Bulls and Deer, Women and Warriors

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Sissa
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Democratic Culture ◽  
Popular Rule

In ancient Greece, manly men were thought to have invented popular rule and were considered capable, and worthy, of ruling themselves. The full appreciation of the gendered nature of democratic culture challenges our canonical vision of ancient politics. First, we have to place gender not at the margin, but at the heart of Athenian political culture. Second, we have to expand our primary ‘must-read’ sources, by including discourses that deal with the embodiment of a political identity: above all, the biological works of Aristotle. This chapter argues for a correlation between physiology and political theory within the Aristotelian corpus, as well as for the relevance of Aristotle’s insight for our understanding of ancient democracy.

Biblical Politics

1981 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Steven J. Brams
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Military History ◽  
Western Tradition

Courses on political theory customarily start with the writings of Plato and Aristotle, who are rightfully considered the first great political philor sophers in the western tradition. Complementing this theoretical discourse, the wartime politics of ancient Greece, stressing its military history and the beliefs and motives of its leaders, is masterfully rendered by Thucydides.

scholarly journals Political Theory of Populism

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Urbinati
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
The Political ◽  
Representative Government ◽  
Constitutional Democracy ◽  
The People ◽  
Democratic Societies ◽  
Democratic Principles

Populism is the name of a global phenomenon whose definitional precariousness is proverbial. It resists generalizations and makes scholars of politics comparativist by necessity, as its language and content are imbued with the political culture of the society in which it arises. A rich body of socio-historical analyses allows us to situate populism within the global phenomenon called democracy, as its ideological core is nourished by the two main entities—the nation and the people—that have fleshed out popular sovereignty in the age of democratization. Populism consists in a transmutation of the democratic principles of the majority and the people in a way that is meant to celebrate one subset of the people as opposed to another, through a leader embodying it and an audience legitimizing it. This may make populism collide with constitutional democracy, even if its main tenets are embedded in the democratic universe of meanings and language. In this article, I illustrate the context-based character of populism and how its cyclical appearances reflect the forms of representative government. I review the main contemporary interpretations of the concept and argue that some basic agreement now exists on populism's rhetorical character and its strategy for achieving power in democratic societies. Finally, I sketch the main characteristics of populism in power and explain how it tends to transform the fundamentals of democracy: the people and the majority, elections, and representation.

scholarly journals Chile’s Citizenship Education Curriculum: Priorities and Silences Through Two Decades

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristián Cox ◽  
Carolina Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Citizenship Education ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Education Curriculum ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Democratic Culture ◽  
The Common ◽  
Latin American Countries

The article examines the evolution of the citizenship education curriculum in Chilean secondary education over last two decades from the perspective of the relevance of its contents for a democratic culture. The evidence and its analysis show the variations observed in the curricula are not related so much to the ideology of the governments that enact them as to socio-cultural changes of a macro nature, such as the growing emphasis on rights and participation. The analysis confirms some deficits common to the curricula, which have implications for the development of the democratic political culture in Chile. Among these are the scarce or null presence of the values of solidarity, the common good, and social cohesion, as well as a paradox of quasi-silence about voting, common in the curricula of Latin American countries and which is contrasted with the treatment of voting in the curricula of France and England.

The Theory behind the Findings

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy J. Binder ◽  
Kate Wood
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Cultural Capital ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Cultural Sociology ◽  
Public University ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
University System ◽  
Social And Cultural Capital ◽  
Elite University

This chapter examines in more abstract terms how universities, in combination with the broader political culture, cultivate distinctive styles of conservatism among students. It reviews research in the fields of higher education studies, cultural sociology, political theory, and organization studies to capture some of the more general processes observed at Eastern Elite University and Western Flagship University. In particular, it considers how social and cultural capital gives rise to the particular dominant conservative styles of civilized discourse at Eastern Elite, provocation in the Western Public university system, and the submerged styles seen at these different campuses. The chapter concludes by arguing that the model developed for studying student conservatism on both campuses is general enough to be useful to scholars studying other aspects of students' lives other than politics.

The Transformation of American Liberalism

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Klosko
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Welfare Programs ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Social Welfare Programs ◽  
The Social ◽  
American Liberalism ◽  
Social Security Act

With passage of the Social Security Act, in 1935, the American government took on new social welfare functions, which have expanded ever since. As a work of political theory “on the ground,” The Transformation of American Liberalism explores the arguments American political leaders used to justify and defend social welfare programs since the Social Security Act. Students of political theory note the evolution of liberal political theory between its origins and major contemporary theorists who justify the values and social policies of the welfare state. But the transformation of liberalism in American political culture is incomplete. Beginning with Franklin Roosevelt, the arguments of America’s political leaders fall well short of values of equality and human dignity that are often thought to underlie the welfare state. Individualist—“Lockean”—values and beliefs have exerted a continuing hold on America’s leaders, constraining their justificatory arguments. The paradoxical result may be described as continuing attempts to justify new social programs without acknowledging incompatibility between the arguments necessary to do so and individualist assumptions inherent in American political culture. The American welfare state is notably ungenerous in its social welfare programs. To some extent this may be attributed to the shortcomings of public justifications. An important reason for the striking absence of strong and widely recognized arguments for social welfare programs in America’s political culture is that its political leaders did not provide them.

A Buddhist Response to Ancient-style Learning: Qisong's Conception of Political Order

T oung Pao ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 97 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 1-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Skonicki
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Song Dynasty ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Political Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Song Dynasty ◽  
The Creation

AbstractThis article focuses on the political thought of the Song-dynasty Chan monk Qisong (1007-1072). In opposition to earlier studies, which have tended to view Qisong's political theorizing simply as an offshoot of his philosophical syncretism, it is contended here that his political arguments played an important role in his refutation of the Ancient-style Learning movement's attacks against Buddhism. As is well known, several Song-dynasty proponents of Ancient-style Learning impugned Buddhism for the negative impact it exerted on Chinese social and political culture. Qisong responded to their attacks by crafting a comprehensive political theory, which sought to demonstrate not only that Ancient-style Learning thinkers had misunderstood the dao and proper governance, but also that Buddhist institutions were indispensable to the creation of political order.

Calhoun and Popular Rule: The Political Theory of the Disquisition and Discourse By H. Lee Cheek, Jr. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2001. 202p. $29.95.

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 609-609
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Duncan
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
Columbia University ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
University Of Missouri ◽  
Popular Rule

C. S. Lewis claimed that he was a democrat because he believed in the fall of man. He went on to suggest that it was not that some men did not deserve to be slaves, but that none deserved to be masters. While not exactly the sort of uplifting proclamation that many partisans of democracy would hope to rally their followers around, it does provide those among us who are persuaded that human beings are limited in their capacities to reject vice and sin with an avenue and persuasive rationale to join their ranks. It is with this sort of view in mind that H. Lee Cheek, Jr.'s provocative and cogently argued book on the political thought of John C. Calhoun ought to be read.

A Dissenting View on the Group Approach to Soviet Politics

1976 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 542-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
William E. Odom
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Organization Theory ◽  
Soviet System ◽  
Group Approach ◽  
Comparative Political Theory ◽  
Middle Range ◽  
Comparative Concept ◽  
Group Concept ◽  
Significant Support

In the struggle to find a successor to the totalitarian model for study of Soviet politics, the interest-group approach has won significant support. Yet this concept fails to meet all three of Huntington's criteria for a “useful” model. First, the group concept emphasizes the peripheral at the expense of what is of critical importance. Second, as a comparative concept it introduces errors in logic as well as a myriad of ambiguities in definition and taxonomy. Third, it is more likely to obscure than to clarify the dynamic character of the Soviet system. The group approach does not promise, as some assert, to bring the study of Soviet politics into the mainstream of comparative political theory.In contrast, the totalitarian model still goes far toward meeting Huntington's criteria. When supplemented by the notion of political culture and by middle-range concepts of organization theory and bureaucracy, the totalitarian model retains great heuristic value as an ideal construct from which Soviet realities diverge in various ways.

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