Long Time Coming: Prospects for Democracy in Iraq

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 115-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce E. Moon
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Democratic Transitions ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Experience ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Time Required ◽  
Established Democracies

Prospects for democracy in Iraq should be assessed in light of the historical precedents of nations with comparable political experiences. Saddam Hussein's Iraq was an unusually extreme autocracy, which lasted an unusually long time. Since the end of the nineteenth century, only thirty nations have experienced an autocracy as extreme as Iraq's for a period exceeding two decades. The subsequent political experience of those nations offers a pessimistic forecast for Iraq and similar nations. Only seven of the thirty are now democratic, and only two of them have become established democracies; the democratic experiments in the other five are still in progress. Among the seven, the average time required to transit the path from extreme autocracy to coherent, albeit precarious, democracy has been fifty years, and only two have managed this transition in fewer than twenty-five years. Even this sober assessment is probably too optimistic, because Iraq lacks the structural conditions that theory and evidence indicate have been necessary for successful democratic transitions in the past. Thus, the odds of Iraq achieving democracy in the next quarter century are close to zero, at best about two in thirty, but probably far less.

A View from a Distance

2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Górecki
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Human Activity ◽  
Legal History ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
The Other ◽  
Routine Activity ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Range

Susan Reynolds's article is a culmination and a turning point. It builds on several approaches to medieval law and culture, of which two strike me as especially important. One is a study of legal history as a domain of human activity, especially habitual or routine activity, pursued by a wide range of social groups. The other is a search for the meaning and the criteria of the enormous transition during the central Middle Ages, which Christopher Dawson at the dawn of this subject, and Robert Bartlett in its currently definitive moment, have identified as “the making of Europe.” The first subject exists above all thanks to the work of Reynolds herself, while the second is an outcome of a number of quite distinct scholarly trajectories, spanning several generations. Apart from some suggestive and implicit links, those two subjects have, over the past quarter century, been pursued separately. Reynolds's article brings them together.

The Anglo-Gallicanism of dom Thomas Preston, 1567–1647

1972 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 239-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurus Lunn
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
General Theory ◽  
Corporate Identity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Thin Red Line ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Literary Output ◽  
The Church

Gallicanism - the name given to the general theory that the Church, especially the Church in France, is free from the jurisdiction of the pope, while remaining Roman and Catholic - is familiar to most historians. The existence of such a thing as Anglo-Gallicanism, on the other hand, seems scarcely credible. Post-Reformation English Catholics present the image of a persecuted and retiring group of people, who, in order to preserve their corporate identity, became more Italianate in their culture than the Italians and in their theology more papalist than the popes; and of the majority of English Catholics this was true. But throughout their history there runs a thin red line of dissent, which passes from the Appellant priests in the late sixteenth century, via Blackloism in the seventeenth, to Charles Butler, Joseph Berington and the Catholic Committee at the dawn of emancipation. Gallicanism, and perhaps its English counterpart, were given a death-blow by Napoleon’s application of papal authority to the French bishops. But Anglo-Gallicanism was an unconscionably long time dying, for at Downside in the early nineteenth century William Bernard Ullathorne, later bishop of Birmingham, was taught theology from Gallican textbooks. In this tradition a prominent part, in terms of impact and literary output, was played by another Benedictine, Thomas Preston, alias Roger Widdrington.

Henry Irving's Shakespearean Productions

1976 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 195-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward M. Moore
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Past ◽  
Edmund Kean

Henry Irving was by far the most celebrated actor during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. He had few rivals, and literally none in Britain. But I believe no other actor has caused such extensive and continual controversy regarding his genius. From the beginning of his triumph, shortly after he joined the company of Hezekiah Bateman at the Lyceum in 1871, until long after his death in 1905, his devotees claimed for him a place among the greats of the past: Alleyn, Burbage, Betterton, Garrick, Edmund Kean; indeed, the claim is still occasionally heard today. No less a man of the theater than Gordon Craig wrote, twenty-five years after Irving's death, “I have never known of, or seen, or heard of, a greater actor than was Irving.” Certainly Irving made the Lyceum the most celebrated theater in England, and not even his severest critics denied his status as the head of his profession. He was the first actor in history to be knighted, and he was given burial in Westminster Abbey. And yet, the best critics of the day were from the first almost unanimous in their condemnation of his acting, and, after he took over the management of the Lyceum in 1878, of his productions. With none of the other “greats” of the stage was there any such distinguished chorus of dissent. A glance at the list of parts Irving performed and plays he produced reveals that he did nothing—absolutely nothing—for contemporary drama.

The Problem of a New Testament Theology

1973 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernst Käsemann
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
New Testament ◽  
Biblical Theology ◽  
The Other ◽  
Historical Criticism ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The New Testament ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Church

In the Protestant tradition the Bible has long been regarded as the sole norm for the Church. It was from this root that, in the seventeenth century, there sprang first of all ‘biblical theology’, from which New Testament theology later branched off at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Radical historical criticism too kept closely to this tradition, and F. C. Baur made such a theology the goal of all his efforts in the study of the New Testament. Since that time the question how the problem thus posed is to be tackled and solved has remained a living issue in Germany. On the other hand, the problem for a long time held no interest for other church traditions, although here too the position has changed within the last two decades. In 1950 Meinertz wrote the first Catholic exposition, while the theme was taken up in France by Bonsirven in 1951, and by Richardson in England in 1958. Popular developments along these lines were to follow.

DIETARY PAMPERING OF ENGLISH CHILDREN IN 1754 AND THE PHYSICIAN'S MALEVOLENT ROLE IN CHILD HEALTH, ACCORDING TO THE HONORABLE MRS. SEYMOUR

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 390-390
Author(s):  
T. E. C.
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Child Care ◽  
Child Health ◽  
The Other ◽  
Practical Advice ◽  
Single Fault ◽  
The Past ◽  
General Method

Mothers in the past were no less interested in books about child care than are today's mothers. Any collector of books of this genre will soon find his bookshelves completely filled with eighteenth and nineteenth century items. The most striking characteristic of these earlier predecessors of Doctors Spock and Gesell was their emphasis on the connection between daily tactics and moral strategy; practical advice was never given without constant doses of moral lessons as the excerpt below will prove: In England there is one general Method of spoiling Children; it is by foolish Indulgencies. The Observation is a very common one; but those who make it do not know half its Force: It is not only that by these Indulgencies we make them peevish and tyranical (sic); though this were enough: we lay the Foundation of Ill Health, and bad Habits; and by that single Fault of pampering them in their Diet, we entail upon them Diseases, and we rob them of that Chearfulness (sic) of Disposition which is so amiable and so agreeable; for it depends, as already said, on Health. If we look into the Generality of Families in which there are Children we shall find them eating ten Times a-day, and drinking all Day long. At their regular meals they eat what is improper. There are some few, who, to avoid this, run into the contrary Extreme, while the rest feed them immoderately, they starve them. One sees the first of these Faults universal; the other is met withal among some few Families of Quality.

„Das Neue und Immergleiche“. Benjamin, Nietzsche und die ewige Wiederkehr

2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Brusotti
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Structural Change ◽  
Central Place ◽  
The Other ◽  
Eternal Recurrence ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One

AbstractAfter discovering the short cosmological treatise L’éternité par les astres at the end of 1937, Benjamin ‘constellates’ the author, Louis-Auguste Blanqui, with Baudelaire and Nietzsche under the sign of eternal recurrence. From then on, eternal recurrence is given a central place in Benjamin’s analysis of modernity. Under many aspects his thoughts are rooted in the dramatic years in which they were developed: a conception of myth problematic in itself is misapplied to Nietzsche, the analogy with Blanqui’s cosmology leads to misunderstandings, and Benjamin does not grasp the connection between a task relevant for himself, the redemption of the past, and Zarathustra’s thought of eternal recurrence. Nevertheless, this constellation charged with tension is theoretically productive. Benjamin interprets the two faces of Nietzsche’s eternal recurrence in the context of his own theory of the structural change of experience in modernity. On the one hand, eternal recurrence is linked in multiple ways to the new forms of technical reproduction and compulsory repetition arising in the nineteenth century. On the other hand, it is assigned the task of compensating for an irretrievable loss. Is this compensation thoroughly illusory? Or does it contain a ‘motive of salvation’? Guided by these questions, the paper investigates the ‘polyphony’ of Benjamin’s remarks on Nietzsche’s thought of eternal recurrence and their heuristic potential.

The Nature of Nationalism

1939 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 1001-1021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Kohn
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
The Other ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Dynamic Force ◽  
The Past ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The French Revolution

Nationalism as we understand it is not older than the second half of the eighteenth century. Its first great manifestation was the French Revolution, which gave the new movement an increased dynamic force. Nationalism had, however, become manifest at the end of the eighteenth century almost simultaneously in a number of widely separated European countries. Its time in the evolution of mankind had arrived, and although the French Revolution was one of the most powerful factors in its intensification and spread, it was not its date of birth. Like all historical movements, nationalism has its roots deep in the past. The conditions which made its emergence possible had matured during centuries before they converged at its formation. These political, economic, and intellectual developments took a long time for their growth and proceeded in the various European countries at different pace. It is impossible to grade them according to their importance or to make one dependent upon the other. All are closely interconnected, each reacting upon the other; and although their growth can be traced separately, their effects and consequences cannot be separated otherwise than in the analysis of the scholar; in life, they are indissolubly intertwined.

Exploring exploration: the role of affective states as forces that hinder change

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-223
Author(s):  
Stefano Brusoni ◽  
Daniella Laureiro-Martínez ◽  
Nicola Canessa ◽  
Maurizio Zollo
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
The Other ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Cognitive Sciences ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Tentative Evidence ◽  
Negative Affective States

Abstract In this article we argue that in order to understand failure or success in adapting to environmental change, we should better understand why people hesitate to pursue novel choices. This article asks: what forces hinder individuals’ exploration choices of different alternatives, and hence their ability to learn from them? To answer this question, this article looks to the cognitive sciences to identify a set of plausible mechanisms that hinder people’s tendency to explore. So far, “exploration” has been studied as a relatively monolithic behavior. Instead, we propose that exploration can be characterized in terms of some distinctive forces behind it. On one hand, agents experience “attachment” to choices that proved successful in the past, and hence comfort when sticking with them. On the other hand, they also experience concerns about less familiar options, as they lack knowledge about “distant” choices that have not been tried for a long time, or ever. We propose that high attachment is related to anxiety, and high distance to fear. Both these negative affective states hinder exploration. We find and discuss preliminary and tentative evidence of this effect.

Capitalist Dreams: Chile's Response to Nineteenth-Century World Copper Competition

1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 722-744 ◽  
Author(s):  
William W. Culver ◽  
Cornel J. Reinhart
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
The Other ◽  
Recent Book ◽  
Economic Sector ◽  
Latin Americans ◽  
The Past ◽  
Chilean Copper ◽  
The Impact

Hernando de Soto's recent book, The Other Path, argues that capitalism has not failed in Peru and Latin America, rather, it has not been tried. Basing his case on the observation that Latin American economies are strangled by arcane policies and regulations, de Soto goes on to bolster his point by providing a fresh and powerful look at the undeniable reality of the large “informal,” and thus unregulated, economic sector in Peru. As with any such generalization, how strongly does its explanatory value remain when measured against specific events, over long periods of time? This article seeks just such a perspective. It examines the impact of such regulations as mining codes and mineral taxation on the efforts of Chilean copper entrepreneurs to compete worldwide in the nineteenth century. De Soto may be correct in his contention that today's highly regulated economies keep Latin Americans from being as productive as their resources justify, but to extend this view into the past ignores earlier productive accomplishments, as well as significant efforts at different times and places to cast off Latin America's mercantile legacy.

Restoration of virulence of axenically cultivated Entamoeba histolytica by cholesterol

1978 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Meerovitch ◽  
E. Ghadirian
Keyword(s):  
Entamoeba Histolytica ◽  
Culture Medium ◽  
Axenic Culture ◽  
The Other ◽  
In Vitro Cultivation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cholesterol Treatment ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Axenic Conditions

The lost pathogenicity of two strains of Entamoeba histolytica, one isolated in 1924 and the other in 1967, grown in axenic culture for the past 5 and 6 years respectively, was restored by supplementing the culture medium with cholesterol through a number of transfers. The number of passages in the cholesterol-supplemented medium, necessary to restore a certain degree of pathogenicity of the two strains in hamsters, was proportional to the total time of in vitro cultivation of the strain, and not just the time of cultivation under axenic conditions. Pathogenicity, once restored, persisted for a long time after cholesterol treatment was stopped.

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