American Politics: “Broken” Since 1885

The Forum ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
William F. Connelly
Keyword(s):  
American Politics ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Trust In Government ◽  
Special Interests ◽  
James Madison ◽  
Woodrow Wilson ◽  
Progressive Reforms

Abstract:Woodrow Wilson, along with progressive intellectuals and reformers, bears significant responsibility for the decline of trust in government today. Wilson may have eclipsed James Madison in theory and practice, thereby contributing to the decline of trust in government. The criticism today of our politics as “dysfunctional” is, in large part, an echo of Wilson’s criticism of Madison’s Constitution. Today’s concerns about accountability, permanent politics, gridlock, special interests and petty partisanship reflect Wilson’s critique. In turn, Wilson has powerfully influenced the practice of our politics by providing the template for generations of political reformers. Today’s “dysfunction” is exacerbated by constitutionally inappropriate progressive reforms which have produced unintended consequences because reformers failed to appreciate Madison’s complex constitutional context. A century of progressive reforms have augmented dysfunction and distrust.

Assessing the capacity for public value creation within leadership theories: Raising the argument

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 479-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandru V. Roman ◽  
Thomas McWeeney
Keyword(s):  
Public Choice ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Value Creation ◽  
Public Interest ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Trust In Government ◽  
Leadership Theories ◽  
Public Value ◽  
Leadership Perspectives ◽  
The Creation

AbstractIn recent years, public administration has been targeted by multiple reform efforts. In multiple instances, such initiatives have been ideologically couched in public-choice perspectives and entrenched beliefs that government is the problem. One unavoidable consequence of this continued bout of criticism is the fact that government currently has a noticeably decreased capacity of boosting creation of public value. Within this context, there certainly is an important need for approaches that would counterbalance the loss of public value induced by market fundamentalism. This article suggests that leadership, as a concept of theory and practice, due to its partial immunity to the private-public dichotomy, can provide a pragmatic avenue for nurturing public interest and public value within the devolution of governance, a declining trust in government and a diminished governmental capacity to propagate the creation of public value. While this article critically examines and assesses the capacity of different leadership perspectives in terms of creating and maximizing public value, its primary scope is not the provision of definite answers but rather the instigation of a much necessary discussion.

12. US foreign policy in the Middle East 1

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toby Dodge
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Barack Obama ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Woodrow Wilson ◽  
Bush Doctrine ◽  
Strategic Goals ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Invasion Of Iraq

This chapter examines the main dynamics that have transformed U.S. foreign policy towards the Middle East over the last eighty-five years, from Woodrow Wilson to Barack Obama. It first considers the applicability of realist, Marxist, and constructivist theories of international relations before discussing the role that the Cold War, oil, and Israel have played in shaping U.S. foreign policy. It shows how, in each of these three areas, U.S. tactical approach to the Middle East has produced unintended consequences that have increased resentment towards America, destabilized the region, and undermined its long-term strategic goals. The chapter also explores the Bush Doctrine, launched after 9/11 and the resultant invasion of Iraq. It concludes by assessing Obama’s attempts to overcome the tensions and suspicion causes by previous U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.

scholarly journals Conceptualizing Development and Underdevelopment: From Classical Modernization to Contemporary Post-Development Discourse

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
M. Saiful Islam
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Development Discourse ◽  
The People ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Global And Local ◽  
Development Discourses ◽  
Dynamic Trajectory ◽  
The Way

Development, as an ideology and practice, has been a matter of much contestation since its inception at the enlightened period. The way development has been understood, explained and practiced has undergone various experiments and directions over the time. Yet, what development is theoretically and what it should be in practice remains as contested and vague. This article is an attempt to examine the trajectory of development from its origin in the classical modernization to the more contemporary neo-liberal and post-development discourses. It is argued that the way development has been propagated by the modernists as economic growth and positive change has been vehemently challenged by the post-modernists on the ground that development is not only hegemonic, authoritative and dependency creating mechanism that routinely fails and but also produces unintended consequences on the lives of the people. Thus, there has been a growing realization that development needs to be rethought in a way that would promote an alternative development or even an alternative to development. Such a shift in perspectives and continuing deliberations on development has given rise to the question whether development has reached an impasse which needs to be pushed forward. By reviewing the existing literature, this article aims at unfolding the dynamic trajectory of development both as theory and practice, and argues that development is and continues to be an interesting and stimulating topic in social sciences given its vibrant engagement with and implications on various stakeholders both at the global and local contexts.

scholarly journals Care, Concern, and Advocacy: Is There a Place for Epistemic Responsibility?

2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorraine Code
Keyword(s):  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Situated Knowledge ◽  
Epistemic Responsibility ◽  
Special Interests ◽  
Epistemic Practices ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Political World ◽  
Epistemological Tradition ◽  
The Social ◽  
Colonial Theory

Departing from an epistemological tradition for which knowledge properly achieved must be objective, especially in eschewing affect and/or special interests; and against a backdrop of my thinking about epistemic responsibility, I focus on two situations where care informs and enables good knowing. The implicit purpose of this reclamation of care as epistemically vital is to show emphatically that standard alignments of care with femininity—the female—are simply misguided. Proposing that the efficacy of epistemic practices is often enhanced when would-be knowers care about the outcomes of investigation, I suggest that epistemic responsibility need not be compromised when caring motivates and animates research. Indeed, the background inspiration comes from the thought, integral to feminist and post-colonial theory and practice that, despite often-justified condemnations of research that serves "special interests," particularities do matter, epistemically. Such thoughts, variously articulated, are integral to enacting a shift in epistemology away from formal abstraction and toward engaging with the specificities of real-world, situated knowledge projects. They are not unequivocally benign, for villains too care about the outcomes of their projects. Hence multi-faceted engagements with epistemic practices and processes are urgently required across the social-political world.

Theory and Practice in American Politics

Worldview ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 12-15
Author(s):  
Michael Harrington
Keyword(s):  
American Politics ◽  
Theory And Practice

Theory and Practice in American Politics

1965 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 650
Author(s):  
Vincent P. De Santis ◽  
William H. Nelson
Keyword(s):  
American Politics ◽  
Theory And Practice

The Battle over Burke

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
William Selinger
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
Edmund Burke ◽  
Woodrow Wilson ◽  
Partisan Identity ◽  
Progressive Reforms ◽  
Mind Set ◽  
American Progressivism

Like Karl Marx, Edmund Burke has remained a partisan figure, even though the specific partisan context in which he wrote is long gone. To a greater degree than Marx, however, Burke's partisan identity is itself frequently contested. Burke was a hero to the conservative writer Russell Kirk, who devoted his life to undoing the triumphs of twentieth-century American progressivism. But Burke was also a hero to Woodrow Wilson—whose presidency enacted and inspired so many of the progressive reforms that Kirk wanted to overturn—and to a number of the Victorian liberals who did so much to form Wilson's political mind-set.

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