Jason Ralph
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199214310
- eISBN:
- 9780191706615
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199214310.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This book is among the first to address the issues raised by the International Criminal Court from an International Relations perspective. By clearly outlining a theoretical framework to interpret ...
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This book is among the first to address the issues raised by the International Criminal Court from an International Relations perspective. By clearly outlining a theoretical framework to interpret these issues, it makes a significant contribution to the English School's study of international society. More specifically, it offers a concise definition of ‘world society’ and thus helps to resolve a longstanding problem in international theory. This groundbreaking conceptual work is supported by an indepth empirical analysis of American opposition to the ICC. The book goes beyond the familiar arguments related to national interests and argues that the Court has exposed the extent to which American notions of accountability are tied to the nation‐state. Where other democracies are willing to renegotiate their social contract because they see themselves as part of world society, the US protects its particular contract with ‘the American people’ because it offers a means of distinguishing that nation and its democracy from the rest of the world. In opposing the ICC, therefore, the US seeks to defend a society of states because this kind of society can accommodate American exceptionalism and advance particular US interests. This ‘sovereigntist’, or more accurately ‘Americanist’, influence is further illustrated in chapters on the customary international law, universal jurisdiction, transatlantic relations and US policy on international humanitarian law in the war on terror. The book concludes by evoking E.H. Carr's criticism of those great powers who claim that a harmony exists between their particular interests and those of wider society. It also recalls his argument that great powers sometimes need to compromise and in this context it argues that support for the ICC is a more effective means of fulfilling America's purpose and a less costly sacrifice for the US to make than that demanded by the ‘Americanist’ policy of nation‐building.Less
This book is among the first to address the issues raised by the International Criminal Court from an International Relations perspective. By clearly outlining a theoretical framework to interpret these issues, it makes a significant contribution to the English School's study of international society. More specifically, it offers a concise definition of ‘world society’ and thus helps to resolve a longstanding problem in international theory. This groundbreaking conceptual work is supported by an indepth empirical analysis of American opposition to the ICC. The book goes beyond the familiar arguments related to national interests and argues that the Court has exposed the extent to which American notions of accountability are tied to the nation‐state. Where other democracies are willing to renegotiate their social contract because they see themselves as part of world society, the US protects its particular contract with ‘the American people’ because it offers a means of distinguishing that nation and its democracy from the rest of the world. In opposing the ICC, therefore, the US seeks to defend a society of states because this kind of society can accommodate American exceptionalism and advance particular US interests. This ‘sovereigntist’, or more accurately ‘Americanist’, influence is further illustrated in chapters on the customary international law, universal jurisdiction, transatlantic relations and US policy on international humanitarian law in the war on terror. The book concludes by evoking E.H. Carr's criticism of those great powers who claim that a harmony exists between their particular interests and those of wider society. It also recalls his argument that great powers sometimes need to compromise and in this context it argues that support for the ICC is a more effective means of fulfilling America's purpose and a less costly sacrifice for the US to make than that demanded by the ‘Americanist’ policy of nation‐building.
Jochen Prantl
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199287680
- eISBN:
- 9780191603723
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199287686.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter summarizes the causes of informal groups of states and their effects on Security Council governance. It argues that those informal settings are changing the role of the UN Security ...
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This chapter summarizes the causes of informal groups of states and their effects on Security Council governance. It argues that those informal settings are changing the role of the UN Security Council in the international system. The functions of diplomatic problem-solving and its collective legitimization have become separate from one another. This has implications for the understanding of power, legitimacy, and change in the theory of international relations.Less
This chapter summarizes the causes of informal groups of states and their effects on Security Council governance. It argues that those informal settings are changing the role of the UN Security Council in the international system. The functions of diplomatic problem-solving and its collective legitimization have become separate from one another. This has implications for the understanding of power, legitimacy, and change in the theory of international relations.
Frank Prochaska
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199640614
- eISBN:
- 9780191738678
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199640614.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, American History: 19th Century
This book is a survey of a wide range of British opinion on the United States in the nineteenth century and highlights the views of John Stuart Mill, Walter Bagehot, Sir Henry Maine, and James Bryce, ...
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This book is a survey of a wide range of British opinion on the United States in the nineteenth century and highlights the views of John Stuart Mill, Walter Bagehot, Sir Henry Maine, and James Bryce, who wrote extensively on American government and society. The Victorians made a memorable contribution to the ongoing debate over the character and origins of democracy through their examination of a host of issues, including the role of the Founding Fathers, the American Constitution and its relationship to the British Constitution, slavery, the Supreme Court, the Presidency, the spoils system, and party politics. Their trenchant commentary punctures several popular American assumptions, not least the idea of exceptionalism. To Victorian commentators, the bonds of kinship, language, law, and language were of great significance; and while they did not see the United States as having a unique destiny, they rallied to Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism, which reflected their sense of a shared transatlantic history. Their commentary remains remarkably prescient, if only because the American government retains so much of its eighteenth-century character.Less
This book is a survey of a wide range of British opinion on the United States in the nineteenth century and highlights the views of John Stuart Mill, Walter Bagehot, Sir Henry Maine, and James Bryce, who wrote extensively on American government and society. The Victorians made a memorable contribution to the ongoing debate over the character and origins of democracy through their examination of a host of issues, including the role of the Founding Fathers, the American Constitution and its relationship to the British Constitution, slavery, the Supreme Court, the Presidency, the spoils system, and party politics. Their trenchant commentary punctures several popular American assumptions, not least the idea of exceptionalism. To Victorian commentators, the bonds of kinship, language, law, and language were of great significance; and while they did not see the United States as having a unique destiny, they rallied to Anglo-Saxon exceptionalism, which reflected their sense of a shared transatlantic history. Their commentary remains remarkably prescient, if only because the American government retains so much of its eighteenth-century character.
Jason Ralph
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199214310
- eISBN:
- 9780191706615
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199214310.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This chapter explains why the Clinton administration chose to sign, and the Bush administration chose to ‘unsign’ the Rome Treaty. Both argued that the Treaty violated the principle of sovereign ...
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This chapter explains why the Clinton administration chose to sign, and the Bush administration chose to ‘unsign’ the Rome Treaty. Both argued that the Treaty violated the principle of sovereign consent and they both appealed to Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties to support their argument. The chapter then asks why the US finds this argument so compelling when other democratic states are not threatened by the Court. The chapter offers an answer that goes beyond arguments that focus on America's national interests and its international responsibilities. Instead, it focuses on the cultural role that democratic consent plays in constituting America as a separate nation. The policy of opposing the ICC while offering alternative approaches to international criminal justice is, therefore, a representational practice designed to instantiate a particular image of America as well as a political move to protect the national interest.Less
This chapter explains why the Clinton administration chose to sign, and the Bush administration chose to ‘unsign’ the Rome Treaty. Both argued that the Treaty violated the principle of sovereign consent and they both appealed to Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties to support their argument. The chapter then asks why the US finds this argument so compelling when other democratic states are not threatened by the Court. The chapter offers an answer that goes beyond arguments that focus on America's national interests and its international responsibilities. Instead, it focuses on the cultural role that democratic consent plays in constituting America as a separate nation. The policy of opposing the ICC while offering alternative approaches to international criminal justice is, therefore, a representational practice designed to instantiate a particular image of America as well as a political move to protect the national interest.
Erika Lorraine Milam
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691181882
- eISBN:
- 9780691185095
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691181882.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
After World War II, the question of how to define a universal human nature took on new urgency. This book charts the rise and precipitous fall in Cold War America of a theory that attributed man's ...
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After World War II, the question of how to define a universal human nature took on new urgency. This book charts the rise and precipitous fall in Cold War America of a theory that attributed man's evolutionary success to his unique capacity for murder. The book reveals how the scientists who advanced this “killer ape” theory capitalized on an expanding postwar market in intellectual paperbacks and widespread faith in the power of science to solve humanity's problems, even to answer the most fundamental questions of human identity. The killer ape theory spread quickly from colloquial science publications to late-night television, classrooms, political debates, and Hollywood films. Behind the scenes, however, scientists were sharply divided, their disagreements centering squarely on questions of race and gender. Then, in the 1970s, the theory unraveled altogether when primatologists discovered that chimpanzees also kill members of their own species. While the discovery brought an end to definitions of human exceptionalism delineated by violence, the book shows how some evolutionists began to argue for a shared chimpanzee–human history of aggression even as other scientists discredited such theories as sloppy popularizations. A wide-ranging account of a compelling episode in American science, the book argues that the legacy of the killer ape persists today in the conviction that science can resolve the essential dilemmas of human nature.Less
After World War II, the question of how to define a universal human nature took on new urgency. This book charts the rise and precipitous fall in Cold War America of a theory that attributed man's evolutionary success to his unique capacity for murder. The book reveals how the scientists who advanced this “killer ape” theory capitalized on an expanding postwar market in intellectual paperbacks and widespread faith in the power of science to solve humanity's problems, even to answer the most fundamental questions of human identity. The killer ape theory spread quickly from colloquial science publications to late-night television, classrooms, political debates, and Hollywood films. Behind the scenes, however, scientists were sharply divided, their disagreements centering squarely on questions of race and gender. Then, in the 1970s, the theory unraveled altogether when primatologists discovered that chimpanzees also kill members of their own species. While the discovery brought an end to definitions of human exceptionalism delineated by violence, the book shows how some evolutionists began to argue for a shared chimpanzee–human history of aggression even as other scientists discredited such theories as sloppy popularizations. A wide-ranging account of a compelling episode in American science, the book argues that the legacy of the killer ape persists today in the conviction that science can resolve the essential dilemmas of human nature.
Edward C. Luck
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199261437
- eISBN:
- 9780191599309
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199261431.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Considers how domestic political processes affect American behaviour in and towards multilateral organizations. The author first discusses the nature of American exceptionalism and looks at the ways ...
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Considers how domestic political processes affect American behaviour in and towards multilateral organizations. The author first discusses the nature of American exceptionalism and looks at the ways in which what he describes as a deeply ingrained sense of American exceptionalism coupled with pragmatism affects the country's approach to multilateral institutions. An examination is then made of the ups and downs of US policies towards UN over the course of the 1990s, the contrasting politics of the 1994 decision to join the newly created World Trade Organization (WTO), and US financial withholdings in the 1990s and the steps taken towards partial payment of the resulting arrears in 1999–2000. Far more positive attitudes are noted towards the WTO than the UN, the latter being perceived as a riskier venue for the promotion of US interests. It is concluded that, while the US is generally reluctant to defer to multilateral processes, it cannot be accused of being hostile to all forms of multilateral organization: it is pragmatic and peacekeeping case‐specific in its choice of foreign policy tools.Less
Considers how domestic political processes affect American behaviour in and towards multilateral organizations. The author first discusses the nature of American exceptionalism and looks at the ways in which what he describes as a deeply ingrained sense of American exceptionalism coupled with pragmatism affects the country's approach to multilateral institutions. An examination is then made of the ups and downs of US policies towards UN over the course of the 1990s, the contrasting politics of the 1994 decision to join the newly created World Trade Organization (WTO), and US financial withholdings in the 1990s and the steps taken towards partial payment of the resulting arrears in 1999–2000. Far more positive attitudes are noted towards the WTO than the UN, the latter being perceived as a riskier venue for the promotion of US interests. It is concluded that, while the US is generally reluctant to defer to multilateral processes, it cannot be accused of being hostile to all forms of multilateral organization: it is pragmatic and peacekeeping case‐specific in its choice of foreign policy tools.
Rosemary Foot, Neil MacFarlane, and Michael Mastanduno
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199261437
- eISBN:
- 9780191599309
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199261431.003.0012
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The book has sought, first, to determine whether there is any meaningful variation in US behaviour towards multilateral organizations and which factors carry the most explanatory weight in ...
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The book has sought, first, to determine whether there is any meaningful variation in US behaviour towards multilateral organizations and which factors carry the most explanatory weight in determining US behaviour and policy towards these organizations, and also to explore the extent to which US behaviour differs across issue area, from security to economics to the environment. Second, it has sought to assess in a more detailed way the nature of the US impact on multilateral organizations and what forms of impact are particularly salient, whether this varies across cases, and why. The general finding is that there is no clear pattern or trend that signals a growing US rejection of multilateral organizations as venues for the promotion of US foreign policy interests, although in the different issue areas there is more evidence of unilateralism in the area of security than economic cooperation. The candidate explanatory factors suggested in the introduction are revisited in the light of the empirical evidence offered by the authors, in order to provide an overall assessment of the forces shaping US practice: the internal factors highlighted include American exceptionalism (the most important), partisanship, interest groups, and bureaucratic interests; the external factors include the enhancing and sustaining of US power, and the perceived effectiveness of the organizations concerned. Last, an assessment is made of the impact of US policy towards multilateral organizations across the range of cases.Less
The book has sought, first, to determine whether there is any meaningful variation in US behaviour towards multilateral organizations and which factors carry the most explanatory weight in determining US behaviour and policy towards these organizations, and also to explore the extent to which US behaviour differs across issue area, from security to economics to the environment. Second, it has sought to assess in a more detailed way the nature of the US impact on multilateral organizations and what forms of impact are particularly salient, whether this varies across cases, and why. The general finding is that there is no clear pattern or trend that signals a growing US rejection of multilateral organizations as venues for the promotion of US foreign policy interests, although in the different issue areas there is more evidence of unilateralism in the area of security than economic cooperation. The candidate explanatory factors suggested in the introduction are revisited in the light of the empirical evidence offered by the authors, in order to provide an overall assessment of the forces shaping US practice: the internal factors highlighted include American exceptionalism (the most important), partisanship, interest groups, and bureaucratic interests; the external factors include the enhancing and sustaining of US power, and the perceived effectiveness of the organizations concerned. Last, an assessment is made of the impact of US policy towards multilateral organizations across the range of cases.
Kiran Klaus Patel
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149127
- eISBN:
- 9781400873623
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149127.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This book provides a radically new interpretation of a pivotal period in US history. The first comprehensive study of the New Deal in a global context, the book compares American responses to the ...
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This book provides a radically new interpretation of a pivotal period in US history. The first comprehensive study of the New Deal in a global context, the book compares American responses to the international crisis of capitalism and democracy during the 1930s to responses by other countries around the globe—not just in Europe but also in Latin America, Asia, and other parts of the world. Work creation, agricultural intervention, state planning, immigration policy, the role of mass media, forms of political leadership, and new ways of ruling America's colonies—all had parallels elsewhere and unfolded against a backdrop of intense global debates. By avoiding the distortions of American exceptionalism, the book shows how America's reaction to the Great Depression connected it to the wider world. Among much else, the book explains why the New Deal had enormous repercussions on China; why Franklin D. Roosevelt studied the welfare schemes of Nazi Germany; and why the New Dealers were fascinated by cooperatives in Sweden—but ignored similar schemes in Japan. Ultimately, the book argues, the New Deal provided the institutional scaffolding for the construction of American global hegemony in the postwar era, making this history essential for understanding both the New Deal and America's rise to global leadership.Less
This book provides a radically new interpretation of a pivotal period in US history. The first comprehensive study of the New Deal in a global context, the book compares American responses to the international crisis of capitalism and democracy during the 1930s to responses by other countries around the globe—not just in Europe but also in Latin America, Asia, and other parts of the world. Work creation, agricultural intervention, state planning, immigration policy, the role of mass media, forms of political leadership, and new ways of ruling America's colonies—all had parallels elsewhere and unfolded against a backdrop of intense global debates. By avoiding the distortions of American exceptionalism, the book shows how America's reaction to the Great Depression connected it to the wider world. Among much else, the book explains why the New Deal had enormous repercussions on China; why Franklin D. Roosevelt studied the welfare schemes of Nazi Germany; and why the New Dealers were fascinated by cooperatives in Sweden—but ignored similar schemes in Japan. Ultimately, the book argues, the New Deal provided the institutional scaffolding for the construction of American global hegemony in the postwar era, making this history essential for understanding both the New Deal and America's rise to global leadership.
William V. Spanos
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780823268153
- eISBN:
- 9780823272464
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823268153.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Redeemer Nation in the Interregnum interrogates the polyvalent role that American exceptionalism continues to play after 9/11. Whereas American exceptionalism is often construed as a discredited Cold ...
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Redeemer Nation in the Interregnum interrogates the polyvalent role that American exceptionalism continues to play after 9/11. Whereas American exceptionalism is often construed as a discredited Cold War–era belief structure, Spanos persuasively demonstrates how it operationalizes an apparatus of biopolitical capture that saturates the American body politic down to its capillaries. The exceptionalism that Redeemer Nation in the Interregnum renders starkly visible is not a corrigible ideological screen. It is a deeply structured ethos that functions simultaneously on ontological, moral, economic, racial, gendered, and political registers as the American Calling. Precisely by refusing to answer the American Calling, by rendering inoperative (in Agamben’s sense) its covenantal summons, Spanos enables us to imagine an alternative America. At once timely and personal, Spanos’s meditation acknowledges the priority of being. He emphasizes the dignity not simply of humanity but of all phenomena on the continuum of being, “the groundless ground of any political formation that would claim the name of democracy.”Less
Redeemer Nation in the Interregnum interrogates the polyvalent role that American exceptionalism continues to play after 9/11. Whereas American exceptionalism is often construed as a discredited Cold War–era belief structure, Spanos persuasively demonstrates how it operationalizes an apparatus of biopolitical capture that saturates the American body politic down to its capillaries. The exceptionalism that Redeemer Nation in the Interregnum renders starkly visible is not a corrigible ideological screen. It is a deeply structured ethos that functions simultaneously on ontological, moral, economic, racial, gendered, and political registers as the American Calling. Precisely by refusing to answer the American Calling, by rendering inoperative (in Agamben’s sense) its covenantal summons, Spanos enables us to imagine an alternative America. At once timely and personal, Spanos’s meditation acknowledges the priority of being. He emphasizes the dignity not simply of humanity but of all phenomena on the continuum of being, “the groundless ground of any political formation that would claim the name of democracy.”
Carsten Daugbjerg and Alan Swinbank
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199557752
- eISBN:
- 9780191721922
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199557752.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter establishes the important role the agricultural negotiations played in the Uruguay and Doha Rounds. It defines the key concepts of agricultural exceptionalism and agricultural normalism, ...
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This chapter establishes the important role the agricultural negotiations played in the Uruguay and Doha Rounds. It defines the key concepts of agricultural exceptionalism and agricultural normalism, which are competing assumptions on the nature of agricultural production and markets. Agricultural exceptionalism—a term current in the political science literature—holds that the farming industry is different from most economic sectors in modern societies, contributing to broader national interests and goals, and warranting extensive state intervention. This view was the ideational underpinning of national agricultural policies in the post-war period, and it remained embedded in GATT farm trade rules from 1947 to 1994. In addition, the chapter sets out the research questions addressed by the book; and explains the EU's farm policy-making procedures.Less
This chapter establishes the important role the agricultural negotiations played in the Uruguay and Doha Rounds. It defines the key concepts of agricultural exceptionalism and agricultural normalism, which are competing assumptions on the nature of agricultural production and markets. Agricultural exceptionalism—a term current in the political science literature—holds that the farming industry is different from most economic sectors in modern societies, contributing to broader national interests and goals, and warranting extensive state intervention. This view was the ideational underpinning of national agricultural policies in the post-war period, and it remained embedded in GATT farm trade rules from 1947 to 1994. In addition, the chapter sets out the research questions addressed by the book; and explains the EU's farm policy-making procedures.
Richard Gunther, P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, and Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199202812
- eISBN:
- 9780191708008
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199202812.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union, Democratization
This book is the fourth in a five-volume series examining the cultural, economic, political, and social changes that have transformed Southern Europe (Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) in the final ...
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This book is the fourth in a five-volume series examining the cultural, economic, political, and social changes that have transformed Southern Europe (Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) in the final three decades of the 20th century. Like the preceding three volumes, it examines the impact of three powerful transformative forces that, in general, have eroded away the “exceptional” status of these countries and moved them toward the mainstream of Western industrialized societies: democratization, socioeconomic modernization, and Europeanization. Four public policy sectors (taxation, environmental protection, social welfare programs, and aggregate levels of social spending) and three institutional arenas of the state itself (the judiciary, public administration, and relationships among the national, subnational, and supranational levels of government) serve as the analytical foci of these studies. In contrast with the rapid, “leapfrogging” processes of political change identified in the first two volumes (especially with regard to democratic consolidation and the emergence of “modern” political parties and patterns of electoral behavior), transformations of the state and public policies in these four countries have entailed considerable time-lags, persisting rigidities in some sectors, and striking divergences in the evolution of state structures. At the same time, there have been substantial cross-national differences and divergences among policy sectors (with taxation, aggregate levels of social spending, and, in Spain, political decentralization evolving rapidly, while other policy domains and state institutions have resisted change). The book concludes that these three broad social forces alone cannot account for these patterns. It concludes that they can only be accounted for by political processes, involving the extent to which institutions or policy subsectors had been closely linked to or autonomous from the former, pre-democratic regime, as well as the resources available to defenders of the status quo.Less
This book is the fourth in a five-volume series examining the cultural, economic, political, and social changes that have transformed Southern Europe (Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) in the final three decades of the 20th century. Like the preceding three volumes, it examines the impact of three powerful transformative forces that, in general, have eroded away the “exceptional” status of these countries and moved them toward the mainstream of Western industrialized societies: democratization, socioeconomic modernization, and Europeanization. Four public policy sectors (taxation, environmental protection, social welfare programs, and aggregate levels of social spending) and three institutional arenas of the state itself (the judiciary, public administration, and relationships among the national, subnational, and supranational levels of government) serve as the analytical foci of these studies. In contrast with the rapid, “leapfrogging” processes of political change identified in the first two volumes (especially with regard to democratic consolidation and the emergence of “modern” political parties and patterns of electoral behavior), transformations of the state and public policies in these four countries have entailed considerable time-lags, persisting rigidities in some sectors, and striking divergences in the evolution of state structures. At the same time, there have been substantial cross-national differences and divergences among policy sectors (with taxation, aggregate levels of social spending, and, in Spain, political decentralization evolving rapidly, while other policy domains and state institutions have resisted change). The book concludes that these three broad social forces alone cannot account for these patterns. It concludes that they can only be accounted for by political processes, involving the extent to which institutions or policy subsectors had been closely linked to or autonomous from the former, pre-democratic regime, as well as the resources available to defenders of the status quo.
Lawrence A. Scaff
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691147796
- eISBN:
- 9781400836710
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691147796.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Population and Demography
This chapter examines Max Weber's views on science and world culture by focusing on his lecture at the Congress of Arts and Science held in September 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis ...
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This chapter examines Max Weber's views on science and world culture by focusing on his lecture at the Congress of Arts and Science held in September 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis Congress featured hundreds of papers assessing the state of knowledge in the human, biological, and physical sciences; medicine; law; the humanities; religion; and education. Weber spoke in a social science panel concerned with rural communities. The discussions centered on the methodological unity of the sciences. The chapter first considers Weber's insistence on science as an experimental inquiry into the phenomena and actualities of the world, which also assumed that scientific knowledge was a product of culture, before discussing his views on “rural society,” European capitalism and American equality of legal rights, and his implicit questioning of American “exceptionalism.” It also analyzes Weber's thoughts about art, gender, education, and authority.Less
This chapter examines Max Weber's views on science and world culture by focusing on his lecture at the Congress of Arts and Science held in September 1904 in St. Louis, Missouri. The St. Louis Congress featured hundreds of papers assessing the state of knowledge in the human, biological, and physical sciences; medicine; law; the humanities; religion; and education. Weber spoke in a social science panel concerned with rural communities. The discussions centered on the methodological unity of the sciences. The chapter first considers Weber's insistence on science as an experimental inquiry into the phenomena and actualities of the world, which also assumed that scientific knowledge was a product of culture, before discussing his views on “rural society,” European capitalism and American equality of legal rights, and his implicit questioning of American “exceptionalism.” It also analyzes Weber's thoughts about art, gender, education, and authority.
Stephen Greer
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781526113696
- eISBN:
- 9781526141941
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526113696.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This book is a study of solo performance in the UK and western Europe since the turn of millennium that explores the contentious relationship between identity, individuality and the demands of ...
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This book is a study of solo performance in the UK and western Europe since the turn of millennium that explores the contentious relationship between identity, individuality and the demands of neoliberalism. With case studies drawn from across theatre, cabaret, comedy and live art – and featuring artists, playwrights and performers as varied as La Ribot, David Hoyle, Neil Bartlett, Bridget Christie and Tanja Ostojić – it provides an essential account of the diverse practices which characterize contemporary solo performance, and their significance to contemporary debates concerning subjectivity, equality and social participation.
Beginning in a study of the arts festivals which characterize the economies in which solo performance is made, each chapter animates a different cultural trope – including the martyr, the killjoy, the misfit and the stranger – to explore the significance of ‘exceptional’ subjects whose uncertain social status challenges assumed notions of communal sociability. These figures invite us to re-examine theatre’s attachment to singular lives and experiences, as well as the evolving role of autobiographical performance and the explicit body in negotiating the relationship between the personal and the political.
Informed by the work of scholars including Sara Ahmed, Zygmunt Bauman and Giorgio Agamben, this interdisciplinary text offers an incisive analysis of the cultural significance of solo performance for students and scholars across the fields of theatre and performance studies, sociology, gender studies and political philosophy.Less
This book is a study of solo performance in the UK and western Europe since the turn of millennium that explores the contentious relationship between identity, individuality and the demands of neoliberalism. With case studies drawn from across theatre, cabaret, comedy and live art – and featuring artists, playwrights and performers as varied as La Ribot, David Hoyle, Neil Bartlett, Bridget Christie and Tanja Ostojić – it provides an essential account of the diverse practices which characterize contemporary solo performance, and their significance to contemporary debates concerning subjectivity, equality and social participation.
Beginning in a study of the arts festivals which characterize the economies in which solo performance is made, each chapter animates a different cultural trope – including the martyr, the killjoy, the misfit and the stranger – to explore the significance of ‘exceptional’ subjects whose uncertain social status challenges assumed notions of communal sociability. These figures invite us to re-examine theatre’s attachment to singular lives and experiences, as well as the evolving role of autobiographical performance and the explicit body in negotiating the relationship between the personal and the political.
Informed by the work of scholars including Sara Ahmed, Zygmunt Bauman and Giorgio Agamben, this interdisciplinary text offers an incisive analysis of the cultural significance of solo performance for students and scholars across the fields of theatre and performance studies, sociology, gender studies and political philosophy.
Nora Fisher Onar and Ahmet Evin
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199594627
- eISBN:
- 9780191595738
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199594627.003.0016
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union, Political Theory
Nora Fisher Onar and Ahmet Evin trace continuity and changes in several schools of thought on Europe from the inception of Ottoman Westernization to the present. They then turn to key moments in the ...
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Nora Fisher Onar and Ahmet Evin trace continuity and changes in several schools of thought on Europe from the inception of Ottoman Westernization to the present. They then turn to key moments in the 1999 to 2009 period during which debates on Turkey's place in Europe were particularly intense in light of acquisition of EU candidate status in 1999 and the ensuing accession debate over Islam and secularism. Fisher Onar and Evin argue that certain features of Turkish discourse are constant both over time and across the political spectrum at any given time. These include a tendency to see the “European experience” as a menu à la carte, and a sense of Turkish exceptionalism. Other aspects of intellectuals' engagement of Europe, however, appear contingent upon evolving domestic and international contexts. Views thus span from those who advocate a selective engagement to those who call for unequivocal convergence with that which they understand Europe to represent.Less
Nora Fisher Onar and Ahmet Evin trace continuity and changes in several schools of thought on Europe from the inception of Ottoman Westernization to the present. They then turn to key moments in the 1999 to 2009 period during which debates on Turkey's place in Europe were particularly intense in light of acquisition of EU candidate status in 1999 and the ensuing accession debate over Islam and secularism. Fisher Onar and Evin argue that certain features of Turkish discourse are constant both over time and across the political spectrum at any given time. These include a tendency to see the “European experience” as a menu à la carte, and a sense of Turkish exceptionalism. Other aspects of intellectuals' engagement of Europe, however, appear contingent upon evolving domestic and international contexts. Views thus span from those who advocate a selective engagement to those who call for unequivocal convergence with that which they understand Europe to represent.
Michael Koß
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199572755
- eISBN:
- 9780191595103
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199572755.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Economy
Apart from summing up the major findings of the preceding chapters, the conclusion goes beyond the scope of the empirical analysis in two respects: Firstly, it discusses the future the British ...
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Apart from summing up the major findings of the preceding chapters, the conclusion goes beyond the scope of the empirical analysis in two respects: Firstly, it discusses the future the British exceptionalism in party funding, that is, of a party funding regime without significant state subsidies. Secondly, I discuss whether decreasing ideological polarization of party systems prior to the introduction of state funding (as found in chapter 5) is also given in other established Western European democracies. With the exception of the third-wave democracies Spain, Portugal, and Greece, this trend can be observed in eight more countries. Even though this finding does not imply specific causal relationships between institutional veto points, party goals, corruption discourses, and party funding reforms in any of these countries, it serves as evidence that the findings of my small-N study are generally applicable to established democracies.Less
Apart from summing up the major findings of the preceding chapters, the conclusion goes beyond the scope of the empirical analysis in two respects: Firstly, it discusses the future the British exceptionalism in party funding, that is, of a party funding regime without significant state subsidies. Secondly, I discuss whether decreasing ideological polarization of party systems prior to the introduction of state funding (as found in chapter 5) is also given in other established Western European democracies. With the exception of the third-wave democracies Spain, Portugal, and Greece, this trend can be observed in eight more countries. Even though this finding does not imply specific causal relationships between institutional veto points, party goals, corruption discourses, and party funding reforms in any of these countries, it serves as evidence that the findings of my small-N study are generally applicable to established democracies.
Christian P. Haines
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780823286942
- eISBN:
- 9780823288717
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823286942.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
A Desire Called America examines the relationship between American exceptionalism and U.S. literature. It focuses on how literary works by Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, William S. Burroughs, and ...
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A Desire Called America examines the relationship between American exceptionalism and U.S. literature. It focuses on how literary works by Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, William S. Burroughs, and Thomas Pynchon draw on the utopian energies of American exceptionalism only to overturn exceptionalism’s investments in capitalism and the nation-state. The book analyzes what it terms the excluded middle between American exceptionalism and its critique, or the conceptual and libidinal space in which critique and complicity mutually determine one another. The book also offers a theory of the relationship between biopolitics and utopia, arguing that in the context of American literature, bodies become figures for alternative forms of social life. It pays particular attention to how these figures contribute to a literary commons, or the imagination of non-capitalist forms of cooperation and non-sovereign forms of democratic self-governance. In doing so, it articulates a model of literary history linking nineteenth-century literature to contemporary literature by way of the rise and decline of American hegemony. The book draws on and contributes to the fields of American Studies, American literary history, Marxist criticism, queer theory, political theory, continental philosophy, and utopian studies.Less
A Desire Called America examines the relationship between American exceptionalism and U.S. literature. It focuses on how literary works by Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, William S. Burroughs, and Thomas Pynchon draw on the utopian energies of American exceptionalism only to overturn exceptionalism’s investments in capitalism and the nation-state. The book analyzes what it terms the excluded middle between American exceptionalism and its critique, or the conceptual and libidinal space in which critique and complicity mutually determine one another. The book also offers a theory of the relationship between biopolitics and utopia, arguing that in the context of American literature, bodies become figures for alternative forms of social life. It pays particular attention to how these figures contribute to a literary commons, or the imagination of non-capitalist forms of cooperation and non-sovereign forms of democratic self-governance. In doing so, it articulates a model of literary history linking nineteenth-century literature to contemporary literature by way of the rise and decline of American hegemony. The book draws on and contributes to the fields of American Studies, American literary history, Marxist criticism, queer theory, political theory, continental philosophy, and utopian studies.
Verta Taylor and Mayer N. Zald
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195388299
- eISBN:
- 9780199866519
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195388299.003.0018
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter locates U.S. health institutions in the context of American society and culture, exploring “American Exceptionalism” and its implications for the particular structure and culture of ...
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This chapter locates U.S. health institutions in the context of American society and culture, exploring “American Exceptionalism” and its implications for the particular structure and culture of health institutions. This context limits and shapes the forms and processes of social movements and collective action that occur. The chapter then uses the earlier chapters, as well as the broader literature, to argue how U.S. health institutions shape, and are shaped by, social movements. The range is broad and includes research that deals with movements aimed at shaping the overall financing and governance of U.S. health institutions, the internal workings of organizations, professions, and occupations, self‐help movements, and movements about particular disease and disability entities. One of main questions raised is the relevance of contemporary social movement theory, largely dealing with political movements, for the analysis of movements oriented towards specific institutions. Key concepts of institutional theory are also discussed. The key concepts of contemporary theory, with modifications, can be usefully employed in examining institutional movements. These key concepts include fields, framing processes, political opportunities, resources, collective identity, and mobilization processes.Less
This chapter locates U.S. health institutions in the context of American society and culture, exploring “American Exceptionalism” and its implications for the particular structure and culture of health institutions. This context limits and shapes the forms and processes of social movements and collective action that occur. The chapter then uses the earlier chapters, as well as the broader literature, to argue how U.S. health institutions shape, and are shaped by, social movements. The range is broad and includes research that deals with movements aimed at shaping the overall financing and governance of U.S. health institutions, the internal workings of organizations, professions, and occupations, self‐help movements, and movements about particular disease and disability entities. One of main questions raised is the relevance of contemporary social movement theory, largely dealing with political movements, for the analysis of movements oriented towards specific institutions. Key concepts of institutional theory are also discussed. The key concepts of contemporary theory, with modifications, can be usefully employed in examining institutional movements. These key concepts include fields, framing processes, political opportunities, resources, collective identity, and mobilization processes.
Dan P. McAdams
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195176933
- eISBN:
- 9780199786787
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195176933.003.0010
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
The redemptive self is a psychologically powerful life narrative that supports a caring and productive (that is, generative) approach to life in the midlife years. However, the story is not without ...
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The redemptive self is a psychologically powerful life narrative that supports a caring and productive (that is, generative) approach to life in the midlife years. However, the story is not without its shortcomings — shortcomings that reveal peculiar features of American narrative identity. This chapter identifies and analyzes four potential problems inherent in redemptive life narratives: (1) the conflict between power/freedom and love/community; (2) the arrogance and self-righteousness that comes from (individual and cultural) narratives of American exceptionalism; (3) the danger of redemptive violence; and (4) naïve expectations regarding the deliverance from suffering and the denial of tragedy in human life, from such experiences as living through the Holocaust. The classic of American sociology, The Lonely Crowd, a study of the changing American character, is also discussed.Less
The redemptive self is a psychologically powerful life narrative that supports a caring and productive (that is, generative) approach to life in the midlife years. However, the story is not without its shortcomings — shortcomings that reveal peculiar features of American narrative identity. This chapter identifies and analyzes four potential problems inherent in redemptive life narratives: (1) the conflict between power/freedom and love/community; (2) the arrogance and self-righteousness that comes from (individual and cultural) narratives of American exceptionalism; (3) the danger of redemptive violence; and (4) naïve expectations regarding the deliverance from suffering and the denial of tragedy in human life, from such experiences as living through the Holocaust. The classic of American sociology, The Lonely Crowd, a study of the changing American character, is also discussed.
P. Nikiforos Diamandouros, Richard Gunther, Dimitri A. Sotiropoulos, and Edward E. Malefakis
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199202812
- eISBN:
- 9780191708008
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199202812.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union, Democratization
This chapter presents an overview of the central theme of the book—the overcoming of “Southern European exceptionalism” and approximation over the past four decades of state capacities and public ...
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This chapter presents an overview of the central theme of the book—the overcoming of “Southern European exceptionalism” and approximation over the past four decades of state capacities and public policies typical of other West European democracies—which the chapter hypothesizes is in large measure a product of the interaction among three forces, democratization, socioeconomic modernization, and Europeanization. The chapter presents a historical overview of the nature of Southern European exceptionalism, one aspect of which the chapter calls “state-heavy” characteristics: frequent resort to repression; corporatism and state intervention in the economy; excessive centralization of state power; and heavy reliance on patronage. At the same time, exceptionalism included several “weak-state” features: an inadequate and regressive system of taxation; strong and autonomous local elites; weak civilian control over the military; bureaucratic incompetence (in both civilian and military sectors); inadequate government services; weak legitimacy of the state; and economic inefficiencies that retarded economic development.Less
This chapter presents an overview of the central theme of the book—the overcoming of “Southern European exceptionalism” and approximation over the past four decades of state capacities and public policies typical of other West European democracies—which the chapter hypothesizes is in large measure a product of the interaction among three forces, democratization, socioeconomic modernization, and Europeanization. The chapter presents a historical overview of the nature of Southern European exceptionalism, one aspect of which the chapter calls “state-heavy” characteristics: frequent resort to repression; corporatism and state intervention in the economy; excessive centralization of state power; and heavy reliance on patronage. At the same time, exceptionalism included several “weak-state” features: an inadequate and regressive system of taxation; strong and autonomous local elites; weak civilian control over the military; bureaucratic incompetence (in both civilian and military sectors); inadequate government services; weak legitimacy of the state; and economic inefficiencies that retarded economic development.
Richard Gunther and P. Nikiforos Diamandouros
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199202812
- eISBN:
- 9780191708008
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199202812.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union, Democratization
Southern Europe's historic “exceptionalism” has been replaced by a convergence with Western Europe in several important aspects of public policy: inadequate and regressive taxation systems have been ...
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Southern Europe's historic “exceptionalism” has been replaced by a convergence with Western Europe in several important aspects of public policy: inadequate and regressive taxation systems have been reformed; aggregate levels of spending on social programs have greatly increased; a distant and repressive state has given way to democratic accountability and responsiveness. But the judiciaries and bureaucratic structures remain unreformed; social welfare coverage remains particularistic and incomplete; and environmental policies lag. Delayed socioeconomic modernization helps to account for some of the earlier exceptional characteristics (e.g., lagging social welfare policies and environmental awareness), while development after the 1950s and 1960s pushed all four countries over the threshold for policy development. Democratization made possible rapid social policy advances, fiscal modernization, decentralization (in response to regional demands), and respect for civil and political rights. Europeanization forced some reforms as prerequisites for EU membership (abandonment of autarkic protectionism, harmonization of taxation systems, and adoption of environmental policies). However, efforts at reform may be hindered or blocked by subsystem autonomy from the former authoritarian regime (blunting demands for judicial or bureaucratic reform), or by institutional resources that enable privileged sectors (e.g., bureaucratic cuerpos or organized labor) to block change.Less
Southern Europe's historic “exceptionalism” has been replaced by a convergence with Western Europe in several important aspects of public policy: inadequate and regressive taxation systems have been reformed; aggregate levels of spending on social programs have greatly increased; a distant and repressive state has given way to democratic accountability and responsiveness. But the judiciaries and bureaucratic structures remain unreformed; social welfare coverage remains particularistic and incomplete; and environmental policies lag. Delayed socioeconomic modernization helps to account for some of the earlier exceptional characteristics (e.g., lagging social welfare policies and environmental awareness), while development after the 1950s and 1960s pushed all four countries over the threshold for policy development. Democratization made possible rapid social policy advances, fiscal modernization, decentralization (in response to regional demands), and respect for civil and political rights. Europeanization forced some reforms as prerequisites for EU membership (abandonment of autarkic protectionism, harmonization of taxation systems, and adoption of environmental policies). However, efforts at reform may be hindered or blocked by subsystem autonomy from the former authoritarian regime (blunting demands for judicial or bureaucratic reform), or by institutional resources that enable privileged sectors (e.g., bureaucratic cuerpos or organized labor) to block change.
