An Interview with Jean-Luc Nancy on Literature, Philosophy and the Present

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (7-8) ◽  
pp. 355-366
Author(s):  
Artur R. Boelderl
Keyword(s):  
Easter Island ◽  
The Political ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
World Today ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
The World ◽  
Before And After

‘We are before Dante’: In this interview, held via email in March 2020 amid the massive outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jean-Luc Nancy leads us on a brief but far-reaching foray through his thought. He succeeds in providing an overview of the subjects that he has raised since the beginning of his career as a philosopher, while maintaining a focus on their pertinence for what we are currently facing in the world today. He supplements his insight that ‘we are before Dante’ with the equally remarkable conclusion: ‘Desire is what is born par excellence’. In between these two propositions, and in between the lines and words documented here – touching upon topics as diverse as the moai statues of Easter Island, the music of Schumann, Wagner, and techno, as well as the writing of Artaud, Proust, and Verlaine – we find an exciting, up-to-date treatment of the question of how to ‘deal with the world intellectually’ (Musil) without, in doing so, participating in the modern claim to ‘master’ it. Instead, Nancy suggests, we ought to be attentive to what escapes us by its very principle, with philosophy, literature, and art serving as witnesses of what has always been absent from our mind, that is, the sensibility of meaning, in order to become aware that, since we are always already before and after birth, ‘we come from nowhere and everywhere’. This realization enables us to understand the political consequences that it has for our understanding of a world in metamorphosis, including for highly controversial issues such as colonialism, anti-Semitism, the far right, neo-liberalism, and other totalitarian forms that supposedly manifest a return of the myth, as well as its consequences for the insurmountability of Marx(ism).

Population, Resources, and Technology: Political Implications of the Environmental Crisis

1972 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-212 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nazli Choucri ◽  
James P. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Precise Nature ◽  
Popu Lation ◽  
World Today ◽  
Technological Advances ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
The World ◽  
Exponential Rates

Virtually eveyone reconizes the existence on an environmental crisis in the world today, but may uncertianties remain concerning the precise nature of this cirsis and its domestic and interational implications. This much is clear: The world's popu;lation is continuing to grow at an alarming pace; finite resources are being utilized at exponential rates; and technological advances are contributing to negative ecological outcomes. These trends have been documented extensively. Their political significance, however, has received little attention if only because the visibility of the problem is such a recent phenomenon. This article is addressed to some of the political consequences and international implications of the environmental crisis.

The Political Refugee: 35 Years Later

1981 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 26-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gunther Beyer
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
Socioeconomic Aspects ◽  
Forced Migrations ◽  
The World ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Refugee Problem

This article describes the human and socioeconomic aspects of the political refugee problem before and after World War II, and explains the facts which caused the flows of forced migrations throughout the world.

scholarly journals Authoritarianism in the Public

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Suhay ◽  
Brianna Maurer
Keyword(s):  
Political Attitudes ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Personality Characteristic ◽  
The Political ◽  
High Group ◽  
Authoritarian Personality ◽  
The Public ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Right

The study of the “authoritarian personality” began in Europe with the rise of Hitler as an effort to understand why so many seemingly ordinary Germans (and others) were willing to lend their support to an obviously anti-democratic and racist leader. Research on authoritarianism continues in this vein today, although it is now used throughout the world to explain why many people oppose democratic institutions, support authoritarian leaders, and hold prejudiced attitudes. The study of authoritarianism is as popular as it is controversial, with scholars disagreeing over whether it is a personality characteristic or a set of attitudes, how it develops, whether it occurs only on the political right or on the left as well, and how it is best measured, among other debates. Even so, scholars generally agree on the characteristics associated with authoritarianism: those who exhibit authoritarianism tend to be high group identifiers, submissive to in-group authorities, traditional and conforming, and aggressive toward those who either defy accepted norms or are members of outgroups. As has been evident for decades, authoritarianism is closely associated with all manner of highly consequential social and political attitudes, including anti-Semitism, racism, xenophobia, and homophobia, opposition to civil liberties and rights, support for war, and, of course, support for leaders who govern in an authoritarian manner.

scholarly journals The Geopolitics of Decadence

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 607-620
Author(s):  
Regenia Gagnier
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
International Competition ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
The Political ◽  
World Today ◽  
The World ◽  
Longue Duree ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Anxiety Depression

The conditions of rapid change and modernization that swept the world from the second half of the nineteenth century enforced the new nationalisms, imperialisms, racisms, anti-Semitisms, and, more positively, sexualities that are again sweeping the world today. The longue durée of modern globalization that began with British industrialization continues with our contemporary forms of technological expansion, international competition, populist disaffection, and accompanying forms of stress, anxiety, depression, nostalgia, regression: decadence. This essay will focus on the political-economic conditions of the period and the cosmopolitanism and progressivism that resisted, and continue to resist, them. I conclude with the classic Japanese analysis of the condition, Kobayashi Hideo's “Literature of the Lost Home” (1933).

scholarly journals Populist, Radical and Extremist Political Parties in Visegrad countries vis à vis the migration crisis. In the name of the people and the nation in Central Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Věra Stojarová
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
The People ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Radical Right Parties ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
Visegrád Countries ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThe paper looks at the political party scene in Visegrad countries before and after the influx of refugees and compares how much the negative reactions were instrumentalised not only by the extremist and radical right parties but by the newly emerged populist formations as well as the well-established mainstream parties across the whole political spectra. Until the “migration crisis”, the far right parties focused mainly on Roma issue, anti-Semitism, anti-communism, anti-establishment and used anti-NATO, anti-EU, anti-German, anti-Czech, anti-Slovak or anti-Hungarian card. Since 2015, the parties re-oriented against immigrants, more precisely against the Muslims presenting them as a threat and also increased their criticism on the EU. However, the mainstream parties also accepted far right topics and actively promoted them. The result is then mainstreaming of xenophobia, nationalism and marginalization of far right parties as their flexible voters move to the populist subjects.

Letter From Poland

1991 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-228
Author(s):  
Antoni Z. Kaminski ◽  
Joanna Kurczewska
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Black And White ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Class Background ◽  
The World

WE STARTED WRITING THIS LETTER ON 22 DECEMBER 1990, the day that Lech Walesa was sworn in before the Polish Sejm as the first President of Poland ever elected in national elections. Even during this memorable ceremony, some MPs could not hide their deep dissatisfaction. They shared with a large portion of intellectuals of the world the conviction that Mazowiecki, a journalist, would be a far better president for Poland than Walesa the shipyard - worker.Having followed with some curiosity the Western coverage of the Polish elections, and of the political struggles that preceded it, we have the impression that the coverage was biased, and often misleading. Commentators repeated misleading stereotypes, identifying themselves with one side in the political conflict in Poland. They presented a black-and-white picture of the conflict. Tadeusz Mazoweicki symbolized stability, democracy, tolerance, open-mindedness, ‘true’ pluralism, etc.; while the ‘terrible Lech Walesa’ represented dictatorship, obscurantism, anti-Semitism, populism, and chaos. Subtle references were made to Walesa's working-class background, to his lack of poise and education. We find such journalistic bad manners outrageous.

Mapping Orientalist Discourses: Using Waltz with Bashir in the Classroom

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 154-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beatriz Tomé-Alonso ◽  
Lucía Ferreiro Prado
Keyword(s):  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cultural Artifacts ◽  
Political Consequences ◽  
Non Fiction ◽  
The World ◽  
Animated Film

Abstract While fiction and non-fiction productions can be used as tools to observe, describe, and analyze the “world-out-there,” within these events-issues centered approaches post-positivists posit films themselves as “cultural artifacts” to be analyzed. This paper proposes a critical analysis of Waltz with Bashir (2008) to be conducted with students in the classroom. This acclaimed animated film by Israeli writer and director Ari Folman depicting the 1982 Lebanon War is a non-obvious but germane example of Said's “Orientalism.” After explaining post-structuralism and post-orientalist stances on subjectivity, power relations, and the political consequences of the narratives we create, we analyze the film by applying an orientalist grid to Waltz with Bashir and raising qualitative questions to foster the student's criticality. We conclude by examining student's reactions to the film and their understanding of “Orientalism.”

IV. CHINA AND THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION: THE FIRST DECADE

2011 ◽  
Vol 60 (3) ◽  
pp. 788-798
Author(s):  
Lisa Toohey
Keyword(s):  
World Trade Organization ◽  
World Trade ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
Foreign Firms ◽  
The Political ◽  
Controversial Issues ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
The World ◽  
Wto Agreements ◽  
Equality Of Access

By the end of 2011, China will have been a member of the World Trade Organization (the WTO) for a decade. While China has undergone dramatic changes to implement commitments contained in its Protocol of Accession,1debate continues as to whether China has adequately complied with its obligations under the WTO Agreements in both letter and spirit. Some of this debate remains in the political arena, where China is censured over such issues as currency controls and or equality of access for foreign firms like Google; however, it is in the legal arena, and specifically within the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body, that some of the most controversial issues are raised, both against and by China.

Jewish Contribution to Civilization

2007 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Jewish Studies ◽  
The Political ◽  
Jewish Culture ◽  
World Today ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

The biblical idea of a distinct 'Jewish contribution to civilization' continues to engage Jews and non-Jews alike. This book seeks neither to document nor to discredit the notion, but rather to investigate the idea itself as it has been understood from the seventeenth century to the present. It explores the role that the concept has played in Jewish self-definition, how it has influenced the political, social, and cultural history of the Jews and of others, and whether discussion of the notion still has relevance in the world today. The book attempts to illustrate the centrality of the question in modern Jewish culture in general, and its importance for modern Jewish studies in particular. Part I addresses the idea itself and considers its ramifications. Part II turns to the relationship between Judaism and other monotheistic cultures. Part III introduces various applications and consequences of the debate. The conclusion compares three overviews of Jewish culture and civilization published in America in the twentieth and twenty-first-centuries.

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