Interview with Vicki Kirby

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 261-271
Author(s):  
Daniel McLoughlin
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Life Sciences ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
New Materialisms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

In this interview, Vicki Kirby discusses her research into the relationship between nature and culture, focusing in particular on her recent edited collection, What If Culture Was Nature All Along? The volume appears in the ‘New Materialisms’ series, and so the interview begins by situating the collection with respect to the recent materialist turn in social theory. Kirby discusses the influence of deconstruction on her thought, and the way that she draws upon Derrida to think through recent research in the life sciences and its implications for understanding the relationship between matter, life, and communication. She also goes into the political implications of her work and the relationship between biopolitics and biodeconstruction.

Friendship, Sovereignty and Political Discord in Coriolanus

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas P. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Critical Point ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Sovereignty ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Political Relationships ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way ◽  
Communal Politics

This chapter re-orients the way that early modern political sovereignty is understood by arguing that the relationship between Coriolanus and Aufidius is a friendship predicated on agonism and discord. The chapter’s close examination of their alliance and eventual betrayal establishes the counter-politics of friendship that organizes political relationships explored throughout the book. A fragile warrior-friendship links the two men in shared estrangement. In claiming that the two rivals embody a singular type of friendship with resonant political implications, the chapter revises early modern theories of friendship from Erasmus, Bacon, and Montaigne, as well as friendship theory from their classical predecessors Cicero and Aristotle. Shakespeare’s depiction of amicitia perfecta offers a critical point of intervention in contemporary accounts by Foucault and Derrida of the political potential inherent in a friendship characterized by dissensus, not amity. Coriolanus stages the possibility of radicalizing the citizen/state binary, glimpsing the fragile grounds of a potentially new communal politics embodied in a fragile warrior friendship.

Consequences of the Cyberstate

2011 ◽  
pp. 116-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Costas Panagopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Emerging Technology ◽  
International Perspective ◽  
The Political ◽  
Digital Government ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Citizen Support ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

Emerging technology has provided public sector leaders with unprecedented opportunities to redefine the relationship between citizens and the state. Yet, even as leaders embrace the promise and possibilities afforded by digital government, there is little consensus about the political implications of digital government. While some experts expect little impact, others claim that advances in digital government will have significant political implications. This study assesses the political implications of digital government from an international perspective. Using data recently compiled by the United Nations (U.N.), the findings indicate that digital government is likely to produce significant political implications. Specifically, advances in digital government are likely to engender greater citizen support for government as well as higher levels of political participation.

Hope, or On Theology

2020 ◽  
pp. 170-197
Author(s):  
Ryan Patrick Hanley
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Universal Order ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Theological Virtue

Chapter 6 turns to Fénelon’s theology, focusing on his treatment of hope and its significance for his political philosophy. It argues that he regarded hope not just as a key theological virtue, but also as a key virtue of political rulers and political reformers. Its discussion of the political implications of Fénelon’s theology proceeds in three parts. It first examines the role of hope in Telemachus. It then turns to the treatment of hope in Fénelon’s theology, focusing on three particular discussions: the place of hope in love, the relationship of hope to self-interest, and the place of hope in prayer. The final section turns to two aspects of Fénelon’s theology beyond hope which also have significant implications for his political philosophy: his understanding of the relationship of human being to divine being, and his arguments for the existence of God and their implications for universal order.

scholarly journals The Relationship Between Authority and Authenticity in the Laozi: Employing Wu無 as a Philosophical Framework

Religions ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Sharon Y. Small
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Political Aspect ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Philosophical Framework ◽  
Generative Processes ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

Wu 無 is one of the most prominent terms in Ancient Daoist philosophy, and perhaps the only term to appear more than Dao in both the Laozi and the Zhuangzi. However, unlike Dao, wu is generally used as an adjective modifying or describing nouns such as “names”, “desires”, “knowledge”, “action”, and so forth. Whereas Dao serves as the utmost principle in both generation and practice, wu becomes one of the central methods to achieve or emulate this ideal. As a term of negation, wu usually indicates the absence of something, as seen in its relation to the term you 有—”to have” or “presence”. From the perspective of generative processes, wu functions as an undefined and undifferentiated cosmic situation from which no beginning can begin but everything can emerge. In the political aspect, wu defines, or rather un-defines the actions (non-coercive action, wuwei 無為) that the utmost authority exerts to allow the utmost simplicity and “authenticity” (the zi 自 constructions) of the people. In this paper, I suggest an understanding of wu as a philosophical framework that places Pre-Qin Daoist thought as a system that both promotes our understanding of the way the world works and offers solutions to particular problems. Wu then is simultaneously metaphysical and concrete, general, and particular. It is what allows the world, the society, and the person to flourish on their own terms.

Infrastructural Fractals: Revisiting the Micro—Macro Distinction in Social Theory

10.1068/d420t ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 832-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Casper B Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Critical Social Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Electronic Patient Records ◽  
Fractal Approach ◽  
Social Theorist ◽  
Danish Health ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between the supposedly small—the micro—and the supposedly large—the macro—has been a long-standing concern in social theory. However, although many attempts have been made to link these two seemingly disjoint dimensions, in the present paper I argue against such an endeavour. Instead, I outline a fractal approach to the study of space, society, and infrastructure. A fractal orientation requires a number of related conceptual reorientations. It has implications for thinking about scale and perspective, and (sociotechnical) relations, and for considering the role of the social theorist in analyzing such relations. I find empirical illustration in the case of the development of electronic patient records in Danish health care. The role of the social theorist is explored through a comparison of the political and normative stance enabled, respectively, by a critical social theory and a fractal social theory.

Citizenship, Migration, and Confessional Democracy in Lebanon

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thibaut Jaulin
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Political Decisions ◽  
Citizenship Regime ◽  
The Way

No major citizenship reform has been adopted in Lebanon since the creation of the Lebanese citizenship in 1924. Moreover, access to citizenship for foreign residents does not depend on established administrative rules and processes, but instead on ad hoc political decisions. The Lebanese citizenship regime is thus characterized by immobilism and discretion. This paper looks at the relationship between citizenship regime and confessional democracy, defined as a system of power sharing between different religious groups. It argues that confessional democracy hinders citizenship reform and paves the way to arbitrary naturalization practices, and that, in turn, the citizenship regime contributes to the resilience of the political system. In other words, the citizenship regime and the political system are mutually reinforcing.

The ‘political’ and the ‘legal’: comments on Professor Tushnet’s paper

2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Sands
Keyword(s):  
General Theory ◽  
Central Issue ◽  
The Political ◽  
Law And Politics ◽  
Emergency Powers ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

This comment responds to a central issue posed by Professor Tushnet as to the way in which democracies control the exercise of emergency powers. Sands believes that ‘law’ and ‘politics’ are not mutually exclusive, and that the relationship between them suggests that a general theory on the interplay of political and legal factors in controlling the exercise of emergency powers remains elusive.

War and media: Constancy and convulsion

2005 ◽  
Vol 87 (860) ◽  
pp. 649-659
Author(s):  
Arnaud Mercier
Keyword(s):  
Critical Distance ◽  
The Political ◽  
Stage Management ◽  
Media Spectacle ◽  
The Media ◽  
Media Globalization ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

AbstractTo consider the relationship between war and the media is to look at the way in which the media are involved in conflict, either as targets (war on the media) or as an auxiliary (war thanks to the media). On the basis of this distinction, four major developments may be cited that today combine to make war above all a media spectacle: photography, which opened the door to manipulation through stage-management; live technologies, which raise the question of journalists' critical distance vis-à-vis the material they broadcast and which can facilitate the process of using them; pressure on the media and media globalization, which have led to a change in the way the political and military authorities go about making propaganda; and, finally, the fact that censorship has increasingly come into disrepute, which has prompted the authorities to think of novel ways of controlling journalists.

scholarly journals Populism

Soundings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (72) ◽  
pp. 31-47
Author(s):  
David Featherstone ◽  
Lazaros Karaliotas
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Grassroots Politics ◽  
The People ◽  
Right Wing Populism ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Way

Populism refers to forms of politics that put 'the people' at their centre, but the way 'the people' is understood varies widely. Questions of left populism have gained significant traction and engagement in the last decade - and this is a key focus of this article. While recognising the importance of Ernesto Laclau's analysis in On Populist Reason, the authors argue that his work is hindered by an overly formalist account of the political. Stuart Hall's writings on Thatcherism offer a more contextual and situated engagement with particular populist strategies, and have continuing relevance for understanding right-wing populism. Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece offer actually existing experiences of left populism. We discuss three limitations in their strategies: their 'nationed' narratives of the crisis; the relationship between the parties' leadership and grassroots politics; and the nature of their engagement with internationalist political projects. Part of the critical terms series

scholarly journals Education and labor in Brazil: workers’ education in the perspective of the capital

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 491-501
Author(s):  
Jaime Hillesheim ◽  
Adir Valdemar Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
Development Plan ◽  
The Political ◽  
Education Development ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This article is grounded on the critic social theory, and analyzes the content presented in the Brazilian National Plans of Education (2001-2010 and 2014-2024) and the Education Development Plan (2007) regarding the relationship between education and work. Documentary research aimed to identify the political perspectives that establish this relationship in a context of crisis of capitalism and regression of rights around the world and, particularly, in Brazil. The results show that updating and strengthening education is essential to prepare the workforce in line with the new needs of the sphere of production, a relation that is often disguised by the discourse and defense of citizenship, law, and humanistic values.

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