Public Opinion and Foreign Policy in Wilhelmian Germany, 1897–1914

1991 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 381-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang J. Mommsen
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Max Weber ◽  
Power Structure ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Mass Politics ◽  
Active Interest ◽  
Constitutional System

The age of high imperialism was also the age of the emergence of mass journalism. This heralded a steady widening of what might be called the “political nation,” that is, those groups who took an active interest in politics in contrast to the mass of the population still largely outside the political arena. Up to the 1890s politics tended to be Honoratiorenpolitik—confined to “notables” or Honoratioren, a term first applied by Max Weber around the turn of the century to describe the elites who had dominated the political power structure up to that time. Gradually “public opinion” ceased to be, in effect, the opinion of the educated classes, that is, the classes dirigeantes. In Wilhelmian Germany the process of democratization had been successfully contained, if seen in terms of the constitutional system; the age of mass politics was still far away.

Conclusions

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piero Ignazi
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Present Condition ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Institutions ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Dead End ◽  
Democratic System

The Conclusion addresses the parties’ present condition in the European political systems. Indeed, at the dawn of the new century parties have become Leviathan with clay feet: powerful in the political arena thanks to control of state resources, but very weak in terms of legitimacy in the eyes of public opinion. Only by abandoning the citadelle in which they are entrenched, recasting societal linkages, relinquishing all their privileges, and dismissing their self-referential attitude might they recover the confidence of the electorate. Maintaining a state-centred status will only lead to a dead end, and this will also harm the democratic system itself. The collapse of parties’ legitimacy inevitably affects democratic institutions: the mounting populist and plebiscitary wave suggests how pervasive is the crisis and how dramatic the challenge.

scholarly journals Multifaceted Islam: Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 68-87
Author(s):  
Ju. V. Roknifard
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Struggle ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Muslim Majority ◽  
Islamic Identity ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Malaysian Politics

This paper analyzes the Islam’s impact on the Malaysian politics. Islam as an instrument of Malaysia’s foreign policy has been used by the political elite of the state for decades. Observers note the Islamization of the country’s foreign policy, especially during the premiership of Najib Razak (2008– 2018). However, the trend towards Islamization can be traced back to the moment Malaysia gained independence from Great Britain in 1957 and especially during the premiership of Mahathir Mohamad (1981–2003). The formation of such a foreign policy of Malaysia took place against the background of the Islamization of the political and social environment within the country, which, in turn, was the result of an internal political struggle. Thus, the projection of Malaysia’s identity into the outside world and the foreign policy corresponding to this identity was often motivated by the need to retain or attract the support of the malay-muslim majority in the domestic political arena. Since many of the issues raised in the article relate to identity both at the national and global level, a constructivist paradigm is used to conceptualize Malaysia’s foreign policy with a special emphasis on the identity of states. Particularly important in this process is the formation of domestic and foreign policy discourse. Malaysia’s Islamic identity is viewed externally in three dimensions: the Sunni state, the activist state in the Islamic world and the standard of moderate Islam. Consideration of these dimensions reveals quite obvious contradictions between them, as well as between rhetoric and real politics.

Britain's Foreign Alliances in the Eighteenth Century

1988 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 573-602 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Black
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political System ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Distinctive Character ◽  
Frequent Use ◽  
British Foreign Policy

One of the greatest problems in the discussion of eighteenth-century British foreign policy concerns the assessment of the influence of the particular character of the British political system. British foreign policy, and thus the country's alliance strategy, was conditioned by the subtle interplay of internal processes, the functioning of her domestic political system, and the international situation. As historians are concerned increasingly to probe the nature of the domestic pressures influencing the formulation and execution of policy, so it becomes more important to define the political, as opposed to constitutional, role of Parliament and public opinion. This is of obvious significance for the study of Britain's relations with her allies. Were these made more difficult as a consequence of the distinctive character of the British political system? There was no shortage of contemporaries willing to state that this was the case. An obvious category of discussion concerned the citing of domestic pressure as a reason why concessions could not be made to foreign powers, both allies and those whose alliance was sought. This was of particular significance when ministries explained why gains made during war could not be surrendered at peace treaties and gains made at the peace could not be yielded subsequently. Their defense of the retention of Gibraltar was based on this argument. Similar arguments were used by British ministers in seeking to persuade allies to do as they wished. Diplomatic pressure on France over the state of Dunkirk or on Spain and Portugal over commercial disputes made frequent use of the argument of domestic pressure.

Legitimate and Illegitimate Political Self-entrenchment and Its Impact on Political Equality

ICL Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonios Kouroutakis
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Barriers To Entry ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Political Equality ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Constitutional System

Abstract Self-serving politicians and self-entrenchment of the political establishment is a diachronic problem tantalizing liberal democracies. Incumbent political actors around the world constantly purport to entrench not only their presence in the political arena, but also their power and as a result, barriers to entry to new political actors are set, the chain of the democratic choice is disrupted and equality of opportunity is distorted. This article focuses on the available means in the constitutional system in order to safeguard a level playing field in the political arena. To this end, this article has three scientific objectives. First, it elaborates on the significance of equality of opportunities in the political system. Second, it identifies how political self-entrenchment creates an uneven playing field. Third, it focuses on the remedies that exist in the constitutional system and examines both legal and quasi legal mechanisms. With an analysis on the current means that are available in the constitutional system, the judicial review, and the alternative political processes based on independent bodies and quasi-judicial mechanisms, this article concludes that self-entrenchment and self-serving politicians are mainly left to be resolved by political means, the so called self-corrective promise of politics.

scholarly journals Lithuanian public opinion and the EU membership

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-312
Author(s):  
Elena Dragomir
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
General Context ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
The People ◽  
The Eu

During the early 1990s, following the restoration of independence, Lithuania reoriented in terms of foreign policy towards West. One of the state’s main foreign policy goals became the accession to the EU and NATO. Acknowledging that the ‘opinion of the people’ is a crucial factor in today’s democracy as it is important and necessary for politicians to know and take into consideration the ‘public opinion’, that is the opinion of the people they represent, this paper brings into attention the public support for the political pro-West project. The paper is structured in two main parts. The first one presents in short the politicians’ discourse regarding Lithuania’s accession to the EU and its general ‘returning to Europe’, in the general context of the state’s new foreign policy, while the second part presents the results of different public opinion surveys regarding the same issue. Comparing these two sides, in the end, the paper provides the answer that the Lithuanian people backed the political elites in their European projects. Although, the paper does not represent a breakthrough for the scientific community, its findings could be of interest for those less familiarized with the Lithuanian post-Cold War history, and especially for the Romanian public to whom this journal mainly addresses.

Cotta and Napoleon: The French Pursuit of the Allgemeine Zeitung

1981 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 91-109
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Moran
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
The Public ◽  
German Press ◽  
The Press ◽  
German Publisher ◽  
The One

In contrast to virtually every other aspect of Napoleon's German policy, his treatment of the German press has never been subject to much scholarly controversy. For good reason: on the one occasion when Napoleon had a German publisher entirely in his hands, he had him shot—an act whose simplicity, indeed finality, does not leave much room for quibbling as to details. The execution of J. P. Palm did not reflect Napoleon's entire policy; but it may serve as a reminder that, among the ruling personalities of Europe, it was the Emperor of the French who esteemed the power of the press most highly. Napoleon had seen an aroused nation first hand, and as the leader of Europe's first postrevolutionary society he brought to the regulation of public opinion a degree of determination unknown to the Old Regime. One of his first acts as First Consul had been to suppress most of the newspapers published in France, and he soon domesticated those that remained. His aim was not to expel public opinion from the political arena, but to remove it from the hands of the public, and to make it serve him. The same purpose guided his press policy in Germany. As the young Count Metternich noted in a dispatch from Paris, the new century would be “a century of words,” and Napoleon meant his word to be the last.

scholarly journals La caída de los dioses: de los problemas de los partidos a los partidos como problema = From de political parties´s problem to the political parties as a problem

2015 ◽  
pp. 149
Author(s):  
Roberto L. Blanco Valdés
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
El Paso ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Areas ◽  
Constitutional System ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Selection Of

Political parties, lynchpin of the democratic architecture, have also been very important in the setting-up of the constitutional system of 1978. They had confronted several problems that have hindered its consolidation. But, over time, the parties have not only invaded public areas that were not designed for them, but have generated internal habits related to bureaucracy, the selection of elites, illegal funding and a lack of internal democracy. This has caused that quite a lot of the spanish public opinion perceive that political parties, and by extension, politicians and politics, as one of the main spanish problems.Los partidos políticos, pieza clave de la arquitectura democrática, lo han sido también en el proceso de construcción del régimen constitucional de 1978. Para ello han debido enfrentarse a diversos problemas que han dificultado su consolidación. Pero, con el paso del tiempo, los propios partidos no sólo han invadido esferas públicas que no les correspondían sino que han generado hábitos internos relacionados con la burocratización, el proceso de selección de las élites, la financiación ilegal y la ausencia de democracia interna. Todo ello ha dado lugar a que una buena parte de la opinión pública española perciba en la actualidad a los partidos, y, por extensión, a los políticos y a la política, como uno de los principales problemas del país.

Interdependence and the Italian Communists

1978 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Putnam
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
National Policy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Interdependence ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Policy Shift

The recent growth in Italian Communist party (PCI) influence on national policy making has been accompanied by a reversal of the party's traditional opposition to Italian participation in NATO and the European Communities. Why? Most fundamentally, this reversal is due to Italy's increasingly irreversible involvement in the network of economic interdependence that links the Western economies. PCI leaders have come to recognize and accept the political consequences of interdependence. Other important factors contributing to the policy shift are: 1) changes in Italian public opinion that made opposition to Italy's Western alignment increasingly costly for the PCI; and 2) constraints imposed by the PCI's need to seek alliances with non-Communists, both in Italy and elsewhere in Western Europe. Serious problems lie ahead for Italy's relations with her allies, but these problems would only be exacerbated by an apocalyptic assessment by Western leaders of the PCI's foreign policy line.

scholarly journals Fake News in the Corporate World: A Rising Threat

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 92
Author(s):  
Roberto Adriani
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Financial Markets ◽  
Corporate Reputation ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Fake News ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Basic Approach ◽  
Corporate World ◽  
Good Reputation

Public opinion is used to thinking about fake news as a political phenomenon, a tool used to create dirty propaganda. It is true but it may be only the beginning. The literature is starting to realize that fake news may move from the political arena to the corporate world. If this should happen, fake news would overflow everywhere, making the post-factual society even more real. Fake news may become a dirty tool, used by dishonest companies to strike at their competitors’ reputation. The idea is that, till now, fake news has been used primarily for dirty propaganda and, marginally, to make money through the clickbait. However, since clickbait is a very basic approach, what we can expect is a breakthrough of fake news. From clickbait to much more sophisticated technologies and strategies to beat competitors dishonestly or to influence the global financial markets, for instance. A very dark big idea, in this case. It means that, in a post-factual society, even competition in the corporate world can be affected by fake news, fuelled by the abuse of new powerful technologies (Murgia M. and Kuchler H. 2017). The consequence is usually a decrease in sales and revenues, with a snowball effect. (Gupta S. 2016). Corporate reputation is an intangible as well as valuable asset. What makes it so valuable is that a good reputation can help the company to operate; on the other hand, a sullied reputation makes the company weaker and slower.

scholarly journals Neoliberalism as Corporate Power

2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 315-337
Author(s):  
Terry Hathaway
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Power Structure ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Power ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Policy Area ◽  
Free Markets ◽  
Corporate Power ◽  
The Social

Accounts of neoliberalism have noted, but not fully explored, the neoliberal empowerment of corporations. The corporate power literature, similarly, rarely makes the connection between corporate agents and neoliberalism as a power structure. This article fills the gap between these literatures with a dual contribution. It develops these contributions by first reviewing the neoliberalism literature and in so doing, developing the idea of neoliberalism as a bricolage of practice and ideas. It then discusses the mischaracterization of the corporation within neoliberalism before deconstructing four core policy areas of neoliberalism – deregulation, non-intervention, free markets and free trade. In each policy area it is shown how the practice of these policies has enhanced the social and economic power of major corporations – thereby deepening practice-based accounts of neoliberalism – and how the discourse of these policies has empowered corporations in the political arena – thereby deepening the corporate power literature’s account of how corporations operate powerfully. More generally this article offers a much fuller account of how 40 years of ‘free market’ policies have resulted in the creation of oligopolistic corporate economies.

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