Jonathan Fox
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199208852
- eISBN:
- 9780191709005
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208852.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
This chapter analyzes the social foundations of democracy by focusing on the internal dynamics of building scaled-up, democratic counterweights under authoritarian rule. It takes up the challenge ...
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This chapter analyzes the social foundations of democracy by focusing on the internal dynamics of building scaled-up, democratic counterweights under authoritarian rule. It takes up the challenge posed by Michels' classic political sociology puzzle of ‘Iron Law of Oligarchy’, asking which factors make it possible for members to hold their leaders accountable. The case study traces the history of a broad-based regional agrarian membership organization to identify ebbs and flows of leadership accountability. An inductive, ethnographic, and longitudinal approach documents how the power relationships between leaders and members change over time. Though the organization held regular elections, in which elected agrarian community leaders voted for regional representatives, the electoral process was not the principal determinant of leadership accountability. Instead, the existence of other kinds of checks and balances — participatory subgroups and pro-democracy external actors — turn out to be more important factors in favor of leadership accountability.Less
This chapter analyzes the social foundations of democracy by focusing on the internal dynamics of building scaled-up, democratic counterweights under authoritarian rule. It takes up the challenge posed by Michels' classic political sociology puzzle of ‘Iron Law of Oligarchy’, asking which factors make it possible for members to hold their leaders accountable. The case study traces the history of a broad-based regional agrarian membership organization to identify ebbs and flows of leadership accountability. An inductive, ethnographic, and longitudinal approach documents how the power relationships between leaders and members change over time. Though the organization held regular elections, in which elected agrarian community leaders voted for regional representatives, the electoral process was not the principal determinant of leadership accountability. Instead, the existence of other kinds of checks and balances — participatory subgroups and pro-democracy external actors — turn out to be more important factors in favor of leadership accountability.
Susan E. Scarrow
- Published in print:
- 1996
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279181
- eISBN:
- 9780191600166
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279183.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
In the last decades of the twentieth century, leaders of the largest parties in Britain and Germany began reexamining their parties’ organizational strategies to find new ways to use party members to ...
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In the last decades of the twentieth century, leaders of the largest parties in Britain and Germany began reexamining their parties’ organizational strategies to find new ways to use party members to generate electoral support. Evidence from party documents and debates shows that this change was both deliberate and intentional. In apparent defiance of Michels's ‘iron law of oligarchy’, party leaders seem to have been willing to give new rights to members in order to attract and maintain active party memberships.Less
In the last decades of the twentieth century, leaders of the largest parties in Britain and Germany began reexamining their parties’ organizational strategies to find new ways to use party members to generate electoral support. Evidence from party documents and debates shows that this change was both deliberate and intentional. In apparent defiance of Michels's ‘iron law of oligarchy’, party leaders seem to have been willing to give new rights to members in order to attract and maintain active party memberships.
T. P. Wiseman
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263235
- eISBN:
- 9780191734328
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263235.003.0012
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
For the twentieth century, the political history of Athens was essentially ideological, involving great issues of freedom and tyranny, while that of the Roman Republic was merely a struggle for ...
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For the twentieth century, the political history of Athens was essentially ideological, involving great issues of freedom and tyranny, while that of the Roman Republic was merely a struggle for power, with no significant ideological content. But why should that be? The Romans were perfectly familiar with the concepts and terminology of Greek political philosophy and used them to describe their own politics, as Cicero explains in writing in 56 bc. Not surprisingly. Greek authors who dealt with Roman politics used the concepts of democracy and oligarchy, the rule of the many or the rule of the best, without any sense that it was an inappropriate idiom.Less
For the twentieth century, the political history of Athens was essentially ideological, involving great issues of freedom and tyranny, while that of the Roman Republic was merely a struggle for power, with no significant ideological content. But why should that be? The Romans were perfectly familiar with the concepts and terminology of Greek political philosophy and used them to describe their own politics, as Cicero explains in writing in 56 bc. Not surprisingly. Greek authors who dealt with Roman politics used the concepts of democracy and oligarchy, the rule of the many or the rule of the best, without any sense that it was an inappropriate idiom.
T. P. Wiseman
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199239764
- eISBN:
- 9780191716836
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199239764.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
In the Roman republic, only the People could make laws and elect politicians to office; the word respublica means ‘The People's business’. So why is it always assumed that the republic was an ...
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In the Roman republic, only the People could make laws and elect politicians to office; the word respublica means ‘The People's business’. So why is it always assumed that the republic was an oligarchy? The reading of late-republican politics as a non-ideological competition for office was created by Gelzer in 1912 in reaction against the ‘party-political’ model presupposed by Mommsen; reinforced by Münzer (1920) and Syme (1939), it was enshrined as accepted doctrine in ‘Paully-Wissowa’. This chapter argues that the Gelzer model relies on the misinterpretation of a key text, that close reading of the contemporary sources reveals far more ideological conflict than the Gelzer model allows, and that one of the results of assuming its truth has been a failure to appreciate the political background of the historian Licinius Macer.Less
In the Roman republic, only the People could make laws and elect politicians to office; the word respublica means ‘The People's business’. So why is it always assumed that the republic was an oligarchy? The reading of late-republican politics as a non-ideological competition for office was created by Gelzer in 1912 in reaction against the ‘party-political’ model presupposed by Mommsen; reinforced by Münzer (1920) and Syme (1939), it was enshrined as accepted doctrine in ‘Paully-Wissowa’. This chapter argues that the Gelzer model relies on the misinterpretation of a key text, that close reading of the contemporary sources reveals far more ideological conflict than the Gelzer model allows, and that one of the results of assuming its truth has been a failure to appreciate the political background of the historian Licinius Macer.
David Stasavage
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691140575
- eISBN:
- 9781400838875
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691140575.003.0006
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Economic History
This chapter examines public credit and political representation in three European city-states: Cologne, Genoa, and Siena. The goal is to identify the mechanisms at work that determined whether a ...
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This chapter examines public credit and political representation in three European city-states: Cologne, Genoa, and Siena. The goal is to identify the mechanisms at work that determined whether a state had access to credit and at what cost. The chapter considers how public debt was an issue of strong and often violent social conflict within city-states, along with the importance of political control by merchants. The experience of Cologne, Genoa, and Siena shows that there was nothing more effective in ensuring access to credit than being ruled by a merchant oligarchy. Evidence also suggests that when merchant control was challenged, this had negative consequences for access to credit.Less
This chapter examines public credit and political representation in three European city-states: Cologne, Genoa, and Siena. The goal is to identify the mechanisms at work that determined whether a state had access to credit and at what cost. The chapter considers how public debt was an issue of strong and often violent social conflict within city-states, along with the importance of political control by merchants. The experience of Cologne, Genoa, and Siena shows that there was nothing more effective in ensuring access to credit than being ruled by a merchant oligarchy. Evidence also suggests that when merchant control was challenged, this had negative consequences for access to credit.
Robert Stevens
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263198
- eISBN:
- 9780191734755
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263198.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, UK Politics
This chapter examines the changes in the relation between the government and the judiciary in Great Britain during the twentieth century, explaining that, for much of the twentieth century, the ...
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This chapter examines the changes in the relation between the government and the judiciary in Great Britain during the twentieth century, explaining that, for much of the twentieth century, the judiciary has been thought more of as a dignified and effective element in the constitution. It argues that as Britain moved from oligarchy to democracy, and as utilitarianism and then liberalism became the fashionable order of the day, the Reform Acts made it appear increasingly inappropriate for the judiciary to intrude into the public law arena.Less
This chapter examines the changes in the relation between the government and the judiciary in Great Britain during the twentieth century, explaining that, for much of the twentieth century, the judiciary has been thought more of as a dignified and effective element in the constitution. It argues that as Britain moved from oligarchy to democracy, and as utilitarianism and then liberalism became the fashionable order of the day, the Reform Acts made it appear increasingly inappropriate for the judiciary to intrude into the public law arena.
Steven Gunn, David Grummitt, and Hans Cools
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199207503
- eISBN:
- 9780191708848
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207503.003.003
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter introduces the variety of towns found in England and the Netherlands: towns large and small, centres of industry, trade, and administration; booming like Antwerp or in crisis like ...
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This chapter introduces the variety of towns found in England and the Netherlands: towns large and small, centres of industry, trade, and administration; booming like Antwerp or in crisis like Coventry; governed by a tight oligarchy or with wide popular participation. In general, towns in the Netherlands were larger, more politically powerful, and more confrontational in their relationship with princely power than those in England. In England these numbered five large towns: Canterbury, Exeter, Norwich, Salisbury, and York, together with the smaller Beverley, Hull, and Rye. In the Netherlands, all were large, but they were spread geographically from Valenciennes in Hainaut and Douai in Walloon Flanders to Haarlem and Leiden in Holland, from Antwerp in the west of Brabant to 's-Hertogenbosch in the east.Less
This chapter introduces the variety of towns found in England and the Netherlands: towns large and small, centres of industry, trade, and administration; booming like Antwerp or in crisis like Coventry; governed by a tight oligarchy or with wide popular participation. In general, towns in the Netherlands were larger, more politically powerful, and more confrontational in their relationship with princely power than those in England. In England these numbered five large towns: Canterbury, Exeter, Norwich, Salisbury, and York, together with the smaller Beverley, Hull, and Rye. In the Netherlands, all were large, but they were spread geographically from Valenciennes in Hainaut and Douai in Walloon Flanders to Haarlem and Leiden in Holland, from Antwerp in the west of Brabant to 's-Hertogenbosch in the east.
Steven Gunn, David Grummitt, and Hans Cools
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199207503
- eISBN:
- 9780191708848
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207503.003.006
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
This chapter examines the impact of war on the economic and political structures of urban life and civic finances. Wartime destruction and interruptions to trade posed challenges to the management of ...
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This chapter examines the impact of war on the economic and political structures of urban life and civic finances. Wartime destruction and interruptions to trade posed challenges to the management of urban economies, but offered comparative advantages to towns in more peaceful areas or able to claim privileges in return for their loyalty. War drove up civic expenditure everywhere, but the effects were most dramatic in the Netherlands in the 1480s and 1490s, where many towns were driven by their indebtedness into closer tutelage by princely officials. Yet war also served to consolidate the powers of town councils over the townsfolk and the surrounding countryside. Especially in the Netherlands, it promoted the concentration of power in the hands of a smaller oligarchy of magistrates more prepared than the wider citizenry or the guilds to meet the prince's demands.Less
This chapter examines the impact of war on the economic and political structures of urban life and civic finances. Wartime destruction and interruptions to trade posed challenges to the management of urban economies, but offered comparative advantages to towns in more peaceful areas or able to claim privileges in return for their loyalty. War drove up civic expenditure everywhere, but the effects were most dramatic in the Netherlands in the 1480s and 1490s, where many towns were driven by their indebtedness into closer tutelage by princely officials. Yet war also served to consolidate the powers of town councils over the townsfolk and the surrounding countryside. Especially in the Netherlands, it promoted the concentration of power in the hands of a smaller oligarchy of magistrates more prepared than the wider citizenry or the guilds to meet the prince's demands.
Tony Smith
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154923
- eISBN:
- 9781400842025
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154923.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter examines the dynamic of American imperialism in the Philippines since 1898 and the role played by the United States in determining the values, practices, and institutions that constitute ...
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This chapter examines the dynamic of American imperialism in the Philippines since 1898 and the role played by the United States in determining the values, practices, and institutions that constitute democracy in the islands today. It first explains why the United States decided to sponsor democracy in the Philippines after defeating Spain in the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898. It then considers the political and socioeconomic dimensions of the United States' democratization of the Philippines, focusing on its introduction of the trappings of modern government such as political parties, elections, and the rise of a Filipino landed class whose wealth was based on the production of export commodities. It also discusses the negative effects of a landowning oligarchy on Philippine democracy and concludes with an assessment of the reasons why General Douglas MacArthur did not mandate land reform for the Philippines.Less
This chapter examines the dynamic of American imperialism in the Philippines since 1898 and the role played by the United States in determining the values, practices, and institutions that constitute democracy in the islands today. It first explains why the United States decided to sponsor democracy in the Philippines after defeating Spain in the Battle of Manila Bay on May 1, 1898. It then considers the political and socioeconomic dimensions of the United States' democratization of the Philippines, focusing on its introduction of the trappings of modern government such as political parties, elections, and the rise of a Filipino landed class whose wealth was based on the production of export commodities. It also discusses the negative effects of a landowning oligarchy on Philippine democracy and concludes with an assessment of the reasons why General Douglas MacArthur did not mandate land reform for the Philippines.
Tom Scott
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199274604
- eISBN:
- 9780191738685
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199274604.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Medieval History
City‐states after 1500 were not a spent force; rather, they survived by transformation and adjustment, even if their increasingly aristocratic governments have been denounced as oligarchies which ...
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City‐states after 1500 were not a spent force; rather, they survived by transformation and adjustment, even if their increasingly aristocratic governments have been denounced as oligarchies which betrayed republican liberty. The Swiss Confederation continued to exert a political pull, though sometimes by overt aggression (Bernese conquest of the Vaud). The Dutch United Provinces display some similarities with city‐states. Many cities bargained with their rulers (especially capital cities and ports as outlets of commercial empires) to carve out autonomy. Others adapted to foreign rule internally or entered into new commercial/financial alliances externally. In Italy, the attraction of the city‐state encouraged lesser towns to emulate them, even acquiring their own small contadi (quasi‐città). Only a very few city‐states disappeared, in the sense of being stripped of territory and autonomy.Less
City‐states after 1500 were not a spent force; rather, they survived by transformation and adjustment, even if their increasingly aristocratic governments have been denounced as oligarchies which betrayed republican liberty. The Swiss Confederation continued to exert a political pull, though sometimes by overt aggression (Bernese conquest of the Vaud). The Dutch United Provinces display some similarities with city‐states. Many cities bargained with their rulers (especially capital cities and ports as outlets of commercial empires) to carve out autonomy. Others adapted to foreign rule internally or entered into new commercial/financial alliances externally. In Italy, the attraction of the city‐state encouraged lesser towns to emulate them, even acquiring their own small contadi (quasi‐città). Only a very few city‐states disappeared, in the sense of being stripped of territory and autonomy.
Xenophon
Gregory A. McBrayer (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781501718496
- eISBN:
- 9781501718519
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501718496.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This volume contains new, literal translations of Xenophon’s eight shorter writings along with interpretive essays on each work: Hiero, or The Skilled Tyrant; Agesilaus; Regime of the Lacedaemonians; ...
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This volume contains new, literal translations of Xenophon’s eight shorter writings along with interpretive essays on each work: Hiero, or The Skilled Tyrant; Agesilaus; Regime of the Lacedaemonians; Regime of the Athenians; Ways and Means, or On Revenue; The Skilled Cavalry Commander; On Horsemanship; and The One Skilled at Hunting with Dogs. The Agesilaos is a eulogy of a Spartan king, and the Hiero, or the Skilled Tyrant recounts a searching dialogue between a poet and a tyrant. The Regime of the Lacedaemonians presents itself as a laudatory examination of what turns out to be an oligarchic regime of a certain type, while The Regime of the Athenians offers an unflattering picture of a democratic regime. Ways and Means, or On Revenues offers suggestions on how to improve the political economy of Athens’ troubled democracy. The other three works included here—The Skilled Cavalry Commander, On Horsemanship, and The One Skilled at Hunting with Dogs—treat skills that are appropriate for gentlemen. By bringing together Xenophon’s shorter writings, this volume aims to help all those interested in Xenophon understand better the core of his thought, political as well as philosophic.Less
This volume contains new, literal translations of Xenophon’s eight shorter writings along with interpretive essays on each work: Hiero, or The Skilled Tyrant; Agesilaus; Regime of the Lacedaemonians; Regime of the Athenians; Ways and Means, or On Revenue; The Skilled Cavalry Commander; On Horsemanship; and The One Skilled at Hunting with Dogs. The Agesilaos is a eulogy of a Spartan king, and the Hiero, or the Skilled Tyrant recounts a searching dialogue between a poet and a tyrant. The Regime of the Lacedaemonians presents itself as a laudatory examination of what turns out to be an oligarchic regime of a certain type, while The Regime of the Athenians offers an unflattering picture of a democratic regime. Ways and Means, or On Revenues offers suggestions on how to improve the political economy of Athens’ troubled democracy. The other three works included here—The Skilled Cavalry Commander, On Horsemanship, and The One Skilled at Hunting with Dogs—treat skills that are appropriate for gentlemen. By bringing together Xenophon’s shorter writings, this volume aims to help all those interested in Xenophon understand better the core of his thought, political as well as philosophic.
James D. Tracy
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199209118
- eISBN:
- 9780191706134
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199209118.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, European Early Modern History
Ardent Calvinists and refugees from the south blamed Holland for the loss of Flanders and Brabant; did not Holland's merchants batten on trade with the foe? Leicester thus found support for a more ...
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Ardent Calvinists and refugees from the south blamed Holland for the loss of Flanders and Brabant; did not Holland's merchants batten on trade with the foe? Leicester thus found support for a more centralized government, but only briefly, for he lost credit by slighting local privileges. When he called on true patriots to rise up against Holland's urban oligarchies, there were only minor plots here and there; the more dangerous legacy of Leicester's brief tenure was a rash of garrison mutinies, but even this was manageable for a wealthy province. Meanwhile, Leicester's partisans promoted the novel doctrine of popular sovereignty. In response, Gouda's town attorney asserted that the urban oligarchies had ruled, through the states, since time out of mind. This was not a theoretically interesting answer, but it satisfied the needs of a nascent republic.Less
Ardent Calvinists and refugees from the south blamed Holland for the loss of Flanders and Brabant; did not Holland's merchants batten on trade with the foe? Leicester thus found support for a more centralized government, but only briefly, for he lost credit by slighting local privileges. When he called on true patriots to rise up against Holland's urban oligarchies, there were only minor plots here and there; the more dangerous legacy of Leicester's brief tenure was a rash of garrison mutinies, but even this was manageable for a wealthy province. Meanwhile, Leicester's partisans promoted the novel doctrine of popular sovereignty. In response, Gouda's town attorney asserted that the urban oligarchies had ruled, through the states, since time out of mind. This was not a theoretically interesting answer, but it satisfied the needs of a nascent republic.
David Howell
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198203049
- eISBN:
- 9780191719530
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198203049.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
The analysis of formal institutions and procedures provides an insufficient basis for an understanding of Labour Party organization. Over time, party institutions developed cultural identities that ...
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The analysis of formal institutions and procedures provides an insufficient basis for an understanding of Labour Party organization. Over time, party institutions developed cultural identities that characterized patterns of behaviour as effective and ineffective, permissible and unacceptable. Such identities could be valuable sources of legitimacy for the party leadership, but they were sufficiently contestable to permit utilization by strategists keen to produce amendments in party practices and policies. The structures and procedures of the newly formed party owed much to the pre-existing practices and cultures of the principal affiliated bodies — the major trade unions and the Independent Labour Party. Control from above was tempered typically by critical initiatives from below, the tension that led the syndicalist turned elite theorist, Robert Michels, to propose an iron law of oligarchy. Yet Michels, dedicated to the ambition of a universalizing social science, neglected the significance of context. As this shifted, so patterns of organizational politics changed. One crucial component that Michels for good historical reasons failed to examine was the impact of office on labour organizations.Less
The analysis of formal institutions and procedures provides an insufficient basis for an understanding of Labour Party organization. Over time, party institutions developed cultural identities that characterized patterns of behaviour as effective and ineffective, permissible and unacceptable. Such identities could be valuable sources of legitimacy for the party leadership, but they were sufficiently contestable to permit utilization by strategists keen to produce amendments in party practices and policies. The structures and procedures of the newly formed party owed much to the pre-existing practices and cultures of the principal affiliated bodies — the major trade unions and the Independent Labour Party. Control from above was tempered typically by critical initiatives from below, the tension that led the syndicalist turned elite theorist, Robert Michels, to propose an iron law of oligarchy. Yet Michels, dedicated to the ambition of a universalizing social science, neglected the significance of context. As this shifted, so patterns of organizational politics changed. One crucial component that Michels for good historical reasons failed to examine was the impact of office on labour organizations.
Anne Peters
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199543427
- eISBN:
- 9780191720475
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199543427.003.0006
- Subject:
- Law, Public International Law
Global constitutionalism requires dual democratic mechanisms. A fully democratized world order first of all rests on democratic nation states, thus on democracy within states. ‘Above’ and among ...
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Global constitutionalism requires dual democratic mechanisms. A fully democratized world order first of all rests on democratic nation states, thus on democracy within states. ‘Above’ and among states, both the production of primary international law and the international institutions and their secondary law-making can and should be democratized on two tracks. On the one hand, citizens should continue to be mediated by their states that act for them in international relations (statist track). However, even if all states of the world became democracies, this would not in itself suffice to attain a meaningful degree of global democratic legitimacy because national democracy itself is undermined for various reasons. Therefore, citizens must be enabled to bypass their intermediaries, the states, and take direct democratic action on the supra-state level (individualist track). This could begin by introducing parliamentary assemblies in more international organizations, and expanding their so-far merely consultative powers.Less
Global constitutionalism requires dual democratic mechanisms. A fully democratized world order first of all rests on democratic nation states, thus on democracy within states. ‘Above’ and among states, both the production of primary international law and the international institutions and their secondary law-making can and should be democratized on two tracks. On the one hand, citizens should continue to be mediated by their states that act for them in international relations (statist track). However, even if all states of the world became democracies, this would not in itself suffice to attain a meaningful degree of global democratic legitimacy because national democracy itself is undermined for various reasons. Therefore, citizens must be enabled to bypass their intermediaries, the states, and take direct democratic action on the supra-state level (individualist track). This could begin by introducing parliamentary assemblies in more international organizations, and expanding their so-far merely consultative powers.
Luke Mayville
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691171531
- eISBN:
- 9781400883691
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691171531.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
Long before “the one percent” became a protest slogan, American founding father John Adams feared the power of a class he called simply “the few”—the wellborn, the beautiful, and especially the rich. ...
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Long before “the one percent” became a protest slogan, American founding father John Adams feared the power of a class he called simply “the few”—the wellborn, the beautiful, and especially the rich. This book presents the first extended exploration of Adams' preoccupation with a problem that has a renewed urgency today: the way in which inequality threatens to corrode democracy and empower a small elite. By revisiting Adams' political writings, the book draws out the statesman's fears about the danger of oligarchy in America and his unique understanding of the political power of wealth—a surprising and largely forgotten theory that promises to illuminate today's debates about inequality and its political consequences. Adams believed that wealth is politically powerful in modern societies not merely because money buys influence, but also because citizens admire and even sympathize with the rich. He thought wealth is powerful in the same way that beauty is powerful—it distinguishes its possessor and prompts reactions of approval and veneration. Citizens vote for—and with—the rich not because, as is often said, they hope to be rich one day, but because they esteem the rich and submit to their wishes. This book explores Adams' theory of wealth and power in the context of his broader concern about social and economic inequality, and also examines his ideas about how oligarchy might be countered. The book also has important lessons for today's world of increasing inequality.Less
Long before “the one percent” became a protest slogan, American founding father John Adams feared the power of a class he called simply “the few”—the wellborn, the beautiful, and especially the rich. This book presents the first extended exploration of Adams' preoccupation with a problem that has a renewed urgency today: the way in which inequality threatens to corrode democracy and empower a small elite. By revisiting Adams' political writings, the book draws out the statesman's fears about the danger of oligarchy in America and his unique understanding of the political power of wealth—a surprising and largely forgotten theory that promises to illuminate today's debates about inequality and its political consequences. Adams believed that wealth is politically powerful in modern societies not merely because money buys influence, but also because citizens admire and even sympathize with the rich. He thought wealth is powerful in the same way that beauty is powerful—it distinguishes its possessor and prompts reactions of approval and veneration. Citizens vote for—and with—the rich not because, as is often said, they hope to be rich one day, but because they esteem the rich and submit to their wishes. This book explores Adams' theory of wealth and power in the context of his broader concern about social and economic inequality, and also examines his ideas about how oligarchy might be countered. The book also has important lessons for today's world of increasing inequality.
Theodore Zeldin
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198221777
- eISBN:
- 9780191678493
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198221777.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter reveals that the two hundred families who held most of France's wealth ran its major industries, and bribed its politicians to do their bidding, controlling France for most of this ...
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This chapter reveals that the two hundred families who held most of France's wealth ran its major industries, and bribed its politicians to do their bidding, controlling France for most of this period. Behind the façade of democracy stood a discreet oligarchy, these ‘two hundred families’, Daladier declared to the Radical Congress of 1934, are master of the French economy and in fact of French politics. The influence of the two hundred families weighed on the fiscal system, on transport, and on credit. The two hundred families placed their delegates in political office. They interfered with public opinion, because they controlled the press. Daladier called it ‘a new feudalism’. He argued that only one-quarter of the national budget was spent on civil servants. About another quarter was paid in interest to the rentiers. The rest went to the state's contractors and suppliers of armaments and public works. Three-quarters of the total taxation was thus fed back to the rich. This chapter also tries to conclude that the French must have been more interested in money than politics as a great many of the rich poured a lot of money into highly imaginative and even romantic industrial and financial schemes.Less
This chapter reveals that the two hundred families who held most of France's wealth ran its major industries, and bribed its politicians to do their bidding, controlling France for most of this period. Behind the façade of democracy stood a discreet oligarchy, these ‘two hundred families’, Daladier declared to the Radical Congress of 1934, are master of the French economy and in fact of French politics. The influence of the two hundred families weighed on the fiscal system, on transport, and on credit. The two hundred families placed their delegates in political office. They interfered with public opinion, because they controlled the press. Daladier called it ‘a new feudalism’. He argued that only one-quarter of the national budget was spent on civil servants. About another quarter was paid in interest to the rentiers. The rest went to the state's contractors and suppliers of armaments and public works. Three-quarters of the total taxation was thus fed back to the rich. This chapter also tries to conclude that the French must have been more interested in money than politics as a great many of the rich poured a lot of money into highly imaginative and even romantic industrial and financial schemes.
H. R. French
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199296385
- eISBN:
- 9780191712029
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199296385.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter examines the language and the economic distinctions through which ‘middling’ status in the parish was expressed. It analyses the terms by which parish rulers expressed their corporate ...
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This chapter examines the language and the economic distinctions through which ‘middling’ status in the parish was expressed. It analyses the terms by which parish rulers expressed their corporate identity. These were often vague or euphemistic, but the chapter illustrates their potential to conceal distinctions about wealth and power. One particular distinction recurs in all three localities — between ’chief’ and other ‘inhabitants’ — while wider ‘middling’ perspectives appear not to have been applied. The chapter then observes how this distinction matched the distributions of power and authority in parish government. In all three regions, oligarchies of the wealthier ratepayers exercised power over their communities as the self-styled ‘chief inhabitants’. They appear to have conceived of their social status in terms of a position at the top of specific parochial pecking orders, not as part of a wider ‘middle sort’ based on shared ‘bourgeois’ values.Less
This chapter examines the language and the economic distinctions through which ‘middling’ status in the parish was expressed. It analyses the terms by which parish rulers expressed their corporate identity. These were often vague or euphemistic, but the chapter illustrates their potential to conceal distinctions about wealth and power. One particular distinction recurs in all three localities — between ’chief’ and other ‘inhabitants’ — while wider ‘middling’ perspectives appear not to have been applied. The chapter then observes how this distinction matched the distributions of power and authority in parish government. In all three regions, oligarchies of the wealthier ratepayers exercised power over their communities as the self-styled ‘chief inhabitants’. They appear to have conceived of their social status in terms of a position at the top of specific parochial pecking orders, not as part of a wider ‘middle sort’ based on shared ‘bourgeois’ values.
H. R. French
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199296385
- eISBN:
- 9780191712029
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199296385.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter extends the analysis of social and material distinctions amongst the ‘middling’ at parish level by looking at household and personal goods. Using large samples of probate inventories ...
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This chapter extends the analysis of social and material distinctions amongst the ‘middling’ at parish level by looking at household and personal goods. Using large samples of probate inventories within the three regions, it compares the material consumption patterns of local rulers with the wider ‘middling’ population outside the parochial oligarchy. In all three regions, patterns material consumption follow hierarchies of rate assessment, and illustrate how the ‘chief inhabitants’ were consistently more prosperous than those in whose name they ruled. The chapter argues that only a minority of the wealthiest, most powerful provincial ‘chief inhabitants’ possessed fashionable ‘status-bearing’ items often associated with a ‘bourgeois’ culture. It suggests that this elite sought to transcend their origins within parochial pecking orders through this material consumption by appropriating and re-inventing notions of gentility to fit their own circumstances.Less
This chapter extends the analysis of social and material distinctions amongst the ‘middling’ at parish level by looking at household and personal goods. Using large samples of probate inventories within the three regions, it compares the material consumption patterns of local rulers with the wider ‘middling’ population outside the parochial oligarchy. In all three regions, patterns material consumption follow hierarchies of rate assessment, and illustrate how the ‘chief inhabitants’ were consistently more prosperous than those in whose name they ruled. The chapter argues that only a minority of the wealthiest, most powerful provincial ‘chief inhabitants’ possessed fashionable ‘status-bearing’ items often associated with a ‘bourgeois’ culture. It suggests that this elite sought to transcend their origins within parochial pecking orders through this material consumption by appropriating and re-inventing notions of gentility to fit their own circumstances.
Chester G. Starr
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195074581
- eISBN:
- 9780199854363
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195074581.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter shows that aristocrats were politically essential, but they were also harnessed within the polis. The Greek upper classes might dress and otherwise live more elegantly than common folk, ...
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This chapter shows that aristocrats were politically essential, but they were also harnessed within the polis. The Greek upper classes might dress and otherwise live more elegantly than common folk, but they had neither inherited titles nor positions guaranteed to them by rank. As Aristotle observed repeatedly in his great work, the Politics, the objective of the polis was to secure justice for its citizens, and consequently equality was a basic necessity. Aristotle's advice that in democracies the rich should not be exploited ruthlessly whereas in oligarchies the well-to-do should not abuse their power was not always observed in practice, but the basic thrust of the theory of the polis always had its influence as a check and force for balance. On the surface, however, Greek history was the product, save to some degree at Athens, of the upper classes.Less
This chapter shows that aristocrats were politically essential, but they were also harnessed within the polis. The Greek upper classes might dress and otherwise live more elegantly than common folk, but they had neither inherited titles nor positions guaranteed to them by rank. As Aristotle observed repeatedly in his great work, the Politics, the objective of the polis was to secure justice for its citizens, and consequently equality was a basic necessity. Aristotle's advice that in democracies the rich should not be exploited ruthlessly whereas in oligarchies the well-to-do should not abuse their power was not always observed in practice, but the basic thrust of the theory of the polis always had its influence as a check and force for balance. On the surface, however, Greek history was the product, save to some degree at Athens, of the upper classes.
Peter M. Sánchez
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813061191
- eISBN:
- 9780813051482
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813061191.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Latin American Studies
Priest Under Fire recounts the remarkable life story of a bold Salvadoran priest—Padre David Rodríguez—who in 1970 embraced the Catholic Church’s call to serve the poor and consequently became an ...
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Priest Under Fire recounts the remarkable life story of a bold Salvadoran priest—Padre David Rodríguez—who in 1970 embraced the Catholic Church’s call to serve the poor and consequently became an arch enemy of the state and the oligarchy. Affectionately known as “Padre David,” he inspired thousands of peasants, founded a peasant cooperative and union, challenged the rich and their agents (including the U.S. government), helped forge ties between a church looking for its true center and Marxist revolutionary organizations, and played a key role in El Salvador’s guerrilla front, the FMLN (Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front). After the civil war ended, free elections were held and the voters elected Rodríguez to four terms as a member of the Legislative Assembly, El Salvador’s congress. Rodríguez’s life story provides a fascinating and revealing case study in political leadership and liberation theology, showing how Catholic doctrine awakened religious leaders in El Salvador and how those leaders, in turn, awakened the peasantry and the poor who eventually became the backbone of El Salvador’s popular and revolutionary movements. Although it is difficult to generalize from the life of one individual, Padre Rodríguez is not unlike many other religious leaders—bishops, priests, and nuns—who embraced liberationist ideas in the 1970s, organized the poor, and challenged the Salvadoran state. Thus, examining the life of one such leader in detail yields not only a valuable case study but a nuanced look at the strategies, style, and efforts of all religious leaders in El Salvador during this critical historical period.Less
Priest Under Fire recounts the remarkable life story of a bold Salvadoran priest—Padre David Rodríguez—who in 1970 embraced the Catholic Church’s call to serve the poor and consequently became an arch enemy of the state and the oligarchy. Affectionately known as “Padre David,” he inspired thousands of peasants, founded a peasant cooperative and union, challenged the rich and their agents (including the U.S. government), helped forge ties between a church looking for its true center and Marxist revolutionary organizations, and played a key role in El Salvador’s guerrilla front, the FMLN (Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front). After the civil war ended, free elections were held and the voters elected Rodríguez to four terms as a member of the Legislative Assembly, El Salvador’s congress. Rodríguez’s life story provides a fascinating and revealing case study in political leadership and liberation theology, showing how Catholic doctrine awakened religious leaders in El Salvador and how those leaders, in turn, awakened the peasantry and the poor who eventually became the backbone of El Salvador’s popular and revolutionary movements. Although it is difficult to generalize from the life of one individual, Padre Rodríguez is not unlike many other religious leaders—bishops, priests, and nuns—who embraced liberationist ideas in the 1970s, organized the poor, and challenged the Salvadoran state. Thus, examining the life of one such leader in detail yields not only a valuable case study but a nuanced look at the strategies, style, and efforts of all religious leaders in El Salvador during this critical historical period.
