scholarly journals My utopia is your utopia? William Morris, utopian theory and the claims of the past

Thesis Eleven ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 152 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joe P.L. Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Political Efficacy ◽  
Historical Control ◽  
The Political ◽  
William Morris ◽  
The Past ◽  
Utopian Theory ◽  
The Relationship

This article examines the relationship between utopian production and reception via a reading of the work of the great utopian author and theorist William Morris. This relationship has invariably been defined by an inequality: utopian producers have claimed unlimited freedom in their attempts to imagine new worlds, while utopian recipients have been asked to adopt such visions as their own without question. Morris’s work suggests two possible responses to this inequality. One response, associated with theorist Miguel Abensour, is to liberate reception, with Morris’s utopianism containing an invitation to readers to reformulate the vision proffered. However, this response, despite its dominance in contemporary utopian theory, not only misreads Morris but also undermines the political efficacy of utopianism. Consequently, I suggest that Morris responds to the problem of utopian inequality by constraining production, proposing a historical control on utopianising; new utopias are directed by an archive of visions articulated in past struggles.

I. The Augustan Historian

1974 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 5-7
Keyword(s):  
Nazi Germany ◽  
The Political ◽  
New Order ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ab Urbe Condita ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Relationship

During the past forty years the dominant preoccupation of scholars writing on Livy has been the relationship between the historian and the emperor Augustus, and its effects on the Ab Urbe Condita. Tacitus’ testimony that the two were on friendly terms, and Suetonius’ revelation that Livy found time to encourage the historical studies of the future emperor Claudius, appeared to have ominous overtones to scholars writing against the political backcloth of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Though the subject had not been wholly ignored previously, the success of the German cultural propaganda-machine stimulated a spate of approving or critical treatments. While some were hailing Livy as the historian whose work signalled and glorified the new order, others following a similar interpretation were markedly scathing.

From Reproductive Rights to Reproductive Justice

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Ziegler
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Reproductive Rights ◽  
The Political ◽  
Reproductive Justice ◽  
Reproductive Health Services ◽  
Public Attention ◽  
The Past ◽  
Women's Equality ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Relationship

This article illuminates potential obstacles facing the reproductive justice movement and the way those obstacles might be overcome. Since 2010, reproductive justice—an agenda that fuses access to reproductive health services and demands for social justice—has energized feminist scholars and activists and captured broader public attention. Abortion rights advocates in the past dismissed reproductive justice claims as risky and unlikely to appeal to a broad enough audience. These obstacles are not as daunting as they first appear. Reframing the abortion right as a matter of women’s equality may eliminate some of the constitutional hurdles facing a reproductive justice approach. The political obstacles may be just as surmountable. Understanding the history of the constitutional discourse concerning reproductive justice and reproductive rights may allow us to move beyond the impasse that has defined the relationship between the two for too long.

The urban historian and the political will

Urban History ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 5-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. G. Checkland
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Urban History ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Will ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Research And Policy ◽  
General Perspective

At the Leicester urban history conference in 1966 there was very little discussion of the relationship between public policy and urban history. There were some points at which linkages were implied, but these arose merely incidentally. There was no attempt to adopt public policy as a general perspective on urban development. Reciprocally, the planners paid no attention to the historians: Jim Dyos remarked that the largest part of ‘research and policy making is taking place without reference to the historians’. The picture has not greatly changed over the past 14 years. There have indeed been studies in which policy, its formation and limitations, have been implicit, but few in which they have played a central part.

The Political Perversion of Art

1941 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-249
Author(s):  
Frank O'Malley
Keyword(s):  
Virginia Woolf ◽  
William Langland ◽  
The State ◽  
John Dos Passos ◽  
The Political ◽  
William Morris ◽  
Hart Crane ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Twentieth Century America

MOST MEN are content to believe that politics deals with the practical problems of the administration of the state. But the term can have a greater and wider significance. It can also mean, as it meant for Aristotle, the whole character of men's life in society. In the past as well as in the present, poets and novelists of every country have often devoted themselves not merely to the good of their art but directly and especially, in varying degrees, to the problem of the good of the state and of society. In an older England, for example, William Langland, Skelton, Dryden, Samuel Butler, Shelley, and William Morris, to mention only a few, have struck into political themes and preoccupations; and today the problem, from manifold aspects, of the relation of the individual to society has not been ignored by T. S. Eliot, J. M. Murry, C. Day Lewis, Stephen Spender, and even Mrs. Virginia Woolf, among others. And the “reform” of an afflicted twentieth-century America has engaged talents and humors as dissimilar as those of, say, Sinclair Lewis, John Dos Passos, Hart Crane, and Maxwell Anderson. The seriousness of such people no one would question, although the agitations of a few, particularly in periods of crisis, for a specific good polity or a specific good economy sometimes interferes gravely with what should be their chief end: good art.

The Political Theory Implicit in Social Casework Theory

1953 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 1076-1091 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Keith-Lucas
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Local State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Government Function ◽  
The Past ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The political theory implicit in social casework theory can be defined, for purposes of this discussion, as the theory of the relationship between man and society on which professional social casework is consciously predicated, or that theory of the relationship which is logically implied by social casework practice. This theory is not often consciously articulated and we must look for it, therefore, in those presuppositions underlying casework theory which are frequently accepted uncritically, if not wholly unconsciously. This practice obviously cannot be carried on without basic (although perhaps not entirely conscious) presuppositions about what man is like and consequently about what society can or ought to do for him.The presuppositions underlying social casework theory, although important in any context, have acquired a new significance to the extent that social casework has increasingly become a government function. During the past twenty years literally millions of people in the United States have been brought into a new relationship with officials of their local, state, and national governments—namely, the relationship of client and social caseworker.

scholarly journals "Towards a Positive Treaty Partnership in the Post-Settlement Era”: Treaty of Waitangi Settlements and Decolonisation in Aotearoa New Zealand

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Scott Summerfield
Keyword(s):  
Political Rhetoric ◽  
The Political ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
The Past ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Settlement Policies ◽  
Treaty Of Waitangi ◽  
Settlement Policy ◽  
The Relationship

<p>Settlements of historical Treaty of Waitangi claims present a unique opportunity to provide redress to Māori for the past and ongoing grievances committed by the Crown, and through that redress and the accompanying focus on improved relations, to decolonise the relationship between the two. Despite this opportunity, there is a wide body of literature that suggests the outcomes of these settlements instead will perpetuate colonisation and uphold the political structures which allow for the on-going dispossession of Māori.  This thesis argues that existing Treaty settlement policy can be viewed as a continuation of the legacy of colonisation by stealth, entrenching the power of the colonial state while simultaneously offering redress and apologies for past grievances of the colonisation process which do not adequately challenge the underlying structures which give rise to those grievances. It is further argued, through the example of political rhetoric from the 2014 general election, that current political discourses support the implementation of colonising settlement policies and that those discourses reinforce notions of Western settler superiority.  This thesis explores a number of perspectives on settlements and decolonisation which support the claim that historical Treaty settlements perpetuate rather than challenge colonisation. I argue that the pressing concern emerging from the thesis is that the Crown can be to seen to be directing the Treaty relationship to a post-settlement world where the negotiated outcomes of Treaty settlements and the parties to them are the end point of colonisation and represent the future dynamic of the Crown-Māori relationship.</p>

Introduction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johann Chapoutot
Keyword(s):  
National Socialism ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Nazi Germany ◽  
The Political ◽  
Sacred Place ◽  
The Past ◽  
Place Of Origin ◽  
Totalitarian Regimes ◽  
The Relationship

This introductory chapter examines the scope of the relationship between National Socialism and antiquity, a topic that historians appear to neglect despite the fact that there have been precedents as to the political use of history—appealing to the past to justify political power in the present—which is a frequent phenomenon, all the more so in totalitarian regimes that seek to anchor their revolutionary political intentions in the depths of historical precedent. The possibilities afforded by the past appear, moreover, to have held great significance for National Socialism. Nazi Germany had coveted and revered the past as a sacred place of origin.

Mortality in the Past Hundred Years

1956 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 40-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. LL. Gwilt
Keyword(s):  
Cause Of Death ◽  
Special Interest ◽  
Social Background ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
The Political ◽  
List Type ◽  
Mortality Statistics ◽  
The Past ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
The Relationship

SynopsisThe paper, which was written at the invitation of the Council of the Faculty for submission on the occasion of the Centenary celebrations, deals with the broad trend of mortality rates in the hundred years 1850-1950.The paper is in five main parts :—1. The political and social background of the period, in so far as it might affect mortality rates, is briefly discussed.2. The trend of mortality rates during the hundred years is discussed principally with reference to the following six countries which, besides being relatively stable politically during the period, have recorded mortality rates throughout— England & WalesDenmarkFranceNetherlandsNorwaySweden.The experience in more recent years of a number of other countries is also discussed.3. The relationship between the mortality rates of males and females is examined at various ages for the six countries above mentioned.4. The more recent mortality statistics are analysed according to cause of death in broad groups.5. The paper concludes with a statement on the points which seem to be of special interest, setting out in the form of questions some of the thoughts which spring from them.In the pages which follow (Appendices 1-18) the statistics referred to in Parts 2 and 3 are illustrated by a series of graphs.

Understanding Integration from Rwanda to Iraq

2004 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Macrae
Keyword(s):  
Political Action ◽  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
The Political ◽  
Refugee Camps ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Determinants ◽  
Humanitarian Crises ◽  
Political Responses ◽  
The Relationship

The past decade has seen profound changes in the relationship between humanitarian and political action. The political determinants of humanitarian crises are now acknowledged, so too is their chronicity, and the limits of relief aid as a form of intervention are thus more fully understood. In 1994, in the refugee camps of Goma, Zaire, there was widespread manipulation of aid resources by armed groups implicated in the genocide in Rwanda. This experience highlighted a wider concern that, rather than doing good, emergency aid can fuel violence. The apparent consensus that humanitarian assistance can somehow stand outside politics gave way to calls for tighter linkage between aid and political responses to crises.

Moscow and Tokyo: An Uneasy Peace

1985 ◽  
Vol 481 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
HIROSHI KIMURA
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The Political ◽  
Soviet Policy ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Northern Territories ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Relationship

This article examines why Soviet-Japanese relations since 1945 have been so poor at the political, economic, and military levels. It first analyzes recent changes in Moscow's foreign policy toward Japan and then looks at the major determinants shaping this policy. Kimura assesses recent Soviet policy and concludes that the Soviet Union has few diplomatic options open to improve the Soviet-Japanese relationship. Soviet diplomacy in the past has been heavy-handed, clumsy, and inflexible, especially as regards the so-called Northern Territories. Soviet attitudes must evidence greater flexibility and a willingness to negotiate before the relationship can be significantly improved.

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