Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka and Sinhalese Perspectives: Barriers to Accommodation

1978 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Roberts
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Theoretical Foundation ◽  
Common Law ◽  
State Building ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Europe

It is widely recognized that the concepts of ‘state’ and ‘nation’ developed largely out of the history of Europe. In Western Europe the process of state-building preceded and assisted the process of nation-formation. In consequence, the concept of the nation that developed from this process focused on the political community as defined by the institutional and territorial framework. In the tradition of Rousseau, Abbé Sieyes could define a nation as ‘a body of associates living under one common law and represented by the same legislature’. In most lands of Western Europe these developments also produced the model of a single nationality nation or nation-state. In Central and Eastern Europe the process was different: ‘the nation was first defined as a cultural rather than a political entity’ and the underlying theoretical foundation was in the tradition of Herder rather than Rousseau Nevertheless, once nationhood had been achieved in these regions there was a tendency to approximate to the model associated with Western Europe. This was made all the easier in such states as Italy and Germany because the majority of their citizens were from one ethnic group; they, too, were single nationality nations. Whatever the dualisms and amalgams in Europe, the export model has been that associated with that of Western Europe—for the simple reason that the predominant colonizing powers were from this part of the Continent.

scholarly journals Some Information About The History Of The Formation Of Historical-Geographical Views About Central Asia In Europe

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (9) ◽  
pp. 250-253
Author(s):  
A.A.Erkuziev
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cultural Relations ◽  
Trade Routes ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Political Economic

Central Asia has played an important role in the political, economic and cultural relations of different nations and countries since ancient times as one of the centers of the world civilization. The Great Silk Road, which passed through this region, brought together the countries on the trade routes, the peoples living in them, and served to spread information about their traditions, lifestyles, location, historical events. These data, in turn, brought different peoples closer and served as the basis for the establishment of mutual economic and cultural relationships between them. One of the important scientific issues here is the study of the spread of information about the Central Asian region, where most of the Great Silk Road passed, to Western Europe through other countries.

Conclusion—Rousseau’s paradox

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duncan Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
History Of Political Thought ◽  
Social Democrat ◽  
The Social ◽  
Adequate Understanding ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter binds the book together, recapitulating its general argument, and offering pointers as to how the study relates to some contemporary questions of political theory. It suggests that a classification that distinguishes between Weber the ‘liberal’, Schmitt the ‘conservative’ and Neumann the ‘social democrat’, cannot provide an adequate understanding of this episode in the history of political thought. Nor indeed can it do so for other periods. In this book, one part of the development of their ideas has focused on the relationship between state and politics. By learning from their examples, people continue their own search for an acceptable balance between the freedom of the individual and the claims of the political community.

Constitutional Revolutions and State Formations in Comparison

2019 ◽  
pp. 67-89
Author(s):  
Nader Sohrabi
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Ottoman Empire ◽  
Political Development ◽  
State Building ◽  
The Political ◽  
Building Projects ◽  
History Of ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Modern Turkey ◽  
Constitutional Revolution

The history of both modern Turkey and modern Iran have often been told through their founding figures, Atatürk and Reza Shah, whose state-building projects are often assumed to have been similar. This chapter compares the Young Turk Revolution in the Ottoman Empire of 1908 with the Constitutional Revolution in Iran in 1906 to point to both similarities and differences in the trajectories of these two countries in the early twentieth century. Both revolutions, it is argued, were foundational moments for the political development and processes of each country and are key to understanding the context in which Atatürk and Reza Shah emerged.

Beyond the Nation-State

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dmitry Shumsky
Keyword(s):  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Jewish State ◽  
Zionist Movement ◽  
Theodor Herzl ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
State Of Israel

The Jewish nation-state has often been thought of as Zionism's end goal. This bracing history of the idea of the Jewish state in modern Zionism, from its beginnings in the late nineteenth century until the establishment of the state of Israel, challenges this deeply rooted assumption. In doing so, the book complicates the narrative of the Zionist quest for full sovereignty, provocatively showing how and why the leaders of the pre-state Zionist movement imagined, articulated, and promoted theories of self-determination in Palestine either as part of a multinational Ottoman state (1882–1917), or in the framework of multinational democracy. In particular, the book focuses on the writings and policies of five key Zionist leaders from the Habsburg and Russian empires in central and eastern Europe in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries: Leon Pinsker, Theodor Herzl, Ahad Ha'am, Ze'ev Jabotinsky, and David Ben-Gurion to offer a very pointed critique of Zionist historiography.

scholarly journals LANGUAGES OF FREEDOM IN DECOLONISING AFRICAThe Gladstone Prize Winner

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 253-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Hunter
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Political Thinking ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Before And After ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual

ABSTRACTThe ‘triumph of liberalism’ in the mid-twentieth-century west is well known and much studied. But what has it meant for the way the decolonisation of Africa has been viewed, both at the time and since? In this paper, I suggest that it has quietly but effectively shaped our understanding of African political thinking in the 1950s to 1960s. Although the nationalist framing that once led historians to neglect those aspects of the political thinking of the period which did not move in the direction of a territorial nation-state has now been challenged, we still struggle with those aspects of political thinking that were, for instance, suspicious of a focus on the individual and profoundly opposed to egalitarian visions of a post-colonial future. I argue that to understand better the history of decolonisation in the African continent, both before and after independence, while also enabling comparative work with other times and places, we need to think more carefully and sensitively about how freedom and equality were understood and argued over in local contexts.

Multiculturalism in the Age of Terror: Confronting the Challenges

2007 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gurpreet Mahajan
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Liberal Democracies ◽  
Question Mark ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Clout ◽  
Cultural Legacies ◽  
Europe Today

Multiculturalism appears to be under siege in Western liberal democracies. The encounter with organised terrorism has placed a question mark against the multicultural wisdom of recognising and accommodating cultural differences in the public arena. As concerns of national security dominate the post-9/11 world, distinctions between ‘us’ and ‘them’ are surfacing in a way that has prompted some to say that the present war on terror is actually a war on Islam. Will the multicultural ethic survive in this environment? Will states be willing to accommodate cultural diversity and live with the presence of visible differences? The article explores these questions through the lens of India. India has been battling with terrorism for more than a decade now. While this has severely strained the capacity of the political community to nurture multiculturalism, it has successfully resisted the challenges posed by an assertive cultural/religious majoritarianism that surfaced in the shadow of terrorism. India has dealt with the schisms produced by terrorism by drawing upon the collective imaginary and past cultural legacies that ensued from its understanding of a ‘situated self’. This was supplemented by a functioning democracy in which significant minorities were able to shape the electoral fate of political parties and reduce the political clout of those who were insensitive to their concerns. The multicultural ethic is far from secure in India, yet it does not, and has not, faced the problems that confront multiculturalism in Western Europe today. The issues before European democracies may have been accentuated by terrorism but they are linked closely to the liberal notion of tolerance. Does a notion of the ‘situated self’ that informs tolerance in India offer a viable alternative? We cannot expect any political community to erase its historically defined identity, yet a reflection on other ways of thinking and living may assuage some of our anxieties and open us to the possibility of redefining our understanding of differences.

The Grandeur of Biopolitical Science

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 500-503
Author(s):  
Larry Arnhart
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Emancipation Proclamation ◽  
History Of

John Hibbing's essay is a persuasive defense of biopolitical research. I argue, however, that Hibbing does not go far enough in recognizing the broad vision of biopolitical science as a science of political animals. We need to see this as a science that moves through three levels of deep history: the natural history of the political species, the cultural history of a political community, and the biographical history of political actors in a community. I illustrate this by discussing Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation at these three levels of biopolitical science.

scholarly journals Państwo polsko-litewskie europejskim mocarstwem. Uwarunkowania ustrojowo-społeczne

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 144-161
Author(s):  
Jerzy Juchnowski ◽  
Agnieszka Pieróg
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Political System ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Peripheral Region ◽  
The Political ◽  
Regional Power ◽  
The West ◽  
Political Bargaining ◽  
Strong Position

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as a European power:  The system and social factors Central and Eastern Europe is viewed by the West as a peripheral region which is the object of political bargaining among different powerful countries. However, the Poland of the Jagiellonian era deserves the name of a regional power. The Polish-Lithuanian Federation constituted the basis for the system which was republican and monarchical at the same time and which was unusual in Western Europe. From the 14th to the 16th century, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was working towards its strong position in the region. In relations with the Vatican, Poland maintained its extensive autonomy. It was the 17th century that brought the regress which resulted from the evolution of the political system in the direction of noblemen’s oligarchy.

scholarly journals Violence and Democracy in Colombia The Conviviality of Citizenship Defects in Colombia’s Nation-State

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Boesten
Keyword(s):  
State Building ◽  
Analytical Tool ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Normative Claim ◽  
The Real ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
History Of ◽  
History Of Violence ◽  
Normative Content ◽  
Better Than

This essay aims to utilize the concept of conviviality for connecting the coexistence of seemingly contradictory phenomena in Colombia. It argues that while conviviality implies a normative content – a society in which members do not slaughter each other is better than one in which members resort to violence – the meekness of that normative claim suggests that it is better used as an analytical tool that seeks to connect the contradictions that coexist in the real lifeworld. Colombia’s history of violence and democracy is such a contradictory case. Comparativists have situated Colombia’s deficits on the “extra-institutional playing field”, lamenting that it is a “besieged” or “threatened democracy”. Conviviality helps us to specify these “extra-institutional” defects by suggesting impediments exogenous and endogenous to the state-building logic of the Colombian nation-state.

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