The chemical weapons taboo

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle Bentley
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Chemical Weapons ◽  
The Way

This chapter analyses the chemical weapons taboo – the idea that chemical weapons are so abhorrent that they cannot be tolerated. In particular it engages with the work of Richard Price. It reinterprets the taboo from the perspective of Quentin Skinner and his concept of the ‘innovating ideologist.’ Instead of viewing the taboo as a social construction, this analysis argues that actors can exert significant agency over the taboo and the way in which it is employed in political discourse.

“I'd make thee eat the mischief thou hast vented”: Discourse of Law in Ben Jonson's Catiline His Conspiracy

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-45
Author(s):  
Akihiko Shimizu
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Gunpowder Plot ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Legal Procedures ◽  
The Way

This essay explores the discourse of law that constitutes the controversial apprehension of Cicero's issuing of the ultimate decree of the Senate (senatus consultum ultimum) in Catiline. The play juxtaposes the struggle of Cicero, whose moral character and legitimacy are at stake in regards to the extra-legal uses of espionage, with the supposedly mischievous Catilinarians who appear to observe legal procedures more carefully throughout their plot. To mitigate this ambivalence, the play defends Cicero's actions by depicting the way in which Cicero establishes the rhetoric of public counsel to convince the citizens of his legitimacy in his unprecedented dealing with Catiline. To understand the contemporaneousness of Catiline, I will explore the way the play integrates the early modern discourses of counsel and the legal maxim of ‘better to suffer an inconvenience than mischief,’ suggesting Jonson's subtle sensibility towards King James's legal reformation which aimed to establish and deploy monarchical authority in the state of emergency (such as the Gunpowder Plot of 1605). The play's climactic trial scene highlights the display of the collected evidence, such as hand-written letters and the testimonies obtained through Cicero's spies, the Allbroges, as proof of Catiline's mischievous character. I argue that the tactical negotiating skills of the virtuous and vicious characters rely heavily on the effective use of rhetoric exemplified by both the political discourse of classical Rome and the legal discourse of Tudor and Jacobean England.

scholarly journals Dewey and Political Communication in the Age of Mediation

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 94-102
Author(s):  
Lance E Mason
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Polarization ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Sociopolitical Environment ◽  
The Way

The present sociopolitical environment in the United States is perpetually mediated and beset with information from innumerable sources. This paper argues that Dewey’s conception of communication as a mutual act of meaning-making holds insights for explaining the connections between pervasive mediation and political polarization, in addition to understanding why political discourse has become more degrading in recent years. It also points the way toward viable solutions by arguing for the reorientation of schools toward valuable living experiences that are becoming less pronounced in the broader culture, such as sustained face to face engagement on matters of social import.

The Election Campaign as a Liminal Stage — Negotiations over Meanings

1987 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 559-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Herzog
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Science Communication ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Conceptual Frame ◽  
Social Meanings ◽  
Symbolic World ◽  
The Way

The paper deals with the role and significance of election campaigns through a consideration of the relevant literature in political science, communication and anthropology. The current interpretation of elections as ritual and drama is altered by focusing on V. Turner's concept of liminality. As liminal periods, it is claimed, election campaigns are an active arena for social construction of political worlds. They take an active part in moulding political cognition and thus produce long-term effects. Perceiving elections in this conceptual frame focuses the empirical concern on the different actors participating in moulding old or new social meanings, the way challenging alternatives are presented, negotiated, included or excluded, the way events as well as symbols become meaningful. It reveals the contested as well as the taken-for-granted, unquestioned and thus reinforced political symbolic world.

The Scholastic and Conciliar Roots of Samuel Rutherford’s Political Philosophy

2020 ◽  
pp. 208-226
Author(s):  
Simon J. G. Burton
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Way

Samuel Rutherford’s Lex Rex remains a source of perennial fascination for historians of political thought. Written in 1644 in the heat of the Civil Wars it constitutes an intellectual and theological justification of the entire Covenanting movement and a landmark in the development of Protestant political theory. Rutherford’s argument in the Lex Rex was deeply indebted to scholastic and Conciliarist sources, and this chapter examines the way he deployed these, especially the political philosophy of John Mair and Jacques Almain, in order to construct a covenantal model of kingship undergirded by an interwoven framework of individual and communal rights. In doing so it shows the ongoing influence of the Conciliarist tradition on Scottish political discourse and also highlights unexpected connections between Rutherford’s Covenanting and his Augustinian and Scotistic theology of grace and freedom.

First Contact, March–May 1864

2020 ◽  
pp. 247-270
Author(s):  
Brian Holden Reid
Keyword(s):  
Presidential Election ◽  
Political Discourse ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Clear Cut ◽  
Operational Level ◽  
Political Views ◽  
The Military ◽  
First Contact ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Way

This chapter details how the year 1864 allowed William T. Sherman to operate for the first time not as a subordinate commander but as director of a series of armies in the field. His contribution to overall Union strategy would be significant and thus he began to exercise command at the level military analysts currently refer to as the operational level of war. Such a level links tactics and methods of fighting with strategy, in the overall scheme. It defines the manner in which armies organize in discrete campaigns and seek to fulfill the object of strategy by winning victories. Sherman’s performance overall needs to be considered by taking all aspects into account. As he began to work at the higher levels of the military art, he began to change the way in which people think and talk about war, and he propounded an individual philosophy of war. The higher he progressed, the more Sherman could not avoid confronting the harsh realities of political life, for his campaigns increasingly had an impact not just on American political discourse but indeed in 1864 on the outcome of the presidential election. Sherman expressed clear-cut political views and expounded them perhaps too forcefully. This complex mix worked as a catalyst in developing his ideas about war and his ability to put them into practice.

“Unfrenchifying” Quebec

2020 ◽  
pp. 347-381
Author(s):  
Nancy Christie
Keyword(s):  
Political Discourse ◽  
French Language ◽  
French Canadian ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Natural Equation ◽  
British Rule ◽  
Political Factions ◽  
British Nationalism ◽  
The Way

In keeping with the overall theme of the contested nature of British rule, this chapter investigates the establishment of the first French-language newspaper, Le Canadien, demonstrating the way in which the French Canadian political opposition appropriated the tenets of classical republicanism to break the natural equation between Britishness and liberty. Because of this move, the English press was compelled to embrace Court Whig political discourse so that political allegiances and ideologies were now synonymous with two ethnic political factions. The discourse of political opposition was not derived from the model of the American Republic, as historians have previously contended, but was adapted from a longstanding mode of political argument within the colony and was driven by an often stridently anti-Catholic and anti-French British nationalism.

Honesty

2021 ◽  
pp. 131-151
Author(s):  
Nathan L. King
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Intellectual Honesty ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Way

This chapter explores the nature of intellectual honesty. Honesty is the first virtue in the book that does not clearly fit into the vice-virtue-vice schema discussed in earlier chapters. This chapter attempts to home in on honesty by exploring its opposites: cheating (plagiarism), lying, bluffing, bullshit, and self-deception. The common feature of these instances of dishonesty is that they all involve an effort to distort the truth. Thus, it is argued, honesty is a virtue centrally involving a disposition not to distort the truth, but rather to represent it accurately (as one sees it). This notion of honesty (and the corresponding notion of dishonesty) suggests that truth itself depends on the way things are, rather than on some sort of “social construction.”

Doctrinal Aspects of the Functioning of the Iraqi Army’s Arms and Corps during the War

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pesach Malovany ◽  
Amatzia Baram ◽  
Kevin M. Woods ◽  
Ronna Englesberg
Keyword(s):  
Air Force ◽  
Chemical Weapons ◽  
Air Defense ◽  
Psychological Warfare ◽  
The Way

This chapter analyzes the different Iraqi elements that participated in the war and the way they performed in the war in different aspects in general. This includes general doctrinal aspects in the activation of the Iraqi forces, especially to deal with the large Iranian offensive, as well as the Iraqi offensive operations in 1988. It describes the activation of the main elements of the Iraqi ground forces, air force and air defense, army aviation and the navy. It deals also with special topics like the use of the Popular Army, Intelligence and psychological warfare, the logistic system, surface-to-surface missile operation and the use of chemical weapons during the war.

Paradox in Everyday Practice

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Lê ◽  
Rebecca Bednarek
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Everyday Practice ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Theoretical Principle ◽  
Everyday Activity ◽  
Practice Turn ◽  
The Way

This chapter explores the shared ontological basis of the paradox and practices perspectives to advance the emerging “practice turn” in paradox. The authors outline the practice-theoretical approach to studying paradox by articulating four main principles that define its research agenda. These principles are social construction, everyday activity, consequentiality, and relationality. They describe each theoretical principle, explain its implications for the way paradox is understood and studied, and illustrate it with an example of existing work. Finally, they use these principles to reflect on the potential of a practice-based view of paradox, highlighting avenues for future research. Herein the authors review, integrate, and develop a foundation for practice-based studies of paradox.

scholarly journals Os Jovens e o Imaginário da Aids: notas para uma construção social do risco

2003 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leila Jeolás
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Gender Relations ◽  
Individual Behavior ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Cultural Symbolism ◽  
Everyday Experiences ◽  
Social Construction Of Risk ◽  
The Way

Este artigo, baseado em pesquisa sobre o imaginário da aids entre jovens, busca compreender a noção de risco como uma categoria sociocultural, cujos significados se acumulam nos conceitos de várias áreas do conhecimento e nos usos de senso comum. O perigo, o mal e o infortúnio sempre foram moralizados e politizados nas diversas culturas humanas e a história da aids não poderia ser diferente. Os simbolismos culturais sobre contágio, doenças transmitidas pelo sexo e pelo sangue e os valores atuais da sexualidade, incluindo as relações de gênero, estão presentes na forma como os jovens representam o risco do HIV. Além disso, não se pode desconsiderar a ambivalência que os riscos assumem atualmente para os jovens: alguns negados e afastados, outros aceitos e valorizados. No caso da aids, a busca pela vertigem e pelo êxtase, componentes do sexo e das drogas, distancia o discurso dos jovens sobre risco do discurso preventivo, baseado na racionalidade do comportamento individual, assumindo valores distintos ligados a experiências cotidianas. Youngsters and the imagery of AIDS: notes for the social construction of risk This article, based on research about the imagery of AIDS among youth, aims to understand the notion of risk as a social-cultural category, whose meanings are piled upon concepts of several areas of both knowledge and common sense usages. Danger, evil and misfortune have always been moralized and politicized in the different human cultures and it could not be different in the history of aids. Cultural symbolism about infection, sexually and blood transmitted diseases, as well as sexuality’s current values, including here gender relations, are present in the way the youth represents HIV´s risks. Besides, the ambivalence these risks assume for the youth nowadays cannot be disregarded: some are denied and put aside, others are accepted and valorized. In the case of AIDS, the search for vertigo and ecstasy, components of sex and drugs, distances the youth’s discourse about risk from the preventive discourse, based on the rationality of individual behavior, assuming distinct values linked to everyday experiences.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document