Envisioning Paradise

2021 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-190
Author(s):  
April D. Hughes

Abstract The majority of the murals at Dunhuang that depict Maitreya are dominated by his three assemblies, thereby emphasizing the salvific power of the future Buddha after he has descended to earth. This article examines scenes from the Maitreya murals, highlighting details appearing across the murals that allow us to understand how adherents imagined life in an earthly paradise. Most scenes in the murals accentuate the magnificence of life in Maitreya's terrestrial Buddhaland, characterized by manageable yet rewarding labor and a long life that never ends suddenly, all in a clean urban environment. Hence, in this realm some labor is still required and social hierarchies are maintained. Unlike the celestial realm of Amitābha Buddha, Maitreya's land is ruled by an ideal leader, the Wheel-Turning King Saṅkha. The article concludes by examining the tension between the power of the religious leader and the political ruler, evident even though the paintings do not include representations of Saṅkha himself. Rather, they depict his regalia, his gift, and his family in prominent positions, near Maitreya, thus suggesting that the future Buddha absorbed Saṅkha's political power, which parallels contemporaneous political and religious developments.

Author(s):  
Terry Trowbridge

This personal essay reflects on adolescent experiences of sport. The author points out how middle school is a time when he began develop critical consciousness, by thinking about the political power of space, place, time, and social hierarchies, through his experiences of Track and Field Day and Boy Scout camp.


1965 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bertrand de Jouvenel

The political scientist is a teacher of public men in the making, and an adviser of public men in activity; “public men,” that is, men who are taught, invited or assumed to feel some responsibility for the exercise of political power; “political power,” that is, concentrated means of affecting the future.Obviously we can not affect the past, or that present moment which is now passing away, but only what is not yet: the future alone is sensitive to our actions, voluntary if aimed at a pictured outcome, rational if apt to cause it, prudently conceived if we take into account circumstances outside our control (known to decision theorists as “states of nature”), and the conflicting moves of others (known in game theory as opponents' play). A result placed in the future, conditions intervening in the future, need we say more to stress that decisions are taken “with an eye to the future,” in other terms, with foresight?


2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-66
Author(s):  
Beatrix Kiss

This paper explores the elimination of equality in The Handmaid’s Tale in four areas, called the “4Ds”: distinction, dependence, division and dominance. Distinction is a biological point of view in which the Handmaids’ fertility becomes the foundation of their victimization. Dependence analyzes turning fertility into their obligation, integrating Foucault’s “socialization of procreative behavior,” leading to dependence on men. Division entails the physical division of Gilead into subgroups – Handmaids, Wives, etc. – along with the mental division created by distrust among people, harnessed to forestall rebellion. The last area, Dominance, connects the previous areas. Judith Butler’s idea that “the body is a variable boundary,” shows that the political power over the Handmaids’ bodies equals dominance over society and the future, too. The article ends with the conclusion that destruction of women’s rights eventually erases the notion of “woman.”


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 38-43
Author(s):  
MARIETA EPREMYAN ◽  

The article examines the epistemological roots of conservative ideology, development trends and further prospects in political reform not only in modern Russia, but also in other countries. The author focuses on the “world” and Russian conservatism. In the course of the study, the author illustrates what opportunities and limitations a conservative ideology can have in political reform not only in modern Russia, but also in the world. In conclusion, it is concluded that the prospect of a conservative trend in the world is wide enough. To avoid immigration and to control the development of technology in society, it is necessary to adhere to a conservative policy. Conservatism is a consolidating ideology. It is no coincidence that the author cites as an example the understanding of conservative ideology by the French due to the fact that Russia has its own vision of the ideology of conservatism. If we say that conservatism seeks to preserve something and respects tradition, we must bear in mind that traditions in different societies, which form some kind of moral imperatives, cannot be a single phenomenon due to different historical destinies and differing religious views. Considered from the point of view of religion, Muslim and Christian conservatism will be somewhat confrontational on some issues. The purpose of the work was to consider issues related to the role, evolution and prospects of conservative ideology in the political reform of modern countries. The author focuses on Russia and France. To achieve this goal, the method of in-depth interviews with experts on how they understand conservatism was chosen. Already today, conservatism is quite diverse. It is quite possible that in the future it will transform even more and acquire new reflections.


2019 ◽  
Vol 66 ◽  
pp. 327-334
Author(s):  
Inga V. Zheltikova ◽  
Elena I. Khokhlova

The article considers the dependence of the images of future on the socio-cultural context of their formation. Comparison of the images of the future found in A.I. Solzhenitsyn’s works of various years reveals his generally pessimistic attitude to the future in the situation of social stability and moderate optimism in times of society destabilization. At the same time, the author's images of the future both in the seventies and the nineties of the last century demonstrate the mismatch of social expectations and reality that was generally typical for the images of the future. According to the authors of the present article, Solzhenitsyn’s ideas that the revival of spirituality could serve as the basis for the development of economy, that the influence of the Church on the process of socio-economic development would grow, and that the political situation strongly depends on the personal qualities of the leader, are unjustified. Nevertheless, such ideas are still present in many images of the future of Russia, including contemporary ones.


2018 ◽  
pp. 173-189
Author(s):  
Elena Borisenok

The article focuses on the analysis of the memoirs of the political and military officials that served Hetman P. Skoropadskyi. Their positions toward “Ukrainian question”, Hetman regime, views on the future of the Russian state etc. are studied.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-66
Author(s):  
Christine Adams

The relationship of the French king and royal mistress, complementary but unequal, embodied the Gallic singularity; the royal mistress exercised a civilizing manner and the soft power of women on the king’s behalf. However, both her contemporaries and nineteenth- and early twentieth-century historians were uncomfortable with the mistress’s political power. Furthermore, paradoxical attitudes about French womanhood have led to analyses of her role that are often contradictory. Royal mistresses have simultaneously been celebrated for their civilizing effect in the realm of culture, chided for their frivolous expenditures on clothing and jewelry, and excoriated for their dangerous meddling in politics. Their increasing visibility in the political realm by the eighteenth century led many to blame Louis XV’s mistresses—along with Queen Marie-Antoinette, who exercised a similar influence over her husband, Louis XVI—for the degradation and eventual fall of the monarchy. This article reexamines the historiography of the royal mistress.


2017 ◽  
pp. 126-169
Author(s):  
S.E. Tariverdieva

The article deals with the development of the coregency system of Augustus and Agrippa from 29 to 18 BC: from formal and actual disparity of the coregents to their formal equality with the dominance of the princeps auctoritas. Particular attention is paid to the earlier stages of this development and to the crisis of 23 BC. The coregency system created by Augustus is often regarded by modern historians as means of ensuring uninterrupted succession of power. Agrippa as his coregent often is thought to have assumed the role of the regent who temporally replaces the princeps, just as it was in formal monarchies, or that of the tutor of the future rulers. However, the Roman system of state administration did not allow such type of regency. The princeps coregent, who was his equal in formal credentials but his inferior in terms of auctoritas, in case of the princeps death had to become the next princeps as his immediate successor. It is unlikely that later he was expected to voluntarily give up his power in favour of younger heir and to vanish from the political life altogether. The inheritance system under Augustus was like a ladder with the princeps at the top, the coregent who was also the immediate successor one step below, heirs of the next degree further down. In case of death of one of them, successors shifted one step up. The coregency had one more function: geographically it allowed Augustus and Agrippa to rule jointly the empire while staying in different parts of it.В статье исследуется развитие системы соправления Августа и Агриппы с 29 по 12 гг. до н. э.: от формального и фактического неравенства соправителей до их формального равенства при преобладании auctoritas принцепса, причём особое внимание уделяется раннему этапу этого развития и кризису 23 г. до н. э. Институт соправления, созданный Августом, часто рассматривается, как средство обеспечения бесперебойного перехода власти, причем Агриппе, как соправителю, НЕРЕДКО отводится роль регента, временно замещающего принцепса или воспитателя будущих правителей. Однако римская система государственного управления не предполагала регентства. Соправитель принцепса, равный ему по формальным полномочиям, но уступавший по auctoritas, в случае его смерти должен был СТАТЬ следующим принцепсом, ближайшим его наследником. Вряд ли предполагалось, что в будущем он должен добровольно уступить власть более молодому наследнику и исчезнуть из политической жизни. Система наследования при Августе представляла собой нечто вроде лестницы, на вершине которой стоял принцепс, на следующей ступени соправитель, он же избранный преемник, ниже наследники следующей очереди в случае смерти когото из них происходило продвижение наследников по ступеням вверх. Кроме того, соправление имело и иное значение позволяло Августу и Агриппе совместно управлять империей, находясь в разных ее частях.


2007 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-111
Author(s):  
Virginie Collombier

Beyond the relative opening of the political system that characterized 2005 in Egypt — with the President being elected directly for the first time and the increased competition allowed during legislative elections — the 2005 elections also constituted an opportunity to consider and evaluate the internal struggles for influence under way within the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). In a context largely influenced by the perspective of President Husni Mubarak's succession and by calls for reform coming from both internal and external actors, changes currently occurring at the party level may have a decisive impact on the future of the Egyptian regime.


Author(s):  
Mark I. Vail

This chapter situates the book in theoretical and empirical contexts. It provides a brief overview of competing theoretical approaches to explaining trajectories of economic reform in continental Europe in the era of austerity and transnational neoliberalism since the early 1990s. Since standard analyses of “neoliberal” reform fail to capture these dynamics of economic reform in continental Europe, as do conventional institutionalist and interest-based accounts, it argues for an approach that emphasizes the political power of ideas and highlights the influence of national liberal traditions—French “statist liberalism,” German “corporate liberalism,” and Italian “clientelist liberalism.” It provides a brief overview of the remainder of the book, which uses a study of national liberal traditions to explain trajectories of reform in fiscal, labor-market, and financial policies in France, Germany, and Italy, three countries that have rejected neoliberal approaches to reform in a neoliberal age.


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