A culture of consolation? Rethinking politics in working-class London, 1870–1914*

2001 ◽  
Vol 74 (184) ◽  
pp. 193-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew August
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Access To Resources ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Unequal Access ◽  
Distribution Of Power ◽  
Socialist Politics

Abstract In their communities, and in interactions with authorities and profit-seekers, residents of late Victorian London working-class districts struggled forcefully over the distribution of power, resources and prestige. They battled one another, in households and neighbourhoods, enforcing hierarchies and unequal access to resources. Philanthropists met hostile, manipulative and assertive poor people. Working-class Londoners resisted unwelcome state incursions and exploited government resources toward their own ends. They also fought employers and landlords over resources and power. Though their involvement in unions and socialist politics was uneven, these working-class Londoners participated actively in a pervasive politics of everyday life.

Regional security cooperation against hegemonic threats: Theory and evidence from France and West Germany (1945–65)

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Joshua Byun
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Regional Security ◽  
Strategic Flexibility ◽  
European Security ◽  
Security Cooperation ◽  
Regional Powers ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Distribution Of Power ◽  
Considerable Support

Abstract Why do some regional powers collectively threatened by a potential hegemon eagerly cooperate to ensure their security, while others appear reluctant to do so? I argue that robust security cooperation at the regional level is less likely when an unbalanced distribution of power exists between the prospective security partners. In such situations, regional security cooperation tends to be stunted by foot-dragging and obstructionism on the part of materially inferior states wary of facilitating the strategic expansion of neighbours with larger endowments of power resources, anticipating that much of the coalition's gains in military capabilities are likely to be achieved through an expansion of the materially superior neighbour's force levels and strategic flexibility. Evidence drawn from primary material and the latest historiography of France's postwar foreign policy towards West Germany provides considerable support for this argument. My findings offer important correctives to standard accounts of the origins of Western European security cooperation and suggest the need to rethink the difficulties the United States has encountered in promoting cooperation among local allies in key global regions.

scholarly journals The Powers of Australian Retail Workers as a Section of the Global Working Class

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pooya Karambakhsh
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Systemic Effects ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Institutional Frameworks ◽  
Ways Of Thinking ◽  
Retail Workers ◽  
Theoretical Foundations

The wide application of the power resources approach has shown its strong capabilities in enabling strategic labour research that can also benefit activists. Nevertheless, the approach has been criticised for ignoring how power is used. This article argues that Steven Lukes’s radical view on power can address this issue. His three-dimensional view considers power in direct conflicts, agenda setting, and the situations in which an actor’s preferences are shaped by another. A key strength of this view is that it can be used to unravel systemic effects and underlying sources of conflicts. In this article, the Lukesian framework is applied to the condition of Australian retail workers as an example of the precariat. It is argued that retail workers have underestimated powers in direct confrontations with employers, and that the legal and institutional frameworks provide them with some support. The analysis indicates that capital’s efforts to form preferences, theoretical foundations and ways of thinking have contributed to substantially pre-empting retail workers’ agency. However, it also shows that there is nothing inevitable about this situation.

scholarly journals Cenas da precariedade de ontem e de hoje | Scenes of the precariousness of yesterday and today

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 78-92
Author(s):  
José Edilson Amorim
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
The World ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Politics

ResumoA partir de uma crônica de Bráulio Tavares, este artigo reflete sobre cenas da precariedade de ontem e de hoje. A primeira cena está em Lima Barreto, em Recordações do escrivão Isaías Caminha, ao referir a Revolta da Vacina no Rio de Janeiro do século XX, comparada às manifestações de 2013 e 2014 no país; a segunda é a espetacularização da mídia sobre as manifestações de rua em 2013 e 2014, e sobre o processo de impedimento do mandato presidencial de Dilma Rousseff em 2015; a terceira é uma cena da vida cotidiana de uma moça de Brasília em outubro de 2014. As três situações revelam o mundo da classe trabalhadora e seu desamparo em meio ao espetáculo midiático.Palavras-chave: Trabalho. Mídia. Política. Espetáculo. AbstractFrom a chronicle by Bráulio Tavares, this paper reflects about scenes of the precariousness of yesterday and today. The first scene is in Lima Barreto’s novel Recordações do escrivão Isaías Caminha (Memories of the scrivener Isaías Caminha), when referring to the Vaccine Revolt in the Rio de Janeiro of the 20th century, compared to the manifestations of 2013 and 2014 in Brazil; the second is about the media spectacularization of the street manifestations between 2013 e 2014 in Brazil, and also on Dilma Rousseff's impeachment process in 2015; the third one is from the everyday life of a girl from Brasília in October of 2014. All those three situations reveal the world of the working class and its helplessness in the face of the media spectacularization.Keywords: Work. Media. Politics. Spectacle.

What Russia Can Teach Us about Power and Influence in World Politics

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-167
Author(s):  
Andrei Melville ◽  
Andrei Akhremenko ◽  
Mikhail Mironyuk
Keyword(s):  
World Order ◽  
World Politics ◽  
Political Community ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
Major Power ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Western Democracy ◽  
The World ◽  
National Power ◽  
Distribution Of Power

There is a striking opposition within the current discourse on Russia’s position in the world. On the one hand, there are well-known arguments about Russia’s “weak hand” (relatively small and stagnating economy, vulnerability to sanctions, technological backwardness, deteriorating demography, corruption, bad institutions, etc.). On the other hand, Russia is accused of “global revisionism”, attempts to reshape and undermine the liberal world order, and Western democracy itself. There seems to be a paradox: Russia with a perceived decline of major resources of national power, exercises dramatically increased international influence. This paradox of power and/or influence is further explored. This paper introduces a new complex Index of national power. On the basis of ratings of countries authors compare the dynamics of distribution of power in the world with a focus on Russia’s national power in world politics since 1995. The analysis brings evidence that the cumulative resources of Russia’s power in international affairs did not increase during the last two decades. However, Russia’s influence in world politics has significantly increased as demonstrated by assertive foreign policy in different parts of the world and its perception by the international political community and the public. Russia remains a major power in today’s world, although some of its power resources are stagnating or decreasing in comparison to the US and rising China. To compensate for weaknesses Russia is using both traditional and nontraditional capabilities of international influence.

Authoritarianism and Social Policy

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-254
Author(s):  
Bill Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Tax Credits ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties

Authoritarianism seems to be emerging as the default mode of global capitalism. In the absence of reliable economic growth, and with working-class incomes in long-term stagnation, both liberal and social democratic parties have lost support in many countries, and authoritarian regimes have come to power in several. But poor people in the USA, UK and Europe have long experienced coercion, being forced to accept low-paid, insecure work or face benefits sanctions. As a growing proportion of workers have come to rely on supplements such as tax credits, the working class has been divided, and opportunistic authoritarian politicians have mobilised the anxiety and resentment of those on the margins of poverty. This article argues that only an active civil society, with voluntary agencies uncompromised by involvement in coercive policies, along with universal, unconditional Basic Incomes for all citizens, can reverse these trends.

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