Paris is Not Responding: Views on the French Condition, Colloquia at New York University’s Institute of French Studies, Spring, 1985

1986 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 309-321
Author(s):  
David Beriss
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Legislative Elections ◽  
French Studies ◽  
The People ◽  
The Right ◽  
Economic Future

When the Socialists arrived in power in 1981, the word of the day was changement, and the people dancing in the streets of Paris seemed to indicate an exuberant optimism for the political and economic future. Now, with the 1986 legislative elections approaching, the Right seems almost certain to win; public opinion appears to have swung against the Left in power. If people take to the streets today, whether they be angry parents d’élèves or workers, they are more than likely to be protesting against the Socialists. Has the Left in power proved to be incompetent? Have they mismanaged political power, or have they misunderstood their constituency? That a changement has occurred there is little doubt, but the changes do not seem to be those expected. In last spring’s colloquia at New York University’s Institute of French Studies various aspects of the practice of the Left in power and the changing context in which that power is exercised were examined.

Democracy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
Special Person ◽  
Full Discussion ◽  
The Right ◽  
Democratic Procedure ◽  
Equal Power ◽  
Voting Mechanism

Democracy means rule by the people, as contrasted with rule by a special person or group. It is a system of decision making in which everyone who belongs to the political organism making the decision is actually or potentially involved. They all have equal power. There have been competing conceptions about what this involves. On one conception this means that everyone should participate in making the decision themselves, which should emerge from a full discussion. On another conception, it means that everyone should be able to vote between proposals or for representatives who will be entrusted with making the decision; the proposal or representative with most votes wins. Philosophical problems connected with democracy relate both to its nature and its value. It might seem obvious that democracy has value because it promotes liberty and equality. As compared with, for example, dictatorship, everyone has equal political power and is free from control by a special individual or group. However, at least on the voting conception of democracy, it is the majority who have the control. This means that the minority may not be thought to be treated equally; and they lack liberty in the sense that they are controlled by the majority. Another objection to democracy is that, by counting everyone’s opinions as of equal value, it considers the ignorant as being as important as the knowledgeable, and so does not result in properly informed decisions. However, voting may in certain circumstances be the right way of achieving knowledge. Pooling opinions may lead to better group judgement. These difficulties with democracy are alleviated by the model which concentrates on mutual discussion rather than people just feeding opinions into a voting mechanism. Opinions should in such circumstances be better formed; and individuals are more obviously equally respected. However, this depends upon them starting from positions of equal power and liberty; rather than being consequences of a democratic procedure, it would seem that equality and liberty are instead prerequisites which are needed in order for it to work properly.

Democracy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ross Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
The People ◽  
Special Person ◽  
Full Discussion ◽  
The Right ◽  
Democratic Procedure ◽  
Equal Power ◽  
Voting Mechanism

Democracy means rule by the people, as contrasted with rule by a special person or group. It is a system of decision making in which everyone who belongs to the political organism making the decision is actually or potentially involved. They all have equal power. There have been competing conceptions about what this involves. On one conception this means that everyone should participate in making the decision themselves, which should emerge from a full discussion. On another conception, it means that everyone should be able to vote between proposals or for representatives who will be entrusted with making the decision; the proposal or representative with most votes wins. Philosophical problems connected with democracy relate both to its nature and its value. It might seem obvious that democracy has value because it promotes liberty and equality. As compared with, for example, dictatorship, everyone has equal political power and is free from control by a special individual or group. However, at least on the voting conception of democracy, it is the majority who have the control. This means that the minority may not be thought to be treated equally; and they lack liberty in the sense that they are controlled by the majority. Another objection to democracy is that, by counting everyone’s opinions as of equal value, it considers the ignorant as being as important as the knowledgeable, and so does not result in properly informed decisions. However, voting may in certain circumstances be the right way of achieving knowledge. Pooling opinions may lead to better group judgement. These difficulties with democracy are alleviated by the model which concentrates on mutual discussion rather than people just feeding opinions into a voting mechanism. Opinions should in such circumstances be better formed; and individuals are more obviously equally respected. However, this depends upon them starting from positions of equal power and liberty; rather than being consequences of a democratic procedure, it would seem that equality and liberty are instead prerequisites which are needed in order for it to work properly.

L’air du temps : l’ère des changements Colloquia of New York University’s Institute of French Studies, Fall 1985

1986 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 323-330
Author(s):  
John Westbrook
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Intellectual Life ◽  
General Malaise ◽  
Legislative Elections ◽  
French Studies ◽  
Current Mood ◽  
The Right ◽  
Voting Intentions

Despite what seems to be the assured victory of the Right in the upcoming legislative elections, the situation in France is far from clear. What will this victory mean when the very categories of political thought and classification, Right versus Left, “liberal ” versus “jacobin,” have lost a certain degree of their coherence. The break up of political discourse, the diffusion of similar ideas and “mots d’ordre” in opposing political camps, is indicative of a more general malaise. Attempting to “think” France in 1985, one is forced to move beyond statistics and voting intentions, to try to capture “l’air du temps.” A concept more literary than literal, embracing not only the questions asked by analysts of contemporary France but also the tone that these questions reveal, it is not without explanatory value, as Pierre Viansson-Ponté’s famous “la France s’ennuie” proved with the May ’68 events. A recent series of colloquia at N.Y.U.’s Institute of French Studies, on subjects ranging from de Gaulle’s come back in May 1958 to recent transformations in French intellectual life, both analyse and reflect the current mood in France.

Communication

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian D. Liddy
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
And Control ◽  
Ordinary Citizens

The exercise of political power in late medieval English towns was predicated upon the representation, management, and control of public opinion. This chapter explains why public opinion mattered so much to town rulers; how they worked to shape opinion through communication; and the results. Official communication was instrumental in the politicization of urban citizens. The practices of official secrecy and public proclamation were not inherently contradictory, but conflict flowed from the political process. The secrecy surrounding the practices of civic government provoked ordinary citizens to demand more accountability from town rulers, while citizens, who were accustomed to hear news and information circulated by civic magistrates, were able to use what they knew to challenge authority.

La recherche appliquée: le cas du « Katholiek Sociaal Kerkelijk Instituut (KASKI) » aux Pays-Bas

1971 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 621-637 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adolf Holl ◽  
Hyacinthe Crépin
Keyword(s):  
Professional Competence ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Religious Life ◽  
Religious Practice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
The People ◽  
Pastoral Planning ◽  
Senior Research ◽  
The Right

Following Vatican II changes are rapidly taking place within Dutch Catholicism — the bishops no longer make decisions in an authoritarian way: religious practice is de clining ; priests and religious are decreasing in numbers and many religious and pastoral experiments have come into being. KASKI has the responsibility of keeping pace with the Church during this process of change. In order to do this it makes use of several modes of work — the production of statistics relating to the position of religion in Society, the planning of religious and pastoral institutions and the study of new forms of the religious life in orders and congregations. For the first task it has used the same instruments for twenty- five years and the censuses thus produced yield valuable infor mation. As far as pastoral planning is concerned, it works in the field, playing the role of catalyst for those who have to make decisions and the people who have to carry out these decisions. This was the case, for instance, in the pastoral planning of the town of Eindhoven. Finally, when dealing with the new forms of communal religious life it adopts the method of studying through participation so that two of its researchers working in this sector are themselves members of religious groups. Applied research poses important problems, both from the methodological and from the political points of view. Amongst them may be noted the difficulty of determining precisely what constitutes rapid change in religious life, and the political choice of the persons for whom the research is being con ducted; the latter inevitably imposes a certain degree of conformity upon the perspectives of the work. (For example, the choice of the Dutch hierarchy which was to follow the general lines given by a large majority of Catholic opinion when it was tested particularly on questions like the liturgical and parochial changes). The fact, also, that the director of KASKI himself has a personal commitment to what may be described as the « right of centre » position in Dutch Catho licism poses problems for the work of the Institute. Political and religious radicalism is not a strong characteristic of the more senior research workers. KASKI is a rare example of a centre which brings socio logists together and uses their professional competence to accompany change in religious institutions.

The Case for Repealing the Second Amendment? The Historical Barriers to Constitutional Change

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 595-607
Author(s):  
David T. Konig
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Law ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Political ◽  
Constitutional Change ◽  
Second Amendment ◽  
The People ◽  
The Right ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Popular Constitutionalism

The controversy surrounding the Second Amendment—“the right of the people to keep and bear arms”—is, to a large extent, historical in nature, redolent of other matters in this country’s legal and constitutional past. But the historical analogies that might support the Amendment’s repeal do not permit easy conclusions. The issue demands that legal historians venture beyond familiar territory to confront unavoidable problems at the intersection of theory and practice and of constitutional law and popular constitutionalism. An interdisciplinary analysis of Lichtman’s Repeal the Second Amendment illuminates the political, legal, and constitutional dimensions—as well as the perils—of undertaking the arduous amending process permitted by Article V of the U.S. Constitution.

scholarly journals Role of political parties in modern processes of state building in Ukraine

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-12
Author(s):  
Yuriy Kyrychenko ◽  
Hanna Davlyetova
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Political Power ◽  
State Building ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
The People ◽  
Problematic Situations

The article examines the role of political parties in modern state-building processes in Ukraine. The place of political parties in the political and legal system of society is determined. The general directions of overcoming problematic situations of activity of political parties in Ukraine are offered. It is noted that political parties play an important role in the organization and exercise of political power, act as a kind of mediator between civil society and public authorities, influence the formation of public opinion and the position of citizens directly involved in elections to public authorities and local governments. It is determined that in a modern democratic society, political parties carry out their activities in the following areas: the work of representatives of political parties in public authorities and local governments; participation in elections of state authorities and local self-government bodies; promoting the formation and expression of political will of citizens, which involves promoting the formation and development of their political legal consciousness. These areas of political parties determine their role and importance in a modern democratic society, which determines the practical need to improve their activities and improve the national legislation of Ukraine in the field of political parties. Political parties are one of the basic institutions of modern society, they actively influence the ac-tivities of public authorities, economic and social processes taking place in the state and so on. It is through political parties that the people participate in the management of public affairs. Expressing the interest of different social communities, they become a link between the state and civil society. The people have the opportunity to delegate their powers to political parties, which achieves the ability of the people to control political power in several ways, which at the same time through competition of state political institutions and political parties contributes to increasing their responsibility to the people. It is noted that the political science literature has more than 200 definitions of political parties. And approaches to the definition of this term significantly depend on the general context in which this issue was studied by the researcher. It was emphasized that today in Ukraine there are important issues related to the activities of political parties. First of all, it is a significant number of registered political parties that are incapable, ie their political activity is conducted formally or not at all. According to official data from the Department of State Registration and Notary of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, 352 political parties are registered, of which 48 political parties do not actually function. The reason for the liquidation of such parties is not to nominate their candidates for the election of the President of Ukraine and People's Deputies of Ukraine for 10 years. According to this indicator, Ukraine ranks first among other European countries. Thus, 73 political parties are officially registered in Latvia, 38 in Lithuania, 45 in Moldova, 124 in Romania, and 56 in Slovakia. However, despite the large number of officially registered political parties in Ukraine, public confidence in their activities is low. It is concluded that political parties occupy a special place in the political and legal system of society and play an important role in the organization and exercise of political power, as well as a kind of mediator between civil society and public authorities. The general directions of overcoming problematic situations of activity of political parties in Ukraine are offered, namely: introduction of effective and impartial control over activity of political parties; creating conditions for reducing the number of political parties, encouraging their unification; establishment of effective and efficient sanctions for violation of the requirements of the current legislation of Ukraine by political parties.

The German Elections of 1928

1928 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 698-705
Author(s):  
James K. Pollock
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
The Political ◽  
City Councils ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Modern Methods ◽  
Political Consolidation ◽  
National Socialists ◽  
The Right ◽  
Intensive Work

The elections which were held throughout Germany on May 20, 1928, are of considerable interest and importance not only to Germany but also to the rest of the world. These elections, to be sure, did not have the dramatic interest which attended the Reichstag elections of December, 1924. But they deserve attention for a number of reasons: first, because they are the first elections to be held in the Reich under what may be called normal conditions; second, because elections for five Landtags and several city councils were held at the same time; and third, because the elections gave a further test, and supplied additional evidence of the operation, of the German system of proportional representation.Despite the intensive work of the political parties, the people were not aroused to much enthusiasm during the campaign. The old Reichstag was dissolved before Easter, but not until the last week of the campaign could one detect any excitement. Never before had the electors been bombarded with so much printed matter, posters, and, last but not least, loud-speakers and films. All the modern methods of appealing to the voters were tried by the numerous political parties. There were lacking, however, the overpowering issues and the battlecries which were so effective in 1924. Parades, demonstrations, meetings, and all the rest were carried through successfully on the whole, but they were quite dull and uninteresting. Only the two extreme parties, the National Socialists or Hitlerites on the right, and the Communists on the left, could appear enthusiastic. Nevertheless, the lack of what the Germans call a “grosse Parole” and the lack of excitement are not to be deplored; their absence probably indicates progress toward social and political consolidation.

The New Order

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
Women's Work ◽  
The Political ◽  
New Order ◽  
Social Standing ◽  
Women’S Work ◽  
The People ◽  
Straight Line ◽  
Circular Structures ◽  
The Right

How would someone who had been brought up in a roundhouse adapt to life in a rectangular world? The experience of a servant working for a family in Malawi shows how difficult it could be. Her predicament is described in a book entitled Women’s Work in Heathen Lands, published in 1886. Jan Deregowski quotes the following extract:… In laying the table there is trouble for the girl. At home her house is round; a straight line and the right angle are unknown to her or her parents before her. Day after day therefore she will lay the cloth with the folds anything but parallel with one edge of the table. Plates, knives and forks are set down in a confusing manner, and it is only after lessons often repeated and much annoyance that she begins to see how things might be done (Laws 1886, quoted by Deregowski 1973: 180–1)… That simple story introduces a larger issue. Under what circumstances did people make the transition from a world of circular structures to one of squares and rectangles, and how were their lives affected by that process? It is surprising how much attention had been paid to structural changes among ancient buildings and how little to the political and social circumstances in which they happened. One way of approaching this topic is not only studying the advantages offered by new styles of architecture, but also asking which important features might be lost. That is too rarely considered. Many of the approaches described in Chapter 2 emphasized the possibilities offered by the change from circular to rectangular buildings. Houses could be larger and could accommodate more people; they would be easier to maintain; they could be expanded as the number of inhabitants increased and space was subdivided; in many cases rectilinear dwellings could be inhabited over longer periods than roundhouses. None of those arguments is unsatisfactory in itself, but all are incomplete because they do not take into account the motives of the people who chose to live there. Chapter 2 also showed how houses could be used to emphasize subtle distinctions among their inhabitants: differences that were based on age, gender, and social standing.

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