scholarly journals Transmodernism, Marxism and Social Change: Some Implications for Teacher Education

2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Cole

The author first briefly outlines what he considers to be the defining features of transmodernism and its relationship both to postmodernism and to Marxism. He then suggests that transmodern interpretations of the legacy of the European invasions of the Americas are illuminating, as is Marxism, in providing an understanding of how the imperialism in which contemporary US foreign policy is currently engaged has a specific and long-standing genealogy. However, he argues that the Marxist concept of racialisation is more convincing in explaining the source of violence against the Other than the transmodern positing of ‘basic narcissism’ as the source. Next, he contrasts the transmodern perception of liberal democracy with Marxist analyses of democratic socialism. After this, he challenges transmodernism's conception of Marxism as an imposed and utopian philosophy locked within modernism. He concludes with a consideration of the political and economic choices open to us, and, with respect to these choices, the implications of both transmodernism and Marxism for sustaining resistance to neo-liberal capitalism and US imperialism within teacher education.

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 216-223
Author(s):  
Ashok Thapa ◽  
Sushil Rajbhandari

The female characters created by BP Koirala and Pradip Nepal in Narendra Dai and Swapnil Shahar respectively have been compared and contrasted in this paper. Although Koirala and Nepal represent two poles of the Nepalese political spectrum, with Koirala pursuing democratic socialism doctrine and Nepal following communist ideology, the characters they create in their novels do not completely reflect the political schooling of their creators. The female characters in both the novels share some common traits of characters which most of the women in the Nepalese society, even today, exude, such as compassion, sacrifice, and docility. However, these female characters also display enough courage to rebel against the prevalent patriarchal dominance. The plot of Nepal’s novel is considerably politically colored, and thus the female characters in his novel discuss progressive ideas and even act accordingly. Koirala’s novel on the other hand deals more with socio-psychological issues and these conditions the dispositions of his characters. Nevertheless, his female characters too display rebellious traits and speak back to the patriarchal hegemony both through words and actions. As compared to Nepal, however, Koirala seems to have better succeeded in creating well-rounded female characters that not only abide by the then societal norms and values but also display mutiny against unjust treatment.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-336
Author(s):  
Alexander Livingston

The question of what political consequences, if any, follow from American pragmatism is nearly as old as pragmatism itself. David Rondel’s Pragmatist Egalitarianism breathes new life into this old debate. Rondel outlines a distinctively pluralistic and problem-oriented approach to political philosophy that claims to “reconcile and mediate” the false dichotomies and interminable debates marking philosophical discourses of egalitarian justice. This article identifies two competing visions of the political consequences of Rondel’s egalitarian brand of pragmatism: one Rortyan and deflationary, the other Deweyan and reconstructive. Rondel’s reconstructive argument shows how pragmatism’s democratic radicalism pushes beyond the liberal consensus of contemporary theories of justice and towards a more robust conception of democratic socialism, yet the full implications of this position are cut short by the book’s competing deflationary mode.


2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 370-389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Macedo

I address the long-standing problem of toleration in diverse liberal societies in light of the progress of same-sex marriage and continued vehement opposition to it from a significant portion of the population. I advance a view that contrasts with recent discussions by Teresa Bejan, Mere Civility, and especially Cecile Laborde, Liberalism’s Religion. Laborde emphasizes the importance of state sovereignty in fixing the boundaries of church and state, emphasizing the priority of public authority and constitutional supremacy. I argue that emphasis on priority needs to be complemented by a recognition of the importance of forms of reconciliation that go beyond ‘mere civility’. Reflections on toleration in the liberal and democratic traditions – including in the canonical discussions of Locke, Rousseau, Smith and Tocqueville, and in more recent political science – have recognized that the health of liberal democracy benefits enormously from the educative and morally formative resources furnished by religious communities. We must hope and plan for the reconciliation of the values of liberal democracy and the teachings of the major religions in society. In that context, a great source of present difficulty is the political polarization that infects and inflects religious differences. For that reason, I applaud aspects of Justice Kennedy’s opinion in Masterpiece Cakeshop. Kennedy insists on the equal dignity of gay and lesbian couples, but also requires that the complaints of religious wedding vendors should be listened to respectfully. While progressives constantly urge that we do more to include the other – typically meaning refugees, migrants, racial, sexual minorities and so on – one great challenge in conditions of hyper polarization is to include the ideological other.


Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 157
Author(s):  
Netta van Vliet

This article considers the political and philosophical genealogies of the category “Israeli Jew” in terms of Israeli novelist Yoram Kaniuk’s Adam Resurrected, which I situate within the wider context of contemporary Israel. Israel is defined by some as a colonial and occupying state and by others as a liberal democracy founded on narratives of modern nationalism, but also on the Abrahamic narrative of 2000 years of Jewish exile. The category “Israeli Jew” thus brings together the figure of the diasporic Jew as not fully sovereign with Zionism’s figure of the “New Jew,” based on European modernity’s ideal of a sovereign, autonomous, citizen subject. I show how, by bringing these figures together, rather than replacing one with the other, the category “Israeli Jew” brings together the specificity of the different genealogies that these terms carry. In this regard, I argue, Israel can be understood as an instantiation of the historical legacy of the philosophical binary between the Athenian and the Hebraic, which, as Miriam Leonard, Jacques Derrida, and others have pointed out, informs the long durée of Western political philosophy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 130 (627) ◽  
pp. 765-792 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharun W Mukand ◽  
Dani Rodrik

Abstract This paper develops a taxonomy of political regimes that distinguishes between three sets of rights—property rights, political rights and civil rights. The truly distinctive nature of liberal democracy is the protection of civil rights (equal treatment by the state for all groups) in addition to the other two. The paper shows how democratic transitions that are the product of a settlement between the elite (who care mostly about property rights) and the majority (who care about political rights), generically fail to produce liberal democracy. Instead, the emergence of liberal democracy requires low levels of inequality and weak identity cleavages.


Author(s):  
José Alfredo Zavaleta Betancourt

Este ensayo propone una interpretación de las posiciones políticas de Octavio Paz, con el propósito de identificar su legado político. Para tal efecto, pone a discusión la idea de que Octavio Paz era un intelectual de izquierda socialista, a partir de la relectura de sus principales ensayos políticos. En esta lógica, lo conceptúa como poeta con posiciones políticas, que discursivamente defendía un tipo de socialismo democrático desde una posición nacional-revolucionaria.En la búsqueda de las reglas y estrategias discursivas utilizadas por Paz para hablar de la violencia, la izquierda, la democracia y el socialismo, es posible identificar su crítica teórica desde el campo literario, con claras intervenciones en los campos político e intelectual. Octavio Paz deseaba, evidentemente, ilustrar a la izquierda mexicana con la advertencia de lo acontecido en los regímenes socialista-burocráticos. El programa democrático de Paz, a mano para la izquierda de su tiempo y las actuales izquierdas, constituye una recuperación de la democracia liberal, un andamiaje para la sociedad mexicana, un proyecto de modernización no ensayado por el régimen priista y destruido, en su tiempo, por las burocracias socialistas del país.Palabras clave: Crítica, Izquierda, Democracia, Violencia Octavio's LabyrinthSummaryThis essay proposes an interpretation of Octavio Paz's political positions, with the purpose of identifying his political legacy. For this purpose, the idea that Octavio Paz was an intellectual of the socialist left, based on the rereading of his main political essays, is put into discussion. In this logic, he is conceptualized as a poet with political positions, who discursively defended a type of democratic socialism from a national-revolutionary position.In the search for the discursive rules and strategies used by Paz to talk about violence, the left, democracy and socialism, it is possible to identify his theoretical criticism from the literary field, with clear interventions in the political and intellectual fields. Octavio Paz, wanted, evidently, to enlighten the Mexican left with the warning of what happened in the socialist-bureaucratic regimes. Paz's democratic program, at hand for the left of his time and the current left, constitutes a recovery of liberal democracy, a scaffolding for Mexican society, a modernization project not tested by the PRI regime and destroyed, in its time, by the socialist bureaucracies of the country.Keywords: Criticism, Left, Democracy, Violence Le labyrinthe d’OctavioRésuméeCet essai propose une interprétation des positions politiques d’Octavio Paz, afin d’identifier son héritage politique. Pour ce faire, on met en discussion l’idée qu’Octavio Paz était un intellectuel de gauche socialiste, à partir de la relecture se ses principaux essais politiques. Dans cette logique, on se fait une conception de lui comme un poète d’idées et postures politiques qui défendait discursivement un type de socialisme démocratique à partir d’une position nationale-révolutionnaire.Dans la recherche des règles et stratégies discursives utilisées par Paz pour parler de la violence, la gauche, la démocratie et le socialisme, il est possible d’identifier sa critique théorique à partir du champ littéraire, avec des claires interventions dans les champs politiques et intellectuels. Octavio Paz désirait évidement, illustrer la gauche mexicaine avec l’avertissement ce qui est arrivé dans les régimes socio-bureaucratiques. Le programme démocratique de Paz, de la main de la gauche de son époque et des gauches actuelles, constitue une récupération de la démocratie libérale, une structure pour la société mexicaine, un projet de modernisation pas essayé par le régime du PRI, et détruit dans son époque par les bureaucraties socialistes du pays.Mots clés : Critique, Gauche, Démocratie, Violence 


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ida Susilowati ◽  
Zahrotunnimah Zahrotunnimah ◽  
Nur Rohim Yunus

AbstractPresidential Election in 2019 has become the most interesting executive election throughout Indonesia's political history. People likely separated, either Jokowi’s or Prabowo’s stronghold. Then it can be assumed, when someone, not a Jokowi’s stronghold he or she certainly within Prabowo’s stronghold. The issue that was brought up in the presidential election campaign, sensitively related to religion, communist ideology, China’s employer, and any other issues. On the other side, politics identity also enlivened the presidential election’s campaign in 2019. Normative Yuridis method used in this research, which was supported by primary and secondary data sourced from either literature and social phenomenon sources as well. The research analysis concluded that political identity has become a part of the political campaign in Indonesia as well as in other countries. The differences came as the inevitability that should not be avoided but should be faced wisely. Finally, it must be distinguished between political identity with the politicization of identity clearly.Keywords. Identity Politics, 2019 Presidential Election


Author(s):  
Avi Max Spiegel

This chapter seeks to understand how Islamist movements have evolved over time, and, in the process, provide important background on the political and religious contexts of the movements in question. In particular, it shows that Islamist movements coevolve. Focusing on the histories of Morocco's two main Islamist movements—the Justice and Spirituality Organization, or Al Adl wal Ihsan (Al Adl) and the Party of Justice and Development (PJD)—it suggests that their evolutions can only be fully appreciated if they are relayed in unison. These movements mirror one another depending on the competitive context, sometimes reflecting, sometimes refracting, sometimes borrowing, sometimes adapting or even reorganizing in order to keep up with the other.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Druckman ◽  
Samara Klar ◽  
Yanna Krupnikov ◽  
Matthew Levendusky ◽  
John B. Ryan

Affective polarization is a defining feature of 21st century American politics—partisans harbor considerable dislike and distrust of those from the other party. Does this animus have consequences for citizens’ opinions? Such effects would highlight not only the consequences of polarization, but also shed new light onto how citizens form preferences more generally. Normally, this question is intractable, but the outbreak of the novel coronavirus allows us to answer it. We find that affective polarization powerfully shapes citizens’ attitudes about the pandemic, as well as the actions they have taken in response to it. However, these effects are conditional on the local severity of the outbreak, as the effects decline in areas with high caseloads—threat vitiates partisan reasoning. Our results clarify that closing the divide on important issues requires not just policy discourse but also attempts to reduce inter-partisan hostility.


Author(s):  
Anatolii Petrovich Mykolaiets

It is noted that from the standpoint of sociology, “management — a function of organized systems of various nature — (technical, biological, social), which ensures the preservation of their structure, maintaining a certain state or transfer to another state, in accordance with the objective laws of the existence of this system, which implemented by a program or deliberately set aside”. Management is carried out through the influence of one subsystem-controlling, on the other-controlled, on the processes taking place in it with the help of information signals or administrative actions. It is proved that self-government allows all members of society or a separate association to fully express their will and interests, overcome alienation, effectively combat bureaucracy, and promote public self-realization of the individual. At the same time, wide direct participation in the management of insufficiently competent participants who are not responsible for their decisions, contradicts the social division of labor, reduces the effectiveness of management, complicates the rationalization of production. This can lead to the dominance of short-term interests over promising interests. Therefore, it is always important for society to find the optimal measure of a combination of self-management and professional management. It is determined that social representation acts, on the one hand, as the most important intermediary between the state and the population, the protection of social interests in a politically heterogeneous environment. On the other hand, it ensures the operation of a mechanism for correcting the political system, which makes it possible to correct previously adopted decisions in a legitimate way, without resorting to violence. It is proved that the system of social representation influences the most important political relations, promotes social integration, that is, the inclusion of various social groups and public associations in the political system. It is proposed to use the term “self-government” in relation to several levels of people’s association: the whole community — public self-government or self-government of the people, to individual regions or communities — local, to production management — production self-government. Traditionally, self-government is seen as an alternative to public administration. Ideology and practice of selfgovernment originate from the primitive, communal-tribal democracy. It is established that, in practice, centralization has become a “natural form of government”. In its pure form, centralization does not recognize the autonomy of places and even local life. It is characteristic of authoritarian regimes, but it is also widely used by democratic regimes, where they believe that political freedoms should be fixed only at the national level. It is determined that since the state has achieved certain sizes, it is impossible to abandon the admission of the existence of local authorities. Thus, deconcentration appears as one of the forms of centralization and as a cure for the excesses of the latter. Deconcentration assumes the presence of local bodies, which depend on the government functionally and in the order of subordination of their officials. The dependency of officials means that the leadership of local authorities is appointed by the central government and may be displaced.


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