The People: Ethnoracial Configurations, Old and New

2020 ◽  
pp. 79-96
Author(s):  
Leila Brännström

In recent years the Sweden Democrats have championed a clarification of the identity of the ‘the people’ in the Instrument of government. The reference, they argue, should be to the ethnic group of Swedes. This chapter will take this ambition to fix the subject of popular sovereignty as the point of departure for discussing some of the ways in which the contemporary anti-foreigner political forces of Northern and Western Europe imagine ‘the people’ and identify their allies and enemies within and beyond state borders. To set the stage for this exploration the chapter will start by looking at Carl Schmitt’s ideas about political friendship, and more specifically the way he imagines the relationship between ‘us’ in a political and constitutional sense and ‘the people’ in national and ethnoracial terms. The choice to begin with Schmitt is not arbitrary. His thoughts about the nature of the political association have found their way into the discourse of many radical right-wing parties of Western and Northern Europe.

Soundings ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (72) ◽  
pp. 31-47
Author(s):  
David Featherstone ◽  
Lazaros Karaliotas

Populism refers to forms of politics that put 'the people' at their centre, but the way 'the people' is understood varies widely. Questions of left populism have gained significant traction and engagement in the last decade - and this is a key focus of this article. While recognising the importance of Ernesto Laclau's analysis in On Populist Reason, the authors argue that his work is hindered by an overly formalist account of the political. Stuart Hall's writings on Thatcherism offer a more contextual and situated engagement with particular populist strategies, and have continuing relevance for understanding right-wing populism. Podemos in Spain and Syriza in Greece offer actually existing experiences of left populism. We discuss three limitations in their strategies: their 'nationed' narratives of the crisis; the relationship between the parties' leadership and grassroots politics; and the nature of their engagement with internationalist political projects. Part of the critical terms series


Author(s):  
Tim Marshall

The present time is one of considerable political and ideological turmoil. This affects urban planning, like all areas of public policy. This book sets out to analyse the political and ideological dimensions of planning, focusing on the UK and particularly on England. These have been underplayed or obscured in the past, partly because professional planners have wished to present themselves as apolitical and non-ideological actors. The book proposes that good planning practice will be helped by a more explicit engagement with how planning is affected by political activity and by ideological thinking. The book therefore takes a series of cuts into the subject, starting with a survey of recent planning literature and proceeding to a historical overview of the relationship of planning to ideological currents, including a brief study of one recent UK government. There is then a survey of the main ideological composites active in Britain. There follows a chapter on the relationships between technical work, law and planning, to establish to what degree the political forces allow autonomy for technical skill and the force of legal thinking. Three chapters deal with dimensions of politics and ideology as they operate within government, pressure politics and the media, as well as the place of public deliberation in planning. Two chapters examine different facets and fields of planning, to identify variation across sub-fields of planning work. The final chapter explores some paths to improving the relationship between politics and planning, in current circumstances.


Author(s):  
Igor' Vladimirovich Antonov

The object of this research is the political history of the Ulus of Jochi as a part of the Great Mongol Empire. The subject of this is the Eastern policy of Mengu-Timur – the 6th ruler of the Ulus of Jochi (1266-1282). The author examines such aspects of the topic as the relationship of Mengu-Timur with the rulers of the uluses of Hulagu – Abaga, Chagatay – Borak, Ugedei – Kaidu, decisions made by the representatives of the uluses of Jochi, Chagatay and Ugedei in Talas Kurultai. Special attention is given to the analysis of relationship between Mengu-Timur and the ruler of the Central Ulus of Kublai, who founded the Yuan Empire. Comparative analysis is conducted on the written sources and scientific works on the topic. The sequence of events is reconstructed in chronological order. The author agrees with his predecessors that Mengu-Timur became the first sovereign ruler of the Ulus of Jochi. The scientific novelty consists in the conclusion that entitlement of Mengu-Timur as independent monarch was not a decision of Talas Kurultai. In Talas Kurultai in 1269 Kaidu was recognized as the leader of the right wing of the Mongol Empire, which included the Ulus of Jochi, Chagatay and Ugedei. The relations with the Great Khan in Kurultai were not settled, and the independence of uluses was not proclaimed. In the early 1370s, Mengu-Timur was named qayan, i.e. the supreme ruler above the khan. In 1277, Kublai's sons Numugan and Kukju were caught by the rebels, who sent them to Mengu-Timur. He did not support the rebels, but kept the son of Kublai. Since that moment, Mengu-Timur did was not subordinate to Kublai or Haidu, did not interfere into the conflict between them, restraining both of them from military clashes. Although Mengu-Timur maintained peaceful relations with other uluses, he was qayan title was not recognized.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Bohdana Kurylo

Abstract IR scholarship has recently seen a burgeoning interest in the right-wing populist politics of security, showing that it tends to align with the international ultraconservative mobilisation against ‘gender ideology’. In contrast, this article investigates how local feminist actors can resist right-wing populist constructions of (in)security by introducing counter-populist discourses and aesthetics of security. I analyse the case of Poland, which presents two competing populist performances of (in)security: the Independence March organised by right-wing groups on Poland's Independence Day and the Women's Strike protests against the near-total ban on abortion. The article draws on Judith Butler's theory of the performative politics of public assembly, which elucidates how the political subject of ‘the people’ can emerge as bodies come together to make security demands through both verbal and non-verbal acts. I argue that the feminist movement used the vehicle of populist performance to subvert the exclusionary constructions of (in)security by right-wing populists. In the process, it introduced a different conception of security in the struggle for a ‘livable life’. The study expands the understanding of the relationship between populism, security and feminism in IR by exploring how the populist politics of security is differently enacted by everyday agents in local contexts.


2009 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 71-84
Author(s):  
Regina Pörtner

If proverbial wisdom predicts longevity to the falsely proclaimed dead, then the paradigm of absolutism and its confessional variant must surely be considered a prime example. Having drawn intense fire from scholars of Western Europe over the past two decades, the concept of absolutism has recently been given a fresh lease of life by research, exploring and, to some extent, vindicating its applicability in the context of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Central Europe. Given the evolutionary nature of the making of the early modern Austrian-Habsburg monarchy, the complexity of its constitutional, religious, and ethnic makeup, and the waywardness of some of its governing personnel, it seems doubtful if future research will ever be able to satisfactorily clarify the relationship between the political aspirations of individual Austrian rulers, among whom Ferdinand II arguably made the most serious bid for absolute rule, and the practice of negotiated power that characterized the normal state of relations between the Crown and the monarchy's estates.


2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 296-311
Author(s):  
Paul Stephan

Abstract Four new publications provide an overview of the relationship between Nietzsche’s philosophical thought and his political commitments. Together they highlight the true complexity of Nietzsche’s politics, since some of his ideas can be adapted to anarchist and right-wing positions as much as, for instance, to Frankfurt School critical theory. At the same time, these contributions underscore the limitations of a strictly positivist, or philological approach, since any assessment of Nietzsche’s politics cannot be detached from the political faultlines of the present.


2020 ◽  
pp. 002198942097099
Author(s):  
Kit Dobson

This article considers ways in which solidarity across social locations might play a role in fostering resistance to vulnerability. My case study consists of the interplay between writer George Ryga’s 1967 play The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, and Okanagan Syilx writer and scholar Jeannette Armstrong’s 1985 novel Slash. While these important and compelling texts have received considerable critical attention, the relationship between them is less known. I am interested in the ways in which these works both hail and offer critique to one another. In the contemporary moment, in which questions of appropriation of voice have gained renewed urgency within Indigenous literary circles in Canada and beyond, the relationship between these texts speaks to a historical instance of appropriation, but also of complicated processes of alliance-building. These texts demonstrate how agency resides across multiple locations. I read Ryga’s Ecstasy in the context of Jeannette Armstrong’s engagement with the play within her novel Slash in order to witness the ways in which Ryga’s text, in the first instance, appropriates Indigenous voices into an anti-capitalist critique. In the second instance, I read these works in order to witness how they might simultaneously provide a compelling analysis of the vulnerability of the people who are the subject of both works. I compare the interplay between Armstrong and Ryga’s texts to contemporary debates around appropriation in order to argue for the historical and ongoing importance of these two works as precursors to the crucial interventions made by contemporary Indigenous critics and writers.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-264
Author(s):  
Andrew P. Wilson

One of the grand scenes of the Passion narratives can be found in John’s Gospel where Pilate, presenting Jesus to the people, proclaims “Behold the man”: “Ecce Homo.” But what exactly does Pilate mean when he asks the reader to “Behold”? This paper takes as its point of departure a roughly drawn picture of Jesus in the “Ecce Homo” tradition and explores the relationship of this picture to its referent in John’s Gospel, via its capacity as kitsch devotional art. Contemporary scholarship on kitsch focuses on what kitsch does, or how it functions, rather than assessing what it is. From this perspective, when “beholding” is understood not for what it reveals but for what it does, John’s scene takes on a very different significance. It becomes a scene that breaks down traditional divisions between big and small stories, subject and object as well as text and context. A kitsch perspective opens up possibilities for locating John’s narrative in unexpected places and experiences. Rather than being a two-dimensional departure from the grandeur of John’s trial scene, kitsch “art” actually provides a lens through which the themes and dynamics of the narrative can be re-viewed with an expansiveness somewhat lacking from more traditional commentary.



1974 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 5-7

During the past forty years the dominant preoccupation of scholars writing on Livy has been the relationship between the historian and the emperor Augustus, and its effects on the Ab Urbe Condita. Tacitus’ testimony that the two were on friendly terms, and Suetonius’ revelation that Livy found time to encourage the historical studies of the future emperor Claudius, appeared to have ominous overtones to scholars writing against the political backcloth of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Though the subject had not been wholly ignored previously, the success of the German cultural propaganda-machine stimulated a spate of approving or critical treatments. While some were hailing Livy as the historian whose work signalled and glorified the new order, others following a similar interpretation were markedly scathing.


2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  

In the midst of dangerous circumstances and events and the thorny relations between Syria and Lebanon ,the issue of Syrian – Lebanese economic relations 1958 – 2000 came to confirm the depth of the relationship between the two counties and indicate the political tensions and the shadows it casts on economic relations. Perhaps the Syrian – Lebanese relations are among the strangest relations that exist between two countries or Even between two peoples , although it brings together a lot of special circumstances that are difficult to find in other countries , any event , even if it is fleeting , can be exploited in a way that harms the essence of the relationship in which interests may intersect between two ordinary countries that do not have any connection of historical weight or A specific geography , the Syrian – Lebanese relationship is , by virtue of history , concurrent with the emergence of the two states as political entities . This reason and others prompted me to choose this topic , which embodies the volume of trade and economic exchange between the two countries and clearly embodies the repercussions of the relationship , which passes from one period to another in a state of ebb and flow . This study sheds light on the economic relations between the two countries , although it is difficult to ignore the impact of the political conditions on them , as they are the main engine , and the decline in economic relations is only a reaction to the crisis policy in many cases . in writing this research , the researcher used the descriptive method of history , and he used an important number of sources that enriched the subject , such as the Lebanese – Syrian relations of the authors Antoine AL-Nashef and Khalil AL-Hindi , as well as the Lebanese – Syrian relations1985 -1943 issued by the Lebanese Documentation and Research Center and last but not least l hope this study will be successful in terms of providing information and facts to the lraqi offices and contributing to their enrichment and providing assistance to the lraqi researcher .


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