The Primacy of Economics versus the Primacy of Politics: Understanding the Ideological Dynamics of the Twentieth Century

2009 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 561-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheri Berman
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
New Era ◽  
Current Economic Crisis ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
The World

The current economic crisis has once again bought debates about capitalism and globalization to the forefront of the political agenda. Until very recently almost everyone seemed to be convinced that the world was at the dawn of a new era. Yet, the issue at the heart of globalization debates—whether political forces can dominate economic ones or must bow before them—is not new at all. I show that many of the great ideological and political battles of the last century were fought over precisely this ground, and argue that because we have forgotten or misunderstood these earlier debates our current discourse is thin and impoverished. To understand where we are and where we are going, we have to first step back and look closely at where we have been.

Eric Hobsbawm, un maestro e un amico

2013 ◽  
pp. 5-12
Author(s):  
Aldo Agosti
Keyword(s):  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Current Economic Crisis ◽  
The World ◽  
Complex Events ◽  
Political Right

There are many reasons why Eric Hobsbawm has become arguably the most respected historian in the world, recognised if not endorsed on the political right as well as on the left, and one of the few historians of any era to enjoy genuine national and world renown. He was unrivalled both in his knowledge of historic detail and in his extraordinary powers of synthesis, and endowed with an uncommon facility of expression, a lively style and an ability to synthesize complex events, that made his works known in wide circles of non-specialists. At the same time, his widening fame as a historian was accompanied by a growing reputation as a sharp commentator of his times. Till the end he has been remained loyal to a critical but uncompromising interpretation of Marxism, which he used to read the developments of the current economic crisis. One of the first to have discovered Gramsci outside Italy, from the 1970s onward Hobsbawm, who never refused his imprint as an antifascist turned into a Communist, claimed to have become a "spiritual member" of the Italian Communist Party. His influence on the renewal of historical studies in Italy has been remarkable, and left an important mark also in «Passato e presente».

On Metaphysics and the Political: A Polemics of Reading Baudelaire in the 1930s

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-259
Author(s):  
Joseph Acquisto
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Modern Poetry ◽  
Progressive Politics ◽  
The World ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Insight Into

This essay examines a polemic between two Baudelaire critics of the 1930s, Jean Cassou and Benjamin Fondane, which centered on the relationship of poetry to progressive politics and metaphysics. I argue that a return to Baudelaire's poetry can yield insight into what seems like an impasse in Cassou and Fondane. Baudelaire provides the possibility of realigning metaphysics and politics so that poetry has the potential to become the space in which we can begin to think the two of them together, as opposed to seeing them in unresolvable tension. Or rather, the tension that Baudelaire animates between the two allows us a new way of thinking about the role of esthetics in moments of political crisis. We can in some ways see Baudelaire as responding, avant la lettre, to two of his early twentieth-century readers who correctly perceived his work as the space that breathes a new urgency into the questions of how modern poetry relates to the world from which it springs and in which it intervenes.

“There is such a situation that Comrade Svoboda is under pressure”. The Soviet leadership and the settlement of relations with Czechoslovakia. May 1969

2019 ◽  
pp. 512-519
Author(s):  
Teymur Dzhalilov ◽  
Nikita Pivovarov
Keyword(s):  
Central Committee ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
Soviet Leadership ◽  
Policy Issues ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common

The published document is a part of the working record of The Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee on May 5, 1969. The employees of The Common Department of the CPSU Central Committee started writing such working records from the end of 1965. In contrast to the protocols, the working notes include speeches of the secretaries of the Central Committee, that allow to deeper analyze the reactions of the top party leadership, to understand their position regarding the political agenda. The peculiarity of the published document is that the Secretariat of the Central Committee did not deal with the most important foreign policy issues. It was the responsibility of the Politburo. However, it was at a meeting of the Secretariat of the Central Committee when Brezhnev raised the question of inviting G. Husák to Moscow. The latter replaced A. Dubček as the first Secretary of the Communist party of Czechoslovakia in April 1969. As follows from the document, Leonid Brezhnev tried to solve this issue at a meeting of the Politburo, but failed. However, even at the Secretariat of the Central Committee the Leonid Brezhnev’s initiative at the invitation of G. Husák was not supported. The published document reveals to us not only new facets in the mechanisms of decision-making in the CPSU Central Committee, the role of the Secretary General in this process, but also reflects the acute discussions within the Soviet government about the future of the world socialist systems.

A Study of Political Discourses in Egypt Post-Mubarak Era

2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110491
Author(s):  
Abbas Keshavarz Shokri ◽  
Jabbar Shojaei
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Target Groups ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Groups ◽  
Made In

The collapse of the Mubarak regime on 25 January 2011 marked the beginning of profound discursive challenges in Egypt. Following the January Revolution, the political forces and discourses long suppressed by Mubarak finally felt free to participate in the political struggles of the time, and attempted to lead the charge in the rebuilding and reorganizing process of Egyptian society. To shed light on the origin and characteristics of these discourses, attempts have been made in this paper to explain through discourse analysis the four major political discourses in today’s Egypt: democratic Islamism, authoritarian Islamism, secular democracy, and secular authoritarianism, and also to identify the political groups representing each discourse, their target groups, the method of their argumentation, and finally their proposed political agenda. To explain these discourses, the a posteriori discourse method is used, i.e. identifying the history of the formation of components and features of discourses. To this end, the discourse analysis of theorists such as Foucault and Van Dyke has been used to examine political discourses in Egypt. The factors used to examine the discourses are: discourse producers, discourse audiences, discourse content, and discourse actions.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
William Ghosh
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Intellectual History ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
The Political ◽  
The World ◽  
Colonial Experience ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
Historical Past

V.S. Naipaul is one of the most internationally acclaimed twentieth-century writers from the Caribbean region. Yet it is usually assumed that he was neither much influenced by the Caribbean literary and intellectual tradition, nor very influential upon it. This chapter argues that these assumptions are wrong. It situates Naipaul’s life and work within the political, social, and intellectual history of the twentieth-century Caribbean. Naipaul’s work formed part of a larger historical debate about the sociology of slavery in the Caribbean, the specificity of Caribbean colonial experience, and the influence of that historical past on Caribbean life, culture, and politics after independence. The chapter closes with a reading of Naipaul’s late, retrospective book about Trinidad, A Way in the World.

scholarly journals Endogenous Direct Democracy: The Case of Mexico

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 200-218
Author(s):  
Juve J. Cortés
Keyword(s):  
Direct Democracy ◽  
Process Tracing ◽  
The Political ◽  
Government Structure ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
The World ◽  
New Policies ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Do So

Direct democracy (DD) – including initiatives and referendums – is increasingly used by citizens and governments to establish new policies around the world. Although framed as a tool that benefits citizens, it is also common for government actors, including parties, to utilise DD in initiating and pushing through new policies. To explain this puzzling development, existing research examines the regulative design of DD. Going a step further, this article explains how the design of DD originates. Using process tracing methodology, I examine the case of Mexico – the most recent adopter of DD in 2014 – and illustrate how, when, and how DD can be used and modified. I argue that DD is endogenous: we cannot conceive of it independently of the political forces that generated it. Other prominent cases, such as Uruguay, suggest that DD was adopted to pursue party goals or to shape a particular government structure. Legislatures certainly provide the masses the option of engaging in DD but they do so on their own terms.

Continuity and Change in the Belfast Press, 1900–1994

2020 ◽  
pp. 377-395
Author(s):  
Nora Moroney ◽  
Stephen O’Neill
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
National Library ◽  
News Letter ◽  
Irish History ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation

This chapter examines the political and textual transformations of the Belfast Telegraph, the Irish News, and the Belfast News Letter in the twentieth century. It discusses the creation and expression of separate forms of national and editorial identities in regard to the northern Unionist-leaning Telegraph and News Letter, and the nationalist Irish News. All three would eventually be transformed by their reportage of the World War, and the later Troubles. Describing the enduring popularity of all three papers as platforms for political expressions across the spectrum of twentieth century Irish history and politics, it argues that their longevity speaks to the success of their readjustments during these tumultuous years. Drawing on archives in the National Library of Ireland and the Belfast Central Library, the chapter includes case studies focusing on how each paper reported the failure of the Boundary Commission in 1925, the Belfast Blitz in 1941, and the IRA Ceasefire in 1994.

scholarly journals “No one may starve in the British Empire”: Kwashiorkor, Protein and the Politics of Nutrition Between Britain and Africa

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Nott
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
British Empire ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
The Political ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Economic Underdevelopment ◽  
Natural Result ◽  
Colonial Government ◽  
Political Value

Summary Throughout the twentieth century it was widely assumed that African diets were grossly deficient in protein, that childhood protein deficiency was a natural result of this generalised diet and that a relative lack of meat and milk went some way to explaining African economic underdevelopment. This article explores why these conclusions took hold; the European deification of animal protein in previous centuries; structural changes to African diets and food economies under colonial government; and the political value of such a consensus. Unlike elsewhere in the world, where deficiency was removed from the exceptionalism of tropical medicine, protein malnutrition was constructed as a particularly African concern. Focusing this discussion on the history of the severe childhood deficiency, kwashiorkor, this article explores how the politically informed othering of African nutrition came to direct, or misdirect, the medicine of malnutrition in twentieth-century Africa.

The contextualist function: US newspaper journalists value social responsibility

Journalism ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 1657-1675 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen McIntyre ◽  
Nicole Smith Dahmen ◽  
Jesse Abdenour
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Professional Roles ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Female Journalists ◽  
The World ◽  
Solutions Journalism ◽  
Constructive Journalism

A survey ( N = 1318) evaluated US newspaper journalists’ attitudes toward c ontextual reporting – stories that go beyond the immediacy of the news and contribute to societal well-being. Results indicated that journalists highly value professional roles associated with contextual reporting. Responses revealed new journalistic role functions, including the ‘Contextualist’, who placed high value on being socially responsible and accurately portraying the world. Analyses showed that younger journalists and female journalists highly valued three genres of contextual reporting: constructive journalism, solutions journalism, and restorative narrative. Additionally, a journalist’s belief in activist values such as setting the political agenda and pointing to possible solutions predicted more favorable views of all three forms of contextual journalism, while belief in an adversarial attitude predicted less favorable views of restorative narrative.

Collaboration, confrontation, and controversy: the politics of monument restoration in Georgia and the case of Bagrati Cathedral

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 669-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Long
Keyword(s):  
Architectural History ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Sharp Focus ◽  
World Heritage List ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Preservation And Restoration

This paper examines the history of the restoration, or more accurately, reconstruction of Bagrati Cathedral in western Georgia. Constructed in 1003, Bagrati Cathedral is an important cultural monument in the political and architectural history of Georgia. Destroyed by an explosion in 1691, the cathedral was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1994 in its ruined state. However, the Georgian government under President Mikheil Saakashvili and Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC) officials made the reconstruction and reconsecration of the cathedral a priority. The reconstruction of Bagrati Cathedral, completed in September 2012, brought the differing aims of Georgian politicians, GOC officials, and architectural historians – the major players in the process – into sharp focus. This paper maintains that the rebuilding of Bagrati Cathedral was part of Saakashvili's political agenda, which merged with the interests of the GOC and worked against the objectives of architectural historians and the aims of academic principles of restoration and preservation. The result is that Bagrati has been rebuilt but is under threat of removal from the World Heritage List. The story of Bagrati's reconstruction has implications for the future of monument preservation and restoration in Georgia.

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