility by describing the concerns of its enemies, by those who respond to diversity in different ways.
John A. Hall
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153261
- eISBN:
- 9781400847495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153261.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter argues that the way states behave, in civil or authoritarian ways, affects social identities, and in the process says something about the reconstruction of civility. It is here that the ...
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This chapter argues that the way states behave, in civil or authoritarian ways, affects social identities, and in the process says something about the reconstruction of civility. It is here that the key sociological content of civility is spelled out. Social contracts between labor, capital, and the state have as a side effect the politicizing of industrial relations—they make the state responsible for levels of employment and give workers the right of access to political power. The most obvious, appropriate, and helpful place to begin when considering class is with Karl Marx, the greatest theorist of socialism. His expectation, and that of most Marxists in the years before the First World War, was clear: workers had no countries and so would inevitably be forced to unite as a solidarity class because of the inherent contradictions of the capitalist mode of production. However, there was no single working class, but rather working classes of particular countries.Less
This chapter argues that the way states behave, in civil or authoritarian ways, affects social identities, and in the process says something about the reconstruction of civility. It is here that the key sociological content of civility is spelled out. Social contracts between labor, capital, and the state have as a side effect the politicizing of industrial relations—they make the state responsible for levels of employment and give workers the right of access to political power. The most obvious, appropriate, and helpful place to begin when considering class is with Karl Marx, the greatest theorist of socialism. His expectation, and that of most Marxists in the years before the First World War, was clear: workers had no countries and so would inevitably be forced to unite as a solidarity class because of the inherent contradictions of the capitalist mode of production. However, there was no single working class, but rather working classes of particular countries.
John A. Hall
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153261
- eISBN:
- 9781400847495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153261.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter discusses how the rules of civility can vary, making them at times very hard to understand, let alone to accept. A contrast is drawn between the differential abilities of the European ...
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This chapter discusses how the rules of civility can vary, making them at times very hard to understand, let alone to accept. A contrast is drawn between the differential abilities of the European Union and the United States to “let in” immigrants so as to create one out of many—an area in which the contemporary United States far outperforms Europe. Civil nationalism is profoundly to be desired, but it is also rather hard to achieve. It is interesting to discover that the United States is more of a pioneer in this regard than European countries. However, both these great areas of the North have at their respective hearts a good deal of background homogeneity.Less
This chapter discusses how the rules of civility can vary, making them at times very hard to understand, let alone to accept. A contrast is drawn between the differential abilities of the European Union and the United States to “let in” immigrants so as to create one out of many—an area in which the contemporary United States far outperforms Europe. Civil nationalism is profoundly to be desired, but it is also rather hard to achieve. It is interesting to discover that the United States is more of a pioneer in this regard than European countries. However, both these great areas of the North have at their respective hearts a good deal of background homogeneity.
John A. Hall
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153261
- eISBN:
- 9781400847495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153261.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter looks at the great contribution of Raymond Aron to the understanding of civil behavior between states. Aron's contribution to the theory of international relations goes well beyond what ...
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This chapter looks at the great contribution of Raymond Aron to the understanding of civil behavior between states. Aron's contribution to the theory of international relations goes well beyond what can usefully be termed “simple” realism. He offered a sophisticated version of that basic approach, at once more complex and more meritorious. Two elements are involved: first, the pure logic of realism, and then, necessarily deriving from it, the sociological elements that Aron brought into realism, not to deny or to replace the basic insights of that theory but rather to improve it by better explaining both the escalation to extremes and the periods of diminished conflict that mark the historical record. Both elements combine to form not just a descriptive system but a prescriptive view as to how one should conduct oneself. What is at issue is civility and prudence.Less
This chapter looks at the great contribution of Raymond Aron to the understanding of civil behavior between states. Aron's contribution to the theory of international relations goes well beyond what can usefully be termed “simple” realism. He offered a sophisticated version of that basic approach, at once more complex and more meritorious. Two elements are involved: first, the pure logic of realism, and then, necessarily deriving from it, the sociological elements that Aron brought into realism, not to deny or to replace the basic insights of that theory but rather to improve it by better explaining both the escalation to extremes and the periods of diminished conflict that mark the historical record. Both elements combine to form not just a descriptive system but a prescriptive view as to how one should conduct oneself. What is at issue is civility and prudence.
John A. Hall
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153261
- eISBN:
- 9781400847495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153261.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter shows how the state can undermine civility by destroying cooperative relations in society. The analysis of trust has become a central focus in contemporary social theory. This is wholly ...
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This chapter shows how the state can undermine civility by destroying cooperative relations in society. The analysis of trust has become a central focus in contemporary social theory. This is wholly to be welcomed, for it takes but a moment to realize that social life depends on trust. Cooperative relations in general depend on trust, on the expectation that agreements will be honored. So civility rests on trust. State behavior can destroy trust, thereby undermining civility. Majorities can threaten minorities, but elites can repress and divide majorities into suspicious and warring groups. Accordingly, it is best to see democracy as a necessary condition for civility in modern times, even though sufficiency to that end requires the creation and maintenance of a civil political culture.Less
This chapter shows how the state can undermine civility by destroying cooperative relations in society. The analysis of trust has become a central focus in contemporary social theory. This is wholly to be welcomed, for it takes but a moment to realize that social life depends on trust. Cooperative relations in general depend on trust, on the expectation that agreements will be honored. So civility rests on trust. State behavior can destroy trust, thereby undermining civility. Majorities can threaten minorities, but elites can repress and divide majorities into suspicious and warring groups. Accordingly, it is best to see democracy as a necessary condition for civility in modern times, even though sufficiency to that end requires the creation and maintenance of a civil political culture.
John A. Hall
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691153261
- eISBN:
- 9781400847495
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691153261.003.0012
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This concluding chapter argues that anxiety and even hostility have been shown to be the actions of states; when they put ideological dreams into effect, they become enemies of civility, and all too ...
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This concluding chapter argues that anxiety and even hostility have been shown to be the actions of states; when they put ideological dreams into effect, they become enemies of civility, and all too often politicize social actors so as to make them recalcitrant. Virtue should not be the business of states, and visions should remain private. This is not to say for a moment that states are not needed. Civil behavior by political elites can lead to the creation and maintenance of an inclusive and open frame within which people, blessed with negative resisting power, can experiment with their lives. The chapter then addresses the problem of economic growth—that is, the creation of decent sufficiencies and negative resisting power.Less
This concluding chapter argues that anxiety and even hostility have been shown to be the actions of states; when they put ideological dreams into effect, they become enemies of civility, and all too often politicize social actors so as to make them recalcitrant. Virtue should not be the business of states, and visions should remain private. This is not to say for a moment that states are not needed. Civil behavior by political elites can lead to the creation and maintenance of an inclusive and open frame within which people, blessed with negative resisting power, can experiment with their lives. The chapter then addresses the problem of economic growth—that is, the creation of decent sufficiencies and negative resisting power.
Joseph Chan
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154602
- eISBN:
- 9781400844845
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154602.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter asserts the idea that Confucianism can positively shape political institutions, legislation, and policy making. However, it argues that promoting Confucianism as a comprehensive doctrine ...
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This chapter asserts the idea that Confucianism can positively shape political institutions, legislation, and policy making. However, it argues that promoting Confucianism as a comprehensive doctrine in a modern pluralistic society will damage civility. Free and equal citizens live according to various ways of life and hold different religious beliefs, and promoting Confucian values over and instead of other beliefs can lead only to social conflict. Instead, the chapter favors a moderate form of perfectionism that allows the state to promote specific values in a piecemeal way. Within this context, it may be possible to promote particular Confucian values in a way that they can be accepted or understood by citizens without adopting Confucianism as a comprehensive doctrine.Less
This chapter asserts the idea that Confucianism can positively shape political institutions, legislation, and policy making. However, it argues that promoting Confucianism as a comprehensive doctrine in a modern pluralistic society will damage civility. Free and equal citizens live according to various ways of life and hold different religious beliefs, and promoting Confucian values over and instead of other beliefs can lead only to social conflict. Instead, the chapter favors a moderate form of perfectionism that allows the state to promote specific values in a piecemeal way. Within this context, it may be possible to promote particular Confucian values in a way that they can be accepted or understood by citizens without adopting Confucianism as a comprehensive doctrine.
Wendy L. Wall
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195329100
- eISBN:
- 9780199870226
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195329100.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter gives a brief overview of the book’s argument, beginning with the premise that America’s mid-century consensus can best be understood, not as a “natural” development, but as a political ...
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This chapter gives a brief overview of the book’s argument, beginning with the premise that America’s mid-century consensus can best be understood, not as a “natural” development, but as a political project. From the mid-1930s through the early 1960s, efforts to define a unifying “American Way” often reflected struggles over three key issues: the shape and place of capitalism in American life; the place of ethnic, religious and racial outsiders in a nation long defined as white and Protestant; and the precise nature of America’s external foe. Moreover, while some Americans used the language of consensus to promote civility across class, racial, ethnic and religious lines, others put equality at the center of their consensual visions. This book also suggests that the politics of consensus helps explain two other key shifts in U.S. political culture during the mid-20th century: the movement from class-based concerns to a preoccupation with pluralism and individual rights, and the emergence of the notion that the U.S. was a Judeo-Christian or broadly “God-fearing” nation.Less
This chapter gives a brief overview of the book’s argument, beginning with the premise that America’s mid-century consensus can best be understood, not as a “natural” development, but as a political project. From the mid-1930s through the early 1960s, efforts to define a unifying “American Way” often reflected struggles over three key issues: the shape and place of capitalism in American life; the place of ethnic, religious and racial outsiders in a nation long defined as white and Protestant; and the precise nature of America’s external foe. Moreover, while some Americans used the language of consensus to promote civility across class, racial, ethnic and religious lines, others put equality at the center of their consensual visions. This book also suggests that the politics of consensus helps explain two other key shifts in U.S. political culture during the mid-20th century: the movement from class-based concerns to a preoccupation with pluralism and individual rights, and the emergence of the notion that the U.S. was a Judeo-Christian or broadly “God-fearing” nation.
Wendy L. Wall
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195329100
- eISBN:
- 9780199870226
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195329100.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
During the war, federal agencies, Hollywood, and private groups appealed for tolerance in the name of national unity, thus making pluralism a corollary of consensus. This chapter explores the ...
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During the war, federal agencies, Hollywood, and private groups appealed for tolerance in the name of national unity, thus making pluralism a corollary of consensus. This chapter explores the implications of that formulation, highlighting the emergence to prominence during the war of the “interfaith idea.” Many federal officials and private groups worried about shoring up ethnic identities that tied Americans to foreign homelands. One way to address this problem was to recast ethnic differences in religious terms—to portray the U.S. as a Protestant-Catholic-Jewish nation. In fact, since U.S. propaganda portrayed all three Axis powers as hostile to anything other than the religion of the state, faith could actually provide a basis for American unity. Religious prejudice by no means disappeared, during the war, but the notion that the U.S. was a “tri-faith” or “Judeo-Christian” nation emerged as a powerful symbol of both American pluralism and consensus. The formulation that accelerated acceptance of religious “outsiders” proved more problematic for racial minorities since it stressed social harmony and teamwork above all else. The war gave hope and occasional triumphs to those Americans arguing for a more racially egalitarian society, but more often than not it favored civility over true equality.Less
During the war, federal agencies, Hollywood, and private groups appealed for tolerance in the name of national unity, thus making pluralism a corollary of consensus. This chapter explores the implications of that formulation, highlighting the emergence to prominence during the war of the “interfaith idea.” Many federal officials and private groups worried about shoring up ethnic identities that tied Americans to foreign homelands. One way to address this problem was to recast ethnic differences in religious terms—to portray the U.S. as a Protestant-Catholic-Jewish nation. In fact, since U.S. propaganda portrayed all three Axis powers as hostile to anything other than the religion of the state, faith could actually provide a basis for American unity. Religious prejudice by no means disappeared, during the war, but the notion that the U.S. was a “tri-faith” or “Judeo-Christian” nation emerged as a powerful symbol of both American pluralism and consensus. The formulation that accelerated acceptance of religious “outsiders” proved more problematic for racial minorities since it stressed social harmony and teamwork above all else. The war gave hope and occasional triumphs to those Americans arguing for a more racially egalitarian society, but more often than not it favored civility over true equality.
