A Favorable President or Most Dangerous Man?

2020 ◽  
pp. 86-126
Author(s):  
David E. Settje
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
White House ◽  
Political Commentary ◽  
Political Turmoil

Watergate expanded in scope from July to October 1973, as investigations implicated more White House officials. This chapter provides an account of how Christian political commentary expanded with it. Just as Americans invested more attention into the matter, so, too, did Protestants. Conservatives, especially evangelicals, remained reluctant to condemn, singled out only those already convicted or who had confessed, and clung to a belief President Nixon played no part in Watergate. Already hostile liberal Protestants intensified their rhetoric against Nixon. They called for a collective Christian outcry to force change and restore morality in government. Other Protestants lived somewhere between these two camps and addressed Watergate in other ways. No matter where they fell, they all ramped up their involvement in the political turmoil as it grew in intensity.

scholarly journals The Ancient Walls of Damascus and the Siege of Mouaddamiyya: A Historical and Spatial Analysis of Bounded Place and Cultural Identity

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 441-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nour Halabi
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Spatial Organization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Public Response ◽  
The Public ◽  
Syrian Crisis ◽  
Political Turmoil ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Vast Area

Throughout the Syrian crisis, the presence of material and symbolic boundaries to culture became a particularly salient element of the continuously unfolding political turmoil. As one terrorist group, Daesh, or the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, seeks to unite the vast area of the Middle East under the political, religious, and cultural administration of a “Greater State of Syria,” or “al-Sham,” this article revisits the historical spatial organization of Damascus and the construction of city boundaries and walls as factors that contributed to the cultivation of spatially grounded cleavages within Syrian and Damascene identity. In the latter section of this article, I reflect on the impact of these cleavages on the Syrian crisis by focusing on the public response to the siege of the Mouaddamiyya neighborhood.

Gaceta de Guatemala in the Colonial Period

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Poupeney Hart
Keyword(s):  
Central America ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Spanish America ◽  
Capital City ◽  
The Political ◽  
Vast Array ◽  
The Third ◽  
The University ◽  
Political Turmoil

Gaceta de Guatemala is the name of a newspaper spanning four series and published in Central America before the region’s independence from Spain. As one of the first newspapers to appear in Spanish America on a periodical basis, the initial series (1729–1731) was inspired by its Mexican counterpart (Gaceta de México) and thus it adopted a strong local and chronological focus. The title resurfaced at the end of the 18th century thanks to the printer and bookseller Ignacio Beteta who would assure its continuity until 1816. The paper appeared as a mainly news-oriented publication (1793–1796), only to be reshaped and energized by a small group of enlightened men close to the university and the local government (1797–1807). In an effort to galvanize society along the lines of the reforms promoted by the Bourbon regime, and to engage in a dialogue with readers beyond the borders of the capital city of Guatemala, they relied on a vast array of sources (authorized and censored) and on a journalistic model associated with the British Spectator: it allowed them to explore different genres and a wide variety of topics, while also allowing the paper to fulfill its role as an official and practical news channel. The closure of the Economic Society which had been the initial motor for the third series, and the failure to attract or retain strong contributors led slowly to the journal’s social irrelevance. It was resurrected a year after ceasing publication, to address the political turmoil caused by the Napoleonic invasion of the Peninsula and to curb this event’s repercussions overseas. These circumstances warranted a mainly news-oriented format, which prevailed in the following years. The official character of the paper was confirmed in 1812 when it appeared as the Gaceta del Gobierno de Guatemala, a name with which it finally ended publication (1808–1816).

Let the Games Begin

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily L. Hiltz
Keyword(s):  
Natural Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
Hunger Games ◽  
Political Commentary ◽  
The Hunger Games ◽  
External Forces ◽  
Good And Evil ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This essay examines Suzanne Collins’s monstrous “mutts” in her phenomenally popular series The Hunger Games. Hiltz is especially interested in Collins’s characterization of human-animal hybrids, investigating the relationship between the political commentary at work in the novels and these “monsters,” from the half-wolf, half-humans that nearly overtake Katniss at the Cornucopia in the first novel to the lizard-humans whispering her name throughout the viaducts beneath the city in the last. Hiltz focuses on the mutts as abject creatures, demonstrating the ways in which these uncanny monsters, quite literally making the familiar strange, are at once metaphors for the political control exerted by the Capitol, the rebels’ resistance to the Capitol’s power, and the disruption of natural order. She also concentrates on Katniss and Peeta muttations, each of them reformed by warring entities in service of “the greater good.” Most importantly, Hiltz emphasizes that Collins’s mutts are designed to demonstrate the fine and wavering line between good and evil, calling into question the nature of monstrosity, especially as it relates to human behavior. Her location of monstrosity in the protagonists themselves especially offers a new way of thinking about teen dystopic novels that engage horror as a means of conveying identities assaulted by external forces.

Populist Pushback and the Shrinking of Democracy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Lafer
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Sick Leave ◽  
Occupational Safety ◽  
State Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Decline ◽  
Business Elites ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
The Many ◽  
Political Turmoil

This concluding chapter examines the political dynamics that pit growing populist sentiment against increasing corporate dominance, particularly at the state level. It explains what the corporate agenda is not, arguing that the same corporate lobbies that are leading the charge against public employee unions are also at the forefront of the campaign against issues such as minimum wage, entitlements to overtime or sick leave, and occupational safety. It discusses the pattern of business-backed legislation, highlighting the many contradictions in the corporate agenda. It also considers how the success of the corporate lobbies has contributed to economic decline and political turmoil. Finally, it assesses public opinion against the business elites' platform as well as corporate lobbies' efforts to protect their privilege by attempting to shrink the scope of democracy; for example, by supporting preemption statutes.

A Second hand Kind of Terror

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alisha Gaines
Keyword(s):  
Black Women ◽  
Black Woman ◽  
House Staff ◽  
The Political ◽  
Johnson Administration ◽  
White House ◽  
Black Womanhood ◽  
Black Sexuality ◽  
John Howard ◽  
Previous Scholarship

Chapter Three considers the political, racial, and social crises plaguing the late 1960s by reading Soul Sister, Grace Halsell’s 1969 memoir. A freelance journalist and a White House staff writer for the Lyndon B. Johnson administration, Halsell was also a protégé of John Howard Griffin, who famously passed for black in 1959. While previous scholarship on Griffin has wrestled with his place as an enduring icon of racial empathy, this chapter details Griffin’s previously unknown mentorship of Halsell. Bolstered by extensive archival research, this chapter demonstrates how Halsell prepared for her performance of black womanhood by relying exclusively on Griffin’s instruction without any advice from black women. The chapter also situates Halsell’s blackness within important discussions around the contentious relationship between racial equality and 2nd wave feminism. Ultimately, Halsell’s six-months as a black woman in Harlem and Mississippi during the burgeoning black power movement ironically reveals grotesque assumptions about black sexuality, authenticity, and class.

Political Identity, Democratic Empowerment, and Political Learning

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Niels Noergaard Kristensen
Keyword(s):  
Political Identity ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Learning ◽  
Political Issues ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Political Orientations ◽  
The World ◽  
The One ◽  
Political Turmoil

The political commotion of the world is rising anew. Political challenges and political turmoil unfold side by side, and at the fore of many current political struggles stands the notion of “political identity.” Identity is a key asset in citizens' orientations toward political issues, their selection of information, and not least their political participation at large. The character of political challenges and struggles suggests that we need a revitalized and more comprehensive conceptual framework and operationalization of political identity. Political identity plays a role in most political activity, and the authors engage in elaborating the concept. The discussion presents the notion of political learning in order to bridge the complex and vigorous relations between on the one side political orientations and awareness and on the other side current manifestations of democratic political identities.

Mutinies in War

2021 ◽  
pp. 98-165
Author(s):  
Keith Grint
Keyword(s):  
Legal Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
National Context ◽  
German State ◽  
Military Organization ◽  
Political Left ◽  
German Navy ◽  
Political Turmoil ◽  
First Time ◽  
Significant Support

This chapter covers mutinies which occur during the most dangerous times for the establishment: under conditions of war. Theoretically, any collective dissent from a legal order in a military organization is mutiny, and the events over Christmas 1914 along the Western Front in France and Belgium precisely capture this tension, with some calling it a ‘truce’ and others categorically calling it a mutiny—thus ensuring it is not repeated the following Christmas. Next we consider the Russian mutiny of 1917 that, unlike the Potemkin mutiny, occurs in a febrile national context with significant support from the political left. Some of the reverberations of Russia end up in France in 1917, straight after the failed Nivelle offensive, and this also reveals the significance of dashed expectations, as well as the dire consequences of the French state’s response. Within a year the German Navy is convulsed by similar issues, the first time it is crushed because the conditions are inadequate, but the second time, in 1918, against the backdrop of a military catastrophe and political turmoil, it is the mutiny of the German sailors that leads to the toppling of the German state. For the British and Commonwealth armies in France, post 1914, mutinies are rare, but they do occur, and it is serendipity that lends at hand. However, the largest of all British mutinies in wartime occurs in Salerno in 1943, and ironically it is stimulated by loyalty to the regiment, rather than disloyalty to the state.

The Mainstreaming of Racism in American Politics

Hard White ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard C. Fording ◽  
Sanford F. Schram
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opportunity ◽  
Opportunity Structure ◽  
White House ◽  
Tea Party Movement ◽  
Political Narratives ◽  
Key Terms

This chapter frames the book’s analysis and provides an overview of the subsequent chapters. It explains how racism today is manifested most significantly in white “outgroup hostility” toward Latinos and Muslims as well as African Americans. It highlights the importance of race-baiting elites in exploiting a transformed media landscape to stoke white outgroup hostility and thereby mainstream racism in American politics today. The chapter introduces and defines a number of key terms, including “racialized political narratives” that operate to racialize selected groups of people to be constructed as threatening “outgroups” in opposition to whites as the “ingroup.” It emphasizes that the “political opportunity structure” for white racial extremists became more open, especially with the rise of the Tea Party movement, leading to their increased participation in conventional politics. The chapter argues that these factors had already converged prior to 2016 for Donald Trump to exploit in winning the presidency, thereby accelerating the mainstreaming of racism in American politics by putting it at the center of public policymaking in the White House.

The Politics of Presidential Term Limits in Tunisia

2019 ◽  
pp. 179-198
Author(s):  
Alessandra Bonci ◽  
Francesco Cavatorta
Keyword(s):  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Political History ◽  
Term Limits ◽  
The Political ◽  
System P ◽  
Presidential System ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Turmoil ◽  
Democratic Constitution ◽  
Do So

This chapter discusses the evolution of the politics of term limits in Tunisia, from independence in 1956 until the approval of the 2014 democratic constitution. Through the observation of the manipulation of term limits, we can retrace the political history of the country. It is interesting to examine how Bourguiba and Ben Ali managed to achieve their goals by stretching term limits, how and in which conditions they were prevented to do so and finally, whether there are some recurring patterns. This study then places in historical perspective the analysis on how term limits in Tunisia today have been discussed and implemented. Tunisians today are still coping with the recent political turmoil, which may lead them not to pay attention to creeping but substantial constitutional changes that might occur in light of the return to presidential practices in what is a semi-presidential system.

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