Constructing Democratic Thought in Ireland in the Age of Revolution, 1775–1800

2013 ◽  
pp. 149-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ultán Gillen
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Age Of Revolution ◽  
Irish Context ◽  
Democratic Polity ◽  
The Status ◽  
Irish People

During the 1790s, some keen radically to change the status quo in Ireland began to describe themselves as democrats. We can reconstruct what they thought a more democratic polity and society would be like. It would not be subordinated to Britain, but responsive to the aspirations of the Irish people; it would be more equal, not discriminating on religious grounds. Attempts would be made to address structures that inhibited national prosperity and kept many people poor. The terminology was new, but democratic political theory drew on existing traditions: on theories about rights, classical republicanism, Enlightenment ideas about toleration and political economy, and egalitarianism, as well as revolutionary internationalism. These were welded into a political outlook that was shaped by the distinctive Irish context. Democrats pitched what they had to say to relatively poor audiences, and strove to show the relevance of what was happening in France to their situation.

scholarly journals The natural duty of justice in non-ideal circumstances: On the moral demands of institution building and reform

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Valentini
Keyword(s):  
Distributive Justice ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The State ◽  
Response Strategy ◽  
Macro Level ◽  
Institution Building ◽  
Institutional Agents ◽  
High Stakes ◽  
The Status

Principles of distributive justice bind macro-level institutional agents, like the state. But what does justice require in non-ideal circumstances, where institutional agents are unjust or do not exist in the first place? Many answer by invoking Rawls's natural duty ‘to further just arrangements not yet established’, treating it as a ‘normative bridge’ between institutional demands of distributive justice and individual responsibilities in non-ideal circumstances. I argue that this response strategy is unsuccessful. I show that the more unjust the status quo is due to non-compliance, the less demanding the natural duty of justice becomes. I conclude that, in non-ideal circumstances, the bulk of the normative work is done by another natural duty: that of beneficence. This conclusion has significant implications for how we conceptualize our political responsibilities in non-ideal circumstances, and cautions us against the tendency – common in contemporary political theory – to answer all high-stakes normative questions under the rubric of justice.

scholarly journals Transformative Contextual Realism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manon Westphal
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Realist Approach ◽  
Political Theories ◽  
The Status

AbstractRealist political theory is often confronted with the objection that it is biased towards the status quo. Although this criticism overlooks the fact that realist political theories contain various resources for critique, a realist approach that is strong in status quo critique and contributes, constructively, to the theorising of alternatives to the status quo is a desideratum. The article argues that contextual realism, which sources its normativity from particular contexts, harbours an underexploited potential to establish such a form of political theorising. By drawing on ideas and principles that have guided critical engagements with social and political forms in a particular context, and on widely shared views of need for reform, realists can identify deficits of the status quo and contribute to a debate on how these deficits might be addressed. This article describes and illustrates the idea of a transformative contextual realism, and defends it against some potential objections.

Performing Development

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah C. M. Bulloch
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Local Government ◽  
International Development ◽  
Local Development ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Parallel Structures ◽  
The Status ◽  
Political Economy Of Development ◽  
Development Initiatives

This chapter focuses on development as a “civic project.” It explores local symbols of orchestrated community-wide development, including infrastructure, ceremony and signage. The chapter argues that a defining feature of such symbols is a concern with development as a performative display. Tied as they are to clientelist politics, local government-led development initiatives are largely about “branding” both projects and people in their patron’s name, (re)producing webs of utang kabubut-on(debt of obligation), intended to reinforce the status quo. Entangled in this local political economy of development, are international bilateral and multilateral agencies, equipped with the latest international development orthodoxy and a remit to work in “partnership” with the local government. The incommensurability of these approaches is revealed when “partnership” morphs into a system of largely separate and parallel structures for implementing local development.

scholarly journals Hope Abjuring Hope: On the Place of Utopia in Realist Political Theory

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (5) ◽  
pp. 671-697 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Thaler
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Utopian Fiction ◽  
Double Function ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Judith Shklar ◽  
The Relationship

This essay reconstructs the place of utopia in realist political theory, by examining the ways in which the literary genre of critical utopias can productively unsettle ongoing discussions about “how to do political theory.” I start by analyzing two prominent accounts of the relationship between realism and utopia: “real utopia” (Erik Olin Wright et al.) and “dystopic liberalism” (Judith Shklar et al.). Elaborating on Raymond Geuss’s recent reflections, the essay then claims that an engagement with literature can shift the focus of these accounts. Utopian fiction, I maintain, is useful for comprehending what is (thus enhancing our understanding of the world) and for contemplating what might be (thus nurturing the hope for a better future). Ursula K. Le Guin’s novel The Dispossessed deploys this double function in an exemplary fashion: through her dynamic and open-ended portrayal of an Anarchist community, Le Guin succeeds in imagining a utopia that negates the status quo, without striving to construct a perfect society. The book’s radical, yet ambiguous, narrative hence reveals a strategy for locating utopia within realist political theory that moves beyond the positions dominating the current debate. Reading The Dispossessed ultimately demonstrates that realism without utopia is status quo–affirming, while utopia without realism is wishful thinking.

The violence of ideology

2018 ◽  
pp. 137-156
Author(s):  
Anthony Lloyd
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Environmental Harm ◽  
Meaningful Change ◽  
The Status ◽  
Simple Question ◽  
As If

This chapter asks a simple question – if we know the problematic nature of capitalism and its attendant harms and inequalities, why can’t we fix it? The answer lies in an account of ideology which lies in action, not thought – we know there are problems but act as if we do not. The disavowal of problematic working conditions – and other significant issues such as environmental harm, migration and automation – makes it difficult to challenge the status quo and enact meaningful change. The search for human recognition and flourishing is hampered by the progressive search for change within the existing system rather than contemplating a different set of social relations and structures. The chapter concludes with some suggestions for ‘fixing the harms of work’ which centre around the need for social science to reconnect with analysis of political economy and problematise capitalism in a way that demands consideration of alternatives.

scholarly journals More than a sex crime: a feminist political economy of the 2014 iCloud hack

2021 ◽  
pp. 016344372110227
Author(s):  
Stephanie Patrick
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Media Framing ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Media Production ◽  
Traditional Media ◽  
Mainstream Media ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Media ◽  
Feminist Work

This article examines the media framing of and relations to the 2014 iCloud hack, wherein hundreds of female celebrities’ private photos were stolen and distributed online. In particular, I problematize the reading of this event as merely signalling the misogyny of ‘toxic’ online cultures and contextualize it as part of a larger political economy of female celebrity. I argue that, while the growth in feminist discourses emanating from both the mainstream media and celebrity women is encouraging, it perhaps occludes the broader power relations that extend across both new and traditional media, ensuring maintenance of the status quo. This event exemplifies problems with a popular form of feminism that seeks inclusion into these systems, rather than wider systemic change. Therefore, in addition to examining the celebrity and/or her audience as the site of political (feminist) work, I call for an excavation of the systems in which she is embedded and her relations to the means of media production and profit.

The Political Economy of Localism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Ali
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Alternatives ◽  
Critical Regionalism ◽  
Local Media ◽  
The Status ◽  
Policy Windows ◽  
Definition Of

In Chapter 6, the case studies are analyzed through the frameworks of critical regionalism and critical political economy. The first section describes how a political economy of localism has come to exist within media policy discourse. This system favors the status quo over alternatives, tethers local media exclusively to specific places, and impedes our ability to think through ways to bridge the spatial and social divides of localism. The second section reintroduces critical regionalism as an approach that tempers this political economy. The chapter argues that while the political economy of localism works to stifle policy alternatives, there are policy windows – “moments of critical regionalism” – that require our attention. The chapter offers a definition of media localism based on critical regionalism and the case studies.

scholarly journals What’s the Problem with Learning Analytics?

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Selwyn
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Education ◽  
Learning Analytics ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
The Status

This article summarizes some emerging concerns as learning analytics become implemented throughout education. The article takes a sociotechnical perspective — positioning learning analytics as shaped by a range of social, cultural, political, and economic factors. In this manner, various concerns are outlined regarding the propensity of learning analytics to entrench and deepen the status quo, disempower and disenfranchise vulnerable groups, and further subjugate public education to the profit-led machinations of the burgeoning “data economy.” In light of these charges, the article briefly considers some possible areas of change. These include the design of analytics applications that are more open and accessible, that offer genuine control and oversight to users, and that better reflect students’ lived reality. The article also considers ways of rethinking the political economy of the learning analytics industry. Above all, learning analytics researchers need to begin talking more openly about the values and politics of data-driven analytics technologies as they are implemented along mass lines throughout school and university contexts.

scholarly journals Stuck with the car and all its harms? A public health approach to the political economy of the status quo

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex Macmillan ◽  
Katharine Cresswell Riol ◽  
Kirsty Wild
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Public Health Approach ◽  
Mode Shift ◽  
Adequate Knowledge ◽  
Physical Environments ◽  
The Status

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