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This chapter explores the reasons why a philosopher should take an interest in political life, as these reasons were discussed by Neoplatonists: the motivation derives from sharing in the absolute Good. The question of the philosopher-king’s happiness (can it suffer from political involvement?) is also discussed, as is the Neoplatonic defence of Plato’s claim that women philosophers should also rule (philosopher-queens).

The aim of this book is to understand the political processes which determine why poverty, the elimination of which is now a shared objective of governments of rich and poor countries alike, has been on a falling trend in some countries and not in others. The evidence, this book argues, contradicts the view expressed by the OECD and others which suggests that the poor, lacking resources and solidarity, will not be able to exercise leverage over government. But why can they do this in some places and not in others? The answer, the book argues, lies partly with the political environment surrounding governments in the developing world – the presence or absence of political stability and governments’ motivation to form pro-poor coalitions – and partly with the actions which they take, especially in the fields of institution-building and fiscal policy.

The chapter examines the complex set of reasons, stimuli and motivations that lead individuals to place themselves before the voters to become elected councillors. It examines the political recruitment process for councillors and adds to our understanding of that process by acknowledging the role that councillors themselves play in that process identifying three separate pathways to the council: the big-bang, the slow-burn and the resister. The chapter sets out four groups of factors that stimulate individuals into seeking council office: public service, the democratic spirit, ambitional and status and reward and explores the role each play as other-regarding and self-regarding reasons for becoming a councillor. The chapter concludes that, among councillors, other regarding reasons for seeking office are a greater source of stimuli than the self-regarding reasons.

This chapter examines the current state and the political and economic aspects of regional trade agreements (RTA) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). It supports that notion that RTA can complement multilateral trade systems and the argument that they can function as a backbone for a liberalizing international trade system. It discusses the development of International Political Economy (IPE) scholarship on RTA and addresses the transition to new regionalism in the literature. It identifies the general political motivations that often inspire governments to pursue RTA and discusses the potential implications of these political motivations for WTO multilateralism.

This chapter is concerned with the question of the choices individuals make from among the ways of speaking available in their environment, with the focus on the political motivations and ramifications of their choices. It discusses the denial of heteroglossia; the role of education; linguistic imperialism; language rights; and the linguistic performance of minority identities.

In some military units, high levels of primary group cohesion do not necessarily lead to high levels of motivation and combat performance. This chapter explores how cohesion, political motivation, and performance combine in a highly specialized and professional force of the Italian Army dedicated to mountain warfare, the Alpini. This case is of particular interest because of its unique combination of features: historically, the Alpini displayed exceptionally high levels of social cohesion coupled with high levels of political autonomy, low levels of political motivation and trust in political leaders and state institutions, and exceptional popularity among the public. While these elements prevented the unit from being particularly effective in conventional military operations, strong cohesion and desire for public support has made the Alpini very effective in contemporary peace and stability operations.

One of the most common ways the anti–drug war movement describes who it is they represent is with the word community. This chapter interrogates what is meant by this use of community, a use that is problematized by the fact that drug “addicts” around the globe are systematically excluded from all totalized communities of belonging and identity. Inspired by Jean-Luc Nancy and Maurice Blanchot’s philosophical linking of death and community and by Roberto Esposito’s rethinking of community as the cum of communal being-with and the munus of the gift of care, this chapter traces the ways in which anti–drug war activists seek to build new communities open to anyone who arrives. This chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book by ethnographically showing how the experience of dying-with another person who has died a drug war death is the event that motivated many of those who went on to be key players in the anti–drug war movement. It is argued and shown that this motivating experience is crucial for understanding their political vision of an open community characterized most specifically by freedom and care. The next two chapters build off of this.

A stronger commitment to inclusion demands a motivational account of why citizens (and especially true believers) might exercise public reason when doing so is difficult for them and may offer few immediate rewards. Rawls’s “political not metaphysical” conception of the person is too thin to help us develop a motivational account for public reason; this requires psychology, as this chapter argues. This psychological dimension also informs a reformulated version of public justification, following O’Neill’s lead, which avoids the trappings of both normative and empirical accounts by instead employing the standard of the possible public reasoning of actual agents. Accordingly, legitimacy is established by showing that a large swath of citizens possesses the psychological wherewithal to exercise public reason.

This chapter concludes the volume by highlighting key themes that have run through the book and the case studies of diverse contemporary and historical protest camps contained within it. The chapter recognises that protest camps have come into being motivated by a diverse range of political imperatives and that these political motivations, as much as local context, shape the form that specific protest camps take. The conclusion reaffirms the importance of studying the infrastructural arrangements through which protest camps function. It highlights several of the contradictions posed by protest camping – both around the valorisation of territory and the act of camping itself, and the tensions arising out of attention to social reproduction and care within camps. Finally, the conclusion reflects on some of the gaps in existing research highlighted by the book, and outlines priority areas for future protest camps research.

This chapter focuses on political exile and transnational relationships, between returnees in Chile and the diaspora in Sweden. Based on ethnographic work, the chapter examines the influence of the Swedish diaspora in helping explain different motivations for return: discussion contrasts returnees in the 1990s, characterised by their politically motivated return to Chile following the demise of dictatorship, with later returnees, no less politically oriented but more motivated to return because of family and kin affiliations and the cultural roots of their ‘people’. This change in the way returnees express their ideas on return reflects a change in the meaning expressed about return to Chile in the Swedish diaspora. Furthermore, older returnees in particular tend to position themselves as ‘diasporics’ even after their return, and have instrumental as well as social reasons for maintaining connections with Sweden and their diasporic networks.