Alexander Sokurov’s “Faust”: Projection of Political Disasters in the History of the XX Century on Goethe's Tragedy

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 30-41
Author(s):  
Nikolai Andreyevich Khrenov
Keyword(s):  
Western Culture ◽  
The Political ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Masses

The Sokurov’s film, based on Goethe's tragedy, is not a usual screen version. The use of a classical piece in order to make a statement about the present could turn into a vulgar and superficial interpretation. But the director’s idea to include new film into the tetralogy, i.e. the group of films dedicated to the dictators of the XX century, implies close reading of the original. Trying to understand the initial Goethe's intensions, the author (series of articles, the beginning see Issue # 17) discovers a source of complex of de monism in the Western culture, which includes explanation of the masses’ perception of the political leaders.

Histoire du mot «démocratie» au Canada et au Québec. Analyse politique des stratégies rhétoriques

2009 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-343
Author(s):  
Francis Dupuis-Déri
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Institutional Changes ◽  
Founding Fathers ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Le Canada

Résumé.L'étude des discours des «pères fondateurs» du Canada moderne révèle qu'ils étaient ouvertement antidémocrates. Comment expliquer qu'un régime fondé dans un esprit antidémocratique en soit venu à être identifié positivement à la démocratie? S'inspirant d'études similaires sur les États-Unis et la France, l'analyse de l'histoire du mot «démocratie» révèle que le Canada a été associé à la «démocratie» en raison de stratégies discursives des membres de l'élite politique qui cherchaient à accroître leur capacité de mobiliser les masses à l'occasion des guerres mondiales, et non pas à la suite de modifications constitutionnelles ou institutionnelles qui auraient justifié un changement d'appellation du régime.Abstract.An examination of the speeches of modern Canada's “founding fathers” lays bare their openly anti-democratic outlook. How did a regime founded on anti-democratic ideas come to be positively identified with democracy? Drawing on the examples of similar studies carried out in the United States and France, this analysis of the history of the term “democracy” in Canada shows that the country's association with “democracy” was not due to constitutional or institutional changes that might have justified re-labelling the regime. Instead, it was the result of the political elite's discursive strategies, whose purpose was to strengthen the elite's ability to mobilize the masses during the world wars.

History of the Word "Democracy" in Canada and Québec: A Political Analysis of Rhetorical Strategies

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Dupuis-Déri
Keyword(s):  
The United States ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
The Political ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
Founding Fathers ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
Political Analysis ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Masses

An examination of the speeches of modern Canada’s “founding fathers” reveals that they were openly antidemocratic. How did a regime founded on anti-democratic ideas come to be positively identified with democracy? Drawing on similar studies of the United States and France, this analysis of the history of the term democracy in Canada shows that the country’s association with democracy was not due to constitutional or institutional changes that might have justified re-labelling the country’s political regime. Rather, it was the result of discursive strategies employed by the political elite to strengthen its ability to mobilize the masses during the World Wars.

Lyrics of Protest

2017 ◽  
pp. 257-273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nancy Gakahu
Keyword(s):  
Freedom Of Speech ◽  
Country Music ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Political Music ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Alternative Means ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Political Songs

The history of Kenya is loaded with continuous moments when music played a key role in expressing various issues in the country. Music is one of the most important modes through which ordinary Kenyans express their wishes, identity, frustrations and aspirations. For a long time, freedom of speech in Kenya, especially on issues touching political injustice had been curtailed. However, musicians in Kenya offered an alternative means of challenging the political status quo in the country by use of musical lyrics which address injustices directly or metaphorically. What is the place of music in Kenya's political landscape? Has political music in Kenya made a difference in governance and in educating the masses on their political and social rights? Have political songs helped change the political and social climate in Kenya? These issues are examined in this chapter.

scholarly journals The Choice of Constitutional Amendments in a Young Democracy – from Indirect to Direct Election of the President in Taiwan

2010 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-131
Author(s):  
Da-chi Liao ◽  
Hui-chih Chang
Keyword(s):  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Constitutional Change ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Loss Minimization ◽  
Constitutional Amendments ◽  
Direct Form ◽  
Power Maximization ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
The Masses

This paper attempts to determine the kind of constitutional rule preferred in a young democracy when an institutional opportunity for constitutional change occurs. It adopts the standpoint of collective decision-making. This approach involves two crucial theoretical elements: the calculation of the interests of the political elite and the masses' comprehension of what democracy is. The case studied here is Taiwan's constitutional choice between the direct and indirect election of the president during the period from 1990 to 1994. The paper first examines how the political leaders might have used both the logic of power maximization and of power-loss minimization to choose their position on the issue. It then demonstrates that survey results indeed showed that respondents better understood the direct form of electing the president and therefore supported it over the indirect one. This support helped the direct form to eventually win out.

scholarly journals Gita Philosophy and its Influence on Nepali Politics

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-178
Author(s):  
Girdhari Dahal
Keyword(s):  
First Generation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Movements ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Democratic Movement ◽  
The People ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic

The people of Nepal have witnessed different political movements in the political history of Nepal. The political movements are influenced by different philosophies. Gita philosophy as well has marked distinct impact in the politics of Nepal. The people of Nepal had to bear a lot of injustice, oppression and exploitation during Rana rule. Although the governments prior to Rana rule were also not so much democratic, to some extent they were directed to public welfare. At the time of Rana rule there had taken place many reformations in global politics, but Nepali people were denied off very common citizen rights. So, there was a need for a democratic movement in Nepal. In the campaigns for democratic movements then, there was a very significant impact of Gita philosophy. It is found from this study that four martyrs of 1997BS and founder leaders of Nepali Congress and Nepal Communist Party were influenced by the ideas of Gita philosophy and the general public has a great faith on the Gita philosophy. Gita philosophy has formed the foundations for the democratic movement in Nepal. And even after the establishment of democracy in Nepal, there were series of political changes in Nepal. And in the revolutions or campaigns for restoration of democracy or for the republic, there has been a role of different political leaders and as many of the first-generation leaders are still in active politics, we can find direct or indirect influence of Gita philosophy in Nepalese politics. Though the later generations of leadership seem to have less knowledge about Gita, their activities and the political interests matched with the principles of Gita philosophy.

The Japan-South Korea Rift: “Inside” and “Outside” Pressures on Relations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Sakaki
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Mutual Cooperation ◽  
Time Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Economic Ties

Although Japan–South Korea relations have been volatile throughout the postwar era, ties deteriorated to an unprecedented degree after 2011, with mutual mistrust hitting unseen heights. Focusing on this time period, the chapter analyzes the causes of the downturn. Previous studies show that bilateral tensions stem from clashes in the two countries’ national identity conceptions and historical disagreements more generally. While this chapter acknowledges the continuing relevance of these underlying sources of friction, it argues that ties have come under additional pressure from two spheres. First, pressure has built from the “inside”—the domestic-societal contexts—pushing the respective political leaders, who are mindful of public support and electoral effects, toward more nationalist positions vis-à-vis the other country. Consequently, the political room for mutual accommodation and compromise has shrunk. Second, pressure has built from the “outside”—from changes in the international arena. Tokyo and Seoul hold differing views on how to prioritize and respond to key international challenges, sowing mutual strategic mistrust. At the same time, Japan’s relative importance to Korea has fallen amid shifting economic ties in the region. With rising pressure from both “inside” and “outside,” the traditional bonds underpinning mutual cooperation have eroded, sending relations to their lowest point in the history of bilateral normalized relations since 1965.

A Philosophical Position Of Suicide In The Political Development Of Old Oyo Empire

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 26-34
Author(s):  
T. C. Falana
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Political Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Philosophical Position ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
History Of ◽  
Power Play ◽  
Philosophical Understanding

The challenge in the philosophical understanding of ‘suicide’ is aptly a rarely researched aspect of Yoruba social history. The recent conscious of the concept depicts an anti-social behaviour which the society disapproved, while the pre-colonial understanding of it paints an honour and heroic move often made not only by the Alaafins but as well as other well-respected individuals in the society. However, the key to accepting the position of suicide hides in the Yorubas’ general understanding of death as well as their multilayered history of their traditional political leaders and military heritage. This paper opines that the philosophy behind the concept of suicide in Old Oyo Empire is motivated by the heroic understanding of death as well as a power play. This paper, however, stresses the role in which this belief has helped grow and negatively affect the empire. The research will however assist in understanding the philosophy of suicide in the state formation and growth of the old Oyo Empire. The work relied on both primary and secondary sources. It employed both descriptive and analytic methods in analyzing the data used for the study.

Ethnicity, Confession, Nation – The Development of Concepts in the History of Transylvania in Religious Life

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-162
Author(s):  
Ioan Chirilă
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Consciousness ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Orthodox Christian ◽  
Historical Reality ◽  
National Division ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Church

"The church has had to accept the national division of Europe since the Middle Ages and adapt to this situation. This issue is relatively unclear in the case of Tran-sylvania. N. Iorga stated about the Orthodox Christian consciousness that “it was so strong that it hindered the creation of a strong national consciousness”, and this would allow us to see in the ecclesiastical organization a form of expression of uni-tary organization of Romanian ethnicity in Transylvania. The time of Transylvani-an principalities and voivodeships shows us that most often the ecclesiastical leaders were also the political leaders (see the case of Prince Andrew Báthory who was Archbishop of Warmia – Poland); so, the two concepts of ethnicity and confession reflected the same historical reality during those times. The two concepts will be-come separated only later, after the emergence of confessions other than the Eastern rite. In support of our statement, we have the correspondence between the Hungar-ian kings and officials and the papacy. Before dealing with these perspectives, we shall pin down the terminology to grant the reader the possibility to understand the historical situations through a kind of thinking marked by the imprint of the Holy Scripture. Keywords: ethnicity, people, confession, dynamic status, national consciousness, Transyl-vania, the church. "

Padayatras and the Changing Nature of Political Communication in India

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radhika Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Democratic Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Mahatma Gandhi ◽  
Electoral Support ◽  
The Masses ◽  
Freedom Movement

Political communication sets the context for a conversation between the political leaders and masses. A productive strategy of political communication would be one that successfully mobilizes its recipients for the purpose at hand which could be for a protest or for electoral support. One such strategy of communication and mobilization typical to democratic politics in India is the ‘padayatra’, which while being traditional also has a spiritual lineage. The padayatra was effectively used by Mahatma Gandhi to rally together the masses during the freedom movement, and it continues to be a politically relevant strategy used not only for mobilization but also for partisan gains that capitalize on its imagery. Electoral padayatras provide an opportunity to the politician to interact with voters in a substantive manner, understand their weltanschauung and enable its achievement. The purpose of this article is to map the changing nature of the padayatra and its appropriation by political parties as a tool of political communication.

scholarly journals Nepal’s Armed Conflict and the Peace Process

2013 ◽  
Vol 28 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 217-224
Author(s):  
Ram Krishna Tiwari
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Leaders ◽  
Democratic Movement ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Ground

This paper deals with the political development of Nepal and its history of armed conflict. The formation of Nepali nation-state is not very long, again throughout its political history Nepal remained an independent country, but this country experienced a decade long political conflict from 1996 to 2006. The failure of political change of 1951 and 1990 prepared a political ground for the official beginning the People’s War, and after 2006 the country is moving into the path of peace process. Similarly, the formation of political parties has not a long history compared it with the beginning of democratic movement in India, China and other countries of the world. The poor political vision of the political leaders failed to institutionalize the political change of Nepal, and now the ongoing peace process of Nepal should erase all the weaknesses and conclude it for building prosperous nation.

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