Gandhi for Today

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Dallmayr
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
Western World ◽  
Mahatma Gandhi ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Democratic Equality ◽  
Philosophy Of Liberation ◽  
Self Rule ◽  
To Come ◽  
Center Periphery

The chapter shifts the focus from East Asia to India’s struggle for independence and democracy, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi. In many ways, Gandhi’s example provided inspiration for later emancipatory movements in the non-Western world. Seen from this angle, Gandhi’s political agenda can be described as a “philosophy of liberation” that (as in Dussel’s case) seeks to transcend the “center-periphery” paradigm in the direction of a “transmodern” democratic equality. The latter idea was captured in Gandhi’s notion of “self-rule” (swaraj), a notion that—far removed from autocracy—implies the ability to rule over oneself, thus making room for the practice of relational care and respect. This practice was also the cornerstone of two other key notions of Gandhi’s work: nonviolence (ahimsa) and striving for justice (satyagraha). These features lift Gandhian democracy far above the procedural minimalism of liberal self-interest, bringing into view the potentiality of a democracy “to come.”

US and Russian policies and strategies in the Middle East: Iraq and Syria as a model

2019 ◽  
pp. 220
Author(s):  
Esraa Aladdin Noori ◽  
Nasser Zain AlAbidine Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
Western World ◽  
International Conflicts ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
The North ◽  
East Region ◽  
Middle East Region

The Russian-American relations have undergone many stages of conflict and competition over cooperation that have left their mark on the international balance of power in the Middle East. The Iraqi and Syrian crises are a detailed development in the Middle East region. The Middle East region has allowed some regional and international conflicts to intensify, with the expansion of the geopolitical circle, which, if applied strategically to the Middle East region, covers the area between Afghanistan and East Asia, From the north to the Maghreb to the west and to the Sudan and the Greater Sahara to the south, its strategic importance will seem clear. It is the main lifeline of the Western world.

scholarly journals Axiologically dominant concept „Egocentrism” in the French phraseological picture of the world

2020 ◽  
pp. 86-95
Author(s):  
L. V. Shapovalova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Self Esteem ◽  
Life Goals ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Linguistic Research ◽  
Life Evaluation ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The World ◽  
To Come

The article deals with the basis of atropocentric cognitive-communicative paradigm of linguistic research, which developed in the XXI century; the most frequently used French phraseological units are analyzed in order to single out the axiologically dominant concept of the French phraseological picture of the world objectified in them and to build its model.Based on the study, it was found that the axiological dominant concept of the French phraseological picture of the world is the frame „Egocentrism”.The selected phraseological units are divided into groups that represent slots in the structure of the frame "Egocentrism". Each slot features individual elements of meaning, illustrated with idioms, that verbalize them.The isolated idioms convey such components of the meaning of the concept „Egocentrism” as the existence of their own rules of life, evaluation of something by its own rules, different ways of evaluating the same, self-interest, pretentiousness, behavior or opinion based on self-interest contempt for enemies, selfishness, independence of judgment, confidence in their own beliefs, their own way, subjectivity of judgments, firmness in their own position, pride, life goals and priorities, inflated self-esteem about themselves and their nation. All of the selected idioms have an assessment or evaluation in their meaning or represent an action based on their own needs, interests, priorities, selfishness, self-confidence, pride or other manifestations of their own ego, which actualizes their value aspect.An analysis of about 1,550 of the most commonly used French idioms allows us to come to conclusions about the hierarchy of axiologically dominant concepts in the French phraseological picture of the world and about the content and structure of the frame “Egocentrism” based on phraseological units that represent it.

Conclusions, Responses to Objections, and Scholarly Recommendations

2019 ◽  
pp. 240-256
Author(s):  
Michael C. Desch
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Real World ◽  
Vested Interest ◽  
Science Methods ◽  
Intellectual Culture ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Science Methods ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
To Come ◽  
Policy Problems

This concluding chapter evaluates the increasing tendency of many social scientists to embrace methods and models for their own sake rather than because they can help people answer substantively important questions. This inclination is in part the result of the otherwise normal and productive workings of science but is also reinforced by less positive factors such as organizational self-interest and intellectual culture. As a result of the latter, many political scientists have committed themselves to particular social science methods not so much because they believe they will illuminate real-world policy problems but because they serve a vested interest in disciplinary autonomy and dovetail with a particular image of what a “science” of politics should look like. In other words, the professionalization of social science is the root of the enduring relevance question. The chapter then offers some concrete suggestions for how to reestablish the balance between rigor and relevance in the years to come.

Conclusion

Never Trump ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 240-248
Author(s):  
Robert P. Saldin ◽  
Steven M. Teles
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Western World ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
New Era ◽  
Professional Interest ◽  
The Future ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Right

This concluding chapter highlights how the Republican Party has been substantially transformed by the experience of having Donald Trump at its head. The president's reelection in 2020 would only deepen that transformation. Deep sociological forces—in particular, a Republican Party base that is increasingly white, working class, Christian, less formally educated, and older—will lead the party to go where its voters are. What Trump started, his Republican successors will finish. Just as parties of the right across the Western world have become more populist and nationalist, so will the Republicans. That, of course, bodes poorly for most of the Never Trumpers, who combined a deep distaste for Trump personally with a professional interest in a less populist governing style and a disinclination to see their party go ideologically where he wanted to take it. Ultimately, the future is unwritten because it will be shaped by the choices of individuals. Never Trump will have failed comprehensively in its founding mission, which was to prevent the poison of Donald Trump from entering the nation's political bloodstream. However, it is likely to be seen, in decades to come, as the first foray into a new era of American politics.

Gift-giving as a Source of International Authority

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorg Kustermans
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
East Asia ◽  
Causal Relation ◽  
External Source ◽  
Gift Exchange ◽  
Ritual Practice ◽  
Gift Giving ◽  
International Authority ◽  
To Come ◽  
Dominant Actor

Abstract This article discusses the diplomatic practice of gift-giving in the Ancient Near East and Early Modern East Asia. In both cases, gift-exchange served to consolidate the dominant polity’s international authority. The causal relation between gift-giving and authority is typically rendered in terms of generosity inspiring gratitude, but a different mechanism connects diplomatic gift-giving and the consolidation of international authority. Diplomatic gift-giving is a ceremonial form of gift-exchange and it as a ritual practice helps maintain international authority. By means of ritualization, diplomatic gift-exchange renders international authority palatable. Ritualization enables both dominant and subordinate actors to come to terms with the ambiguity of the experience of authority. Subordinate actors are at once entranced and frightened by the authority of the dominant actor. The dominant actor feels both pride and insecurity. By defining an identity as participants in a shared ritual, by orchestrating their demeanor during ritual, and by identifying an external source of the dominant actor’s authority, diplomatic gift-giving contributes to the maintenance of international authority. The ambiguity of the experience of authority is probably irreducible. It is therefore to be expected that any case of ‘international authority’ will feature the performance of similar ritualizing practices.

Gandhi, Freedom, and Self-Rule. Edited by Anthony J. Parel. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2000. 164p. $70.00 cloth, $23.95 paper.

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (4) ◽  
pp. 810-811
Author(s):  
Pratap B. Mehta
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Initial Orientation ◽  
Political Freedom ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Mahatma Gandhi ◽  
Self Rule ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Spiritual Freedom

The life and thought of Mahatma Gandhi continues to be a reproach to ideologies and dispositions that produced the horrors of the twentieth century. But his complex legacy suffers from a paradox. His ideas appear to be both necessary and improbable at the same time. To many, Gandhi's thought becomes even more relevant in a context in which the vision of modernity that he critiqued so powerfully has triumphed, the violence that he stood against has become an ineliminable feature of political life, and the practice of freedom has come to be dissociated from the exercise of virtue. But the very same historical momentum that inspires the authors in this volume to turn to Gandhi also seems to make Gandhi an even more distant and unlikely figure for our times. This volume, a product of sincere and careful scholarship, is largely an effort to keep Gandhi's thought alive. It focuses on the central category of Gandhian thought, swaraj (self-rule). Anthony Parel's essay usefully distinguishes between four meanings of freedom for Gandhi: freedom as national independence, freedom as freedom from poverty, political freedom for the individual, and freedom as the capacity for self-rule or spiritual freedom. This typology will provide a helpful initial orientation to readers unfamiliar with Gandhi's thought.

Two Appeals by the International Committee: For the Victims of the Conflict in South-East Asia - For the Benefit of Victims of the Events in Ceylon

1971 ◽  
Vol 11 (124) ◽  
pp. 375-379
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
South East Asia ◽  
The Past ◽  
To Come ◽  
General Appeal

On 25 May 1971, the International Committee launched the following appeal to National Red Cross Societies:During the past few years, several appeals have been made for assistance to the various countries affected by the war in South-East Asia: Laos—January 1968; Vietnam—February 1968; Laos—April 1970; Cambodia—June 1970. In view of the permanent state of war which exists throughout Indochina, and in view of the infinite suffering resulting therefrom, the International Committee of the Red Cross is today making a general appeal to the generosity of National Societies, calling on them to come to the aid of all the victims of the conflict, regardless of political or ideological affinities.

Bibliographic Article: Baltic Émigré Publishing and Scholarship in the Western World

1988 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-241
Author(s):  
David Crowe
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
Western World ◽  
Ethnic Communities ◽  
World War ◽  
The West ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
History Of ◽  
To Come

The Soviet absorption of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania during World War II caused hundreds of thousands of Baltic immigrants to come to the West, where they established strong, viable ethnic communities, often in league with groups that had left the region earlier. At first, Baltic publishing and publications centered almost exclusively on nationalistic themes that decried the loss of Baltic independence and attacked the Soviet Union for its role in this matter. In time, however, serious scholarship began to replace some of the passionate outpourings, and a strong, academic field of Baltic scholarship emerged in the West that dealt with all aspects of Baltic history, politics, culture, language, and other matters, regardless of its political or nationalistic implications. Over the past sixteen years, these efforts have produced a new body of Baltic publishing that has revived a strong interest in Baltic studies and has insured that regardless of the continued Soviet-domination of the region, the study of the culture and history of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania will remain a set fixture in Western scholarship on Eastern Europe.

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