Beyond Characters?

2020 ◽  
pp. 232-250
Author(s):  
James M. Jasper ◽  
Michael P. Young ◽  
Elke Zuern
Keyword(s):  
Risk Society ◽  
Trauma Patients ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Traditional Language ◽  
Character Work ◽  
Vladimir Putin ◽  
The Way

This chapter addresses a number of ways that traditional public characters have evolved to correspond with the way that moderns picture blame and causality. It looks at the decline of heroes and villains in this supposed post-heroic era. It turns to the ways that the essentialism of character work is challenged, through various attitudes that range from medicalization and skepticism through cynicism and irony. It discusses the ridicule of flat characters, the dispersal of blame in a risk society, and the invention of new terms for circumstantial victims like trauma, patients, and abnormal. It argues that these new characterizations do not escape the essential triad of villain, victim, and hero. Public characters may have changed in some ways, but they are not obsolete. And, despite modern skepticism about the traditional language of characters, heroes thrive in today’s new nationalism with leaders like Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orban, and Donald Trump.

The Russian Connection

2020 ◽  
pp. 164-169
Author(s):  
Rodney A. Smolla
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Traditional Values ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Dna Test ◽  
The World ◽  
The Right ◽  
Vladimir Putin

This chapter begins with an account of Anna Anderson, an immigrant to the United States who claimed to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia that was exposed to be fake after a DNA test. It discusses the collusive connections between Russia and the American radical alt-right. It also identifies several figures that were prominent in the Unite the Right events in Charlottesville in 2017 and strongly supported the candidacy and presidency of Donald Trump. The chapter highlights how alt-right groups idolize Russia's leader Vladimir Putin, seeing him as the sort of strong-willed authoritarian dedicated to “traditional values” that the world needs. It discloses how Russia has been the hospitable home and host of American right-wing extremists, such as David Duke who moved to Russia in 1999.

Helmut Schmidt, Euromissiles, and the Peace Movement

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 148-171
Author(s):  
Noel D. Cary
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Ronald Reagan ◽  
The United States ◽  
Peace Movement ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Mikhail Gorbachev ◽  
Nuclear Missiles ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Vladimir Putin

On February 1, 2019, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from a landmark Cold War treaty: the agreement between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev to ban intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe. One day after Trump's announcement, Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would also withdraw from the treaty. Allegations of Russian violations in recent years have thus led to actions that threaten to return Europe to some of the most frightening days of the Cold War.

From King Cyrus to Queen Esther: Christian Zionists’ discursive construction of Donald Trump as God’s instrument

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-137
Author(s):  
Sean Durbin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Discourse ◽  
Discursive Construction ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Evangelical Christian ◽  
White Evangelicals ◽  
Christian Nationalism ◽  
The Way

When Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential elections with the help of 81 percent of self-identified white evangelicals, liberal commentators, relying on folk-conceptions of religion that privileged concepts like morality and belief, struggled to understand how someone who seemed to lack both could garner such support. Since then scholars have provided various explanations, relating to Christian nationalism evangelical appeals to authoritarianism, and straightforward racism. This article aims to expand this discussion by analyzing the way that evangelical Christian Zionists have supported Trump by rhetorically identifying him as God’s instrument on account of his support for Israel and withdrawal of the United States from the Iran Nuclear Deal. In addition to analyzing the process by which Trump is constituted as God’s instrument, the article also demonstrates more generally how religious discourse functions as a legitimating discourse for those who seek to gain, or maintain, positions of power.

scholarly journals Modifying Electoral Authoritarianism. What the 2016 Parliamentary Elections Tell us about the Nature and Resilience of the Putin Regime

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 482-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
David White
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Parliamentary Election ◽  
Parliamentary Elections ◽  
Electoral Authoritarianism ◽  
Vladimir Putin ◽  
The Way

Through a focus on the 2016 Russian parliamentary election, this article seeks to assess the strength of the Putin regime and the nature of the system itself. In contrast to those who have heralded its imminent decline, it is argued that the regime continues to display great resilience, the election providing evidence of the regime’s adaptability and its ability to cope with challenges. The nature of the regime is also questioned. It has become commonplace for scholars to refer to Russia’s political system under the presidency of Vladimir Putin as “electoral authoritarian”. The article examines the function of elections in such systems, with a particular emphasis on the way in which elections provide the regime with legitimacy. The conduct and outcome of the elections not only points to the confidence and resilience of the Putin regime but might also suggest that a declining reliance on elections to sustain the regime may lead to a re-appraisal of the electoral authoritarian model as a compelling conceptualization of the Russian political system.

scholarly journals Psychoanalysis and the Challenge of Islam

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 98-100
Author(s):  
Arshavez Mozafari
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Work ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
Traditional Language ◽  
Traditional Islam ◽  
The Way

As a particular outgrowth of modernity, Islamism has garnered the attentionof a great many theorists. In Psychoanalysis and the Challenge ofIslam, Fethi Benslama, a psychoanalyst and professor, elaborates upon theprecise undergirding apparatus that sustains the logic of Islamism as arecently conceived phenomenon. The book attempts to clearly define thelogical progression of Islamism since its point of conception. This point islocated in the colonial era, when “traditional” Islam was put under theintense strain of a developed European modernity. The violent break, alongwith all the baggage that was incapable of being properly allocated andrefined by “what Freud called the ‘cultural work’ (Kulturarbeit)” (p. ix),produced an explosive cocktail that has and continues to haunt the projectof modernity. Through the use of a unique theoretical style called deconstructionistpsychoanalysis, Banslama’s project seeks to account for thispervasive phenomenon.“Islam has never been a major concern for me or my generation. It wasbecause Islam began to take an interest in us that I decided to take an interestin it” (p. 1). This is the way Benslama begins the first section of his book.It marks not only his secular disposition but also the aggressivity associatedwith the burgeoning Islamist political movements. Islamism is strictly conceptualizedas a phenomenon that differs from fundamentalism. It has thecapacity to operate through the decomposition of traditionalism – one occurrence associated with this downfall is the “catastrophic collapse of [traditional]language” (p. 4) ...

scholarly journals Krisis Legitimasi Politik Donald Trump Sebagai Ancaman Supremasi Amerika Serikat Dalam Politik Global

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 122
Author(s):  
Ahmad Sahide
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Legitimacy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
Legitimacy Theory ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Political Impact ◽  
Vladimir Putin

Donald Trump is the 45th President of the United States who was sworn in on January 20, 2017. Donald Trump's victory shook the global political order because a number of his statements and political policies were very controversial. A number of controversial Trump policies include the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the closeness of relations with Vladimir Putin, to protectionist policies that get resistance from within and outside the country. The author uses the legitimacy theory in this study to see the political impact of the policies taken by Trump. The results of this study see that Donald Trump's policy controversy has an impact on the crisis of political legitimacy which results in the threat of US political supremacy in the global political arena.

The way is open for more Turkish operations in Syria

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Kurdistan Workers Party ◽  
The Way

Significance It was just 58 days after Turkey launched an invasion aimed at seizing Afrin from Syrian Kurdish rebels whom Ankara regards as terrorists. Turks have been jubilant at what is being hailed as a major victory that may end the conflict with Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants inside Turkey, but in Syria and Iraq the Kurds are bracing themselves for further operations that could next bring Turkey into direct confrontation with US forces in the Syrian town of Manbij. That would force US President Donald Trump to choose between Turkey, a wayward NATO ally, and the Syrian Kurds, who have helped Washington crush Islamic State (IS). Impacts Turkey will step up investment in its arms industry. Hostility to Turkey will grow in Western Europe. Inside Turkey, government will become more monolithic and authoritarian.

Alt-Right Transgressions in the Age of Trump

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 76-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Pollard
Keyword(s):  
Political Movements ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
White Supremacist ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Far Right ◽  
The Public ◽  
Online Audiences ◽  
Diverse Society ◽  
Short Video ◽  
Vladimir Putin

Abstract The alt-right movement dates from 2008 when white supremacist Richard Spencer invented the term to identify contemporary right-wing and far-right socio/political movements. The movement relies on mass media, communicating graphically and symbolically through “trolls,” “tropes,” and “memes.” The “Sadomasochist trope” valorizes aggressive actors like Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, while demonizing “passive” individuals like Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama. Trolls communicate through memes, single-frame or short video phrases matched with photos and cartoons, to attract online audiences. When not attacking liberals and progressives, alt-right memes turn on traditional conservatives. The alt-right community maintains it is “under assault” in today’s politically correct, overly secularized, culturally diverse society. However, Donald Trump elevated alt-right icon and former Breitbart ceo Stephen Bannon to chief advisor, providing the alt-right movement access to the highest government levels. Will alt-right organizations continue their recent expansion, or will the public lose interest in the movement?

scholarly journals Nach dem Helsinki Gipfel – trübe Aussichten für eine Verbesserung der russisch-amerikanischen Beziehungen

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 366-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannes Adomeit
Keyword(s):  
Donald Trump ◽  
Vladimir Putin

Kurzfassung Am 18. Juli 2018 fand in Helsinki ein Gipfeltreffen zwischen Präsident Donald Trump und dem russischen Präsidenten Vladimir Putin statt. Die vorliegende Untersuchung geht der Frage nach, ob die Idee des amerikanischen Präsidenten, mit Hilfe von Charme und Überredungskünsten im Vieraugengespräch mit dem Kreml-Chef einen Durchbruch oder zumindest eine merkliche Verbesserung im russisch-amerikanischen Verhältnis zu erzielen, von Erfolg gekrönt war. Sie kommt zum Ergebnis, dass das Treffen nicht nur zu keinem Neustart und dem Beginn einer möglichen Bereinigung der Beziehungen beigetragen hat, sondern eher zu ihrer Verschlechterung. Die Gründe dafür lägen einerseits im Fehlen eines kohärenten Ansatzes Washingtons in der Politik gegenüber Moskau und andererseits an der Intransigenz der russischen Regierung, die den amerikanischen Präsidenten eher als Instrument zur Einschränkung der Handlungsfähigkeit der USA ansieht, denn als kompetenten Verhandlungspartner, mit dem eine Lösung der angehäuften Probleme in einer für beide Seiten akzeptablen Weise erfolgen könnte.

scholarly journals Famous women yearn for Putin, and other unlikely tales: Glamorizing right-wing populist actors in the Bulgarian editions of Cosmopolitan and Elle

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-241
Author(s):  
Miglena Sternadori
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
Media Frames ◽  
The Core ◽  
Women's Magazine ◽  
Vladimir Putin ◽  
Silvio Berlusconi

This analysis identifies the dominant media frames in the coverage of four right-wing populist actors — Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Silvio Berlusconi, and Roman Abramovich — by the Bulgarian editions of Elle and Cosmopolitan. Although the political platforms of these men are not, in fact, anti-establishment, which is the core characteristic of populism, they are referred to as populist actors because of their use of populist tools and discourses to practice so-called “neo-populism from above.” The four men were framed as: a carriers of a “golden touch”; b sources of profound/problematic wisdom; and c admirable collectors of “trophy” women. The findings are discussed as illustrative of the tabloidization of U.S. women’s magazine brands in the post-communist context of Bulgaria.

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