scholarly journals Are knowledgeable voters better voters?

2022 ◽  
pp. 1470594X2110650
Author(s):  
Michael Hannon

It is widely believed that democracies require knowledgeable citizens to function well. But the most politically knowledgeable individuals tend to be the most partisan and the strength of partisan identity tends to corrupt political thinking. This creates a conundrum. On the one hand, an informed citizenry is allegedly necessary for a democracy to flourish. On the other hand, the most knowledgeable and passionate voters are also the most likely to think in corrupted, biased ways. What to do? This paper examines this tension and draws out several lessons. First, it is not obvious that more knowledgeable voters will make better political decisions. Second, attempts to remedy voter ignorance are problematic because partisans tend to become more polarized when they acquire more information. Third, solutions to citizen incompetence must focus on the intellectual virtue of objectivity. Fourth, some forms of epistocracy are troubling, in part, because they would increase the political power of the most dogmatic and biased individuals. Fifth, a highly restrictive form of epistocracy may escape the problem of political dogmatism, but epistocrats may face a steeper tradeoff between inclusivity and epistemic virtue than they would like.

1965 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 358-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cho-Yun Hsu

The consolidation of China did not come immediately with China's unification. It was not fully accomplished until the middle of the Former (Western) Han. The monolithic2 nature of the political powers and a group of local elite3 were then forming. And the bureaucracy, becoming much elaborated during this era, served to link the two. The elite group functioned, on the one hand as the reservoir of candidates to officialdom, and on the other hand, as the leading element with education, prestige, and often wealth, in the community. Based on these concepts, this paper ventures to present the formation of the local elite group through the changing social base of political power during Western Han.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-222
Author(s):  
Mathias G. Parding

Abstract It is known that Kierkegaard’s relation to politics was problematic and marked by a somewhat reactionary stance. The nature of this problematic relation, however, will be shown to lie in the tension between his double skepticism of the order of establishment [det Bestående] on the one hand, and the political associations of his age on the other. In this tension he is immersed, trembling between Scylla and Charybdis. On the one hand Kierkegaard is hesitant to support the progressive political movements of the time due to his skepticism about the principle of association in the socio-psychological climate of leveling and envy. On the other hand, his dubious support of the order of the establishment, in particular the Church and Bishop Mynster, becomes increasingly problematic. The importance of 1848 is crucial in this regard since this year marks the decisive turn in Kierkegaard’s authorship. Using the letters to Kolderup-Rosenvinge in the wake of the cataclysmic events of 1848 as my point of departure, I wish to elucidate the pathway towards what Kierkegaard himself understands as his Socratic mission.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 101-110
Author(s):  
Mateusz Falkowski

The article is devoted to the famous The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude by Étienne de La Boétie. The author considers the theoretical premises underlying the concept of “voluntary servitude”, juxtaposing them with two modern concepts of will developed by Descartes and Pascal. An important feature of La Boétie’s project is the political and therefore intersubjective – as opposed to the individualistic perspective of Descartes and Pascal – starting point. It is therefore situated against the background of, on the one hand, the historical evolution of early modern states (from feudal monarchies, through so-called Renaissance monarchies up to European absolutisms) and, on the other hand – of the political philosophy of Machiavelli and Hobbes.


Author(s):  
Stanisław Musiał ◽  
Gwido Zlatkes

This chapter offers an answer to the previous chapter by Revd Waldemar Chrostowski. The author argues that his text speaks of a different matter than that of Chrostowski's. He, on the one hand, addresses the antisemitic character of one of Henryk Jankowski's public enunciations, and the lack of reaction, or inadequate reaction, to the antisemitism of this enunciation on the part of the episcopate. Chrostowski, on the other hand, discusses the political character of that enunciation of Jankowski's, and the bishops' reaction to this political character. The author limits his remarks about the Revd Chrostowski's article to making four corrections and to expressing his regret about two clearly antisemitic emphases present in Chrostowski's text.


Philologus ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 151 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fritz-Heiner Mutschler

AbstractTacitus and Sima Qian (ca. 140-85 BC, author of the Shiji, the Records of the Historian) are eminent representatives of Roman and ancient Chinese historiography. The starting-point of the paper is a striking parallel between the two historians: During the reign of autocratic emperors (of the last of the Flavian emperors, Domitian, and of the most powerful of the Han-emperors Wudi) both authors undergo experiences which not only affect them on a personal level, but also influence their historiographie practice. The paper traces this influence with respect to the representations of individual historical characters. On the one hand it analyses the representations of rulers: of Tiberius, adoptive son and successor of Augustus, and of Wendi, natural son and (indirect) successor of Gaodi, the founder of the Han-dynasty; on the other hand it studies the representations of second and third rank characters such as senators, ministers, generals, and - in the case of Sima Qian - also of people from other walks of life. The similarities which can be observed between the two authors point to the existence of certain anthropological constants, whereas the differences are to be attributed to basic differences in Roman and Chinese political thinking and to differing degrees of the intensity of the experiences undergone by each historian.


1963 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Goncharov

The colonial system is a system of social relations based on the political and economic domination of backward peoples by imperialist powers, in a world divided territorially and economically. The colonial régime is a monopoly exercised by the bourgeoisie of an imperialist country, based on economic and extra-economic pressure in a dependent country. This imperialist monopoly has two basic functions: on the one hand, it exploits the colonies; on the other hand, it maintains and develops the political enslavement necessary for its own existence.


Author(s):  
Ralf Ahrens

AbstractImmediately following World War II, the allied occupational powers started a process of denazifying West German business in more or less the same way as the political and administrative apparatus. Initial approaches to solve the task by a radical purge of highly incriminated company managers soon gave way to more extensive investigations of party members and Nazi sympathizers also on lower ranks. Denazification escalated into bureaucratic mass procedures and finally ended up in various forms of amnesty and pardon in the late 1940s and early 1950s. A key feature in this process was the successively growing participation of German actors like various commissions, chambers of commerce and the companies themselves. On the one hand, comprehensive investigation and punishment under a re-installed rule of law had to rely upon cooperation of German actors and their expertise on the reality of the Nazi past; on the other hand, the integration of business itself into denazification procedures allowed company managers to benefit from informational advantages. Focussing the interaction between denazification authorities and business in the three West German zones of occupation, the article argues that under the general conditions of economic reconstruction and democratization the degeneration from purge to pardon was hardly avoidable, but that nevertheless the effects of temporary punishments should not be underestimated.


1973 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan deVries

The political and economic institutions of the Dutch Republic puzzle the historian. Closely juxtaposed are elements suggesting a tantalizing precociousness and elements which hearken to the medieval past. The Republic was the creation of a revolution; it can be identified as the first European state to throw off a monarchical regime and bring a bourgeois social class to full political power. On the other hand, the foremost motive behind this rebellion was the resistance of medieval, municipal particularism to governmental centralization—to modernization, if you will.


Sincronía ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol XXV (80) ◽  
pp. 160-175
Author(s):  
Celeste Florencia Ramirez ◽  

In the present work, in the light of the reading of the philosopher Santiago Castro-Gómez, we will try to elucidate his theory about the coloniality of power and the way in which such a device codified the bodies according to the discourse of blood cleansing. So, first, we will briefly develop two different types of theories about power: on the one hand, the theory of the coloniality of power, presented by the Peruvian sociologist Aníbal Quijano; on the other hand, the analytics of power, developed by Michel Foucault. Both theories, which seem incommensurable, are put into dialogue by our philosopher. In the second part of our work, we will prepare to present the practices and modus operandi corresponding to the coloniality of power to manifest its uniqueness in comparison to other types of powers. Likewise, we will show how a certain sector of the population, in an attempt to consolidate their family and personal interests, used these practices to limit corporality. Third, and by way of conclusion, we will make a brief sketch about the link between the coloniality of power and the political practices of current Colombia.


ALQALAM ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
Muhammad Iqbal

The Sunni doctrine plays an important role in the government. Its accommodative characteristic is something important that makes Sunni doctrine to be a device of the legitimation of the authority. The Muslim thinkers of classical Sunni such as al-Mawardi (975-1058 M), al-Ghazali (1058-1111 M) and lbn Taimiyah(1263-1329 M) have a great role in formulating the political doctrine of Sunni. In spite of the different nuance, all of these three classical Sunni thinkers develop the moderate political doctrine of Sunni. On the one hand, it is, of course, significant in situating the harmonious relation between the ruler and community. Therefore, the social and political stabilities will be well-maintained On the other hand, such a thought for a certain extent evokes stagnancy. Because there is no radical thought which is critical and opposite against the authority, the Sunni idea is frequently made use for the instantaneous interests of power. On evenlttally, the mutual interrelationship between the Sunni ulama and the ruler often happens. While ulama feel obtaining the patronage from the authority, the ruler gains religious justification from ulama. In this context, Indonesia as the country with the majority of Sunni Muslims, as a matter of fact, applies the political doctrine of Sunni. It is because Sunni has had a long and establishei root since. the period of Islamic kingdoms in the archipelago, before Dutch-Colonial period. The archipelago ulama also formulated the harmonious relation between Islam and authority as formulated by the ulama of classical Sunni. The polotical tradition of Sunni was becoming stronger in line with the great influence of ulama in the archipelago kingdoms. This article tries to elaborate the relation between the Sunni ulama with the power of the kings in the archipelago and the patronage of the archipelago rulers toward them.


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