scholarly journals Realism and reflexivity: Morgenthau, academic freedom and dissent

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seán Molloy

Primarily known as a pioneer of International Relations (IR) theory, Hans Morgenthau also wrote on a series of other political themes. Especially prominent in his later career is a concern with the right and duty of a theorist to exercise academic freedom as a critic of government power and, especially in this particular case, of US foreign policy. For Morgenthau the responsibility to hold governments to account by reference to the ‘higher laws’ that underpin and legitimize democracy in its truest form was a key function of the theorist in society. Dissensus and healthy debate characterize genuine democracy for Morgenthau who was perturbed by what he perceived to be a worrying concern with conformity and consensus among the political and academic elites of Vietnam War era America. This article investigates the theoretical and philosophical commitments that explain why Morgenthau felt compelled to oppose the government of his adopted state and the consequences of his having done so. For all the vicissitudes he endured, Morgenthau ultimately emerged vindicated from his clash with the political elite and his experience serves as an exemplary case of the effective use of academic freedom to oppose government policy by means of balanced, judicious critique. In the final section I argue that Morgenthau’s approach to theory, theorization and the role of the intellectual in society provides valuable insights into the nature of reflexivity in IR that are of relevance to contemporary debates in the discipline.

1994 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 477-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Etzioni-Halevy

This Article is Addressed to the Qufstion Which Has recently caught the attention of scholars of the role of elites in promoting, or conversely impairing, democracy. It is based on the thesis that when elites are separate and relatively autonomous from the political elite which is in government, this promotes democracy. Conversely, when elites are closely connected, this impairs proper democratidelectoral procedures. The paper marshals illustrative-empirical support for this thesis from the relations between two elites in one Westem-style democracy: the religious elite and the political elite of government parties in Israel. It traces the intricate connections between religious leaders and the leaders of the government. It shows that these damage the freedom of elections, and enfeeble Israeli democracy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-31
Author(s):  
Husni Mubaroq ◽  
Sohibul Watoni ◽  
Zairotul Hasanah

The concept of decentralization is the authority of the government that is delegated to the regions, including the authority of personnel in accordance with the decentralized functions. The regional head has the task of being a coach of the State Civil Apparatus in the concept of decentralization. There was a case that the Mayor of Probolinggo issued a decree to remove Tutang Heri Aribowo, who served as an Expert Staff at the Regional Secretariat of the City of Probolinggo. The Regional Government as a civil servant coach tends to abuse its authority. This happens because there is the influence of the political elite in giving disciplinary punishment to employees. The author wants to describe the problem in a study that uses descriptive analytical methods, namely descriptions of the facts and characteristics of a particular population or area in a systematic, factual and thorough manner. The data in this study collected materials by means of a library study. This study also uses a normative juridical method with a statutory approach. So that in this study we know the legal basics of this problem. In order to know the proper process and institution related to the case problem. This aims at employee disputes on the right track and there is no arbitrariness by the ASN supervisor. Keywords: Employment Disputes, Authority, Personnel Advisor


2006 ◽  
pp. 54-75
Author(s):  
Klaus Peter Friedrich

Facing the decisive struggle between Nazism and Soviet communism for dominance in Europe, in 1942/43 Polish communists sojourning in the USSR espoused anti-German concepts of the political right. Their aim was an ethnic Polish ‘national communism’. Meanwhile, the Polish Workers’ Party in the occupied country advocated a maximum intensification of civilian resistance and partisan struggle. In this context, commentaries on the Nazi judeocide were an important element in their endeavors to influence the prevailing mood in the country: The underground communist press often pointed to the fate of the murdered Jews as a warning in order to make it clear to the Polish population where a deficient lack of resistance could lead. However, an agreed, unconditional Polish and Jewish armed resistance did not come about. At the same time, the communist press constantly expanded its demagogic confrontation with Polish “reactionaries” and accused them of shared responsibility for the Nazi murder of the Jews, while the Polish government (in London) was attacked for its failure. This antagonism was intensified in the fierce dispute between the Polish and Soviet governments after the rift which followed revelations about the Katyn massacre. Now the communist propaganda image of the enemy came to the fore in respect to the government and its representatives in occupied Poland. It viewed the government-in-exile as being allied with the “reactionaries,” indifferent to the murder of the Jews, and thus acting ultimately on behalf of Nazi German policy. The communists denounced the real and supposed antisemitism of their adversaries more and more bluntly. In view of their political isolation, they coupled them together, in an undifferentiated manner, extending from the right-wing radical ONR to the social democrats and the other parties represented in the underground parliament loyal to the London based Polish government. Thereby communist propaganda tried to discredit their opponents and to justify the need for a new start in a post-war Poland whose fate should be shaped by the revolutionary left. They were thus paving the way for the ultimate communist takeover


2020 ◽  
Vol 174 ◽  
pp. 04038
Author(s):  
Yuri Fridman ◽  
Galina Rechko ◽  
Ekaterina Loginova

The article discusses the place and role of strategic planning in ensuring that Kemerovo Oblast – Kuzbass develops comprehensively. For over thirty years, we have been studying the region with one of the leading national territorial-production centers established in the 20th century, how it emerged and functioned. Studies suggest that without regard to the economies of Russia as a whole and Kuzbass’s neighboring regions in particular, its issues cannot be satisfactorily resolved. At large, when strategic planning followed this assumption, it contributed to how fast and holistically the territory developed. Considering that, in the 21st century, strategy makers diverged from this concept and started to search for new approaches, the region’s economy has slowed down and its living standards have declined sharply. The momentum can be reversed with an active state socio-economic policy. Its previous forms, however, when the state gave preferences to private companies and did not require corresponding growth in standards of living in return, became unacceptable. It is necessary to work out a system of effective solutions and measures with mechanisms for reconciling the interests of the government, business and society within approaches that are adequate to the political and economic reality of today’s world.


1967 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 509-524 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. J. O. Dudley

In the debate on the Native Authority (Amendment) Law of 1955, the late Premier of the North, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Sardauna of Sokoto, replying to the demand that ‘it is high time in the development of local government systems in this Region that obsolete and undemocratic ways of appointing Emirs’ Councils should close’, commented that ‘the right traditions that we have gone away from are the cutting off of the hands of thieves, and that has caused a lot of thieving in this country. Why should we not be cutting (off) the hands of thieves in order to reduce thieving? That is logical and it is lawful in our tradition and custom here.’ This could be read as a defence against social change, a recrudescence of ‘barbarism’ after the inroads of pax Britannica, and a plea for the retention of the status quo and the entrenched privilege of the political elite.


1962 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 430-439
Author(s):  
José M. Sánchez

Few subjects in recent history have lent themselves to such heated polemical writing and debate as that concerning the Spanish Church and its relationship to the abortive Spanish revolution of 1931–1939. Throughout this tragic era and especially during the Civil War, it was commonplace to find the Church labelled as reactionary, completely and unalterably opposed to progress, and out of touch with the political realities of the twentieth century.1 In the minds of many whose views were colored by the highly partisan reports of events in Spain during the nineteen thirties, the Church has been pictured as an integral member of the Unholy Triumvirate— Bishops, Landlords, and enerals—which has always conspired to impede Spanish progress. Recent historical scholarship has begun to dispel some of the notions about the right-wing groups,2 but there has been little research on the role of the clergy. Even more important, there has been little understanding of the Church's response to the radical revolutionary movements in Spain.


Author(s):  
Koos Vorster

This research deals with the question of whether an ecumenical ethics can be developed in South Africa that at least will be applicable in the field of political ethics and that can assist the various ecclesiastical traditions to ‘speak with one voice’ when they address the government on matters of Christian ethical concern. The research rests on the recognition of the variety of ethical persuasions and points of view that flow from the variety of hermeneutical approaches to Scripture. However, within this plethora of ethical discourses, an ‘overlapping’ ethics based on a proposed set of minimum theological ideas can be pursued in order to reach at least an outline of an applicable ecumenical political ethics conducive to the church–state dialogue in South Africa today. The article concludes that a ‘minimum consensus’ on the role of revelation in the moral discourses is possible and is enriched by traditional ideas such as creation and natural law, the reign of God and Christology, and it can provide a suitable common ground for an ecumenical ethics applicable to the moral difficulties in the political domain in South Africa today.


1951 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 464-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil C. M. Elder

The joint standing committees of the Swedish Parliament are unique institutions of particular interest to the political analyst. They are the very linchpin of the legislative process in Sweden; they mediate in the event of intercameral disputes; and they even arrogate to themselves quasi-governmental powers when the government cannot muster a majority in the legislature.


2011 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 297-319
Author(s):  
Misa Djurkovic

The article deals with the political and economic situation in Hungary in the last several years. The author firstly points to the causes of decline of influence of the previous socialist government and the heavy defeat of the socialists in the 2010 elections and the success of the right party Fidesz. After winning the elections, the Viktor Orban government started, at an accelerated rate, to implement the pre-election programme of Fidesz that had been prepared for a long time while it was an opposition party. The author is of the opinion that this programme is atypical, very radical and unique by many characteristics in the Europe of today. He points out that only a year after Fidesz victory the government and the parliament adopted quite a number of laws, a new Constitution and a set of risky measures of recovery that should lead to a substantial economic reform. The author particularly underlines the fact that the government decided to break of negotiation with IMF, reject its recommendations and try to overcome over-indebtedness by carrying out its own ideas.


2014 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-61
Author(s):  
Annika Ullman

Principal C.J.L. Almqvist and the principle of personalityThe Swedish author and visionary Carl Jonas Love Almqvist (1793–1866) was the principal for twelve years (1829–1841) of the government-initiated pilot school ”Nya Elementarskolan” (New Elementary School) in Stockholm. In this position, he argued that both the school and the state should be built on the same basic idea: the right of individual freedom. This argument is often referred to as ”personlighetsprincipen” (the principle of personality), a concept launched by another prominent figure of the liberal culture of the time, Erik Gustaf Geijer (1783–1847). This article explores how the principle of personality is expressed in the texts of Almqvist and is mainly built upon the concept’s allegorical resources. It examines the thesis that Almqvist’s use of the term is best understood if one distinguishes between the political, pedagogical, and existential dimension of the concept. The article ends with some thoughts about the context of the concept and a discussion on whether Almqvist had a greater interest in personalities than in principles.


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