scholarly journals Secular Formatting of the Sacred

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 164-182
Author(s):  
Marius Timmann Mjaaland
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Continuous Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Axial Age ◽  
Universal Human Rights ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
Forms Of Violence ◽  
Genealogy Of Morals ◽  
The Ideal

Abstract Whereas Samuel Moyn has argued that human rights represent the last utopia, sociologist Hans Joas suggests that the modern history of human rights represents a critical alternative to the common theory of secularization understood as disenchantment (Weber). In Joas’s reading, the political and social emphasis on human rights contributes to a sacralization of the person, not only understood as utopia, but also as societal ideal. Following Durkheim, Joas understands the sacred within the society as the continuous process of refashioning the ideal society within the real society. Although acknowledging Joas’s critique of Weber, the author is more critical of his idealization of universal human rights and his affirmative genealogy of this ideal running back to the so-called Axial Age. Mjaaland argues that the normative and formative functions of human rights are better served by a suspicious genealogy of morals, taking also the problematic aspects of human rights policy into account, including its dependence on new forms of violence and cruelty. He concludes that a more modest and pragmatic understanding of human rights may therefore strengthen rather than weaken their authority and future influence.

scholarly journals The Struggle Against Torture: Challenges, Assumptions and New Directions

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 324-333
Author(s):  
Tobias Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Marginalized Groups ◽  
Current State ◽  
New Directions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Emerging Themes ◽  
Short Essay ◽  
Forms Of Violence

Abstract This short essay offers a broad and necessarily incomplete review of the current state of the human rights struggle against torture and ill-treatment. It sketches four widespread assumptions in that struggle: 1) that torture is an issue of detention and interrogation; 2) that political or security detainees are archetypal victims of torture; 3) that legal reform is one of the best ways to fight torture; and 4) that human rights monitoring helps to stamp out violence. These four assumptions have all played an important role in the history of the human rights fight against torture, but also resulted in limitations in terms of the interventions that are used, the forms of violence that human rights practitioners respond to, and the types of survivors they seek to protect. Taken together, these four assumptions have created challenges for the human rights community in confronting the multiple forms of torture rooted in the deep and widespread inequality experienced by many poor and marginalized groups. The essay ends by pointing to some emerging themes in the fight against torture, such as a focus on inequality, extra-custodial violence, and the role of corruption.

Freedom Tide? Ideology, Politics, and the Origins of Democracy Promotion in U.S. Central America Policy, 1980–1984

2014 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 60-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan McCormick
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Central America ◽  
Reagan Administration ◽  
Democracy Promotion ◽  
The Political ◽  
History Of ◽  
Policy Objectives ◽  
Dramatic Shift

The Reagan administration came to power in 1981 seeking to downplay Jimmy Carter's emphasis on human rights in U.S. policy toward Latin America. Yet, by 1985 the administration had come to justify its policies towards Central America in the very same terms. This article examines the dramatic shift that occurred in policymaking toward Central America during Ronald Reagan's first term. Synthesizing existing accounts while drawing on new and recently declassified material, the article looks beyond rhetoric to the political, intellectual, and bureaucratic dynamics that conditioned the emergence of a Reaganite human rights policy. The article shows that events in El Salvador suggested to administration officials—and to Reagan himself—that support for free elections could serve as a means of shoring up legitimacy for embattled allies abroad, while defending the administration against vociferous human rights criticism at home. In the case of Nicaragua, democracy promotion helped to eschew hard decisions between foreign policy objectives. The history of the Reagan Doctrine's contentious roots provides a complex lens through which to evaluate subsequent U.S. attempts to foster democracy overseas.

Bulgarian Turkish Emigration and Return

1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 342-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darina Vasileva
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Total Population ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ethnic Conflicts ◽  
Totalitarian Regime ◽  
Lasting Effect ◽  
History Of

The history of the emigration of Bulgarian Muslim Turks to Turkey is more than a century old. The violation of the human rights of ethnic Turks by the totalitarian regime during the 1980s resulted in the most massive and unpredictable migration wave ever seen in that history. This article examines the complexity of factors and motivations of the 1989 emigration which included almost half of the ethnic Turks living in Bulgaria and constituting until that time 9 percent of the total population. The author considers the strong and long-lasting effect of this emigration—followed by the subsequent return of half of the emigrants after the fall of the regime—both on Bulgaria's economy and on the political life of the society. The article aims also at providing a better understanding of the character of ethnic conflicts in posttotalitarian Eastern Europe.

The Role of Religious Force in the Wukan Incident

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hou Yuxin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Social Management ◽  
The Village

Abstract The Wukan Incident attracted extensive attention both in China and around the world, and has been interpreted from many different perspectives. In both the media and academia, the focus has very much been on the temporal level of the Incident. The political and legal dimensions, as well as the implications of the Incident in terms of human rights have all been pored over. However, what all of these discussions have overlooked is the role played by religious force during the Incident. The village of Wukan has a history of over four hundred years, and is deeply influenced by the religious beliefs of its people. Within both the system of religious beliefs and in everyday life in the village, the divine immortal Zhenxiu Xianweng and the religious rite of casting shengbei have a powerful influence. In times of peace, Xianweng and casting shengbei work to bestow good fortune, wealth and longevity on both the village itself, and the individuals who live there. During the Wukan Incident, they had a harmonizing influence, and helped to unify and protect the people. Looking at the specific roles played by religion throughout the Wukan Incident will not only enable us to develop a more meaningful understanding of the cultural nature and the complexity of the Incident itself, it will also enrich our understanding, on a divine level, of innovations in social management.

scholarly journals Keeping Human Rights on the Bioethics Agenda

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-226
Author(s):  
JOSEPH C. d'ORONZIO
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Moral Concept ◽  
Universal Human Rights ◽  
Nazi Era ◽  
The Ideal

The ideal of universal human rights is arguably the most potent moral concept marking the modern world. Its accelerated fruition in the last half of the twentieth century has created a powerful political force, laying the groundwork for future generations to extend and apply. Whereas anything resembling international legal status for human rights had to wait for the post-Nazi era, the bold proclamations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948) loosened a revolutionary force with endless potential for application to the full range of human endeavors. The roots of this movement can be traced to each and every era in which the vulnerable and powerless sought justification to oppose arbitrary domination. Its roots are, therefore, deep and wide.

scholarly journals The “Slavic-Russian Nation” in the Historical Literature of Ukraine and Russia from the 1600s to the mid-1700s

Slovene ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-447
Author(s):  
Petr S. Stefanovich
Keyword(s):  
18Th Century ◽  
17Th Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Slavonic Language ◽  
Imperial Identity ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Church ◽  
Century Literature

The article analyzes the history of the concept of a “Slavic-Russian nation”. The concept was first used by Zacharia Kopystenskij in 1624, but its wide occurrence starts in 1674, when Synopsis, the first printed history of Russia, was published in Kiev. In the book, “Slavic-Russian nation” refers to an ancient Slavic people, which preceded the “Russian nation” (“rossiyskiy narod”) of the time in which the book was written. Uniting “Slavs” and “Russians” (“rossy”) into one “Slavic-Russian nation”, the author of Synopsis followed the idea which was proposed but not specifically defined by M. Stryjkovskij in his Chronicle (1582) and, later, by the Kievan intellectuals of the 1620s–30s. The construction of Synopsis was to prove that “Russians” (“rossy”) were united by both the common Slavic origin and the Church Slavonic language used by the Orthodox Slavic peoples. According to Synopsis, they were also supposed to be united by the Muscovite tsar’s authority and the Orthodox religion. The whole conception made Synopsis very popular in Russia in the late 17th century and later. Earlier in the 17th-century literature of the Muscovite State, some authors also proposed ethno-genetic constructions based on Stryjkovskij’s Chronicle and other Renaissance historiography. Independently from the Kievan literature, the word “Slavic-Russian” was invented (first appearance in the Legend about Sloven and Rus, 1630s). Both the Kievan and Muscovite constructions of a mythical “Slavic-Russian nation” aimed at making an “imagined” ethno-cultural nation. They contributed to forming a new Russian imperial identity in the Petrine epoch. However, the concept of a “Slavic-Russian nation” was not in demand in the political discourse of the Petrine Empire. It was sporadically used in the historical works of the 18th century (largely due to the influence of Synopsis), but played no significant role in the proposed interpretations of Russian history.

scholarly journals Mahbub Djunaidi, Seniman Politik Nahdlatul Ulama (1960-1987)

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-174
Author(s):  
Farhan Nugraha ◽  
Muhammad Fakhruddin ◽  
Humaidi Humaidi
Keyword(s):  
Political History ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Democracy ◽  
Source Criticism ◽  
Historical Method ◽  
Organizational Experiences ◽  
Political Activist ◽  
History Of ◽  
Nahdlatul Ulama ◽  
The Ideal

Abstrak: Nahdlatul Ulama merupakan salah satu organisasi Islam terbesar di Indonesia. Organisasi ini lahir tentu dari para tokoh-tokoh besar yang menggawanginya, salah satunya Mahbud Djunaidi. Kemampuan politiknya diperoleh dari berbagai pengalaman organisasi dan kemampuan dalam kepenulisan. Adapun permasalahan yang diangkat dalam penelitian ini yaitu bagaimana riwayat politik Mahbub Djunaidi sebagai aktivis politik Nahdlatul Ulama pada tahun 1960-1987. Berdasarkan permasalahan tersebut penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menguraikan perjalanan politik Mahbub Djunaidi (1960-1987). Berdasarkan permasalahan dan tujuan penelitian tersebut, maka metode yang digunakan adalah metode historis yang terdiri dari tahap heuristik, kritik sumber, interpretasi dan historiografi. Hasil dari penelitian menunjukkan bahwa Mahbub Djunaidi memiliki konsep khittah plus. Demokrasi politik ala Mahbub Djunaidi adalah cita-cita demokrasi yang diperjuangkan melalui garis politik.Kata Kunci: Mahbub Djunaidi, Demokrasi Politik, Nahdlatul Ulama.Abstract: Nahdlatul Ulama is one of the largest Islamic organizations in Indonesia. This organization was born of course from the big figures who oversee it, one of them Mahbud Djunaidi. His political abilities are obtained from various organizational experiences and abilities in writing. The problem raised in this research is how the political history of Mahbub Djunaidi as a political activist of Nahdlatul Ulama in 1960-1987. Based on these problems, this study aims to describe the political journey of Mahbub Djunaidi (1960-1987). Based on the problems and objectives of the research, the method used is the historical method which consists of heuristics, source criticism, interpretation and historiography stages. The results of the study show that Mahbub Djunaidi has the concept of khittah plus. Political democracy in the style of Mahbub Djunaidi is the ideal of democracy which is fought for through political lines. Keywords: Mahbub Djunaidi, Political Democracy, Nahdlatul Ulama.

The Birth of Democracy

1957 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-61
Author(s):  
Christopher Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Modern World ◽  
The Political ◽  
Market Place ◽  
Modern Democracy ◽  
Common People ◽  
Considerable Difficulty ◽  
Democratic Movement ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Revolution

The origins of modern democracy are so closely bound up with the history of liberalism that it is a matter of considerable difficulty to disentangle them and to distinguish their distinctive contributions to the common political tradition of modern Western culture. For this question also involves that of the relation between the three revolutions, the English, the American, and the French, which transformed the Europe of the ancien régime, with its absolute monarchies and state churches, into the modern world. Now all these three revolutions were liberal revolutions and all of them were political expressions of the movement of the European enlightenment in its successive phases. But this movement was not originally a democratic one and it was only in the second half of the eighteenth century that the democratic ideal was clearly formulated. On the continent of Europe the revolution of ideas preceded the political and economic revolutions by half a century, and the revolution of ideas was not in any sense of the word a democratic movement; it was the work of a small minority of men of letters who looked to the nobles and the princes of Europe rather than to the common people, and whose ideal of government was a benevolent and enlightened absolutism, like that of Frederick the Great or the Empress Catherine of Russia. There was an immense gulf between the ideas of Voltaire and Turgot, of Diderot and D'Alembert, and the opinions of the average man. The liberalism of the philosophers was a hothouse growth which could not be easily acclimatized to the open air of the fields and the market place.

Money and the Ghetto, Money in the Ghetto

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 494-499
Author(s):  
Destin Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
Post World War Ii ◽  
Racial Capitalism ◽  
History Of ◽  
Forms Of Violence ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The City

This essay revisits Making the Second Ghetto to consider what Arnold Hirsch argued about the relationship between race, money, and the ghetto. It explores how Hirsch’s analysis of this relationship was at once consistent with those penned by other urban historians and distinct from those interested in the political economy of the ghetto. Although moneymaking was hardly the main focus, Hirsch’s engagement with “Vampire” rental agencies and panic peddlers laid the groundwork for an analysis that treats the post–World War II metropolis as a crucial node in the history of racial capitalism. Finally, this essay offers a way to connect local forms of violence to the kinds of constraints imposed by financiers far removed from the city itself.

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