The Limits of Democracy: Ireland 1778–1848

2013 ◽  
pp. 174-188
Author(s):  
Sean Connolly
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
Rural Society ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
Democratic Tradition ◽  
Mixed Constitution

Though ideas of democracy had considerable currency in Ireland, to understand of the longer-term development of this political culture their specificity needs stressing. United Irish leaders aimed chiefly to harness ordinary people for national liberation. O’Connell's mobilisations equally represented a tactical choice – about how best to promote the cause of Ireland, now understood in strongly Catholic terms. O’Connell's political vision involved some form of mixed constitution; Young Irelanders were still vaguer about the form of polity they hoped to create. The ability of a variety of leaders to mobilise a largely poor rural society is notable; this was a society whose poorer members were often assertive about their own interests, therefore representing both danger and potential to their social superiors. Such as it was, the Irish democratic tradition faltered after 1848: a local politics of clientelism and coercion reasserted itself. Subsequent mobilisations continued to emphasise nationalism over individual rights.

scholarly journals THE PROTECTION OF THE RICH AGAINST THE POOR: THE POLITICS OF ADAM SMITH’S POLITICAL ECONOMY

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-158
Author(s):  
James A. Harris
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
General Attitude ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Natural Forms ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Point Of Departure

AbstractMy point of departure in this essay is Smith’s definition of government. “Civil government,” he writes, “so far as it is instituted for the security of property, is in reality instituted for the defence of the rich against the poor, or of those who have some property against those who have none at all.” First I unpack Smith’s definition of government as the protection of the rich against the poor. I argue that, on Smith’s view, this is always part of what government is for. I then turn to the question of what, according to Smith, our governors can do to protect the wealth of the rich from the resentment of the poor. I consider, and reject, the idea that Smith might conceive of education as a means of alleviating the resentment of the poor at their poverty. I then describe how, in his lectures on jurisprudence, Smith refines and develops Hume’s taxonomy of the opinions upon which all government rests. The sense of allegiance to government, according to Smith, is shaped by instinctive deference to natural forms of authority as well as by rational, Whiggish considerations of utility. I argue that it is the principle of authority that provides the feelings of loyalty upon which government chiefly rests. It follows, I suggest, that to the extent that Smith looked to government to protect the property of the rich against the poor, and thereby to maintain the peace and stability of society at large, he cannot have sought to lessen the hold on ordinary people of natural sentiments of deference. In addition, I consider the implications of Smith’s theory of government for the question of his general attitude toward poverty. I argue against the view that Smith has recognizably “liberal,” progressive views of how the poor should be treated. Instead, I locate Smith in the political culture of the Whiggism of his day.

Swedish Rural Society and Political Culture: The Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Experience

Rural History ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Aronsson
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Rural Society ◽  
Final Decision ◽  
The Third ◽  
Legal Foundation ◽  
Local Parish ◽  
The Church

In 1776, baron Salomon von Otter, governor of the neighbouring county of Halland and jus patronatus of the local parish, stood opposite the men of Öja parish at a meeting outside the church. The powerful nobleman was for the third time arguing for the praiseworthy and legally required task of building a combined school and poor-house in cooperation with the neighbouring parish (where he happened to own most of the land). The peasants of Ö for a third time refused, both in writing and orally, on the grounds of their alleged right to self-government. The baron continued with his persuasions, and presented the support he had from the local nobility, among them the bishop. He was still met with a firm refusal. Eventually the baron ordered that they should build the house, referring (probably without much legal foundation) to his position as jus patronatus. Now everybody surrendered, except one farmer who refused to join in the final decision. This fact was carefully noted by the local clergyman, together with assurances that this unwise stubbornness would not suffice to impede the project.

Celebrating Lares

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harriet I. Flower
Keyword(s):  
Local Politics ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Administrative Structure ◽  
High Point ◽  
Republican Rome ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter focuses on the mid-winter festival of Compitalia, the most important celebration of the lares compitales at their crossroads shrines, whether in town or on the farm. The rituals and practices used for their annual festival at the crossroads shrines provide vivid glimpses of what was a high point in the year for many ordinary people, including especially slaves and freedmen. The chapter has three related themes that are explored in some detail. These include the annual festival itself, the relationship of the compital shrines to their local administrative structure(s), and the practice of local politics in a compital context in republican Rome.

scholarly journals BUDAYA POLITIK DALAM MASYARAKAT PRAGMATIS

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-26
Author(s):  
Sumartono Sumartono
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Community Participation ◽  
Lower Class ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Level Of Education ◽  
Class Society ◽  
Trade Politics ◽  
General Elections ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
High Level

General elections and regional head elections in Indonesia are conducted directly. The pattern of community participation is changed. The emergence of pragmatism or political pragmatism in society becomes an interesting political culture to study. Practically, pragmatism means a condition that encourages people to get benefits instantly. As a result, people take any actions to make it happen. In reality, pragmatism not only affects the upper classes (those with a high level of education) but also ordinary people (lower class society or those with low levels of political education). The development of money politics, cow trade politics, the sale of votes, or the existence of political dowry is a sign that there has been a political transaction becoming one of the indicators of pragmatism reality in society

The Weimar Constitution

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter C. Caldwell
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
Parliamentary Democracy ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
Labour Rights ◽  
Basic Rights ◽  
The People ◽  
Democratic Change ◽  
The Government

The revolution of 1918 produced the basic decisions of Germany’s National Assembly in the Weimar Constitution: for parliamentary democracy, a more centralized state, and basic rights—including social rights. The National Assembly sought a form of parliamentary democracy that would ensure both stability and democratic change. It rejected both American presidentialism and French parliamentarianism in favour of a hybrid that balanced a president directly elected by the people with a strong Reichstag composed of representatives elected by proportional voting. The president’s emergency powers could be used if the Reichstag were divided to stabilize democracy, while the Reichstag had the power to rescind emergency acts and to remove the government. The constitution’s section on basic rights was extensive, eventually including fifty-seven articles. Among them were individual rights, the rights of family and youth, religious rights, and labour rights. The aim was a ‘social catechism’ of ethical and social aims that could unite the nation. The Weimar Constitution opened up democratic possibilities for Germany. The fact that its opponents were able to use its framework to undermine the Reichstag and to bring about democracy’s demise is a matter of politics and political culture rather than a matter of constitutional structure.

The Making of an Alliance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Tal
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
Realist Approach ◽  
Special Relations

Laying the foundation for an understanding of US-Israeli relations, this lively and accessible book provides critical background on the origins and development of the 'special' relations between Israel and the United States. Questioning the usual neo-realist approach to understanding this relationship, David Tal instead suggests that the relations between the two nations were constructed on idealism, political culture, and strategic ties. Based on a diverse range of primary sources collected in archives in both Israel and the United States, The Making of an Alliance discusses the development of relations built through constant contact between people and ideas, showing how presidents and Prime Ministers, state officials, and ordinary people from both countries, impacted one another. It was this constancy of religion, values, and history, serving the bedrock of the relations between the two countries and peoples, over which the ephemeral was negotiated.

Revisiting the Concept of Political Participation in the Pacific

2020 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerryn Baker ◽  
Julien Barbara
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Pacific Islanders ◽  
Entry Point ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
The Pacific

Understanding how citizens participate in politics is important because it shapes political culture and the tenor of democracy. The standard research framing of Pacific politics, centring around institutions both formal and informal, fails to fully account for the myriad of ways in which non-elite Pacific Islanders experience and relate to politics in their daily lives. This scholarly approach results in limited engagement with informal sites of politics and non-elite engagement with these sites. We argue that what is missing is a research approach that focusses on how ordinary people actively and purposefully participate in politics in the region, and what it means for Pacific Islanders to be citizens who participate in politics. The concept of political participation provides a more fruitful entry point to fully understanding the changing political dynamics of the region.

Petitioning and Demonstrating

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Miller
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
Historical Study ◽  
Popular Politics ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Geographic Mapping ◽  
Mapping Techniques ◽  
Accessible Form

Despite being the most popular and accessible form of political activity among ordinary people, petitioning has received remarkably little attention from modern British historians. This chapter focuses on what gains in understanding such attention might yield. First, the historical study of petitions and demonstrations underlines the fact that popular politics was not always coterminous with party or electoral politics. Second, petitions provide a way to break down the barriers between high and low or elite and popular politics and offer a lens through which to study the transnational and imperial dimension of British political culture. Finally, the chapter looks to future directions and argues that quantitative and geographic mapping techniques offer the potential to inject a new, and long overdue, quantitative rigour into the study of modern British political history.

scholarly journals Putting Democracy Under An Ethnographic-lens: Understanding of 'Democracy' and Popular Politics of JHU in Sri Lanka

PCD Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 163
Author(s):  
Premakumara De Silva
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
Popular Politics ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The Moment

My main premise is that for anthropologists of post-colonial societies (but not only), 'democracy' should be regarded as one of many traditional ethnographic topics (such as kinship, religion, Caste, etc.) which ethnographers study to unpack the socio-cultural institutions and practices of the societies under investigation. The hypothesis behind this approach is that the moment democracy enters a particular historical and socio-cultural setting it becomes what Michelutti calls "vernacularized", and through vernacularisation it produces new social relations and values which in turn shape political rhetoric and political culture (2007). The process of vernacularisation of democratic politics, she means the ways in which values and practices of democracy become embedded in particular cultural and social practices, and in the process become entrenched in the consciousness of ordinary people (2007: 639-40). Democratic practices associated with popular politics often base their strength and legitimacy on the principle of popular sovereignty versus the more conventional notions of liberal democracy. These popular forms of political participation are often accompanied by a polarisation of opinions and political practices between the so-called 'ordinary people' and the elites. Looking at democratisation processes through the prism of vernacularisation will therefore help to understand how and why democracy grounds itself in everyday life and becomes part of conceptual worlds that are often far removed from theories of liberal democracy.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document