Some Thoughts on the Relation of Political Theory to Anthropology

1968 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 536-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl J. Friedrich ◽  
Morton Horwitz
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Basic Problem ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
Political Theorist ◽  
Western Government

The study of developing areas has, in recent years, caused political science and theory to be increasingly aware of realities of non-Western government and politics. Comparative politics and its theory no longer, therefore, can avoid utilizing the results of the research of anthropologists and ethnologists in a way comparable to the use of historical data if they wish to be comprehensively empirical. Since the political theorist will not, as a rule, be able to become a practising anthropologist, the basic problem of such cooperation turns upon whether the investigating anthropologist asks the crucial, the basic questions in the first place. A broad survey of their reports and writings, such as the Human Relations Area Files afford, shows that this is by no means generally the case. Nor is this easy to achieve, for political scientists and anthropologists differ in their objectives. It has been suggested that the anthropologist is primarily interested in diversity, in how many ways something could be done, whereas for the political scientist and theorist such divergencies are important mainly as they lead to political insight and verifiable generalization.The utility of the writings of anthropologists for the political scientist is seriously impeded by the over-simplified and misleading understanding of the nature of power and authority held by many of them.

Introducing Environmental Political Theory

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teena Gabrielson ◽  
Cheryl Hall ◽  
John M. Meyer ◽  
David Schlosberg
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Environmental Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human Relations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Field Of Inquiry

This introductory chapter offers an overview of the context, content, and history of environmental political theory (EPT) as a field of study within political science. It starts by differentiating EPT from both the subfield of political theory and other areas of sustainability and environmental studies, with its focus on the political nature of human/non-human relations. EPT’s development over the last twenty years is discussed, in terms of both substantive foci and maturation as a field. The chapter then turns to an overview of the structure and chapters of the Handbook, including chapters on EPT as a field of inquiry, the rethinking of nature and political subjects, the goals and ideals of EPT, various obstacles faced by environmental change, and the role of activism in environmental politics and thought.

The political theorist, Fujita Shōzō: between his sense of hope (kibō) and his sense of despair (zetsubō)

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 519-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takamichi Sakurai
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
High Speed ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
Intellectual Tradition ◽  
Political Thinking ◽  
Political Theorist ◽  
Practice Experience ◽  
Japanese Scholar ◽  
Psychological Transformation

AbstractIn this article, I describe an important aspect of the intellectual tradition of Japanese political theory while focusing on the Japanese scholar Fujita Shōzō’s political and scholarly activities. Not surprisingly, he has been chiefly considered a thinker or a historian of ideas, due to his being a pupil of Japan's brightest political scientist, Maruyama Masao. It must be stressed, however, that his scholarly works do not confine his academic scope to their ingredients; they are composed of theoretical requisites for the disciplinary activity of political theory, as can be seen particularly in his early contributions. He requires his theory to constitute integral aspects of practice, experience and perspective on the basis of his political concerns and practices in terms of detachment realism. From this perspective, I explore how Fujita changed his primary purpose from criticising Japan's ‘Tennō system’ (Tennōsei) to criticising its ‘high-speed growth’ (kōdo seichō) by highlighting the psychological transformation of his self-critical and self-reflective political thinking and acting according to his optimistic state of ‘hope’ (kibō) and his pessimistic state of ‘despair’ (zetsubō), especially in terms of his early work.

The centrality of politeia for Aristotle’s Politics: Aristotle’s continuing significance for social and political science

2014 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 139-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clifford Angell Bates
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Political Community ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Global Concern ◽  
Political Communities ◽  
Regime Analysis

Political theorists today are addressing issues of global concern confronting state systems and in so doing are often forced to confront the concept of Homo sapiens as a ‘political animal’. Thus theorists considering Aristotle’s Politics attempt to transcend his polis-centric focus and make the case that Aristotle offers ways to address these global concerns by focusing on Empire. This article, contra Dietz et al., argues that Aristotle’s political science is first and foremost a science of politeia and that this approach to the operation and working of political systems is far superior to recent attempts at regime analysis in comparative politics. Thus Aristotle’s mode of examining political systems offers much fruit for those interested in approaching political phenomena with precision and depth as diverse manifestations of the political communities formed by the species Aristotle called the ‘political animal’. From this perspective, focusing on the politeia constituting each political community permits an analysis of contemporary transformations of political life without distorting what is being analyzed.

A Reply to A.G. Hopkins

2000 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
CAROLYN M. WARNER
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Political Science ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Scientist

The political scientist who relies upon historiographic sources to propose and test hypotheses runs the risk of riling up not only her peers in the discipline, but also the historians upon whose work she must rely to provide the materials for these hypotheses. It was intellectually satisfying and stimulating to learn that my work has been read not only by scholars in ‘my’ discipline, but also by those in the discipline which made my own analysis possible, and I am grateful for Professor Hopkins' extensive comments. As Hopkins notes, there are differences in the orientation of the two disciplines: political science has as one of its central concerns ‘the state’, while historians are more interested ‘in charting changing relativities in international relations’. As a political scientist, I am indeed interested in identifying the factors which lead to such changes.

scholarly journals Complicating the Political Scientist as Blogger

2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (02) ◽  
pp. 383-386
Author(s):  
Robert Farley
Keyword(s):  
Public Sphere ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Academic Career ◽  
The Political ◽  
Multiple Models ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Public Sphere

AbstractIn our efforts to make blogging an acceptable component of an academic career in political science, we ought not tame the practice of blogging beyond recognition. Multiple models exist under which blogging can contribute to the discipline of political science and through which political scientists can contribute to the public sphere.

A Political Scientist Looks at Military Government in the European Theater of Operations

1946 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 1097-1112
Author(s):  
Harold Zink
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Pacific Islands ◽  
State Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Scientist ◽  
Military Government ◽  
European Theater Of Operations ◽  
General Record ◽  
Civilian Defense

The political scientist found various aspects of World War II of professional interest. Perhaps there were no fields as intimately related to political science as radar and atomic energy in the case of the physical sciences, though such agencies as the War Production Board, the Office of Price Administration, and the Office of Civilian Defense presented many problems of vital concern. Of the strictly military programs, it is probable that none involved so many aspects of political science as military government. Military government programs of some elaborateness were drafted for North Africa, Sicily and Italy, the Pacific Islands, Japan, Korea, and Germany and the countries which had been occupied by Germany. The military government activities in the European Theater of Operations surpassed all others in scope in that they involved both combat and post-hostility operations of great magnitude, necessitated dealings with both conquered and liberated peoples, required the establishment of a system of government from the bottom up through the state level in Germany, and were participated in by all four of the major Allied Powers. The European Theater of Operations also saw the widest use of officers who had been assigned on the basis of their specialist knowledge of various aspects of military-government activities. It may therefore be of some interest to the political science profession to comment on the general record of military government in the ETO.

Eric Voegelin's Contribution to Contemporary Political Theory

1964 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 378-402
Author(s):  
Dante Germino
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Science ◽  
General Position ◽  
The Political ◽  
Major Objective ◽  
Eric Voegelin ◽  
Political Philosopher ◽  
The Way

Some fifty years ago, Douglas Ainslie wrote of Benedetto Croce: “I can lay no claim to having discovered an America, but I do claim to have discovered a Columbus.” Eric Voegelin, today at the height of his career as a political philosopher, scarcely needs to be discovered; he is regarded as a Columbus in the realms of the spirit by many concerned with the the oretical analysis of politics. But in the political science profession he has been more often ignored or systematically misunderstood than read for what he has to teach. Among those according an indifferent or hostile reception to Voegelin are many who, bewailing the recent “decline” of political theory, might have been expected to welcome the appearance of a thinker meticulously pointing the way to the recovery of political theory as a tradition of inquiry. The basic reasons for this curious reception will be alluded to in the course of this essay. The major objective, however, is to isolate the key elements in Voegelin's political theory and to give some indication of his general position in contemporary political science. Hopefully, the result will be to further the understanding of his work and the appreciation of his achievement.

scholarly journals THE CONCEPT OF GOVERNMENT IN THE EARLY WORKS OF ABU HASAN AL-MAWARDI

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-104
Author(s):  
F. Q. TOJIDINOV
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Ideas ◽  
National Importance ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship of politics to religion is a characteristic feature of Islam. The rules of divine law have to be unswervingly respected in all matters related to social, economic and political problems, or at least should not contradict the essence of Islamic principles. But despite this, the political doctrine of Islam — the caliphate, being the main medieval Muslim political thought, still caused many controversies due to the lack of regulations on the nature of power in the Qur’an and Sunnah. Many scholars of the Islamic world, understanding the origins of the problem, tried in every way to write the concept of Islamic political science. Even the existence of political ideas related to the authority in Islam in such Muslim writings on the caliph could not reveal and provide the theory of government from a religious point of view. These works are mostly devoted to the art of power and refl ect the norms of behavior of the ruling authorities and other representatives of the state in order to solve the necessary tasks of national importance. The Islamic experience of the thinkers who wrote these works justifi es the existence of an Islamic element in them. The art of government has been revealed to them since the emergence of Islamic practice in their lives. But there were theories of Islamic political science based on the Koran and the Sunnah. Al-Mawardi is one of the authors of books on Islamic political science. His books became very important for subsequent Muslim thinkers, this importance lies in the fact that the very followers who wrote works on political theory accepted al-Mawardi as an authority on this issue and continue to accept not only for the theory of the caliphate/imamate, but also because of his works related to public law. It is important to note that the work of al-Mawardi is the fi rst work, which presents the theory of the imamate/caliphate, taking into account the political conditions that surrounded him. 

Cultivating Passionate Agreement

2019 ◽  
pp. 184-223
Author(s):  
Andrea Sangiacomo
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
Political Science ◽  
The Political

Chapter 6 discusses how Spinoza implements his account of passions and reason, developed in the Ethics, in the context of the political theory presented in the Political Treatise. Section 6.2 reconstructs his account of reason in this work, in which he distinguishes between a descriptive and normative use of the notion of reason. Section 6.3 introduces the interpretative problems that this account raises. These problems can be solved by implementing the cooperative account of reason introduced in Chapters 4 and 5. This requires using Spinoza’s distinction between universal and proper common notions to account for the descriptive and normative uses of reason respectively. Sections 6.4 and 6.5 illustrate how this reading applies to his detailed discussion of monarchy and aristocracy. Section 6.6 develops the implications of this reading of Spinoza’s political science in order to fully address the threat that oppressive societies pose to an individual’s power of developing reason.

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