Collective Military Resistance and Popular Power: Views from the Late Republic (90–31 BC)

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-255
Author(s):  
Dominic Machado

AbstractThis article attempts to read the phenomenon of collective resistance in the Roman army of the Late Republic as political action. Taking my inspiration from post-colonial theories of popular power, I contend that we should not understand acts of collective resistance in military settings as simple events activated by a singular cause, but rather as expressions of individual and collective grievances with the status quo. Indeed, the variant practices of military recruitment in the Late Republic, and the exploitative nature of Rome’s imperial rule put oppressed groups – Italians, provincials, and former slaves – in constant contact with the state apparatus. Thus, military service offered an essential space for political action in the first century BC. These findings help us to better understand how popular power could be realized beyond traditional institutional settings in this period.

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 112
Author(s):  
Manuel Kingman

ResumenEl presente artículo referencia teorías sobre la cultura popular ubicadas en las décadas del 80 y el 90 del siglo pasado, un período de reflexión pertinente y profunda en torno al término. Se visibiliza la complejidad de la noción de cultura popular, así como las distintas significaciones y sentidos que ha tenido el concepto. También se estudian ciertas entradas teóricas que son útiles para analizar la cultura popular. Se piensa en estos insumos teóricos como herramientas para reflexionar sobre las representaciones, diálogos y tensiones entre el arte contemporáneo y las manifestaciones estéticas populares.Palabras clavesCultura popular; arte contemporáneo; teoría cultural; antropologíaWork, Dialogue, Occupation and Cooperativism at Casa TomadaVictoria Rodríguez do CampoAbstractThe interdisciplinary art project Casa Tomada operates as a trigger for addressing issues of the social and artistic contemporary juncture. The fiction created by the National House of the Bicentennial, cultural space of the City of Buenos Aires, opens the way to consider alternative forms of creation in which the status of the artist's work is put in check and renewed interstices are glimpsed through the action of the multiple actors that surround the project. With illegal political action as a starting point – the forced occupation of a public space, Casa Tomada is committed to showing a multiplicity of conflicts, tensions, questions as well as possible answers, which are always contingent and applicable both to the social and the artistic spheres.KeywordsContemporary art; occupation, politics; collective work; interdisciplinarity La noción de lectura popular  interés debatekunape entre 80 y 90 siglo XX iuiarengapa contemporaniedadmandaManuel kiingman Maillallachiska:Kai articulok referenciame teoriakuna cultura kaska decadape posagchunga y  iskun chunga ialiska siglomanda, sug suma iuiarei entorno  terminomanda. Kauarenme complejidad nocionpe cultura popularpe chasallata sug rigcha significación y sentido iukarka chi concepto. Chasallata analizare sug entradakuna  teóricas valenkuna analizangapa cultura popular. Iuairenme  kai insumo teóricos herramientasina iuiarengapa representacionkunamanda, rimai tensiones arte contemporaneanope y manifestación estéticas populares. Rimangapa Ministidukuna:Cultura popular; arte contemporáneo; teoría cultural; antropologíaLa notion de culture populaire : intérêts des débats entre les années 80 et 90 du XXe siècle pour réfléchir sur la contemporanéitéManuel KingmanRésuméCet article se réfère à des théories sur la culture populaire dans les années 80 et 90 du siècle dernier, une période de réflexion pertinente et profonde sur le terme. Il présente la complexité de la notion de culture populaire, ainsi que les différentes significations et usage du concept. Il étudie également certains éléments théoriques utiles à l'analyse de la culture populaire. Nous pensons à ces apports théoriques comme outils pour réfléchir sur les représentations, les dialogues et les tensions entre l'art contemporain et les manifestations esthétiques populaires.Mots clésCulture populaire; art contemporain; théorie culturelle; anthropologie


Author(s):  
S. I. Kaspe

In the 1990s, after the collapse of the USSR, was established the Russian polity, which continues to exist to this day. In this paper polity is understood as a macro-social community, united by a certain political order i.e., by a stable set of institutions and actors, as well as normative standards for organizing their interactions, both formal and informal. Establishment is understood as a series of events that establish these most fundamental frameworks for political action, as well as a repertoire of its scenarios, behavioral stereotypes, strategies, and tactics. The negative myth about the nineties, which has dominated the Russian public discourse in the recent years, describes the 1990s as a time of catastrophe and degradation. It certainly has its reasons, but this myth almost completely ignores the fact that the same decade was also a time of creation. Thus, the current state of Russia cannot be understood without paying attention to the circumstances of its establishment. The article describes some of the key features of the modern Russian polity that emerged in the 1990s — the “main takeaway” of the constituent era. They are the following: the electoral legitimacy of the supreme political power; non-partisan presidency; capitalism as the economic foundation of the political order; federalism as a principle of territorial organization of political space; freedom of association; freedom of religion; open borders. This list is not exhaustive: there are other elements of the design of the Russian polity that can claim the status of constitutive ones. However, a radical change in all these institutions together or in any one of them individually would mean another re-establishment of the political community as a whole.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Davies

The rise of populist political rhetoric and mobilisation, together with a conflict-riven digital public sphere, has generated growing interest in anger as a central emotion in politics. Anger has long been recognised as a powerful driver of political action and resistance, by feminist scholars among others, while political philosophers have reflected on the relationship of anger to ethical judgement since Aristotle. This article seeks to differentiate between two different ideal types of anger, in order to illuminate the status of anger in contemporary populist politics and rhetoric. First, there is anger that arises in an automatic, pre-conscious fashion, as a somatic, reactive and performative way, to an extent that potentially spirals into violence. Second, there is anger that builds up over time in response to perceived injustice, potentially generating melancholia and ressentiment. Borrowing Kahneman’s dualism, the article refers to these as ‘fast’ and ‘slow’ anger, and deploys the distinction to understand how the two interact. In the hands of the demagogue or troll, ‘fast anger’ can be deployed to focus all energies on the present, so as to briefly annihilate the past and the ‘slow anger’ that has been deposited there. And yet only by combining the conscious reflection of memory with the embodied response of action can anger ever be meaningfully sated in politics.


Mnemosyne ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 633-658
Author(s):  
Andreas Abele

Abstract Sulpicius Severus’ account of St Martin sharing his cloak with the beggar at the gate of Amiens is still one of the most prominent and best-known episodes of late antique Christian hagiography. This deed is considered above all as the epitome of Martin’s charity and will to follow Christ. Furthermore, this episode also serves to apologize Martin’s military service in the Roman army. The latter was a heavy burden for Sulpicius’ saint, which the author of his Vita had to get rid of in the most credible way possible. Sulpicius asserts that Martin’s compulsory military service was dominated by Christian virtues. A narratological close reading focusing on the categories of ‘distance’ and ‘focalization’ and applying linguistic analysis tools as well shows that eventually it is the narrative disposition of the ‘Amiens episode’ that makes the narrator’s earlier apologetic authorial statements credible.


1970 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Gero

The aim of this paper is to throw some light on Tertullian's attitude to military service. His statements on this subject are highly useful for a more accurate understanding of his own changing views on the empire and the duties of citizenship. They are also important evidence for marking a crucial stage in the pre-Constantinian evolution of the relations of church and state. It will be seen that the whole question of Christians serving in the Roman army became relevant only in the late second century; Tertullian is one of the earliest literary witnesses for this momentous development. Therefore, on both counts, the texts deserve close scrutiny.


2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-100
Author(s):  
Gary A. Wagner ◽  
Russell S. Sobel

Abstract We provide new evidence regarding the role of interest groups in influencing the size and growth of government spending. Using data on the change in individual legislators’ total voted and sponsored spending from the status quo, we explore this relationship in a manner closer to the public choice tradition. Examining the impact diat interest groups have on individual legislators’ preferences for new spending, we find that interest groups within a legislator’s district exhibit more influence on the short-run growth of the budget than do Political Action Committees.


1982 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 493-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
James K. Matthews

The enlistment and conscription of combatants and non-combatants in Nigeria during World War I represented an unprecedented mobilisation of the country's labour force. In September 1914, the Nigeria Regiment supplied shock troops for the Cameroons Expeditionary Force, and in December 1917 the Nigeria Overseas Contingent entered the campaign in Tanganyika. By September 1919, when Nigeria's military recruitment drive ended, 17,000 combatants, 2,000 enlisted carriers, and some 35,000 non-enlisted carriers had participated in the Southern Caméroons and German East Africa campaigns. In addition, the British recruited thousands of Nigerians for military service along Nigeria's northern and eastern borders, and for related duties inside the country.


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