The Intellectuals in the Political Development of the New States

1960 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Shils
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Political Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human History ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
The Past ◽  
New States

The gestation, birth, and continuing life of the new states of Asia and Africa, through all their vicissitudes, are in large measure the work of intellectuals. In no state-formations in all of human history have intellectuals played such a role as they have in these events of the present century.In the past, new states were founded by military conquest, by the secession of ethnic groups led by traditional tribal and warrior chiefs, by the gradual extension of the power of the prince through intermarriage, agreement, and conquest, or by separation through military rebellion. In antiquity, the demand that subjects acknowledge the divinity of the Emperor was no more than a requirement that the legitimacy of the existing order be recognized.

scholarly journals Securing Authority: The View from the Top

1972 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 271-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond F. Hopkins
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Political Change ◽  
Nation Building ◽  
The Political ◽  
New States ◽  
Political Conditions ◽  
Traditional Patterns

Although the literature on political development has been remarkably insightful, hopes for a science of “nation-building” have not been realized. While numerous works have described the effects of traditional patterns, ethnic and linguistic cleavages, and rapid mobilization, and have investigated factors such as culture, bureaucracy, ideology, and parties, we have learned very little about how to alter favorably the political conditions these have fostered. Political scientists, more often than not, have documented obstacles to, and failures in, political change desired by leaders in new states, rather than explored strategies whereby such change might be realized.

The Origins and Dynamics of Inequality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon D. Wisman
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Psychology ◽  
The Political ◽  
Human History ◽  
Central Importance ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Role

Whereas President Barack Obama identified inequality as “the defining challenge of our time,” this book claims more: it is the defining issue of all human history. The struggle over inequality has been the underlying force driving human history’s unfolding. Drawing on the dynamics of inequality, this book reinterprets history and society. Beyond according inequality the central role in human history, this book is novel in two other respects. First, transcending the general failure of social scientists and historians to anchor their work in explicit theories of human behavior, this book grounds the origins and dynamics of inequality in evolutionary psychology, or, more specifically, Darwin’s theory of sexual selection. Second, this book is novel in according central importance to the critical historical role of ideology in legitimating inequality, a role typically ignored or given little attention by social scientists and historians. Because of the central role of inequality in history, inequality’s explosion over the past 45 years has not been an anomaly. It is a return to the political dynamics by which elites have, since the rise of the state, taken practically everything for themselves, leaving all others with little more than the means with which to survive. Due to elites’ persuasive ideology, even after workers in advanced capitalist countries gained the franchise to become the overwhelming majority of voters, inequality continued to increase. The anomaly is that the only intentional politically driven decline in inequality occurred between the 1930s and 1970s following the Great Depression’s partial delegitimation (this should remain delegitimation globally) of elites’ ideology.

The House of Chiefs and the Political Development of Botswana

1968 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Proctor
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Political System ◽  
National Level ◽  
The Political ◽  
New States ◽  
Democratic Political System

A major problem encountered by the builders of many of the new states in Africa has been that of defining a satisfactory position for the traditional tribal authorities in a more integrated and democratic political system. In Botswana a solution has been sought not only at the level of local government, where much of the Chiefs' power has been transferred to elected district councils, but also at the national level, where a House of Chiefs has been created to advise Government and Parliament. This body merits examination as a constructive effort to synthesise indigenous and imported institutions, and to accommodate the interests and demands of the hereditary rulers and their more conservative subjects, who remain deeply rooted in the tribal structure, in a manner which is acceptable to the new élite and their supporters, who are eager to modernise quickly.

Political Development in the New States

1960 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Shils
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Ancien Regime ◽  
The Past ◽  
New States ◽  
Ancien Régime

There are very few states today which do not aspire to modernity. The day of rulers who were indifferent to the archaism of the society which they governed has almost disappeared. The leaders of nearly every state—both the old established states as well as the new states of Asia and Africa—feel a pressing necessity of espousing policies which will bring them well within the circle of modernity. Much of the opposition which they encounter among their politically interested countrymen contends that they are not modern enough. Many traditionalists are constrained to assert that only by cleaving to the essence of older traditions can a genuine and stable modernity be attained.Modern states must be “dynamic”, above all else. To be modern, an elite, as the elites of the new states see it, must not fear change; on the contrary, it umst strive to bring it about. It does not wish to remain as it is. It is against the ancien regime; even where it affirms the past of the country, it stresses its adaptability to the needs of the pressent. “Dynamic” is one of the favorite adjectives of the elites of the new states. The elites pride themselves on their dynamism and they claim that the mass of the population demands it of them. Almost everything else which they esteem presupposes this praise of change.

scholarly journals Moral Elaboration of Collective Trauma (Based on the Belarusian Protest 2020–2021)

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-86
Author(s):  
E. V. Belyaeva ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Moral Values ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
The Political ◽  
Collective Trauma ◽  
Absolute Value ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Absolute

The article is devoted to comprehending the collective trauma of the Belarusian society, received during public protests against the falsification of the presidential elections in 2020–2021, and its moral elaboration, which takes place regardless of the political development of events. Moral study of the trauma is aimed at restoring moral values and social practices of their implementation. These values include: the absolute value of human life, truthfulness, non-violence, solidarity, fearlessness, justice, trust. Narratives and interpretations are created in advance, making possible subsequent models of reconciliation, realizing positive responsibility for the past, present and future of their country.

scholarly journals Evaluation of Ethnicity and Issues of Political Development in Punjab, Pakistan

2020 ◽  
Vol V (IV) ◽  
pp. 57-64
Author(s):  
Muqarrab Akbar ◽  
Kanwar Muhammad Yasir Furqan ◽  
Hafsa Yaseen
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Political Structure ◽  
Research Article ◽  
Governmental System

The purpose of this research is to evaluate ethnicity and its impact on the political structure of Punjab, Pakistan. This topic was required by the subverting tendencies of the circumstances that, in reality, endanger the survival of the minority groups in Punjab. In order to upgrade provincial political development, the facets that proliferate its existence in policies and hold it can be abolished. They have not yielded any efficacious outcomes in spite of elucidation that has been consistently provided. Subsequently, they need to search for a more practical alternative by focusing on the divisions that are present in ethnic societies. Ethnic democracy should be present that is a governmental system that links the ethnic groups to their democratic and political rights. Quantitative research was used in this research article. The researcher collected the data by distributing questionnaire among people. For future research, this research concludes with a debate of recommendations.

Reinventing the Labour Party, 1983–92

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Jobson
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Turning Point ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
New Labour ◽  
The Political ◽  
Annual Conference ◽  
Pivotal Moments ◽  
The Past

This chapter examines the ways in which nostalgia shaped the political development of Neil Kinnock’s Labour Party between 1983 and 1992. It scrutinises claims, often made retrospectively by members of the New Labour project, that the Kinnock era was a period of limited modernisation. Moreover, it argues that Kinnock and his allies successfully negotiated Labour’s nostalgia in a manner that enabled them to reorient the party’s programmatic commitments away from the past. In this regard, the key turning point was the 1985-6 Jobs and Industry Campaign. When viewed through the lens of party nostalgia, other events, including Kinnock’s famous attack on the Militant Tendency at Labour’s annual conference in 1985, do not represent the kind of pivotal moments that academics have previously indicated they were. Furthermore, in 1992, despite significant policy reorientations, the party’s nostalgically imbued identity remained intact and unreformed.

The China Model

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Bell ◽  
Daniel A. Bell
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Political System ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political World ◽  
China Model ◽  
Political Model ◽  
Political Meritocracy

Westerners tend to divide the political world into “good” democracies and “bad” authoritarian regimes, but the Chinese political model does not fit neatly in either category. Over the past three decades, China has evolved a political system that can best be described as “political meritocracy.” This book seeks to understand the ideals and the reality of this unique political system. How do the ideals of political meritocracy set the standard for evaluating political progress (and regress) in China? How can China avoid the disadvantages of political meritocracy? And how can political meritocracy best be combined with democracy? This book answers these questions and more. Opening with a critique of “one person, one vote” as a way of choosing top leaders, it argues that Chinese-style political meritocracy can help to remedy the key flaws of electoral democracy. It discusses the advantages and pitfalls of political meritocracy, distinguishes between different ways of combining meritocracy and democracy, and argues that China has evolved a model of democratic meritocracy that is morally desirable and politically stable. It also summarizes and evaluates the “China model”—meritocracy at the top, experimentation in the middle, and democracy at the bottom—and its implications for the rest of the world. The book looks at a political system that not only has had a long history in China, but could prove to be the most important political development of the twenty-first century.

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