scholarly journals Petitioning for empire in Napoleonic Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 96-114
Author(s):  
Diego Palacios Cerezales
Keyword(s):  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
The Political ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
Empire Building ◽  
Popular Consent ◽  
Interpretative Framework ◽  
The Revolution

Petitions, loyal addresses, plebiscites, and other displays of popular consent accompanied most episodes of the revolutionary and Napoleonic expansion of France between 1789 and 1814. Petitioning had been adapted and transformed in France during the revolution, through which it became associated to popular sovereignty. Historians have often studied popular mobilisation through the prism of the conquest of rights, thereby pitting subordinate groups against entrenched ruling classes. This article surveys a different development, as French revolutionary administrators and generals, and Napoleon himself, adapted and reconfigured petitioning as a top-down tool for territorial expansion and empire-building, using it to invoke the supposed popular acquiescence to their reconfiguration of the political map of Europe. French propaganda portrayed these initiatives within the same interpretative framework that discussed the value of other, more autonomous, petitions. This work will thus analyse the paradox of top-down-controlled mobilisations that, at the same time, reinforced the symbolic pre-eminence of popular consent and participation.

scholarly journals The Origin of the Concept “Tianxia” in the Political Ideological Configuration of Traditional China

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 89
Author(s):  
Zhang Yuchen
Keyword(s):  
East Asian ◽  
The Political ◽  
Chinese Politics ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Font Size ◽  
Ancient China ◽  
Political Language ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
Main Development ◽  
The Revolution

<p><span style="font-size: xx-small;">The concept "Tianxia" (All-under-Heaven) could be a parallel concept of the "Empire" in the </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS,Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS,Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">West, which also allows a better understanding of the Chinese history with its own political language. This concept not only serves to </span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">legitimize the dominion of the Tianzi (Son of </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS,Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS,Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">God Heaven) in China, but also makes possible a </span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">political internalization instead of the territorial expansion in the East Asian area. The "Heaven" (or </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS,Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS,Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">Sky) is fundamental to understand the revolution </span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">of power in Ancient China, with the various </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS,Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS,Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">meanings in which it has been interpreted. This </span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">is finally recognized as the supreme god, that the <span style="font-size: xx-small;">Tianzi inherited and obtained dominion over the </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS,Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS,Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">corresponding earth. However, with the divine and ethical nature of Heaven, the dominator is </span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">required to have the virtue and good execution of power to keep the authorization in hand. With this text, the origin and the main development of the Tianxia system are revealed as the legitimizing </span><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS,Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS,Trebuchet MS; font-size: xx-small;">regime of Chinese politics. </span></span></span></p>

Парламент или Советы: российский выбор 1918 года

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 93-99
Author(s):  
Игорь А. Исаев
Keyword(s):  
Legal History ◽  
Direct Action ◽  
The State ◽  
European Countries ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Political Form ◽  
The Revolution

The article deals with one of the most important issues in the Soviet political and legal history. The choice of the political form that was established almost immediately after the victory of the Bolsheviks in the Revolution of 1917, meant a change in the direction of development of the state. Councils became an alternative to the parliamentary republic. The article analyzes the basic principles of both political systems and the reasons for such a choice. The author emphasizes transnational political direction of the so-called “direct action” which took place not only in Russia, but also in several European countries.

The Swiss and their Neighbours, 1460-1560

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Scott
Keyword(s):  
Fifteenth Century ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Buffer Zone ◽  
The Political ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
Political Principle ◽  
Mutual Obligation ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Identity

Renewed interest in Swiss history has sought to overcome the old stereotypes of peasant liberty and republican exceptionalism. The heroic age of the Confederation in the fifteenth century is now seen as a turning point as the Swiss polity achieved a measure of institutional consolidation and stability, and began to mark out clear frontiers. This book questions both assumptions. It argues that the administration of the common lordships by the cantons collectively gave rise to as much discord as cooperation, and remained a pragmatic device not a political principle. It argues that the Swiss War of 1499 was an avoidable catastrophe, from which developed a modus vivendi between the Swiss and the Empire as the Rhine became a buffer zone, not a boundary. It then investigates the background to Bern’s conquest of the Vaud in 1536, under the guise of relieving Geneva from beleaguerment, to suggest that Bern’s actions were driven not by predeterminate territorial expansion but by the need to halt French designs upon Geneva and Savoy. The geopolitical balance of the Confederation was fundamentally altered by Bern’s acquisition of the Vaud and adjacent lands. Nevertheless, the political fabric of the Confederation, which had been tested to the brink during the Reformation, proved itself flexible enough to absorb such a major reorientation, not least because what held the Confederation together was not so much institutions as a sense of common identity and mutual obligation forged during the Burgundian Wars of the 1470s.

scholarly journals Authoritarian resilience through top-down transformation: making sense of Myanmar's incomplete transition

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Ruzza ◽  
Giuseppe Gabusi ◽  
Davide Pellegrino
Keyword(s):  
Political Reform ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Transformation ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Ongoing Process ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Divide And Rule ◽  
Events Data

AbstractStarting from the imperfect nature of Myanmar's democracy, this paper aims to answer two questions. First, can Myanmar's transition be defined as a case of democratization, or is it, rather, a case of authoritarian resilience? To state this differently: is the progress enjoyed by Myanmar's polity the outcome of an ongoing process that is supposed to lead to a fully fledged democracy, or, rather, an attempt to enshrine elements of authoritarian governance under a democratic guise? Second, if the balance leans towards the latter instead of the former, how did authoritarian resilience work in Myanmar? The transition is analysed from a long-term perspective, moving from the 1988 pro-democracy uprising up to the most recent events. Data were collected from available published sources and from three fieldworks conducted by the authors in Myanmar. The paper concludes that Myanmar's transition is better understood as a case of authoritarian resilience than as democratization and highlights three core traits of Myanmar's authoritarian resilience: first, the very top-down nature of the political transformation; second, the incumbents’ ability to set the pace of political reform through the use of repression and political engineering; and third, the divide-and-rule strategy used as a means to keep contestations separated and local.

II. The ‘Comité, De Marine’ Of The Constituent Assembly

1959 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-148
Author(s):  
N. Hampson
Keyword(s):  
Political Attitudes ◽  
The Political ◽  
New Order ◽  
French Society ◽  
Constituent Assembly ◽  
Naval History ◽  
Naval Policy ◽  
The Revolution

There is a sense in which all naval history is general history, since the structure and preoccupations of a State influence both the services which it demands of its fleets and the type of naval organization appropriate to their performance. This relationship is most obvious in periods of social and political revolution when the navy, like other institutions, finds itself out of harmony with the principles of the new order. Such a situation arose in France in 1789 when the Constituent Assembly set about the transformation of so many aspects of French society. The study of naval politics in the period 1789–91 consequently helps towards a fuller understanding of the Revolution as a whole. The changes introduced into the French navy form a not unimportant part of the general reconstruction of France while the debates on naval policy often throw a revealing light on the political attitudes of the protagonists.

Une idée monstrueuse: Bicameralism in the Early French Revolution

1969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Marrs
Keyword(s):  
French Revolution ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
Political Group ◽  
The Commons ◽  
Assembly Floor ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Work Done ◽  
Constitutional Issue ◽  
The Revolution

In the spring of 1789, the members of the newly formed National Assembly tasked itself with the creation of France’s first Constitution. The Assembly set out to reform their country by incorporating enlightenment ideas and newfound liberties. Creating the constitution was not an easy process and the Assembly floor was home to many fierce debates, divides, and distrust amongst the Three Orders: the Clergy, the Nobility, and the Commons.  One Constitutional issue was deciding what form the legislature would take. Mounier, Lally-Tollendal, and Clermont-Tonnerre, members of the Committee of the Constitution, who formed a political group known as the ‘Monarchiens,’ proposed a bicameral system that mirrored the two legislative houses of England. Their political opponents fought instead for a single chambered system. When the vote came to the house, bicameralism was defeated in a landslide.  My research aims at discovering the motivations of the deputies; Why did they reject Mounier’s bicameralism? Much of the work done on this question so far, particularly that of Keith Michael Baker, argues that the deputies were faced with a choice between radically different conceptions of the purpose of the revolution. However, the work of Timothy Tackett points to the smaller, more contingent issues at play. My work involves the analysis of the assembly debates and the political publications being written by the deputies. Similar to Tackett, I conclude that the deputies were immediately motivated less by grand revolutionary narratives, but instead based their vote on a deep distrust of the aristocracy and political factionalism.  

Prophetic Imagination and Empire in Asia

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-116
Author(s):  
Jude Lal Fernando
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Personal Narrative ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Empire Building ◽  
Christian Communities ◽  
Political Reality ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
Prophetic Imagination ◽  
Twenty First Century

The aim of this article is to identify the glimpses of prophetic imagination amongst the Christian communities in Asia, particularly in Korea and Japan, who are engaged in resisting the new round of militarization in the twenty-first century. This resistance denounces the globalist security complex in the region and announces a nonmilitaristic alternative forming a praxis that is necessary for a new theology of peace in East Asia and in Asia broadly. The political reality of the new round of military empire-building will be discussed with a personal narrative and a political analysis after which the theological meaning of prophetic imagination as opposed to imperial consciousness will be analyzed, correlating the personal and political with the theological. The ways in which the resistance to militarization resonates with the prophetic imagination of an alternative consciousness and community will be examined through an analysis of memories and renunciation of war by the churches. Broad implications of these resonances for a peace theology in Asia will be identified.

scholarly journals Political Theory of Populism

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Urbinati
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
The Political ◽  
Representative Government ◽  
Constitutional Democracy ◽  
The People ◽  
Democratic Societies ◽  
Democratic Principles

Populism is the name of a global phenomenon whose definitional precariousness is proverbial. It resists generalizations and makes scholars of politics comparativist by necessity, as its language and content are imbued with the political culture of the society in which it arises. A rich body of socio-historical analyses allows us to situate populism within the global phenomenon called democracy, as its ideological core is nourished by the two main entities—the nation and the people—that have fleshed out popular sovereignty in the age of democratization. Populism consists in a transmutation of the democratic principles of the majority and the people in a way that is meant to celebrate one subset of the people as opposed to another, through a leader embodying it and an audience legitimizing it. This may make populism collide with constitutional democracy, even if its main tenets are embedded in the democratic universe of meanings and language. In this article, I illustrate the context-based character of populism and how its cyclical appearances reflect the forms of representative government. I review the main contemporary interpretations of the concept and argue that some basic agreement now exists on populism's rhetorical character and its strategy for achieving power in democratic societies. Finally, I sketch the main characteristics of populism in power and explain how it tends to transform the fundamentals of democracy: the people and the majority, elections, and representation.

scholarly journals The political economy of peacebuilding: The case of women's cooperatives in Nepal

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Smita Ramnarain
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Everyday Activities ◽  
Peace Processes ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
Credit Cooperatives ◽  
Peace Initiatives ◽  
Definition Of

Critiques of liberal, top-down approaches to peacebuilding have motivated a discussion of alternative, locally-led, and community-based approaches to achieving and maintaining sustainable peace. This article uses a case study of women's savings and credit cooperatives in post-violence Nepal to examine the ways in which grassroots-based, locally-led peace initiatives can counter top-down approaches. The article presents ethnographic evidence from fieldwork in Nepal on how cooperatives expand through their everyday activities the definition of peace to include not only the absence of violence (negative peace) but transformatory goals such as social justice (positive peace). By focusing on ongoing root causes of structural violence, cooperatives problematize the postconflict period where pre-war normalcy is presumed to have returned. They emphasize local agency and ownership over formal peace processes. The findings suggest ongoing struggles that cooperatives face due to their existence within larger, liberal paradigms of international postconflict aid and reconstruction assistance. Their uneasy relationship with liberal economic structures limit their scale and scope of effectiveness even as they provide local alternatives for peacebuilding.

scholarly journals Utopiens grænser i Den amerikanske revolution

2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (64) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikkel Birk Jespersen
Keyword(s):  
American Revolution ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
The Political ◽  
American Farmer ◽  
Political Logic ◽  
The Revolution

Mikkel Birk Jespersen: "Utopiens grænser i Den amerikanske revolution - Om utopiske tekststrategier i Common Sense og Letters from an American Farmer"AbstractMikkel Birk Jespersen: “Boundaries of Utopia in the American Revolution: On Utopian Text Strategies in Common Sense and Letters from an American Farmer”The article discusses the relations between utopia, literature and revolution in the American Revolution through an analysis of Tom Paine’s Common Sense (1776) and J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur’s Letters from an American Farmer (1782). It is arguedthat utopia constitutes a textual function whose ‘non-place’ or ‘point zero’ is not reducible to a political logic, but rather presents a challenge to it. In the revolution, however, the different logics of utopia and of the political can be said to confront each other, hereby illuminating the contradictions of both. The constellation of the two texts brings out the contradictory nature of utopia, as the texts have opposed approaches to the revolution and are characterised by two different utopian logics.

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