"FREEDOM'S CHARTER'D AIR

2003 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 326-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. SAGLIA
Keyword(s):  
Political Representation ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Individual Freedom ◽  
Practical Realization ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Romantic Period ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Verse Drama ◽  
The Public Sphere

Felicia Hemans's tragedy The Vespers of Palermo (1823) dramatizes the Sicilians' struggle to free their island from the foreign domination of Charles of Anjou, culminating in their successful popular uprising of 1282. The play's narrative of events in medieval Sicily, however, also constitutes a commentary on the situation of post-Napoleonic Europe. In effect the play reßects on more general notions of liberty and tyranny, revolution, patriotism, political representation, and the roots of the national compact. More speciÞcally, it complicates issues such as the democratic process, patriotic allegiance, and an idea of community which is in many ways related to what JŸrgen Habermas would term the "public sphere." The tragedy is particularly relevant because its revision of these principles took place at a time when liberal ideas were starting to take shape in the Spanish and Italian constitutional revolts of 1820-21 and in British politics. In this essay I approach Hemans's verse-drama as yet another instance of a Romantic-period displaced representation of topical political issues; but I also propose this work as a critical reßection on its own ideological materials and on the obstacles besetting any practical realization of liberal principles. Moreover, in The Vespers of Palermo this ideological elaboration is rooted in speciÞc structural and formal strategies, the most conspicuous of which is an insistence on the semantic and metaphoric Þelds of voice and sound. Through its interweaving of ideological and formal features, Hemans's tragedy throws light on the difÞculties in separating an imperializing police state from a community based on tolerance and the respect and protection of individual freedom. Hemans thus teaches her public to read the liberal project as a developing and unÞnished process.

Divine Democracy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Vatter
Keyword(s):  
Public Reason ◽  
Political Theology ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Popular Sovereignty ◽  
Carl Schmitt ◽  
Jacques Maritain ◽  
The Public ◽  
Universal Human Rights ◽  
Theological Foundations ◽  
The Public Sphere

The ‘return of religion’ in the public sphere and the emergence of postsecular societies have propelled the discourse of political theology into the centre of contemporary democratic theory. This situation calls forth the question addressed in this book: Is a democratic political theology possible? Carl Schmitt first developed the idea of the Christian theological foundations of modern legal and political concepts in order to criticize the secular basis of liberal democracy. He employed political theology to argue for the continued legitimacy of the absolute sovereignty of the state against the claims raised by pluralist and globalized civil society. This book shows how, after Schmitt, some of the main political theorists of the 20th century, from Jacques Maritain to Jürgen Habermas, sought to establish an affirmative connection between Christian political theology, popular sovereignty, and the legitimacy of democratic government. In so doing, the political representation of God in the world was no longer placed in the hands of hierarchical and sovereign lieutenants (Church, Empire, Nation), but in a series of democratic institutions, practices and conceptions like direct representation, constitutionalism, universal human rights, and public reason that reject the primacy of sovereignty.

scholarly journals Roma as a political identity: Exploring representations of Roma in Europe

Ethnicities ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (6) ◽  
pp. 756-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aidan McGarry
Keyword(s):  
Political Identity ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
International Organisations ◽  
Negative Stereotypes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
Political Exclusion ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
National Governments ◽  
Conceptual Language

This article explores some of the myriad representations of Roma in Europe and argues that this proliferation makes it more difficult for policymakers to formulate coherent interventions, for academics to agree on a common conceptual language and for the majority to understand the inter-connected problems facing Roma communities. ‘Representations’ refers to how the community is understood by itself as well as by others. Whilst no community retains an uncontested image of itself and its identity, Roma communities have little or no control over how they are represented in the public sphere. Usually, representations of Roma originate and are sustained by non-Romani actors including international organisations, national governments and the majority. Of course, Roma communities have attempted to influence how they represent themselves externally to challenge negative stereotypes and internally, to raise a political consciousness and foster solidarity. Relatedly, the political representation of Roma is particularly important due to their weak political positioning in local, national and transnational contexts but also because it highlights the disparity between contested questions of who Roma are and devising policy interventions to address socio-economic and political exclusion. This article discusses a select number of prevalent Roma representations and links the representation of Roma identity to the public presence and agency of Romani communities.

Democratic Representation and Legislative Theatre

Theoria ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (164) ◽  
pp. 26-47
Author(s):  
Gustavo H. Dalaqua
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
Augusto Boal ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
The Public ◽  
General Terms ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Opening Up

This article seeks to contribute to the debate on how political representation can promote democracy by analysing the Chamber in the Square, which is a component of legislative theatre. A set of techniques devised to democratise representative governments, legislative theatre was created by Augusto Boal when he was elected a political representative in 1993. After briefly reviewing Nadia Urbinati’s understanding of democratic representation as a diarchy of will and judgement, I partially endorse Hélène Landemore’s criticism and contend that if representation is to be democratic, citizens’ exchange of opinions in the public sphere should be invested with the power not only to judge but also to decide political affairs. By opening up a space where the represented can judge, decide, and contest the general terms of the bills representatives present in the assembly, the Chamber in the Square harnesses political representation to democracy.

"Rest before Labour": The Pre-Text/s of Blake's The Four Zoas

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Lussier
Keyword(s):  
William Blake ◽  
Julia Kristeva ◽  
Dream Work ◽  
Romantic Period ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical Elements ◽  
State Of Mind ◽  
Four Zoas ◽  
Insightful Analysis ◽  
The Public Sphere

Abstract This essay explores the ambiguities and ironies resident in the aphoristic phrase "Rest before Labour," which William Blake positions as the portal of "readerly" entry into his preliminary epic Vala, or The Four Zoas, which Blake never published. The "Rest" implied (the slumber of Albion, read historically and psychologically) occurs in the remainder of the poem yet functions as the boundary condition for the work itself—the first pre-text for this problematic work one might say. The "Labour" implied (the nightmare of alienation and fragmentation that ensues within Albion's sleep) occurs in the space-time of dreams across nine nights yet functions as the state of mind-matter relations in the waking world—the second pre-text for the work. The labor implicated in this dream narrative (visionary transformation of the public sphere) can only be achieved upon completion of the poem, again rendering all labors within the poem as pre-text for historical action. Once the work concludes its inner and outer operations (its labors, so to speak), reception dynamics shift the discursive arena to its readers, enacting a psycholinguistic transference until, ideally, Albion's awakening becomes our own. The poem's dream-work, then, inverts traditional associations of "rest" and "labour," and the implications of such an inversion best emerge when comparing Blake's view of dream-work with the critical elements articulated by Julia Kristeva in her analysis of a revolution in poetic language following the Romantic period itself. Kristeva's insightful analysis helps map Blakean cartographies of inner and outer symmetry.

Embodied Reasons in the Public Sphere: The Example of the Hijab

2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 499-512
Author(s):  
Thomas Wabel
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
John Rawls ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
European Countries ◽  
Free Standing ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Debates ◽  
German Philosopher ◽  
The Public Sphere

In public debates on moral or political issues between participants from different religious backgrounds, liberal and secular thinkers like John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas recommend to restrict oneself to free-standing reasons that are independent of their religious, social or cultural origin. Following German philosopher Matthias Jung, however, I argue that such reasons fall short of describing the relevance of the issue in question for the adherents of a specific religion or worldview. Referring to the debates in several European countries about the hijab, I am showing how a deeper understanding of reasons as embodied in social practices and as embodied in individual biographies can help to disentangle such debates and to facilitate a dialogue on these issues.

scholarly journals Participation on the Margins of Immigrant Women’s Lives and Learnings

1970 ◽  
pp. 75-88
Author(s):  
Sondra Cuban
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Women Immigrants ◽  
Community Based ◽  
The Public ◽  
Women's Lives ◽  
The Public Sphere

This study focuses on the participation and learning of five women immigrants in the Northwest US and the ways community-based organisations (CBOs) operated in their work and community lives. The study points to the ways that the women became assertive at work, moved from the private into the public sphere, and developed caring literacies in their communities.

The U.S. Congressional Record as a technology of representation

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zornitsa Keremidchieva
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
The Public ◽  
Congressional Debates ◽  
Congressional Record ◽  
Written Form ◽  
The Public Sphere ◽  
Historical Controversies ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Argumentative Practice

Focusing on the historical controversies surrounding the development of the print records of the U.S. congressional debates, this essay explores how human, technological, and discursive agencies come together to constitute institutional argumentative practice. Examining the U.S. Congressional Record through the lens of Bruno Latour’s concept of dingpolitik reveals that as a technology of representation print records work less as mediators and more as agents of institutional contextualization. Print records do more than translate arguments from oral to written form or transfer arguments from the public sphere to the state. Rather, they assemble the disparate elements that constitute the terrains of governance, the character of political issues, and the norms of congressional deliberation. Hence, the material dynamics of congressional deliberation prompt not only a reconsideration of what and who is being represented by Congress, but also a methodological reorientation from normative to constitutive perspectives on institutional argumentation.

Present State of the Manners, Society, Etc. Etc. of the Metropolis of England

PMLA ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 119 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Robinson ◽  
Adriana Craciun
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Print Culture ◽  
Present State ◽  
Urban Culture ◽  
Urban Identity ◽  
Romantic Period ◽  
Contemporary Debate ◽  
The Public ◽  
Lyrical Ballads ◽  
The Public Sphere

Mary robinson's essay “present state of the manners, society, etc. etc. of the metropolis of England,” published in the reformist Monthly Magazine shortly before the author's death in 1800, makes a significant statement on the volatility of British print culture at the turn of the nineteenth century. Once again recognized as a major writer of the Romantic period, Robinson influenced and was influenced by contemporaries such as Southey, Wordsworth, and especially Coleridge, who called Robinson “a woman of undoubted genius” (Letter). “Metropolis” is an important document not only because of its engagement with the contemporary debate over the direction of print culture and the public sphere but also because of the alternative it offers to Wordsworth's Preface to the Lyrical Ballads. Moreover, it provides an important link between earlier eighteenth-century concepts of urban culture and cosmopolitan refinement and later nineteenth-century ideas of urban identity such as Poe's Man of the Crowd and Baudelaire's flâneur. Resolutely urban, democratic, and cosmopolitan, Robinson's essay amounts to a manifesto of metropolitan culture.

Soziologische Phantasie und kosmopolitisches Gemeinwesen

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Academic Discipline ◽  
Public Domain ◽  
Special Edition ◽  
Unexpected Death ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
The Public ◽  
Sociological Work ◽  
The Public Sphere

Since the unexpected death of Ulrich Beck, there has largely been an absence of studies and debate on the continuation of his sociological work. One reason for this might be the fact that Beck’s writings revolve strongly around public resonance and everyday political issues. His approach to sociology, which straddles the border between academia and the public sphere, therefore represents a challenge for an academic discipline which is increasingly trying to overcome its own flawed and entrenched academic unity by demanding a more public form of sociology, but which has only just begun to tackle the work of one of its most important representatives in the public domain. This special edition aims to reassess the dialogue between the sociologist Ulrich Beck and the contemporary academic field of sociology.

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