Cheryl B. Welch
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198781318
- eISBN:
- 9780191695414
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198781318.003.0002
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter situates Tocqueville among a set of problems and writers in post-revolutionary France in order to give the reader a sense of both the idiosyncrasy of Tocqueville's project in his own ...
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This chapter situates Tocqueville among a set of problems and writers in post-revolutionary France in order to give the reader a sense of both the idiosyncrasy of Tocqueville's project in his own environment and its political relevance. As a theorist and a writer with a cause, Tocqueville aimed to write books that would inspire leaders to direct French political culture along new paths. However, his solitary manner of argument disregarded what is considered the norm of his own time. The chapter places him in the changing patterns of his time: the search for a social science that would save the French from the results of their disastrous experiments in revolutionary politics, the rise of historical consciousness, and the widespread desire to understand a spiritualized version of human reason.Less
This chapter situates Tocqueville among a set of problems and writers in post-revolutionary France in order to give the reader a sense of both the idiosyncrasy of Tocqueville's project in his own environment and its political relevance. As a theorist and a writer with a cause, Tocqueville aimed to write books that would inspire leaders to direct French political culture along new paths. However, his solitary manner of argument disregarded what is considered the norm of his own time. The chapter places him in the changing patterns of his time: the search for a social science that would save the French from the results of their disastrous experiments in revolutionary politics, the rise of historical consciousness, and the widespread desire to understand a spiritualized version of human reason.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804763837
- eISBN:
- 9780804781046
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804763837.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Jewish Studies
This chapter explores the social structure and political culture of different revolutionary organizations that thrived in Warsaw. These organizations include the Polish Socialist Party (PPS); the ...
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This chapter explores the social structure and political culture of different revolutionary organizations that thrived in Warsaw. These organizations include the Polish Socialist Party (PPS); the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL); the General Jewish Labor Union in Lithuania, Poland, and Russia (the Bund). The chapter examines the different attempts by the Bund, the PPS, and other parties to bridge the transition from illegal, clandestine organizations to mass-based political parties. Finally, the chapter discusses the different factors that contributed to the decline of revolutionary politics in late 1906 and 1907.Less
This chapter explores the social structure and political culture of different revolutionary organizations that thrived in Warsaw. These organizations include the Polish Socialist Party (PPS); the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania (SDKPiL); the General Jewish Labor Union in Lithuania, Poland, and Russia (the Bund). The chapter examines the different attempts by the Bund, the PPS, and other parties to bridge the transition from illegal, clandestine organizations to mass-based political parties. Finally, the chapter discusses the different factors that contributed to the decline of revolutionary politics in late 1906 and 1907.
Marisa Linton
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199576302
- eISBN:
- 9780191747410
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576302.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter discusses the development of a new kind of political identity during the early months of the revolution. The revolution transformed the prevailing political culture from the enclosed and ...
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This chapter discusses the development of a new kind of political identity during the early months of the revolution. The revolution transformed the prevailing political culture from the enclosed and private world of old regime politics into the new and transparent culture of revolutionary politics. Men who wanted to succeed in this new culture carved out a space for themselves by identifying with the ideology of political virtue. Political leaders would not be answerable to the king, but to public opinion: they therefore submitted their identities to the judgement of the public, to the issue being whether or not their virtue was authentic. The ideology of virtue provided the necessary justification for turning rebels into revolutionaries. It gave revolutionaries moral legitimacy from which sprang their claim to authority.Less
This chapter discusses the development of a new kind of political identity during the early months of the revolution. The revolution transformed the prevailing political culture from the enclosed and private world of old regime politics into the new and transparent culture of revolutionary politics. Men who wanted to succeed in this new culture carved out a space for themselves by identifying with the ideology of political virtue. Political leaders would not be answerable to the king, but to public opinion: they therefore submitted their identities to the judgement of the public, to the issue being whether or not their virtue was authentic. The ideology of virtue provided the necessary justification for turning rebels into revolutionaries. It gave revolutionaries moral legitimacy from which sprang their claim to authority.
Jesse Ferris
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691155142
- eISBN:
- 9781400845231
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691155142.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, Middle East History
This chapter studies the interplay between the battlefield in Yemen and the domestic front in Egypt. It begins with a revisionist account of the Egyptian counterinsurgency campaign, based on Egyptian ...
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This chapter studies the interplay between the battlefield in Yemen and the domestic front in Egypt. It begins with a revisionist account of the Egyptian counterinsurgency campaign, based on Egyptian memoirs and captured documents, and then proceeds to discuss three Egyptian taboos—casualties, cost, and corruption—demonstrating that the pursuit of revolutionary politics abroad contributed significantly to the enfeeblement of the revolution at home. Although the direct cost of the war in lives and treasure may not have been as great as some have argued, the indirect costs of the war proved catastrophic for Egypt. Furthermore, a number of mutually reinforcing factors impressed upon Nasser the need to come to terms with Saudi Arabia in order to end the conflict in Yemen.Less
This chapter studies the interplay between the battlefield in Yemen and the domestic front in Egypt. It begins with a revisionist account of the Egyptian counterinsurgency campaign, based on Egyptian memoirs and captured documents, and then proceeds to discuss three Egyptian taboos—casualties, cost, and corruption—demonstrating that the pursuit of revolutionary politics abroad contributed significantly to the enfeeblement of the revolution at home. Although the direct cost of the war in lives and treasure may not have been as great as some have argued, the indirect costs of the war proved catastrophic for Egypt. Furthermore, a number of mutually reinforcing factors impressed upon Nasser the need to come to terms with Saudi Arabia in order to end the conflict in Yemen.
Andrew Zimmerman
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469624181
- eISBN:
- 9781469624204
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469624181.003.0013
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
This chapter examines how the American Civil War influenced Karl Marx and changed the meaning of revolution, and particularly the American Revolution of 1861–1877. Through their observations and ...
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This chapter examines how the American Civil War influenced Karl Marx and changed the meaning of revolution, and particularly the American Revolution of 1861–1877. Through their observations and analyses of the Civil War, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels developed a recognizably Marxist understanding of revolutionary politics and the Marxism of the three volumes of Capital. Marx's observations of the American struggle over slavery contributed to his theory of surplus value, which he developed for the International Workingmen's Association (First International). This chapter first considers Marx's views about Horace Greeley's American socialism and Henry Carey's harmony of interests doctrine before exploring how the Civil War and Marxism developed in tandem as components of a dynamic transnational set of revolutionary movements. It then links Marxist interpretation of the Civil War as a bourgeois revolution to the Popular Front of 1934–1939 and the communist struggle against fascism.Less
This chapter examines how the American Civil War influenced Karl Marx and changed the meaning of revolution, and particularly the American Revolution of 1861–1877. Through their observations and analyses of the Civil War, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels developed a recognizably Marxist understanding of revolutionary politics and the Marxism of the three volumes of Capital. Marx's observations of the American struggle over slavery contributed to his theory of surplus value, which he developed for the International Workingmen's Association (First International). This chapter first considers Marx's views about Horace Greeley's American socialism and Henry Carey's harmony of interests doctrine before exploring how the Civil War and Marxism developed in tandem as components of a dynamic transnational set of revolutionary movements. It then links Marxist interpretation of the Civil War as a bourgeois revolution to the Popular Front of 1934–1939 and the communist struggle against fascism.
Benjamin Arditi
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748625116
- eISBN:
- 9780748652778
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748625116.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter explores the persistence of agitation in emancipatory politics. It deconstructs the familiar notion that politics is the ‘art of the possible’, an observation made by Bismarck in the ...
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This chapter explores the persistence of agitation in emancipatory politics. It deconstructs the familiar notion that politics is the ‘art of the possible’, an observation made by Bismarck in the nineteenth century and taken as a rallying cry by political realists everywhere. The purpose of this is to destabilize the frontiers between the possible and the impossible, and between revolutionary and non-revolutionary politics. Agitation functions as a symptom that prevents the closure of politics in a purely gentrified format or, alternatively, agitation in tandem with emancipatory politics brings out the ‘eventness’ of events and reveals the working of the impossible, something which is easily lost in the more banal realist coding of politics as ‘the art of the possible’.Less
This chapter explores the persistence of agitation in emancipatory politics. It deconstructs the familiar notion that politics is the ‘art of the possible’, an observation made by Bismarck in the nineteenth century and taken as a rallying cry by political realists everywhere. The purpose of this is to destabilize the frontiers between the possible and the impossible, and between revolutionary and non-revolutionary politics. Agitation functions as a symptom that prevents the closure of politics in a purely gentrified format or, alternatively, agitation in tandem with emancipatory politics brings out the ‘eventness’ of events and reveals the working of the impossible, something which is easily lost in the more banal realist coding of politics as ‘the art of the possible’.
Howard G. Brown
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198205425
- eISBN:
- 9780191676628
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198205425.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter examines the so-called second revolution in France during the summer of 1792 which resulted in the fragmentation of executive power. This revolution, catalysed by the Paris Commune, ...
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This chapter examines the so-called second revolution in France during the summer of 1792 which resulted in the fragmentation of executive power. This revolution, catalysed by the Paris Commune, completed the revolutionary shift to a fully democratic state elite that was started by the French Revolution. The conflict between the War Ministry and the military establishment also contributed to the violent vortex of revolutionary politics that steadily fragmented executive power until the state could no longer manage a war effort without instruments of terror.Less
This chapter examines the so-called second revolution in France during the summer of 1792 which resulted in the fragmentation of executive power. This revolution, catalysed by the Paris Commune, completed the revolutionary shift to a fully democratic state elite that was started by the French Revolution. The conflict between the War Ministry and the military establishment also contributed to the violent vortex of revolutionary politics that steadily fragmented executive power until the state could no longer manage a war effort without instruments of terror.
John H. Flores
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199731633
- eISBN:
- 9780199894420
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199731633.003.0022
- Subject:
- History, World Early Modern History
This chapter examines immigrant political culture, the phenomenon of transnational social movements, and the formation of binational identities through a study of a Midwestern Mexican American ...
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This chapter examines immigrant political culture, the phenomenon of transnational social movements, and the formation of binational identities through a study of a Midwestern Mexican American immigrant community during the first half of the 20th century. It reveals the relationship between international and local politics by reconstructing the history of a segment of the Mexican population of Chicago, which is termed here the “Revolutionary Generation.” These political activists, whose ranks included men and women, white-collar workers, blue-collar laborers, and rural folk, formed liberal, conservative, and radical associations in Chicago. As diverse and divisive as these immigrants were, the chapter groups them together as a political generation because their collective ideology was shaped by their experience and understanding of the Mexican Revolution (1910–20). After migrating to Chicago, they began adapting their particular understanding of revolutionary politics to the city with the aim of shaping the identities and influencing the political outlooks of Mexicans residing within the United States. Although various revolutionary factions eventually made their way to Chicago, the chapter focuses on the liberal and radical wings of this political generation and compares them as they evolved outside the borders of the Mexican nation-state.Less
This chapter examines immigrant political culture, the phenomenon of transnational social movements, and the formation of binational identities through a study of a Midwestern Mexican American immigrant community during the first half of the 20th century. It reveals the relationship between international and local politics by reconstructing the history of a segment of the Mexican population of Chicago, which is termed here the “Revolutionary Generation.” These political activists, whose ranks included men and women, white-collar workers, blue-collar laborers, and rural folk, formed liberal, conservative, and radical associations in Chicago. As diverse and divisive as these immigrants were, the chapter groups them together as a political generation because their collective ideology was shaped by their experience and understanding of the Mexican Revolution (1910–20). After migrating to Chicago, they began adapting their particular understanding of revolutionary politics to the city with the aim of shaping the identities and influencing the political outlooks of Mexicans residing within the United States. Although various revolutionary factions eventually made their way to Chicago, the chapter focuses on the liberal and radical wings of this political generation and compares them as they evolved outside the borders of the Mexican nation-state.
W. D. Edmonds
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198227496
- eISBN:
- 9780191678714
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198227496.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
The history of Lyon from 1789 to 1793 was a striking example of the influence of what Hunt calls ‘the rhetoric of conspiracy’ on the course of the Revolution in France. It also illustrates the ...
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The history of Lyon from 1789 to 1793 was a striking example of the influence of what Hunt calls ‘the rhetoric of conspiracy’ on the course of the Revolution in France. It also illustrates the relationship between social conflict and revolutionary politics. Few communities suffered as much as Lyon did from the French revolutionaries' obsession with conspiracy. This book tried to show that it became a target largely because social conflicts prevented it from conforming to the model of revolutionary solidarity which the Jacobins held up to France. Deep social divisions prevented Lyon from showing a united front to outsiders.Less
The history of Lyon from 1789 to 1793 was a striking example of the influence of what Hunt calls ‘the rhetoric of conspiracy’ on the course of the Revolution in France. It also illustrates the relationship between social conflict and revolutionary politics. Few communities suffered as much as Lyon did from the French revolutionaries' obsession with conspiracy. This book tried to show that it became a target largely because social conflicts prevented it from conforming to the model of revolutionary solidarity which the Jacobins held up to France. Deep social divisions prevented Lyon from showing a united front to outsiders.
Saul Newman
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748634958
- eISBN:
- 9780748652846
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748634958.003.0015
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The central claim of anarchism – that life can be lived without a state, without centralised authority – has been an anathema not only to more mainstream understandings of politics, which bear the ...
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The central claim of anarchism – that life can be lived without a state, without centralised authority – has been an anathema not only to more mainstream understandings of politics, which bear the legacy of the sovereign tradition, but also to other radical and revolutionary forms of politics that see the state as a useful tool for transforming society. However, the rejection of political authority in the name of equality and liberty will always be part of the vocabulary of emancipation. The vision of anarchy that for the sovereign tradition is the ultimate nightmare, is the eternal aspiration of the radical tradition. This chapter notes that the central aim of this book is to affirm anarchism's place as the very horizon of radical politics.Less
The central claim of anarchism – that life can be lived without a state, without centralised authority – has been an anathema not only to more mainstream understandings of politics, which bear the legacy of the sovereign tradition, but also to other radical and revolutionary forms of politics that see the state as a useful tool for transforming society. However, the rejection of political authority in the name of equality and liberty will always be part of the vocabulary of emancipation. The vision of anarchy that for the sovereign tradition is the ultimate nightmare, is the eternal aspiration of the radical tradition. This chapter notes that the central aim of this book is to affirm anarchism's place as the very horizon of radical politics.
Chris Bongie
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781846311437
- eISBN:
- 9781846315299
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/UPO9781846315299
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This book explores the troubled relationship between postcolonial theory and ‘politics’, both in the sense of a radical, revolutionary politics associated with anti-colonial struggle, and the almost ...
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This book explores the troubled relationship between postcolonial theory and ‘politics’, both in the sense of a radical, revolutionary politics associated with anti-colonial struggle, and the almost inevitable implication of literary writers in institutional discourses of power. The book builds directly on the author's ‘Islands and Exiles’ (Stanford University Press, 1998), and explores the commemoration and commodification of the post/colonial using early nineteenth-century Caribbean texts alongside contemporary works. Taking Haiti as a key example this book tells of the processes by which Haiti's world-historical revolution has been commemorated both in the colonial era and in our own postcolonial age — an age in which it is increasingly difficult to separate the reality of memories of anti-colonial resistance from the processes of commodification through which alone those memories can now be thought.Less
This book explores the troubled relationship between postcolonial theory and ‘politics’, both in the sense of a radical, revolutionary politics associated with anti-colonial struggle, and the almost inevitable implication of literary writers in institutional discourses of power. The book builds directly on the author's ‘Islands and Exiles’ (Stanford University Press, 1998), and explores the commemoration and commodification of the post/colonial using early nineteenth-century Caribbean texts alongside contemporary works. Taking Haiti as a key example this book tells of the processes by which Haiti's world-historical revolution has been commemorated both in the colonial era and in our own postcolonial age — an age in which it is increasingly difficult to separate the reality of memories of anti-colonial resistance from the processes of commodification through which alone those memories can now be thought.
John Lechte and Saul Newman
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780748645725
- eISBN:
- 9780748689163
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748645725.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Reference
The task of this chapter is to clarify what we see as Agamben's understanding of politics, a question which is otherwise very opaque in his work. It is argued here that seeing Agamben as a political ...
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The task of this chapter is to clarify what we see as Agamben's understanding of politics, a question which is otherwise very opaque in his work. It is argued here that seeing Agamben as a political thinker – which we do — relies on being able to make a coherent distinction between politics and power. Here this distinction is explored through, first, a critical engagement with Chantal Mouffe's category of the political, and then with Antonio Negri's distinction between constituting and constituted power, neither of which, we argue, adequately accounts for Agamben's understanding of politics. We then turn to Walter Benjamin's ‘Critique of Violence’, in which the project of transcending legal violence through the enigmatic notion of ‘divine violence’ takes us closer to Agamben's messianic and ‘anarchic’ way of thinking about politics beyond the clasps of law and sovereignty.Less
The task of this chapter is to clarify what we see as Agamben's understanding of politics, a question which is otherwise very opaque in his work. It is argued here that seeing Agamben as a political thinker – which we do — relies on being able to make a coherent distinction between politics and power. Here this distinction is explored through, first, a critical engagement with Chantal Mouffe's category of the political, and then with Antonio Negri's distinction between constituting and constituted power, neither of which, we argue, adequately accounts for Agamben's understanding of politics. We then turn to Walter Benjamin's ‘Critique of Violence’, in which the project of transcending legal violence through the enigmatic notion of ‘divine violence’ takes us closer to Agamben's messianic and ‘anarchic’ way of thinking about politics beyond the clasps of law and sovereignty.
Marisa Linton
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199576302
- eISBN:
- 9780191747410
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576302.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
This chapter discusses the emergence of the first Jacobin leaders. The co-founders and first leaders of the Jacobins — Barnave, the Lameths, and Duport — supported the constitutional monarchy, and ...
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This chapter discusses the emergence of the first Jacobin leaders. The co-founders and first leaders of the Jacobins — Barnave, the Lameths, and Duport — supported the constitutional monarchy, and manoeuvred tactically to become powerful figures in the new regime. In order to dominate the Jacobin Club and appeal to radical public opinion, they adopted the identity of men of virtue. They used this rhetoric to denounce their political opponents and personal rivals, above all Mirabeau, as men without virtue, and therefore secret enemies of the Revolution.Less
This chapter discusses the emergence of the first Jacobin leaders. The co-founders and first leaders of the Jacobins — Barnave, the Lameths, and Duport — supported the constitutional monarchy, and manoeuvred tactically to become powerful figures in the new regime. In order to dominate the Jacobin Club and appeal to radical public opinion, they adopted the identity of men of virtue. They used this rhetoric to denounce their political opponents and personal rivals, above all Mirabeau, as men without virtue, and therefore secret enemies of the Revolution.
Catriona Kelly
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198159643
- eISBN:
- 9780191673665
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159643.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature
Olga Shapir can be considered as a ‘typical’ 19th-century writer. Although she was prolific, she is now posthumously forgotten. However, Shapir's novel, The Stormy Years, shows a brave attempt to ...
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Olga Shapir can be considered as a ‘typical’ 19th-century writer. Although she was prolific, she is now posthumously forgotten. However, Shapir's novel, The Stormy Years, shows a brave attempt to combine an analysis of revolutionary politics with a critical overview of sexual possibilities. This chapter discusses Shapir's autobiography and ‘The Settlement’, a 19th-century critical realism story, in detail. It can be determined that Shapir's story was able to represent gender and class relations as both inflexible and variable.Less
Olga Shapir can be considered as a ‘typical’ 19th-century writer. Although she was prolific, she is now posthumously forgotten. However, Shapir's novel, The Stormy Years, shows a brave attempt to combine an analysis of revolutionary politics with a critical overview of sexual possibilities. This chapter discusses Shapir's autobiography and ‘The Settlement’, a 19th-century critical realism story, in detail. It can be determined that Shapir's story was able to represent gender and class relations as both inflexible and variable.
Sheldon S. Wolin
Nicholas Xenos (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780691133645
- eISBN:
- 9781400883424
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691133645.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The author of this book was one of the most influential and original political thinkers of the past fifty years. This book brings together his most important writings, from classic essays such as ...
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The author of this book was one of the most influential and original political thinkers of the past fifty years. This book brings together his most important writings, from classic essays such as “Political Theory as a Vocation,” written amid the Cold War and the conflict in Vietnam, to his late radical essays on American democracy such as “Fugitive Democracy,” in which he offers a controversial reinterpretation of democracy as an episodic phenomenon distinct from the routinized political management that passes for democracy today. The author critically engages a diverse range of political theorists, including Thomas Hobbes, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Hannah Arendt, John Rawls, Michel Foucault, and Richard Rorty. These essays grapple with topics such as power, modernization, the Sixties, revolutionary politics, and inequality, all the while showcasing the author's enduring commitment to writing civic-minded theoretical commentary on the most pressing political issues of the day. Here, the author laments the rise of conservatives who style themselves as revolutionary, criticizes Rawlsian liberals as abstract to the point of being apolitical, diagnoses postmodern theory as a form of acquiescence, and much more. The book offers enduring insights into many of today's most pressing political predicaments, and introduces a whole new generation of readers to this provocative figure in contemporary political thought.Less
The author of this book was one of the most influential and original political thinkers of the past fifty years. This book brings together his most important writings, from classic essays such as “Political Theory as a Vocation,” written amid the Cold War and the conflict in Vietnam, to his late radical essays on American democracy such as “Fugitive Democracy,” in which he offers a controversial reinterpretation of democracy as an episodic phenomenon distinct from the routinized political management that passes for democracy today. The author critically engages a diverse range of political theorists, including Thomas Hobbes, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Hannah Arendt, John Rawls, Michel Foucault, and Richard Rorty. These essays grapple with topics such as power, modernization, the Sixties, revolutionary politics, and inequality, all the while showcasing the author's enduring commitment to writing civic-minded theoretical commentary on the most pressing political issues of the day. Here, the author laments the rise of conservatives who style themselves as revolutionary, criticizes Rawlsian liberals as abstract to the point of being apolitical, diagnoses postmodern theory as a form of acquiescence, and much more. The book offers enduring insights into many of today's most pressing political predicaments, and introduces a whole new generation of readers to this provocative figure in contemporary political thought.
Tim Fulford
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199273379
- eISBN:
- 9780191706332
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199273379.003.0009
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism
This chapter provides a close reading of Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, in the context of Coleridge's arguments about superstition and belief in indigenous communities, and in the context ...
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This chapter provides a close reading of Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, in the context of Coleridge's arguments about superstition and belief in indigenous communities, and in the context of the times, politics, and Romanticism.Less
This chapter provides a close reading of Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner, in the context of Coleridge's arguments about superstition and belief in indigenous communities, and in the context of the times, politics, and Romanticism.
Adrian O'Connor
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781526120564
- eISBN:
- 9781526132314
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781526120564.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, European Modern History
Chapter 3 examines the proposals for educational reform presented in September 1791 and April 1792 by the philosophes-statesmen Talleyrand and Condorcet, on behalf of the National Assembly’s ...
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Chapter 3 examines the proposals for educational reform presented in September 1791 and April 1792 by the philosophes-statesmen Talleyrand and Condorcet, on behalf of the National Assembly’s constitutional committee and the committee of public instruction, respectively. Both Talleyrand and Condorcet sought to integrate the spread of knowledge and the cultivation of civic sentiments, and each of them tried to translate the dynamics of representative and participatory politics into new institutional practices and social norms. Recognizing the role of “sentiment” and sociability in their proposals allows us to understand better how each sought to fulfill the constitutional promise of a free, public, and national system of education and to realize the political and social ambitions represented by that promise. As Talleyrand noted when presenting his plan, “it is impossible to have understood the essence of the constitution without recognizing that all of its principles demand the support of a new system of education,” a point that makes a fuller understanding of these proposals all the more important.Less
Chapter 3 examines the proposals for educational reform presented in September 1791 and April 1792 by the philosophes-statesmen Talleyrand and Condorcet, on behalf of the National Assembly’s constitutional committee and the committee of public instruction, respectively. Both Talleyrand and Condorcet sought to integrate the spread of knowledge and the cultivation of civic sentiments, and each of them tried to translate the dynamics of representative and participatory politics into new institutional practices and social norms. Recognizing the role of “sentiment” and sociability in their proposals allows us to understand better how each sought to fulfill the constitutional promise of a free, public, and national system of education and to realize the political and social ambitions represented by that promise. As Talleyrand noted when presenting his plan, “it is impossible to have understood the essence of the constitution without recognizing that all of its principles demand the support of a new system of education,” a point that makes a fuller understanding of these proposals all the more important.
Brian Price
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816654611
- eISBN:
- 9781452946177
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816654611.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The French auteur Robert Bresson, director of such classics as Diary of a Country Priest (1951), The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962), The Devil, Probably (1977), and L’Argent (1983), has long been ...
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The French auteur Robert Bresson, director of such classics as Diary of a Country Priest (1951), The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962), The Devil, Probably (1977), and L’Argent (1983), has long been thought of as a transcendental filmmaker preoccupied with questions of grace and predestination and little interested in the problems of the social world. This book is the first to view Bresson’s work in an altogether different context. Rather than a religious—or spiritual—filmmaker, Bresson is revealed as an artist steeped in radical, revolutionary politics. Situating Bresson in radical and aesthetic political contexts, from surrealism to situationism, this book shows how his early style was a model for social resistance. We then see how, after May 1968, his films were in fact a series of reflections on the failure of revolution in France—especially as “failure” is understood in relation to Bresson’s chosen literary precursors, Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, and Russian revolutionary culture of the nineteenth century.Less
The French auteur Robert Bresson, director of such classics as Diary of a Country Priest (1951), The Trial of Joan of Arc (1962), The Devil, Probably (1977), and L’Argent (1983), has long been thought of as a transcendental filmmaker preoccupied with questions of grace and predestination and little interested in the problems of the social world. This book is the first to view Bresson’s work in an altogether different context. Rather than a religious—or spiritual—filmmaker, Bresson is revealed as an artist steeped in radical, revolutionary politics. Situating Bresson in radical and aesthetic political contexts, from surrealism to situationism, this book shows how his early style was a model for social resistance. We then see how, after May 1968, his films were in fact a series of reflections on the failure of revolution in France—especially as “failure” is understood in relation to Bresson’s chosen literary precursors, Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, and Russian revolutionary culture of the nineteenth century.
Jeff Horn
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262083522
- eISBN:
- 9780262275705
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262083522.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
This chapter sets out the book’s three main arguments. The first is that the late eighteenth-century French state attempted to emulate most of what policy makers understood as the English model of ...
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This chapter sets out the book’s three main arguments. The first is that the late eighteenth-century French state attempted to emulate most of what policy makers understood as the English model of industrialization—which was far removed from what “liberal” accounts would suggest. The second argument is that these attempts foundered because of the emergence of revolutionary politics in France. The third is that the French state, unable to emulate the “liberal” British route to industrialization, embarked on a search for a different path, which was forged amidst the heat of war, revolutionary politics, and emerging dictatorship. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.Less
This chapter sets out the book’s three main arguments. The first is that the late eighteenth-century French state attempted to emulate most of what policy makers understood as the English model of industrialization—which was far removed from what “liberal” accounts would suggest. The second argument is that these attempts foundered because of the emergence of revolutionary politics in France. The third is that the French state, unable to emulate the “liberal” British route to industrialization, embarked on a search for a different path, which was forged amidst the heat of war, revolutionary politics, and emerging dictatorship. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
Jeff Horn
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- August 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780262083522
- eISBN:
- 9780262275705
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262083522.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Technology and Society
This chapter investigates French administrative attempts to develop institutions capable of fostering industrialization in the context of Revolutionary politics. Ideology was at the heart of ...
More
This chapter investigates French administrative attempts to develop institutions capable of fostering industrialization in the context of Revolutionary politics. Ideology was at the heart of institutional foundation and change. However, the attempts to develop a coherent French industrial policy after 1791 were also based on shop-floor realities, on the patrie’s international competitiveness, and on the availability of profitable entrepreneurial opportunities. Material issues affected the formation of industrial policy, particularly with regard to the role of the state in managing the market, mechanization, and labor relations, as much as did ideology. The revolutionary decade altered French industrial possibilities: the approach to industrial policy that emerged under the Consulate was a compromise among competing impulses which cannot be fully explained by ideological or legalistic imperatives.Less
This chapter investigates French administrative attempts to develop institutions capable of fostering industrialization in the context of Revolutionary politics. Ideology was at the heart of institutional foundation and change. However, the attempts to develop a coherent French industrial policy after 1791 were also based on shop-floor realities, on the patrie’s international competitiveness, and on the availability of profitable entrepreneurial opportunities. Material issues affected the formation of industrial policy, particularly with regard to the role of the state in managing the market, mechanization, and labor relations, as much as did ideology. The revolutionary decade altered French industrial possibilities: the approach to industrial policy that emerged under the Consulate was a compromise among competing impulses which cannot be fully explained by ideological or legalistic imperatives.
