Feminine Beauty, National Identity and Political Conflict in Postwar Italy, 1945–1954

1999 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 359-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Gundle
Keyword(s):  
Political Leadership ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Consumer Society ◽  
Beauty Contests ◽  
Feminine Beauty ◽  
The Face ◽  
Postwar Italy ◽  
First Time

After 1945 the Italian tradition of feminine beauty was redefined in a democratic context in which women, for the first time, became full citizens. Faced with a far-reaching challenge from Hollywood, traditional criteria of beauty were first strenuously defended and then modified and commercialised. Beauty contests proved to be a vital vehicle in this transition, since they acted both as a forum for the reassertion of Italian beauty and as a vehicle for the displacement of old ideas centred on the face with a new concept based on the eroticised body. This transition became bound up with the ongoing political conflict between Catholics and the left for the moral and political leadership of the country. While both, with different emphases, championed ‘natural’ at the expense of American-style ‘manufactured’ beauty, competition led them to engage with, and in some way adopt, the sexualised beauty that was the hallmark of the role of the United States in furnishing new models for the consumer society that would develop rapidly in the later 1950s.

Democratization in Serbia: An Analysis of Rational Choice and Structuralist Explanations

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dunja Apostolov-Dimitrijevic
Keyword(s):  
Rational Choice ◽  
Path Dependence ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Political Leadership ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
The Other ◽  
Internal Factors ◽  
Transitional Societies ◽  
The Face

This paper explains political democratization in Post-Milosevic Serbia, utilizing two different accounts of the democratization process: one rooted in the rational choice framework and the other in structuralism. While rational choice explains the decisive role of political leadership in overcoming path dependence, the structuralist explanations show the transnational linkages that encourage democratization in the face of domestic setbacks. This particular debate between the two types of explanations represents the larger debate concerning the role of internal factors and external linkages in propelling democratization in transitional societies. The paper concludes by integrating the two sets of explanations offered by each theoretical perspective, in order to develop a coherent understanding of Serbia's democratization.   Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v9i1.240

Planning or Improvisation

2020 ◽  
pp. 116-120
Author(s):  
Alasdair Roberts
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
The United States ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Governance Strategies ◽  
The Face ◽  
Imperfect Knowledge

This chapter assesses the role of planning in the design of governance strategies. Enthusiasm for large-scale planning—also known as overall, comprehensive, long-term, economic, or social planning—boomed and collapsed in twentieth century. At the start of that century, progressive reformers seized on planning as the remedy for the United States' social and economic woes. By the end of the twentieth century, enthusiasm for large-scale planning had collapsed. Plans could be made, but they were unlikely to be obeyed, and even if they were obeyed, they were unlikely to work as predicted. The chapter then explains that leaders should make plans while being realistic about the limits of planning. It is necessary to exercise foresight, set priorities, and design policies that seem likely to accomplish those priorities. Simply by doing this, leaders encourage coordination among individuals and businesses, through conversation about goals and tactics. Neither is imperfect knowledge a total barrier to planning. There is no “law” of unintended consequences: it is not inevitable that government actions will produce entirely unexpected results. The more appropriate stance is modesty about what is known and what can be achieved. Plans that launch big schemes on brittle assumptions are more likely to fail. Plans that proceed more tentatively, that allow room for testing, learning, and adjustment, are less likely to collapse in the face of unexpected results.

scholarly journals The Behavioral Immune System Shapes Political Intuitions: Why and How Individual Differences in Disgust Sensitivity Underlie Opposition to Immigration

2017 ◽  
Vol 111 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
LENE AARØE ◽  
MICHAEL BANG PETERSEN ◽  
KEVIN ARCENEAUX
Keyword(s):  
Immune System ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
The United States ◽  
Behavioral Immune System ◽  
Psychological Mechanisms ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
First Time ◽  
Representative Samples

We present, test, and extend a theoretical framework that connects disgust, a powerful basic human emotion, to political attitudes through psychological mechanisms designed to protect humans from disease. These mechanisms work outside of conscious awareness, and in modern environments, they can motivate individuals to avoid intergroup contact by opposing immigration. We report a meta-analysis of previous tests in the psychological sciences and conduct, for the first time, a series of tests in nationally representative samples collected in the United States and Denmark that integrate the role of disgust and the behavioral immune system into established models of emotional processing and political attitude formation. In doing so, we offer an explanation for why peaceful integration and interaction between ethnic majority and minorities is so hard to achieve.

From Sufism to Universal Vision: Murat Yagan and the Teaching of Kebzeh

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-92
Author(s):  
Chen Bram ◽  
Meir Hatina
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
The United States ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
The West ◽  
Art Of Living ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Caucasus Mountains ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
First Time

This article examines aspects of cultural exchange between the Middle East and the West in which Sufism, Christianity, the traditions of the Circassians and New Age concepts played a central role. It focuses on the teaching of Murat Yagan, of Abkhaz-Circassian origin who grew up in Turkey and immigrated to Canada in the 1960s, where he developed his philosophy, Ahmsta Kebzeh (“the knowledge of the art of living”). The Kebzeh way of life emphasizes modesty, mutual responsibility and compassion. Yagan linked these values to the ancient ethos of the Caucasus Mountains which he sought to revive as the basis of a universal vision. The nature of Kebzeh was influenced by the cosmopolitan environment in which Yagan was educated in Turkey; by his enrollment with Sufi circles in North America; and by the multicultural Canadian atmosphere. These diverse influences enabled him to devise an ecumenical model of dialogue between cultures. The article provides a first-time survey and analysis of Kebzeh ideological and communal features. It sheds new light on the role of ethnicity and cultural heritage in immigrant societies in the context of the evolution of spirituality in Canada, a relatively unexplored milieu in comparison to the United States and Europe.

Notes from the Editors, June 2015

2015 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 2
Author(s):  
The Editors
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
The United States ◽  
Control Mechanisms ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
Back Issue ◽  
Community Resistance ◽  
Corporate Groups ◽  
Monthly Review ◽  
The Face ◽  
First Time

<div class="buynow"><a title="Back issue of Monthly Review, June 2015 (Volume 67, Number 2)" href="http://monthlyreview.org/back-issues/mr-067-02-2015-06/">buy this issue</a></div>In two <em>Monthly Review</em> special issues, "<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.14452/MR-063-03-2011-07" target="_blank"><span class="hyperlink">Education Under Fire: The U.S. Corporate Attack on Students, Teachers, and Schools</span></a>" (July-August 2011) and "<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.14452/MR-065-02-2013-06" target="_blank"><span class="hyperlink">Public School Teachers Fighting Back</span></a>" (June 2013), we sounded an alarm regarding the rapid restructuring and privatization of U.S. K&ndash;12 public schools. In terms of the scale of nationwide restructuring, the corporate takeover of education is unprecedented in modern U.S. history. The closest comparison we can come up with is the destruction of the street car systems across the United States and the building of the interstate highway system&mdash;in which freeways went right through cities for the first time, often in the face of neighborhood and community resistance. With respect to K&ndash;12 education, unimaginable amounts of private funds have gone into pressuring and corrupting government at every level, while the control mechanisms of the new educational system are increasingly left in private, not public, hands. The Common Core Standards and related high-stakes tests are at the center of this new system, and are the product of private corporate groups outside the direct reach of government.<p class="mrlink"><p class="mrpurchaselink"><a href="http://monthlyreview.org/index/volume-67-number-2" title="Vol. 67, No. 2: June 2015" target="_self">Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the <em>Monthly Review</em> website.</a></p>

Ukraine

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serhy Yekelchyk
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Linguistic Differences ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
Contemporary Politics ◽  
The Us ◽  
American Media ◽  
The Face ◽  
Crony Capitalism ◽  
Us Presidential Election

Conventional wisdom dictates that Ukraine’s political crises can be traced to the linguistic differences and divided political loyalties that have long fractured the country. However, this theory obscures the true significance of Ukraine’s recent civic revolution and the conflict’s crucial international dimension. The 2013-14 Ukrainian revolution presented authoritarian powers in Russia with both a democratic and a geopolitical challenge. In reality, political conflict in Ukraine is reflective of global discord, stemming from differing views on state power, civil society, and democracy. Ukraine’s sudden prominence in American politics has compounded an already-widespread misunderstanding of what is actually happening in the nation. In the American media, Ukraine has come to signify an inherently corrupt place, rather than a real country struggling in the face of great challenges. Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know® is an updated edition of Serhy Yekelchyk’s 2015 publication, The Conflict in Ukraine. It addresses Ukraine’s relations with the West, particularly the United States, from the perspective of Ukrainians. The book explains how independent Ukraine fell victim to crony capitalism, how its people rebelled twice in the last two decades in the name of democracy and against corruption, and why Russia reacted so aggressively to the strivings of Ukrainians. Additionally, it looks at what we know about alleged Ukrainian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, the factors behind the stunning electoral victory of the political novice Volodymyr Zelensky, and the ways in which the events leading to the impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump have changed the Russia-Ukraine-US relationship. This volume is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the forces that have shaped contemporary politics in this increasingly important part of Europe, as well as the international background of the impeachment proceedings in the US

scholarly journals Did Social Connection Decline During the First Wave of COVID-19?: The Role of Extraversion

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dunigan Parker Folk ◽  
Karynna Okabe-Miyamoto ◽  
Elizabeth Warren Dunn ◽  
Sonja Lyubomirsky
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Connection ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Face ◽  
Negative Effect

In two pre-registered studies, we tracked changes in individuals’ feelings of social connection during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both studies capitalized on measures of social connection and well-being obtained prior to the COVID-19 pandemic by recruiting the same participants again in the midst of the pandemic’s upending effects. Study 1 included a sample of undergraduates from a Canadian university (N = 467), and Study 2 included community adults primarily from the United States and the United Kingdom (N = 336). Our results suggest that people experienced relatively little change in feelings of social connection in the face of the initial reshaping of their social lives caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Exploratory analyses suggested that relatively extraverted individuals exhibited larger declines in social connection. However, after controlling for levels of social connection prior to the pandemic (as pre-registered), the negative effect of extraversion reversed (Study 1) or disappeared (Study 2).

scholarly journals Recuperar la ciudadanía post-deportación en la frontera México-Estados Unidos

2021 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Gabriela Irina Pinillos Quintero ◽  
Laura Velasco Ortiz
Keyword(s):  
Social Inequalities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Border City ◽  
Mexican State ◽  
Strategic Role ◽  
The Face ◽  
National Affiliation ◽  
Relationship Of

This article aims to analyze the importance of formal citizenship in the reintegration process of people deported from the United States to Mexico. The analysis parts from the case study of deportations to the border city of Tijuana, Baja California, which includes 68 in-depth interviews focused on redocumentation to demonstrate their national affiliation. The main findings show that the condition of documentation plays a strategic role in the processes of re-citizenship in the countries of origin. Upon return by a process of deportation, there is a revitalization of the importance of formal citizenship that seemed outweighed in the face of the multiple forms of affiliation, belonging, and local participation. The role of private and social actors is strategic in the processes of redocumentation and recovery of the relationship of individuals with the State, which also reflects the reproduction of multiple social inequalities between subjects of the Mexican State.

scholarly journals The Retreat of American Bankruptcy Law

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Jay Westbrook
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Bankruptcy Law ◽  
Collection Device ◽  
Consumer Bankruptcy ◽  
First Time ◽  
Reduction Of Costs

In 2005 the United States adopted provisions constraining the bankruptcy ‘fresh start’ for the first time in its history. This paper describes the experience under the 2005 amendments over the decade since their enactment, including the data reported by empirical studies of their effects. It suggests a reappraisal of the goals of consumer bankruptcy law in the 21st century, including the simplification and reduction of costs that would arise from abandoning the idea that bankruptcy law should be used as a collection device for professional creditors in consumer cases. It discusses various possible approaches for a new reform while emphasising the importance of the continuing role of lawyers and courts in the consumer bankruptcy process.  

scholarly journals The Role of Memory and Language in Transformation: Crucial Issues in American Indigenous Poetry

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bayu Kristianto
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Historical Consciousness ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
The Political ◽  
Joy Harjo ◽  
The Face ◽  
Power Of Language ◽  
Indigenous Poetry

The integration of the personal and the political has been an engaging topic in analyses of literary texts by authors whose works are known for their political content and activism, as well as an emphasis on social justice. Literary audiences in the United States have been familiar with Joy Harjo and John Trudell, two well-known contemporary Indigenous poets, who have voiced out the concerns of Indigenous people in the face of colonization and injustice happening in their homeland. Within the fusion of the personal and the political, as well as the mythical, the idea of transformation is paramount for Indigenous authors since to move from the state of being colonized to one of being decolonized, transformation is undoubtedly crucial. This paper focuses on the role of memory and the power of language in the process of transformation in the three poems by Joy Harjo and John Trudell. The analysis uses a qualitative methodology in the form of a close reading of literary texts to uncover the interconnectedness of memory and language in transformation. I argue that Native poets experience personal transformation that is critically influenced by the role of ancestral memory and social and historical consciousness in the broader context of Indigenous people’s struggle and resistance, as well as the power of language to see reality differently and affect its change. The analysis is intended to show to what extent the concepts of memory and language are critical in the process of decolonization and the manners in which these texts can be empowering for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences in response to forms of injustice through the integration of the personal, the political, and the mythical.

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