Terence Ball
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279952
- eISBN:
- 9780191598753
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279957.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The book—the second volume of my trilogy Political Theory and the Human Sciences—is divided into two sections. The first and shorter section (Chs. 1 and 2) deals with methodological and interpretive ...
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The book—the second volume of my trilogy Political Theory and the Human Sciences—is divided into two sections. The first and shorter section (Chs. 1 and 2) deals with methodological and interpretive questions and advocates a methodologically `pluralist’ and `problem‐driven’ approach to the interpretation and reappraisal of works of political theory. The second and much longer section (Chs. 3–12), applying the method outlined and defended in the first, consists of a series of reinterpretations and reappraisals of thinkers, texts, themes, and topics in political theory.Less
The book—the second volume of my trilogy Political Theory and the Human Sciences—is divided into two sections. The first and shorter section (Chs. 1 and 2) deals with methodological and interpretive questions and advocates a methodologically `pluralist’ and `problem‐driven’ approach to the interpretation and reappraisal of works of political theory. The second and much longer section (Chs. 3–12), applying the method outlined and defended in the first, consists of a series of reinterpretations and reappraisals of thinkers, texts, themes, and topics in political theory.
Karma Nabulsi
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294078
- eISBN:
- 9780191599972
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198294077.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This short introduction describes the approach taken by the book and gives a brief outline of its contents. The story is about wars and military occupation, and the ideas underlying them, and the ...
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This short introduction describes the approach taken by the book and gives a brief outline of its contents. The story is about wars and military occupation, and the ideas underlying them, and the search for these ideas is carried out in the domain of the laws of war by addressing the challenge posed by a particular principle in these laws: the distinction between combatant and non-combatant, a concept which has been recognized as the fundamental principle upon which the entire notion of ‘humanity in warfare’ rests (and has also been acknowledged as the most fragile). The forces underpinning this distinction (more precisely, a distinction between the lawful and unlawful combatant) are explored by presenting three ideologies, each representing a distinct political tradition of war, and each rooted in incommensurable conceptions of the good life; the overall argument of the book is that this incommensurability lay at the source of the failure fully to resolve the problem of distinction between lawful and unlawful combatants between 1874 and 1949. The book makes use of concepts and methods borrowed from a range of intellectual disciplines: political thought, history, and the ‘classical’ traditions of international theory. In the case of the latter, it examines the influence of key thinkers on war, such as Machiavelli, Grotius, and Rousseau, but differs from this orthodox approach in two ways: first, it is not seeking to ascertain the ‘true’ meaning of their philosophies, but rather to find how their political thoughts were interpreted and shaped by later generations; second, the examination is not restricted to abstract theorists and philosophers but is centrally concerned with paradigms constructed by practitioners of war, both professional and civilian.Less
This short introduction describes the approach taken by the book and gives a brief outline of its contents. The story is about wars and military occupation, and the ideas underlying them, and the search for these ideas is carried out in the domain of the laws of war by addressing the challenge posed by a particular principle in these laws: the distinction between combatant and non-combatant, a concept which has been recognized as the fundamental principle upon which the entire notion of ‘humanity in warfare’ rests (and has also been acknowledged as the most fragile). The forces underpinning this distinction (more precisely, a distinction between the lawful and unlawful combatant) are explored by presenting three ideologies, each representing a distinct political tradition of war, and each rooted in incommensurable conceptions of the good life; the overall argument of the book is that this incommensurability lay at the source of the failure fully to resolve the problem of distinction between lawful and unlawful combatants between 1874 and 1949. The book makes use of concepts and methods borrowed from a range of intellectual disciplines: political thought, history, and the ‘classical’ traditions of international theory. In the case of the latter, it examines the influence of key thinkers on war, such as Machiavelli, Grotius, and Rousseau, but differs from this orthodox approach in two ways: first, it is not seeking to ascertain the ‘true’ meaning of their philosophies, but rather to find how their political thoughts were interpreted and shaped by later generations; second, the examination is not restricted to abstract theorists and philosophers but is centrally concerned with paradigms constructed by practitioners of war, both professional and civilian.
Farah Godrej
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199782062
- eISBN:
- 9780199919123
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199782062.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory, Comparative Politics
This book takes cosmopolitanism as its central problematic, asking the question of what it might mean for the very practices of political theorizing to be cosmopolitan? It suggest that methodological ...
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This book takes cosmopolitanism as its central problematic, asking the question of what it might mean for the very practices of political theorizing to be cosmopolitan? It suggest that methodological questions about the practice of what is commonly called comparative political theory—namely, the substantive and methodological turn beyond ideas and modes of inquiry determined by the West—are intimately and necessarily linked to the reenvisioning of political theory as a more cosmopolitan endeavour. It is therefore an argument for applying the idea of cosmopolitanism—understood in a particular way—to the discipline of political theory itself. It argues that reflections about four crucial methodological questions constitute this cosmopolitan intervention: the choice of units of analysis, the methods for interpreting non-Western texts and ideas, the application of these ideas transculturally across geographical boundaries, and the deconstruction of Eurocentrism. Taken together, each of these interventions calls upon the scholar to examine her own location as both insider and outsider to various traditions at different times, often dislocating herself through immersion within foreign civilizations, as well as relocating herself within her former disciplinary home and bringing new insights to bear on it. Examples used to illuminate these reflections will be taken from Gandhi’s political thought.Less
This book takes cosmopolitanism as its central problematic, asking the question of what it might mean for the very practices of political theorizing to be cosmopolitan? It suggest that methodological questions about the practice of what is commonly called comparative political theory—namely, the substantive and methodological turn beyond ideas and modes of inquiry determined by the West—are intimately and necessarily linked to the reenvisioning of political theory as a more cosmopolitan endeavour. It is therefore an argument for applying the idea of cosmopolitanism—understood in a particular way—to the discipline of political theory itself. It argues that reflections about four crucial methodological questions constitute this cosmopolitan intervention: the choice of units of analysis, the methods for interpreting non-Western texts and ideas, the application of these ideas transculturally across geographical boundaries, and the deconstruction of Eurocentrism. Taken together, each of these interventions calls upon the scholar to examine her own location as both insider and outsider to various traditions at different times, often dislocating herself through immersion within foreign civilizations, as well as relocating herself within her former disciplinary home and bringing new insights to bear on it. Examples used to illuminate these reflections will be taken from Gandhi’s political thought.
Michael Freeden
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294146
- eISBN:
- 9780191599323
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019829414X.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Makes clear its central aim—which is to challenge the predominant attitudes to ideologies and their scholarly analysis. It emphasises that the thinking encapsulated in ideologies deserves examination ...
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Makes clear its central aim—which is to challenge the predominant attitudes to ideologies and their scholarly analysis. It emphasises that the thinking encapsulated in ideologies deserves examination in its own right, and should no longer be pigeon‐holed as an impoverished and inferior relation of analytical and normative political philosophies. Proceeding from the political concept as the unit of analysis in political thought, the main thesis of the book is that ideologies are distinctive configurations of political concepts, and that they create specific conceptual patterns from a pool of indeterminate and unlimited combinations; that indeterminate range is the product of the essential contestability of political concepts. It is a parallel thesis that the furtherance of understanding of political thinking will be best assisted by comprehending political concepts as obtaining meaning on three dimensions—time, space, and the morphology of their interlinkages—and that these have to be integrated in an overarching analytical perspective. While the first two dimensions are commonly used in interpreting political thought, the third is not, and is a special aspect of the approach offered in the book; this perspective is considered by the author to be long overdue.Less
Makes clear its central aim—which is to challenge the predominant attitudes to ideologies and their scholarly analysis. It emphasises that the thinking encapsulated in ideologies deserves examination in its own right, and should no longer be pigeon‐holed as an impoverished and inferior relation of analytical and normative political philosophies. Proceeding from the political concept as the unit of analysis in political thought, the main thesis of the book is that ideologies are distinctive configurations of political concepts, and that they create specific conceptual patterns from a pool of indeterminate and unlimited combinations; that indeterminate range is the product of the essential contestability of political concepts. It is a parallel thesis that the furtherance of understanding of political thinking will be best assisted by comprehending political concepts as obtaining meaning on three dimensions—time, space, and the morphology of their interlinkages—and that these have to be integrated in an overarching analytical perspective. While the first two dimensions are commonly used in interpreting political thought, the third is not, and is a special aspect of the approach offered in the book; this perspective is considered by the author to be long overdue.
Sudhir Hazareesingh
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199247943
- eISBN:
- 9780191599446
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199247943.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This innovative study of nineteenth‐century French political thought explores the republican theory and political practice of five intellectuals: Jules Barni, Charles Dupont‐White, Emile Littré, ...
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This innovative study of nineteenth‐century French political thought explores the republican theory and political practice of five intellectuals: Jules Barni, Charles Dupont‐White, Emile Littré, Eugène Pelletan, and Etienne Vacherot. Through their writings and political activities these figures made major contributions to the founding of the Third Republic in France after 1871. Drawing on a range of archival and published sources, Intellectual Founders of the Republic sheds new light on modern French political thought. It focuses on key issues that continue to resonate in French political and philosophical debates up to the present day: such questions as the interpretation of the 1789 Revolution, the definition of citizenship, the meaning of patriotism, the relationship between central government and local democracy, the value of individual liberty, and the place of education and religion in public and private life. Through its evaluation of the contributions of these thinkers, the book offers a new perspective on the making of modern republican ideology. It shows that the influence of positivism was far from hegemonic, and that republican political thought was also permeated with Saint‐Simonism, socialism, Doctrinaire liberalism, and neo‐Kantianism. It also demonstrates that republicans were far less hostile to Bonapartism than is often believed. It thus emerges that the ideological potency of republican doctrine lay in its complexity and sophistication, as reflected in its capacity to effect a synthesis among a range of overlapping doctrines. The book is essential for all those seeking to understand modern republicanism, and its distinctiveness as a French political tradition since the Revolution of 1789.Less
This innovative study of nineteenth‐century French political thought explores the republican theory and political practice of five intellectuals: Jules Barni, Charles Dupont‐White, Emile Littré, Eugène Pelletan, and Etienne Vacherot. Through their writings and political activities these figures made major contributions to the founding of the Third Republic in France after 1871. Drawing on a range of archival and published sources, Intellectual Founders of the Republic sheds new light on modern French political thought. It focuses on key issues that continue to resonate in French political and philosophical debates up to the present day: such questions as the interpretation of the 1789 Revolution, the definition of citizenship, the meaning of patriotism, the relationship between central government and local democracy, the value of individual liberty, and the place of education and religion in public and private life. Through its evaluation of the contributions of these thinkers, the book offers a new perspective on the making of modern republican ideology. It shows that the influence of positivism was far from hegemonic, and that republican political thought was also permeated with Saint‐Simonism, socialism, Doctrinaire liberalism, and neo‐Kantianism. It also demonstrates that republicans were far less hostile to Bonapartism than is often believed. It thus emerges that the ideological potency of republican doctrine lay in its complexity and sophistication, as reflected in its capacity to effect a synthesis among a range of overlapping doctrines. The book is essential for all those seeking to understand modern republicanism, and its distinctiveness as a French political tradition since the Revolution of 1789.
Derek Drinkwater
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199273850
- eISBN:
- 9780191602344
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199273855.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Sir Harold Nicolson’s philosophy of international relations is well summed up by the term ‘liberal realism’, a fusion of two key approaches to the resolution of international problems: realism and ...
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Sir Harold Nicolson’s philosophy of international relations is well summed up by the term ‘liberal realism’, a fusion of two key approaches to the resolution of international problems: realism and idealism. It has its origins in ancient Greek and Roman political thought and history, notably, the writings of Aristotle and Thucydides. It also owes much to the contributions to international theory of Grotius and Kant. The liberal realist outlook closely resembles the conception of a via media. Notwithstanding this, it represents one man’s distinctive theorizing (born of his background, education, and experience) about the main issues of international relations.Less
Sir Harold Nicolson’s philosophy of international relations is well summed up by the term ‘liberal realism’, a fusion of two key approaches to the resolution of international problems: realism and idealism. It has its origins in ancient Greek and Roman political thought and history, notably, the writings of Aristotle and Thucydides. It also owes much to the contributions to international theory of Grotius and Kant. The liberal realist outlook closely resembles the conception of a via media. Notwithstanding this, it represents one man’s distinctive theorizing (born of his background, education, and experience) about the main issues of international relations.
Antony Black
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199533206
- eISBN:
- 9780191714498
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199533206.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Comparison between cultures throws light on each one. It helps to explain similarities and divergences. To do so effectively, one needs to compare all relevant genres and periods. There has been no ...
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Comparison between cultures throws light on each one. It helps to explain similarities and divergences. To do so effectively, one needs to compare all relevant genres and periods. There has been no systematic comparison between Western, Islamic, and Byzantine political thought, at least since Weber. Political thought here includes both philosophical argument and everyday beliefs. Each of these cultures was monotheistic and neoplatonic, but they applied these features differently.Less
Comparison between cultures throws light on each one. It helps to explain similarities and divergences. To do so effectively, one needs to compare all relevant genres and periods. There has been no systematic comparison between Western, Islamic, and Byzantine political thought, at least since Weber. Political thought here includes both philosophical argument and everyday beliefs. Each of these cultures was monotheistic and neoplatonic, but they applied these features differently.
Michael Freeden
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294146
- eISBN:
- 9780191599323
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019829414X.003.0014
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The latter part of the twentieth century has seen the emergence of a number of groupings of political thought that attempt to escape from the morphological and interpretative constraints of the older ...
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The latter part of the twentieth century has seen the emergence of a number of groupings of political thought that attempt to escape from the morphological and interpretative constraints of the older established ideologies. One way of effecting this has been through the processes of redefining the domain of the political, reconceptualizing the ideational elements of the contending ideologies, renaming the components of political vocabulary, and revalorizing marginal political concepts. Another has been through decreased internal integration in comparison to existing ideological families, the outcome being the formation of thin‐centred assimilative ideologies, which then either challenge the relevance of additional ideological baggage, or thicken by ingesting the patterns of other ideologies. This chapter and the next examine two of the more prominent exemplars, and illustrate a potentially deep divide among analysts: are these ideologies extensive but eclectic or unique but truncated? Here, feminism is examined; the eight sections of the chapter are: (a) The feminist core: between critique and prescription; (b) Gender and power; (c) The political domain; (d) Paradigms lost and regained; (e) Postmodernism: an alliance of convenience?; (f) Equality and the feminist traditions; (g) An ideological reading of ideologies; and (h) The role of the concrete.Less
The latter part of the twentieth century has seen the emergence of a number of groupings of political thought that attempt to escape from the morphological and interpretative constraints of the older established ideologies. One way of effecting this has been through the processes of redefining the domain of the political, reconceptualizing the ideational elements of the contending ideologies, renaming the components of political vocabulary, and revalorizing marginal political concepts. Another has been through decreased internal integration in comparison to existing ideological families, the outcome being the formation of thin‐centred assimilative ideologies, which then either challenge the relevance of additional ideological baggage, or thicken by ingesting the patterns of other ideologies. This chapter and the next examine two of the more prominent exemplars, and illustrate a potentially deep divide among analysts: are these ideologies extensive but eclectic or unique but truncated? Here, feminism is examined; the eight sections of the chapter are: (a) The feminist core: between critique and prescription; (b) Gender and power; (c) The political domain; (d) Paradigms lost and regained; (e) Postmodernism: an alliance of convenience?; (f) Equality and the feminist traditions; (g) An ideological reading of ideologies; and (h) The role of the concrete.
Antony Black
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199533206
- eISBN:
- 9780191714498
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199533206.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This history of political thought — philosophical argument and everyday attitudes — examines what the Western and Islamic approaches to politics had in common and where they diverged. Byzantium is ...
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This history of political thought — philosophical argument and everyday attitudes — examines what the Western and Islamic approaches to politics had in common and where they diverged. Byzantium is also compared. In all three civilizations, political and religious ideas were intertwined and issues of ‘church and state’ were crucial. This book considers how various ancient and medieval thought-patterns did or did not lead to modern developments; and how sacred monarchy, justice — revealed or natural — the legitimacy of the state, and the role of the people were looked upon in each culture. The book examines in particular the period from the rise of Islam to the end of the European Middle Ages, but account is taken of all genres of political thought up to the present. Up to the mid-11th century, Europe, Islam, and the Byzantine world had more in common than is commonly thought. What made the West different was the papal revolution of the late 11th century, Europe's 12th-century ‘renaissance’ and the gradual secularization of political thought which followed; while Islam, after an early blossoming, interpreted its revelation more and more narrowly. With a few major exceptions (Ibn Rushd, Ibn Khaldun), Islamic political philosophy declined after c.1100. European or Western political thought developed more slowly, but it developed continuously. It underwent major transformations and encompasses a wide variety of opinions. These influenced both the Islamic world (except for fundamentalists) and the post-Byzantine world of Russia.Less
This history of political thought — philosophical argument and everyday attitudes — examines what the Western and Islamic approaches to politics had in common and where they diverged. Byzantium is also compared. In all three civilizations, political and religious ideas were intertwined and issues of ‘church and state’ were crucial. This book considers how various ancient and medieval thought-patterns did or did not lead to modern developments; and how sacred monarchy, justice — revealed or natural — the legitimacy of the state, and the role of the people were looked upon in each culture. The book examines in particular the period from the rise of Islam to the end of the European Middle Ages, but account is taken of all genres of political thought up to the present. Up to the mid-11th century, Europe, Islam, and the Byzantine world had more in common than is commonly thought. What made the West different was the papal revolution of the late 11th century, Europe's 12th-century ‘renaissance’ and the gradual secularization of political thought which followed; while Islam, after an early blossoming, interpreted its revelation more and more narrowly. With a few major exceptions (Ibn Rushd, Ibn Khaldun), Islamic political philosophy declined after c.1100. European or Western political thought developed more slowly, but it developed continuously. It underwent major transformations and encompasses a wide variety of opinions. These influenced both the Islamic world (except for fundamentalists) and the post-Byzantine world of Russia.
Michael Freeden
- Published in print:
- 1986
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198274322
- eISBN:
- 9780191599330
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198274327.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Political thinking in England throughout the 1930s retreated into weariness and complacency. Liberalism and socialism were submerged beneath the political surface, emerging periodically to indicate ...
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Political thinking in England throughout the 1930s retreated into weariness and complacency. Liberalism and socialism were submerged beneath the political surface, emerging periodically to indicate their presence but with insufficient intellectual resources to stay afloat. Fascism lost its appeal among British socialists as its German variant loomed on the international scene. Communism repopularized a 19th century image of a materialist, capitalist liberalism cut-off from social life. The quality of political argument deteriorated further under these conditions.Less
Political thinking in England throughout the 1930s retreated into weariness and complacency. Liberalism and socialism were submerged beneath the political surface, emerging periodically to indicate their presence but with insufficient intellectual resources to stay afloat. Fascism lost its appeal among British socialists as its German variant loomed on the international scene. Communism repopularized a 19th century image of a materialist, capitalist liberalism cut-off from social life. The quality of political argument deteriorated further under these conditions.
Gerhard Bowering
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164823
- eISBN:
- 9781400866427
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164823.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
This introductory chapter begins with a historical perspective of the Islamic world. Islam has grown consistently throughout history, expanding into new neighboring territories without ever ...
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This introductory chapter begins with a historical perspective of the Islamic world. Islam has grown consistently throughout history, expanding into new neighboring territories without ever retreating (except on the margins, as in Sicily and Spain, where it was expelled by force). It began in the seventh century as a small community in Mecca and Medina in the Arabian Peninsula, led by its messenger the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632), who was eventually to unite all the Arab tribes under the banner of Islam. Within the first two centuries of its existence, Islam came into global prominence through its conquests of the Middle East, North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, the Iranian lands, Central Asia, and the Indus valley. In 2014, the year 1435 of the Muslim calendar, the Islamic world was estimated to account for a population of approximately a billion and a half, representing about one-fifth of humanity. The remainder of the chapter discusses the evolution of Islamic political thought; foundations of Islamic political thought; and Islamic political thought in the early Middle Ages (750–1055), high Middle Ages (1055–1258), late Middle Ages (1258–1500), early modern period (1500–1800), and later modern period (from 1800 to the present).Less
This introductory chapter begins with a historical perspective of the Islamic world. Islam has grown consistently throughout history, expanding into new neighboring territories without ever retreating (except on the margins, as in Sicily and Spain, where it was expelled by force). It began in the seventh century as a small community in Mecca and Medina in the Arabian Peninsula, led by its messenger the Prophet Muhammad (d. 632), who was eventually to unite all the Arab tribes under the banner of Islam. Within the first two centuries of its existence, Islam came into global prominence through its conquests of the Middle East, North Africa, the Iberian Peninsula, the Iranian lands, Central Asia, and the Indus valley. In 2014, the year 1435 of the Muslim calendar, the Islamic world was estimated to account for a population of approximately a billion and a half, representing about one-fifth of humanity. The remainder of the chapter discusses the evolution of Islamic political thought; foundations of Islamic political thought; and Islamic political thought in the early Middle Ages (750–1055), high Middle Ages (1055–1258), late Middle Ages (1258–1500), early modern period (1500–1800), and later modern period (from 1800 to the present).
A. A. Long
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199279128
- eISBN:
- 9780191706769
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279128.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Ancient Philosophy
TheDe officiis(henceforthOff.) is one of the ‘great books’, but no one today perhaps can read it with fresh eyes. Less obvious aboutOff. is the work's radical nature in its effort to reform Roman ...
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TheDe officiis(henceforthOff.) is one of the ‘great books’, but no one today perhaps can read it with fresh eyes. Less obvious aboutOff. is the work's radical nature in its effort to reform Roman ideology. ApproachingOff., as Cicero encourages us to do via his adaptation of Panaetius, interpreters are tempted to read it as Greek philosophy in Roman dress, or — to cite Miriam Griffin — as ‘a fusion of Greek philosophical precepts with the traditional values of the great Roman statesmen of the past’. It is argued that this temptation should be resisted. It is too bland to represent Cicero's existential situation, at the time when he wrote. It is also too bland to register the problems Roman ideology had generated and Cicero's proposed solutions to them.Less
TheDe officiis(henceforthOff.) is one of the ‘great books’, but no one today perhaps can read it with fresh eyes. Less obvious aboutOff. is the work's radical nature in its effort to reform Roman ideology. ApproachingOff., as Cicero encourages us to do via his adaptation of Panaetius, interpreters are tempted to read it as Greek philosophy in Roman dress, or — to cite Miriam Griffin — as ‘a fusion of Greek philosophical precepts with the traditional values of the great Roman statesmen of the past’. It is argued that this temptation should be resisted. It is too bland to represent Cicero's existential situation, at the time when he wrote. It is also too bland to register the problems Roman ideology had generated and Cicero's proposed solutions to them.
Patricia Crone
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164823
- eISBN:
- 9781400866427
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164823.003.0015
- Subject:
- Religion, Islam
In terms of political thought, as in so many other respects, Muslims today could be said to be bilingual. On the one hand, they speak the global political language of Western derivation marked by key ...
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In terms of political thought, as in so many other respects, Muslims today could be said to be bilingual. On the one hand, they speak the global political language of Western derivation marked by key concepts such as democracy, freedom, human rights, and gender equality. On the other hand, they still have their traditional political idiom, formed over 1,400 years of Islamic history and marked by concepts such as prophecy, imamate, and commanding right and forbidding wrong. The Islamic tradition is alien to most Western readers. This chapter attempts to familiarize them with it to make it easier for them to follow the other entries in this volume. The single most important difference between contemporary Western political thinking and the Islamic tradition is that contemporary thought focuses on freedom and rights whereas the Islamic tradition focuses on authority and duties. This separates contemporary political thought from that of all premodern societies, not just that of the Islamic world.Less
In terms of political thought, as in so many other respects, Muslims today could be said to be bilingual. On the one hand, they speak the global political language of Western derivation marked by key concepts such as democracy, freedom, human rights, and gender equality. On the other hand, they still have their traditional political idiom, formed over 1,400 years of Islamic history and marked by concepts such as prophecy, imamate, and commanding right and forbidding wrong. The Islamic tradition is alien to most Western readers. This chapter attempts to familiarize them with it to make it easier for them to follow the other entries in this volume. The single most important difference between contemporary Western political thinking and the Islamic tradition is that contemporary thought focuses on freedom and rights whereas the Islamic tradition focuses on authority and duties. This separates contemporary political thought from that of all premodern societies, not just that of the Islamic world.
Reba N. Soffer
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199208111
- eISBN:
- 9780191709210
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208111.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas
This chapter explores the advantages of intellectual history in comparison with other approaches to political thought generally, and to British and American conservatism particularly, and it explains ...
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This chapter explores the advantages of intellectual history in comparison with other approaches to political thought generally, and to British and American conservatism particularly, and it explains why, among all the conservatives writing during these inter‐war and post‐war decades, four British and four American historians have been chosen as central figures in the definition, representation, and propagation of conservative thought. These figures were selected because of their coherent and accessible statement of conservative ideas, and because of their demonstrable success in reaching audiences larger and more varied than the small groups accustomed to rehearsing conservative messages.Less
This chapter explores the advantages of intellectual history in comparison with other approaches to political thought generally, and to British and American conservatism particularly, and it explains why, among all the conservatives writing during these inter‐war and post‐war decades, four British and four American historians have been chosen as central figures in the definition, representation, and propagation of conservative thought. These figures were selected because of their coherent and accessible statement of conservative ideas, and because of their demonstrable success in reaching audiences larger and more varied than the small groups accustomed to rehearsing conservative messages.
David Miller
- Published in print:
- 1984
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198246589
- eISBN:
- 9780191681028
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198246589.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This book was written with three aims in mind. The first was to provide a reasonably concise account of Hume's social and political thought that might help students coming to it for the first time. ...
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This book was written with three aims in mind. The first was to provide a reasonably concise account of Hume's social and political thought that might help students coming to it for the first time. The second aim was to say something about the relationship between philosophy and politics, with explicit attention to Hume, but implicit reference to a general issue. The third is to offer an integrated account of Hume's thought. The book accounts for the varying interpretation of the conservative and liberalist traditions by arguing that the distinction between liberalism and conservatism had little application in mid-18th-century Britain. Hume's ideology contained elements that we should now identify as ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’ respectively, and so by selective emphasis it is possible to make him seem a thoroughbred conservative or liberal according to choice. These two problems – the relationship between Hume's philosophy and his politics, and the ideological character of his thought – are pursued through the first and second parts of the book respectively.Less
This book was written with three aims in mind. The first was to provide a reasonably concise account of Hume's social and political thought that might help students coming to it for the first time. The second aim was to say something about the relationship between philosophy and politics, with explicit attention to Hume, but implicit reference to a general issue. The third is to offer an integrated account of Hume's thought. The book accounts for the varying interpretation of the conservative and liberalist traditions by arguing that the distinction between liberalism and conservatism had little application in mid-18th-century Britain. Hume's ideology contained elements that we should now identify as ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’ respectively, and so by selective emphasis it is possible to make him seem a thoroughbred conservative or liberal according to choice. These two problems – the relationship between Hume's philosophy and his politics, and the ideological character of his thought – are pursued through the first and second parts of the book respectively.
Joseph V. Femia
- Published in print:
- 1987
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198275435
- eISBN:
- 9780191684128
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198275435.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The unifying idea of Antonio Gramsci's famous Prison Notebooks is the concept of hegemony. In this study of these fragmentary writings this book elucidates the precise character of this concept, ...
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The unifying idea of Antonio Gramsci's famous Prison Notebooks is the concept of hegemony. In this study of these fragmentary writings this book elucidates the precise character of this concept, explores its basic philosophical assumptions, and sets out its implications for Gramsci's explanation of social stability and his vision of the revolutionary process. A number of prevalent and often contradictory myths are demolished, and, moreover, certain neglected aspects of his thought are stressed, including the predominant role he attributed to economic factors, the importance he gave to ‘contradictory consciousness’, and the close connection between his political thinking and his fundamental philosophical premises. The book concludes by critically examining Gramsci's novel solutions to three long-standing problems for Marxist theory: the reasons why the Western working class has not carried out its revolutionary mission; determining the appropriate strategy for a Marxist party working within an advanced capitalist framework; and what are the reasons behind the failure of existing socialist states in their task of liberation?Less
The unifying idea of Antonio Gramsci's famous Prison Notebooks is the concept of hegemony. In this study of these fragmentary writings this book elucidates the precise character of this concept, explores its basic philosophical assumptions, and sets out its implications for Gramsci's explanation of social stability and his vision of the revolutionary process. A number of prevalent and often contradictory myths are demolished, and, moreover, certain neglected aspects of his thought are stressed, including the predominant role he attributed to economic factors, the importance he gave to ‘contradictory consciousness’, and the close connection between his political thinking and his fundamental philosophical premises. The book concludes by critically examining Gramsci's novel solutions to three long-standing problems for Marxist theory: the reasons why the Western working class has not carried out its revolutionary mission; determining the appropriate strategy for a Marxist party working within an advanced capitalist framework; and what are the reasons behind the failure of existing socialist states in their task of liberation?
Michael Freeden
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294146
- eISBN:
- 9780191599323
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019829414X.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Provides a novel approach to the analysis of ideologies, through examining their internal conceptual morphology. The result is to interpret ideologies as particular combinations of meaning from an ...
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Provides a novel approach to the analysis of ideologies, through examining their internal conceptual morphology. The result is to interpret ideologies as particular combinations of meaning from an indeterminate range of meanings at the disposal of a society—a process identified as the decontestation of the essentially contestable. This accounts for ideological flexibility and for the overlap, continuous transformation, and regrouping of ideological families. Ideological cores are refined by the adjacent and peripheral ideas in which they are located and by their complex interrelationship with political practice. Hence, ideologies are located at the meeting point between logic (internal constraints on their permutations), culture (the impact of social practices and events over time and space) and the regularities of morphological patterning that they display. The book puts this theory into the broader context of ideology studies, as well as relating it to recent historical scholarship. Primarily, the theory is offered as an alternative method of investigating political thinking to that of political philosophy, and as a departure from Marxist perspectives on ideology. This approach is then applied to liberalism, conservatism, socialism, feminism, and green political thought, through a series of detailed historical studies ranging over the past two centuries.Less
Provides a novel approach to the analysis of ideologies, through examining their internal conceptual morphology. The result is to interpret ideologies as particular combinations of meaning from an indeterminate range of meanings at the disposal of a society—a process identified as the decontestation of the essentially contestable. This accounts for ideological flexibility and for the overlap, continuous transformation, and regrouping of ideological families. Ideological cores are refined by the adjacent and peripheral ideas in which they are located and by their complex interrelationship with political practice. Hence, ideologies are located at the meeting point between logic (internal constraints on their permutations), culture (the impact of social practices and events over time and space) and the regularities of morphological patterning that they display. The book puts this theory into the broader context of ideology studies, as well as relating it to recent historical scholarship. Primarily, the theory is offered as an alternative method of investigating political thinking to that of political philosophy, and as a departure from Marxist perspectives on ideology. This approach is then applied to liberalism, conservatism, socialism, feminism, and green political thought, through a series of detailed historical studies ranging over the past two centuries.
Francis Oakley
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199541249
- eISBN:
- 9780191708787
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199541249.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, History of Ideas, European Medieval History
This chapter examines conciliar theory and its legacy to 16th- and 17th-century political thought in Scotland, France, and England. John Neville Figgis urged very forcefully the significance of the ...
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This chapter examines conciliar theory and its legacy to 16th- and 17th-century political thought in Scotland, France, and England. John Neville Figgis urged very forcefully the significance of the role he believed the conciliar movement to have played in the history of European political thought. Three main claims are made in this argument: first, that the source of 14th- and 15th-century conciliar theory is to be found in the secular constitutional experiments of the previous centuries; second, that conciliar theory exerted a demonstrable influence on the constitutionalists and resistance theorists of the 16th and 17th centuries; and third, that it did so (and herein lies its historical significance) because of the precision with which it discerned the theoretical principles underlying medieval constitutionalism, the universality with which it formulated those principles, and the clarity and force with which it restated them. Thus, conciliar theory was not only an ecclesiological, but also a political theory.Less
This chapter examines conciliar theory and its legacy to 16th- and 17th-century political thought in Scotland, France, and England. John Neville Figgis urged very forcefully the significance of the role he believed the conciliar movement to have played in the history of European political thought. Three main claims are made in this argument: first, that the source of 14th- and 15th-century conciliar theory is to be found in the secular constitutional experiments of the previous centuries; second, that conciliar theory exerted a demonstrable influence on the constitutionalists and resistance theorists of the 16th and 17th centuries; and third, that it did so (and herein lies its historical significance) because of the precision with which it discerned the theoretical principles underlying medieval constitutionalism, the universality with which it formulated those principles, and the clarity and force with which it restated them. Thus, conciliar theory was not only an ecclesiological, but also a political theory.
Michael Freeden
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294146
- eISBN:
- 9780191599323
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019829414X.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The strong revival of conservatism in the 1980s, both as a governmental force and as a body of political thought, is frequently portrayed as a flowering of beliefs and attitudes attached to new ...
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The strong revival of conservatism in the 1980s, both as a governmental force and as a body of political thought, is frequently portrayed as a flowering of beliefs and attitudes attached to new theoretical frameworks, meriting the designation New Right or neo‐liberal conservatism, as distinct from plain neo‐conservatism. Those frameworks, it is often asserted, have substantially reformulated conservative doctrine and launched a cohesive set of positive ideas matching progressive ideologies in sophistication and breadth. The contemporary study of conservatism is thus confronted with two conundrums: is there now in evidence a new type of conservatism, breaking with its past incarnations and embarking on a programme of change so active that it may no longer be conservatism; and moreover, is there an unbridgeable rift between two concurrent conservative creeds, neo‐liberal and traditional? It is argued here that late twentieth‐century conservative thought occupies fundamentally the same semantic field as its predecessors, granted that the cultural constraints within which its network of concepts is decontested have been considerably transformed; consequently, conservatism appears to be attached to an innovatory range of substantive ideas and policies. The five sections of the chapter are: (a) Thatcherism as conservatism; (b) The subservience of economics; (c) ‘Who is the fiercest of them all?’; (d) Recent American conservatisms; and (e) The unity of Thatcherite ideology.Less
The strong revival of conservatism in the 1980s, both as a governmental force and as a body of political thought, is frequently portrayed as a flowering of beliefs and attitudes attached to new theoretical frameworks, meriting the designation New Right or neo‐liberal conservatism, as distinct from plain neo‐conservatism. Those frameworks, it is often asserted, have substantially reformulated conservative doctrine and launched a cohesive set of positive ideas matching progressive ideologies in sophistication and breadth. The contemporary study of conservatism is thus confronted with two conundrums: is there now in evidence a new type of conservatism, breaking with its past incarnations and embarking on a programme of change so active that it may no longer be conservatism; and moreover, is there an unbridgeable rift between two concurrent conservative creeds, neo‐liberal and traditional? It is argued here that late twentieth‐century conservative thought occupies fundamentally the same semantic field as its predecessors, granted that the cultural constraints within which its network of concepts is decontested have been considerably transformed; consequently, conservatism appears to be attached to an innovatory range of substantive ideas and policies. The five sections of the chapter are: (a) Thatcherism as conservatism; (b) The subservience of economics; (c) ‘Who is the fiercest of them all?’; (d) Recent American conservatisms; and (e) The unity of Thatcherite ideology.
Baogang He
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199277629
- eISBN:
- 9780191603303
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199277621.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The growing influence of liberalism in China has made it important to determine the response of traditional Chinese political thought to Western liberal ideas of multicultural citizenship, and the ...
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The growing influence of liberalism in China has made it important to determine the response of traditional Chinese political thought to Western liberal ideas of multicultural citizenship, and the impact of the Western liberal model of minority rights on China’s ethnic minority policy. This chapter begins by discussing the basic characteristics of the Confucian approach to minority questions and minority rights. It examines the influence of Marxism on minority rights, in general, and on Chinese practice, in particular. It then discusses China’s policies on ethic minorities, and compares current Chinese practices with the Western liberal model of minority rights.Less
The growing influence of liberalism in China has made it important to determine the response of traditional Chinese political thought to Western liberal ideas of multicultural citizenship, and the impact of the Western liberal model of minority rights on China’s ethnic minority policy. This chapter begins by discussing the basic characteristics of the Confucian approach to minority questions and minority rights. It examines the influence of Marxism on minority rights, in general, and on Chinese practice, in particular. It then discusses China’s policies on ethic minorities, and compares current Chinese practices with the Western liberal model of minority rights.
