Save the Appearances! Toward an Arendtian Environmental Politics

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-13
Author(s):  
LAURA EPHRAIM
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Anthropogenic Contamination ◽  
Vulnerable Communities ◽  
Production And Consumption ◽  
Critical Resources

Drawing critical resources from Hannah Arendt, this article argues for a revaluation of the appearances of nature in environmental political theory and practice. At a time when pervasive anthropogenic contamination threatens the very survival of vulnerable communities and species, it would be wrong to revive the timeworn mythos of nature as an untrammeled beauty. Instead, with Arendt’s help, I advocate an environmental politics rooted in an alternative aesthetic of nature, one that respects and seeks to protect earth’s diverse lifeforms for the sake of their strange, disquieting appearances of otherness. Earth’s living displays of alterity are valuable, I argue, for their propensity to upset the destructive logic of mass production and consumption and spur political action. In an Arendtian frame, we can better recognize interdependence between biological and political life and appreciate the role of nonhuman lifeforms in constituting spaces of appearance where human freedom and plurality may flourish.

scholarly journals POLITIK PEMUSNAHAN DAN PEMUSNAHAN POLITIK : Telaah Kritis Atas Konsep Hannah Arendt Tentang Totalitarisme

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 129
Author(s):  
Mathias Daven
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Hannah Arendt ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Concentration Camp ◽  
Concentration Camps ◽  
Total Domination ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Totalitarian Regime

If we wish to understand a totalitarian system as a whole, we need first to understand the central role of the concentration camp as a laboratorium to experiment in total domination. Arendt’s analysis of totalitarianism in the twentieth century shows how a totalitarian regime cannot survive without terror; and terror will not be effective without concentration camps. Experiments in concentration camps had as their purpose, apart from wiping out any freedom or spontaneity, the abolishing of space between human beings, abolishing space for politics. Thus, totalitarianism did not mirror only the politics of extinction, but also the extinction of politics. As a way forward, Arendt analyses political theory that forces the reader to understand power no longer under the rubric of domination or violence – although this avenue is open – but rather under the rubric of freedom. Arendt is convinced that the life of a destroyed nation can be restored by mutual forgiveness and mutual promises, two abilities rooted in action. Political action, as with other acts, is identical with the ability to commence something new. Keywords: Totalitarisme, antisemitisme, imperialisme, dominasi, teror, kebebasan, kedaulatan, kamp konsentrasi, politik, ideologi, tindakan

Secularism, Feminism, and the Public Sphere

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niamh Reilly
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Feminist Scholarship ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Principle ◽  
The Public Sphere

This chapter outlines major developments shaping contemporary debates about religion and secularism in public and political life and the role of women and feminism therein. It considers, from a gender perspective, debates in normative political theory about religion, secularism, and the Habermasian public sphere. These themes are explored as they are dealt with in feminist scholarship on the critical edges of Enlightenment thinking. The phenomena of the separation of church and state, the progressive “secularization” of modern societies and relegation of religious practice to private domains, and the growing acceptance of gender equality, are no longer presumed to be inevitable and interrelated. This chapter considers what is involved in rethinking secularism as a feminist political principle, in a context of globalization and in contemporary multicultural societies.

Political Theory and Political Economy

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen L. Elkin
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Distribution Of Wealth ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
The Core ◽  
Democratic Societies

This article describes the connection between political theory and political economy. It argues that political theorists need to take account of political economy in theorizing about the contemporary world because capitalism is the most powerful force at work in shaping the modern sociopolitical world. It also explains that economic questions concerning economic growth, the distribution of wealth and income, and role of markets are at the core of the political life in democratic societies.

scholarly journals Gender, Class and Ideology: The Social Function of Virgin Sacrifice in Euripides' Children of Herakles

2007 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Kawalko Roselli
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Class Struggle ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Representation Of Women ◽  
Marginal Groups ◽  
The Social

Abstract This paper explores how gender can operate as a disguise for class in an examination of the self-sacrifice of the Maiden in Euripides' Children of Herakles. In Part I, I discuss the role of human sacrifice in terms of its radical potential to transform society and the role of class struggle in Athens. In Part II, I argue that the representation of women was intimately connected with the social and political life of the polis. In a discussion of iconography, the theater industry and audience I argue that female characters became one of the means by which different groups promoted partisan interests based on class and social status. In Part III, I show how the Maiden solicits the competing interests of the theater audience. After discussing the centrality (as a heroine from an aristocratic family) and marginality (as a woman and associated with other marginal social groups) of the Maiden's character, I draw upon the funeral oration as a comparative model with which to understand the quite different role of self-sacrifice in tragedy. In addition to representing and mystifying the interests of elite, lower class and marginal groups, the play glorifies a subordinate character whose contradictory social status (both subordinate and elite) embodies the social position of other ““marginal”” members of Athenian society. The play stages a model for taking political action to transform the social system and for commemorating the tragic costs of such undertakings.

For the good of the Nation

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 30-55
Author(s):  
David H. Warren
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Islamic Tradition ◽  
Intellectual Origins ◽  
Intellectual Production ◽  
Horizon Of Expectations

This article analyzes Rifaʿa al-Tahtawi’s (d. 1873) idea of Egyptian nationhood (al-ummah al-miṣriyyah) and key attendant concepts, such as civilization (tamaddun), progress (taqaddum), homeland (waṭan), and citizen (waṭanī). I revisit the intellectual origins of his thought to move our understanding of his intellectual production beyond simply the influence of the European Enlightenment. Instead, I locate al-Tahtawi’s work as part of a conversation internal to the debates of the Islamic tradition, which stretches across centuries and was never meant to finish. Consequently, I contextualize his conceptualization of nationhood as an attempt to re-imagine a role for the Muslim community in Islamic political life – from which it had long been excluded – and ground Muslim political theory and practice within a normative Islamic framework. Furthermore, I contend that al-Tahtawi’s contributions to both the conversations of his immediate context and those of his tradition were underpinned by a shift in his generation’s horizon of expectations, namely, the shared assumptions through which they received the conversations of their tradition. Underpinning this shift was the redefinition of time as progress, specifically the progress of the nation. If we conceptualize the Islamic tradition as a framework for inquiry rather than as a set of doctrines, then we should recognize that al-Tahtawi and his peers’ new concern for the futurity of the nation represented a key addition to this framework.

For the good of the Nation

2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 42-67
Author(s):  
David H. Warren
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Muslim Community ◽  
Islamic Tradition

This article analyzes Rifaʿa al-Tahtawi’s (d. 1873) idea of Egyptiannationhood (al-ummah al-miṣriyyah) and key attendant concepts,such as civilization (tamaddun), progress (taqaddum),homeland (waṭan), and citizen (waṭanī). I revisit the intellectualorigins of his thought to move our understanding of his intellectualproduction beyond simply the influence of the European Enlightenment.Instead, I locate al-Tahtawi’s work as part of a conversationinternal to the debates of the Islamic tradition, which stretchesacross centuries and was never meant to finish.Consequently, I contextualize his conceptualization of nationhoodas an attempt to re-imagine a role for the Muslim community inIslamic political life – from which it had long been excluded –and ground Muslim political theory and practice within a normativeIslamic framework. Furthermore, I contend that al-Tahtawi’scontributions to both the conversations of his immediate contextand those of his tradition were underpinned by a shift in his generation’shorizon of expectations, namely, the shared assumptionsthrough which they received the conversations of their tradition.Underpinning this shift was the redefinition of time as progress,specifically the progress of the nation. If we conceptualize the Islamic tradition as a framework for inquiry rather than as a set ofdoctrines, then we should recognize that al-Tahtawi and his peers’new concern for the futurity of the nation represented a key additionto this framework.

Introducing Environmental Political Theory

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teena Gabrielson ◽  
Cheryl Hall ◽  
John M. Meyer ◽  
David Schlosberg
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Field Of Inquiry

This introductory chapter offers an overview of the context, content, and history of environmental political theory (EPT) as a field of study within political science. It starts by differentiating EPT from both the subfield of political theory and other areas of sustainability and environmental studies, with its focus on the political nature of human/non-human relations. EPT’s development over the last twenty years is discussed, in terms of both substantive foci and maturation as a field. The chapter then turns to an overview of the structure and chapters of the Handbook, including chapters on EPT as a field of inquiry, the rethinking of nature and political subjects, the goals and ideals of EPT, various obstacles faced by environmental change, and the role of activism in environmental politics and thought.

Recovering Politics for Socialism: Two Responses to the Language of Community

1983 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 717-737 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. M. Barnard ◽  
Richard Vernon
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Competition ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Recent Theory ◽  
Bourgeois Society ◽  
Life Itself

AbstractSocialism is often defined in terms of “community,” or, as Professor John Wilson once put it, as a “society of friends.” Thus defined, it is contrasted with the competitive relations of bourgeois society. But in some recent theory and practice, political competition is taken to be a defining feature of a legitimate socialist order. The persistence of political institutions is thus stressed, both by Western socialist theorists and by reformers in Eastern and Central Europe, and the orthodox view that “state” is to be superseded by “community” is sharply rejected. These two critiques differ, however, in one major respect: for Western socialists, the state is to be legitimated by the principles of socialist rationality, while for many reformers of Eastern and Central Europe it is to be legitimated by political life itself. From this second point of view, neither “friendship” nor “rationality” responds to the tensions which a socialist polity, no less than any other, will face: for both these concepts, to the extent that they are taken to set pre-established norms, constrict the “space for political action, ” and thus remove the necessary conditions for legitimacy.

Political Developments and Tendencies

1930 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Fairlie
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
New Orleans ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Presidential Address ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Political Life ◽  
First Year ◽  
Study And Teaching

It has seemed fitting, at this second meeting of the Association in New Orleans, where it was organized a quarter of a century ago, to give some attention to significant happenings during this period, in the affairs of the Association, in the field of political action, and in the analysis and interpretation of political phenomena. At least two former presidents have discussed some phases of these topics; but there is perhaps room for a difference of approach and emphasis.When this Association was organized, the systematic study and teaching of political problems was but slightly developed. Only a few courses in public law and government were given in some of the larger universities. Of the twenty-five persons who were present at the organization of the Association, and the 214 who became members during the first year, a large proportion were primarily interested in history, economics, and other social studies with political bearings, rather than in political problems themselves.In the constitution of the Association, its object was stated to be: “The encouragement of the scientific study of politics, public law, administration, and diplomacy.” In the first presidential address, President Goodnow outlined the field of work of the Association as including political theory, constitutional and administrative law, comparative legislation, historical and comparative jurisprudence, and political parties. He also noted the opportunity of the Association to secure the active coöperation of teachers of these subjects, and to bring together the student and those actively engaged in political life. A further indication of the plans of those who established the Association may be seen in the appointment of a series of standing committees on different branches of the field outlined, and the reorganization of these a year later into sections.

The Operational Codes of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen G. Walker ◽  
Mark Schafer ◽  
Gary Smith
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Hillary Clinton ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Political Values ◽  
Philosophical Beliefs ◽  
Operational Code ◽  
Strategic Approach

This chapter profiles the bounded rationality of two major candidates for US president in the 2016 presidential election. It identifies their philosophical beliefs regarding (1) the friendly or hostile nature of the political universe, (2) the achievement of fundamental political values, (3) the predictability of the future, (4) control over historical development, and (5) the role of chance in political life. It also examines their instrumental beliefs regarding (1) the optimum strategic approach to political goals, (2) tactical flexibility in carrying out a strategy, (3) calculation and management of risk, (4) role of timing, and (5) utility of various means in taking political action. These beliefs define a leader’s “operational code” regarding the exercise of power by self and others in world politics. The chapter extrapolates from these beliefs some game theory predictions for how Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton as the next US president would exercise power in world politics.

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