scholarly journals Writing Upwards: Letters to Robert Menzies, Australian Prime Minister, 1949–1966

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Martyn Lyons
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Personal Connection ◽  
Fundamental Assumption ◽  
Happy Birthday ◽  
Australian Context ◽  
Red Tape ◽  
Popular Interest

Robert Gordon Menzies received approximately 22,000 letters during his record-breaking second term of office as Australia’s Prime Minister (1949–66). This article examines the corpus as an example of “writing upwards,” a distinctive epistolary genre in which the weak wrote to the powerful, to praise them, berate them, abuse them, or perhaps wish them a happy birthday. From this perspective, the Menzies correspondence takes its place alongside the correspondence of other twentieth-century leaders that has already attracted scholarly and popular interest (the Belgian monarchy, Hitler, Mussolini, Mitterrand, Obama). After surveying this literature and establishing the Australian context, I give a brief presentation of the corpus as a whole. I then focus on one fundamental assumption of letter writers engaged in “writing upwards”: they believed their leader or superior was directly accessible and that they could establish a personal connection with him. By cutting through bureaucratic red tape and by using the epistolary hotline to the top, they could solve a problem or at least make their grievance heard. I indicate the difficulties and illusions they experienced, and outline the tactics deployed by Menzies’s secretariat in responding to their letters.

Before Midnight

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahul Sagar
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Jawaharlal Nehru

This chapter examines ideas about war, peace, and international relations over the century preceding independence, of which there were many more and in greater depth than widely supposed. It outlines how and why Indians first began to articulate views on the subject, and subsequently analyses these ideas. It proposes that, contrary to the opinion of some scholars, Indians thought carefully about the nature of international relations. Most importantly, it emphasizes the plurality of views on the subject, and explains how and why proponents of pragmatism in foreign relations came to be sidelined in the period immediately preceding independence. Several of the personalities developing notions of what a foreign policy for India should involve as of the early twentieth century, including India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, became important actors in formulating and implementing foreign policy post-independence.

Reliving Tragedies as Historical Reawakenings

2018 ◽  
pp. 291-319
Author(s):  
Shahla Talebi
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Socioeconomic Disparity ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
Economic Disparity ◽  
Internal Conflicts ◽  
Constitutional Revolution

Since the early twentieth century, Iranians have lived through several critical moments with significant socioeconomic and religiopolitical consequences for the nation and beyond. These include, though not limited to, the Constitutional Revolution (1905–11); Oil Nationalization Movement (1952–53) led by Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh; 1979 Revolution (1978–79); and 2009 post-presidential election uprisings—the so-called Green Movement, not to mention the recent protests in severaltowns and cities against economic disparity and corruption (late Dec. 2017 and early Jan. 2017–2018). Never merely about the internal conditions, these movements have always been linked with and responded to the interference of, or anxieties about the role of, foreign powers. This chapter elucidates how Iranians’ sense of indignity at living under tyranny, their concern about national sovereignty, socioeconomic disparity, and the lack of political voice have motivated their resistance. The mytho-historical referent of Karbala, intertwined with modern liberal discourses, nationalist sentiments, and the leftist notion of social justice have simultaneously fueled these movements and led to internal conflicts. Nevertheless, the dreams of a better tomorrow or the desire for freedom from tyranny linger on, anticipating new awakenings.

10 Evolution and Gestalt of the Italian State

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mattarella Bernardo Giorgio
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
First Century ◽  
Marked Rise ◽  
The Republic

This chapter presents an analysis of Italy's administrative history. It looks at the historical development of Italian public administration and administrative law in Italy beginning from the nineteenth century. The chapter then proceeds to the first half of the twentieth century, focusing primarily on the policies of Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti, which saw a marked rise in changes and developments within administrative law. Also of note during this period was the role of administrative law during the era of fascism in Italy. The latter half of the twentieth century would mark a departure from this period, focusing mainly on liberal administrative law and the Republic. Finally, the chapter turns to the features of administrative law in the twenty-first century, before closing with some concluding remarks on the features peculiar to Italian administrative law.

The History of Modernization of Law

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-45
Author(s):  
Mohammad-Ali Forughi
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Legal Reform ◽  
Historical Document ◽  
Early Twentieth Century ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lecture Format

AbstractMohammad Ali Khan, Zokā’ al-Molk, later Forughi, became Minister of Justice in December 1911 (until June 1912 and again from August 1914 to April 1915), following Moshir al-Dawla Pirniā and continuing the legal reform the latter had initiated in 1911. Forughi also served as Prime Minister of Iran several times, lastly in 1941-42 (1320), when he arranged the abdication of Reza Shah and the succession of his son, Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi, shortly before his death in November 1942. This lecture was given at the Faculty of Law and Political Science at the new University of Tehran is an important historical document that throws considerable light on the early stage of the modernization of Iran’s legal system. We are therefore publishing it in a translation which preserves the lecture format with only slight abridgement. Forughi’s informed account of legal modernization is prefaced by acute observations on the intrusion of modernity into the culture of Iran in the early twentieth century. (The Editor)

scholarly journals Republican Movement in Iran and the reasons of its failure (January – March 1924)

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 794-823
Author(s):  
Z. A. Arabadzhyan
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Opposite Effect ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
Republican Movement ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Constitutional Monarchy

By the beginning of the twentieth century for almost 2500 years of its history,Iranwas an originally monarchical country, where the republican ideas and traditions were completely untypical. Nevertheless, from the end of December 1923, the society traced the idea of overthrowing Ahmed Shah Qajar and replacing constitutional monarchy with a republic. The main source of the republican movement was the Tajjaddod (Renaissance) Party, led by Seyyed Mohamed Tadayon. In fact, the whole process was initiated by an almighty dictator Reza Khan (whose honorary title was Sardar Sepah). He held the posts of a Prime Minister and a Minister of War and in order to achieve his goals he forced Ahmed Shah to leaveIranin November 1923. Reza-Khan wanted to repeat Kemal Ataturk’s way, and planned to become the so-called lifetime president of the republic.However, the movement for becoming a republic provoked strong resistance in various segments of Iranian society, which was led by Shiite clergy. The leader of Anti-Republican Movement was Seyed Hassan Modarres, a major theologian and politician and a member of the Majlis (Parliament).As a result of a sharp struggle between the opposing camps, the Republican Movement suffered a crushing defeat. The reasons for it were, firstly, the unwillingness of the majority of Iranian classes and social groups to give up the monarchy and, secondly, straightforward and rough actions of the Republicans, which caused the opposite effect among the population.

scholarly journals Michal Kolmaš: National Identity and Japanese Revisionism

2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-114
Author(s):  
Jakub Harašta
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
World War ◽  
Self Perception ◽  
Institutional Forces ◽  
Radical Shift

Over the course of the twentieth century, Japan has experienced a radical shift in its self-perception. After World War II, Japan embraced a peaceful and anti-militarist identity, which was based on its war-prohibiting Constitution and the foreign policy of the Yoshida doctrine. For most of the twentieth century, this identity was unusually stable. In the last couple of decades, however, Japan’s self-perception and foreign policy seem to have changed. Tokyo has conducted a number of foreign policy actions as well as symbolic internal gestures that would have been unthinkable a few decades ago and that symbolize a new and more confident Japan. Japanese politicians – including Prime Minister Abe Shinzō – have adopted a new discourse depicting pacifism as a hindrance, rather than asset, to Japan’s foreign policy. Does that mean that “Japan is back”? In order to better understand the dynamics of contemporary Japan, Kolmaš joins up the dots between national identity theory and Japanese revisionism. The book shows that while political elites and a portion of the Japanese public call for re-articulation of Japan’s peaceful identity, there are still societal and institutional forces that prevent this change from entirely materializing.

scholarly journals Introduction

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Hans Schelkshorn ◽  
Herman Westerink
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Religious Experience ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
Religious Experiences ◽  
Islamic Countries ◽  
Popular Interest ◽  
Modern Era ◽  
Scientific Positivism

Abstract The emergence of a scholarly and popular interest in religious experience, spirituality and mysticism around 1900 plays a crucial role in the further transformations in religion in the twentieth century and in contemporary Western and non-Western societies. This volume contains philosophical reflections on the emergence of these new constellations, discourses and practices. The ‘rediscovery’ of the various spiritual and mystical sources and traditions, and the turn towards the individual’s religious experiences, can be situated against the background of a growing critique of global scientific positivism and the rise of secular (atheistic, Marxist) philosophies. The turn to spirituality and mysticism is associated with political projects of anti-imperialist emancipation in for example, India, the Islamic countries, Russia and Latin-America. Through philosophical inquiries into key authors such as Bergson, Blondel, James, Heidegger, Bremond, Weil, Solov’ëv, Rodó, Iqbal and Vivekenanda, this volume presents a comprehensive perspective on the fundamental issues and discussions that inspired the turn to spirituality in a modern era of secular reason.

Menachem Begin: The Reality

Worldview ◽  
1978 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 4-13
Author(s):  
Uri Avnery
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Critical Region ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Critical Time ◽  
Jimmy Carter ◽  
National Unity ◽  
British Rule ◽  
Six Day War ◽  
Foreign Ministries ◽  
Heads Of Government

AbstractThe story goes that when Jimmy Carter heard that a man named Menachem Begin had won the Israeli elections, he asked: “Menachem who?” Menachem Begin did not come out of nowhere. He directed one of the most stormy chapters of twentieth-, century history: the Jewish underground Irgun's war against British rule in Palestine in the 1940's. Afterwards he was for twenty-six years Israel's most prominent opposition leader and, for three years following the 1967 Six-Day War, a minister in the National Unity government. However, when the stunned world heard the news that Menachem Begin was about to become prime minister of Israel—a critical country in a critical region at a critical time—its governments and media had no idea who this man was. The frightened cry, “God Almighty, who is Begin?” echoed in a hundred languages in editorial offices, in foreign ministries, offices of heads of government, and intelligence headquarters.

VII. Lloyd George's Premiership: A Study in ‘Prime Ministerial Government’

1970 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth O. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
British Politics ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
Consistent Principle

‘The Power of the Man in the Saddle’: this was the burden of the Liberal chief whip's advice to David Lloyd George in April 1918. But the Prime Minister hardly needed any instruction in this theme: the uses and the limitations of power formed his absorbing passion. Even at the time many felt that his period as prime minister had marked a totally new departure in British politics. Some later commentators (most recently Mr Humphry Berkeley) have even claimed to detect the dawn of a new political era between 1916 and 1922, one in which ‘prime ministerial government’ gradually took the place of conventional cabinet government. But, despite their certainty, the precise character of Lloyd's George premiership, like the man himself, is still shrouded in mystery. Was it rule by a dictator or by a democrat? Did any consistent principle animate the ‘man in the saddle’ or was it all opportunism gone berserk ? Was Wales's Great Commoner really ‘rooted in nothing’, as Keynes was to allege? Not even Lloyd George's closest associates, Kerr and Riddell, felt able to say with any assurance. They were as baffled as the rest. Lloyd George was suddenly thrust from office in October 1922 with the issue still inconclusive. Ever since then the debate about his premiership has been passionate and unremitting. Each observer seems to have seen a different prime minister, one created in his own image. Fifty biographies on, the essential Lloyd George remains as elusive as ever. He remains the most controversial and contradictory of political animals, ‘the Big Beast’, the rogue elephant of twentieth-century prime ministers.

scholarly journals Economic Policy of Japan in the Time of Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-41
Author(s):  
A. Belov
Keyword(s):  
Budget Deficit ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Initial Period ◽  
Fiscal Policies ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Red Tape ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Retention Practices ◽  
Domestic Companies

In the initial period of the COVID 19 pandemic (February–September 2020), Japan succeeded in minimizing the mortality rate and reducing the damage to the economy. The Japanese experience has both positive and negative aspects. Among the G7 countries, Japan recorded the best иге among the states of East Asia the worst indicators of overall and excessive mortality. From an economic perspective, the pandemic strongly affected inbound and outbound tourism, which will take years to recover. Employment opportunities in the tourism and other contact-intensive industries will be reduced by approximately one million jobs, primarily affecting part time and temporary workers. At the same time, the overall unemployment rate will hardly exceed one-third of the OECD average generally because of the ample financial support, long-term commitments among core employees in Japan, and job retention practices of domestic companies. In the macroeconomic realm, the Japanese government embarked on an extension of quantitatively easing measures of monetary expansionary steps in fiscal sphere and universal stimulus in growth-enhancing structural policies. This approach actually follows the logic of a long-standing reflationary Abenomics, which is expected to continue despite the abrupt resignation of S. Abe. At least, Japan’s newly elected Prime Minister Yo. Suga has indicated his support for current monetary and fiscal policies. He also hinted at a need to reduce the administrative red tape and to accelerate the digitalization in the economy. The package of anti-crisis measures in Japan turned out to be one of the largest in the world, and its implementation could increase the budget deficit and public debt, that is, cause the emergence of problems relevant to most other countries.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document