scholarly journals Ethnic antagonism erodes Republicans’ commitment to democracy

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (37) ◽  
pp. 22752-22759 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larry M. Bartels

Most Republicans in a January 2020 survey agreed that “the traditional American way of life is disappearing so fast that we may have to use force to save it.” More than 40% agreed that “a time will come when patriotic Americans have to take the law into their own hands.” (In both cases, most of the rest said they were unsure; only one in four or five disagreed.) I use 127 survey items to measure six potential bases of these and other antidemocratic sentiments: partisan affect, enthusiasm for President Trump, political cynicism, economic conservatism, cultural conservatism, and ethnic antagonism. The strongest predictor by far, for the Republican rank-and-file as a whole and for a variety of subgroups defined by education, locale, sex, and political attitudes, is ethnic antagonism—especially concerns about the political power and claims on government resources of immigrants, African-Americans, and Latinos. The corrosive impact of ethnic antagonism on Republicans’ commitment to democracy underlines the significance of ethnic conflict in contemporary US politics.

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (35) ◽  
pp. 38-51
Author(s):  
Marţian Iovan

Abstract The author analyzes in this paper principles and ides of philosophy of law issued by Mircea Djuvara, which preserve their contemporaneity, being useful for the perfecting of the state institutions and of the democracy not only at national level, but also at European Union one. His ideas and logical demonstration on the rational fundamentals of law, the autonomy of the moral and legal conscience, the specificity of truth and of juridical knowledge, the philosophical substantiation of power and Constitution, the principles of the democracy and the connections between the political power and the law are just few of the original elements due to which Djuvara became an acknowledged and respected personality not only in Romania, but also in the experts clubs of the Europe between the two World Wars.


Author(s):  
Jerzy Tomaszewski

This chapter examines how Richard Skolnik spent many hours taping the recollections of Norman Salsitz, who was born in the small Polish town of Kolbuszowa in 1920. These tapes are the basis of a book on the life and death of the shtetl until 1942. It is one of the most important sources concerning the internal life, social structure, economic conditions, traditions, and slow changes going on between the two world wars in a typical rural Jewish community. Salsitz was born into a traditional, hasidic, relatively rich family. He began early to participate in business life, and his descriptions of economic conditions, including social stratification, are vivid. Significant also are Salsitz's recollections of the political attitudes of both Jews and Poles. The Salsitz family was equally committed to Polish patriotic traditions and the Jewish way of life, but Polish attitudes towards Jews differed substantially from Jewish attitudes towards Poland and Polish identity. Jews felt patriotic towards Poland, but still suffered from some of the antisemitism of their fellow townsfolk.


Author(s):  
David Dyzenhaus

This chapter focuses on Schmitt’s critique of the rule of law in his Constitutional Theory. Schmitt argues that liberalism, which once tied the rule of law to the protection of individual liberty, has deteriorated into an account in which any valid law is considered legitimate just because it is valid. This critique is driven by Schmitt’s conception of politics, and, as his oral argument in a crucial constitutional case of 1932 illustrates, his position affirms that law cannot be more than a mere instrument of political power and that it can stabilize politics only if the political power is exercised to bring about a substantive homogeneity in the population subject to the law. In conclusion, it is suggested that Schmitt points to genuine weaknesses in the liberal tradition that require an elaboration of a secular conception of authority in which principles of legality play a central role.


2016 ◽  
pp. 1207-1221
Author(s):  
Evert Mouw

In the Netherlands, the introduction of a nationwide electronic patient record (EPR) infrastructure was rejected in 2011 after a heated political debate. Such debate is influenced by the political attitudes of politicians and voters, such as their trust in governments. The objective is to explore the relation between political attitudes of individuals and the priority they give to health privacy. The method is from a new survey that was developed; the Health Privacy and Political Attitudes Survey. The survey is as compatible as possible with a few well-known surveys. With 218 respondents enough data was collected for a first explorative study. Little correlations were found between political attitudes and the individual's priorisation of health privacy or their trust in a nationwide EPR. In general, most respondents valued their health privacy highly and trust in a nationwide EPR was low, irrespective of their political affiliation or their political attitudes. One exception were respondents with authoritarian attitudes. Such individuals had, on average, more trust in (government regulated) electronic records. More trust in the law correlates with less fear for problems with the EPR. Interestingly, higher educated and older respondents have, on average, the same level of trust in the EPR as others but are more apt to act when they distrust the system (opt-out). In general, political attitudes and one's trust in electronic patient records (EPRs) are not strongly related, but individuals who score high on authoritarian attitudes and trust in the law are more likely to also trust EPRs. Still, nearly everybody places a high value on health privacy, so EPR providers should be careful in this regard.


1994 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 43-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven A. Peterson ◽  
Albert Somit

This essay explores the effects o f two specific life experiences upon the political attitudes and behavior of older African-Americans as compared with younger African-Americans. The findings that emerge are generally opposite what theory would predict. Poorer health and experiencing traumatic events seem to increase, by direct and indirect routes, the likelihood of African-Americans becoming more active in politics. Possible explanations for the unexpected findings are discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-90
Author(s):  
Issam Khirallah

The paper outlines the interpretation of Sufism formulated by Mohamed Abed Al-Jabri, a contemporary Moroccan philosopher and critic of the Arabic tradition. According to him, Sufism, unknown to Arabic culture until the advent of Islam, originated through a historical conspiracy whereby the Persians attempted to weaken their new Arabic colonisers. Sufism is viewed by him as an evasion and a detachment from life and its problems. It leads its adepts, through the mystical journey, to renounce material life. It plunges its adepts into a way of life where the annihilation of the self in God represents the central value. This annihilation of the self in deity is possible only through the blind obedience of the Seeker (Mureed) to his Master (Sheikh). Therefore, Sufism can only thrive by using tyrannical means. It demands that its adepts, through following a predestined path chosen by God, lose their own volition and freedom in favour of their Master. Breaking the law at the end of the Seeker’s mystical journey reflects, paradoxically, a spiritual accomplishment. Additionally, Sufi orders maintain a congenial relationship with political tyranny. Consequently, I argue, Sufism leads to a loss of human responsibility for oneself and other beings. I also claim that in a post-tyrannical Arabic society, where responsibility for oneself and one’s community should be the centralvalue, Sufi ethics are unable to play a role in the promotion of modern values. For this reason, it should be prevented from shaping the political and social choices of a modern society and constrained to the mystical realm.


2002 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-326
Author(s):  
Ed Morgan

It is the theory of this paper that while the natural analytic tendency is to seek the legal character of terror in the impugned act, it can actually be found only by examining the narrative of the law. As a legal concept, terrorism strikes not at the political power of states or at the safety of individual citizens, but at the law's own stability as law.


2017 ◽  
Vol 110 ◽  
pp. 115-132
Author(s):  
Tadeusz Biernat

BETWEEN POLITICS AND LAW. THE PROBLEM OF “POLITICIZATION” THE CREATION OF LAWThe purpose of this article is to analyze the phenomenon of “politicization” of the law making process. Astrong form of politicization is the political instrumentalization of law when the law is treated as the implementation of particular interests of the political power; when is created in violation of the legality of the law-making activities; when it violates the rights of individuals human rights. The weaker but more common form of politicization the creation of law is related to the violation by apolitical authority, legislative body, additional restrictions imposed on it, which are supposed to guarantee ahigh level quality of the law. Three of the most characteristic limitations will be the basis for analyzing the phenomenon of politicization of law making. They are related to: the legitimization of law-making, the democratization of law-making process, and the standards of legislation that are characteristic of lawmaking in ademocratic state under the rule of law. To some extent, these phenomena are interconnected, one can say that they are involved in shaping the pat­tern of the proper legislation by preventing or reducing the politicization of the lawmaking process and its key decisions.


1978 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward G. Carmines

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence that psychological predisposi tions have on political attitudes. In particular, the study focuses on the linkage between self-esteem and the political attitudes of adolescents. It is hypothesized that adolescents' self-esteem should influence their awareness and comprehension of political stimuli, their level of political cynicism and political efficacy, and their mode of participation in the political process. It is also hypothesized that these relationships will be substantially stronger among those adolescents for whom politics is salient than among those who have little interest in political affairs. The empirical findings are generally congruent with these theoretical expectations. It is concluded that self-esteem has a significant, independent influence on the political attitudes of those adolescents who perceive politics to be a salient aspect of their life-space.


Res Publica ◽  
1975 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 589-618
Author(s):  
Stéphanie Bernard

T he article studies the answers collected for seven questions : four of these deal with the present functioning of the socio-political system ; the three last questions concern the future of the system. One has studied respectively : the attitudes towards the basic values of the consumers' society ; the level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with life in Belgium ; the developments in satisfaction or dissatisfaction during the last four years ; how the various main social categories judge their living conditions ; the attitudes towards an eventual redistribution of national income; the opinions about the probable development of the political system ; those opinions which reveal how one wants the political system to develop. The study of these two last items has allowed to tackle some problems of theoretical interpretation : revolutionary vs. authoritarian risk, dissatisfaction «within the regime» vs. «against the regime», ambivalence of political attitudes, social function of the political power, revolutionary attitudes and rational calculus.


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