Social democracy and the people

Author(s):  
Jeremy Nuttall

Jeremy Nuttall’s chapter examines the many-sided relationship between social democracy and ‘the people’ in Britain. Standing up for ordinary people is the very purpose of social democracy, and yet the people have frequently seemed to social democrats a disappointment. Yet, the chapter also suggests that scholars and political analysts tend to under-play the extent to which progressivism and the voters have managed to operate in constructive harmony in the past, and the potential in the present moment for them to do so again. For all the contemporary allure of populism, the British people have been, and are, on the whole, better than some of the worst sentiments aroused by the ‘Brexit’ project indicate, and their better instincts are open to more forward-looking political agendas. The chapter also contends, however, that channelling this more progressive side of the people will require social democrats to raise their game, too.

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 70-85
Author(s):  
Odai Y. Khasawneh

The lack of technology acceptance in the workplace has haunted companies in the past and it seems that it will continue to do so in the future. One of the many variables that impact employees' acceptance of a new technology is technophobia; which previously has been studied within the narrow context of computers or few other technologies that are now outdated. In a novel approach, the current study examines employees' technophobia and how it impacts their technology acceptance. In addition, the moderating influence of transformational leadership is studied to determine whether that type of leadership would influence employees to overcome their technophobia. The data analysis confirms that technophobia and its subdimensions are still an issue that haunts the workplace. However, having a leader who's identified as a transformational leader can help employees overcome their technophobia. This study argues that it is vital for companies to understand the level and type of technophobia as well as what type of leadership their employees have before implementing any new technologies.


Matatu ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 373-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Inuwa Umar–Buratai

The discourses of nationhood and nation-building in the developed Western world have been facilitated by the prevalent cultures of writing and documentation. The situation in the developing world has remained largely fragmented because of the absence of such coherent, broadcast, and comprehensive forums for a discourse on 'nationhood'. Different societies articulate their perception of the priorities of nationhood in a range of forms – manifest in ritual visual displays, entertainment and formal rhetoric such as poetry, religious sayings and quotations – which were not dependent on literacy, including the ceremony of durbar. The ordinary people construe the durbar as a spectacle, perhaps because it encompasses a wide range of performance artists drawn from the many groupings within society. However, durbar functions, through its display of martial strength, to reinforce the political and religious power of the ruling elite: durbar within society. The focus in this essay is to examine political undertones of durbar, specifically the ways in which localized participation in the reinforcing ritual of relationships of power provides the people with an opportunity for the public exhibition of individual skills and for the elites an avenue for containing any nascent – or potential – articulation of resistance in society.


Author(s):  
James D. Nogalski

This essay considers the nature and character of God in the Twelve. To do so requires one to extrapolate assumptions about God on multiple levels: individual units, thematic developments, and modes of speech. When these elements are evaluated within the individual books and across the Book of the Twelve as a curated collection, a portrait of YHWH’s actions and motives develops that highlights YHWH’s covenantal expectations across time (from the eighth century to the Persian period) and for the future (a Day of YHWH still to come). The resulting portrait has a didactic purpose designed both to warn Jerusalem’s cultic elite of their responsibility and to admonish the people of YHWH to avoid the mistakes of the past.


1947 ◽  
Vol 16 (48) ◽  
pp. 98-107
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Chittenden

There are flaws in the usual methods of research into religious origins which have become apparent to the writer during several years' work on the cult of one Greek god. It has therefore seemed desirable to restate and to examine these methods so as to demonstrate the merits and the faults of each. To do so is one aim of this paper; another is an elucidation of the many important advantages of the historical approach, and, although it is hoped that the principles herein erected as guides to study are applicable to all ancient gods, the illustrations of these principles will derive very largely from Hermes, the god with whose cult and concept the writer has been most closely concerned.It would be hard to exaggerate the difficulties which beset a student when he turns to the problem of an ancient god's origin. Even a partial solution demands his utmost caution, for the easy explanation is hardly ever the right one. He must guard himself against the beguilements of the attractive theory which will very often beckon him down the wrong path. To avoid this and to enter upon his task most wisely he will meditate upon two main initial difficulties.The first one to present itself is, of course, the fact that the origin of most gods worshipped by the Greeks lies in the past far behind Homer. Therefore the student is faced with an almost total lack of literary and epigraphical material—at least which he can understand— to aid him in the search.


Author(s):  
Joseph A. Bellanti

Background: Vaccine hesitancy has been defined as a delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccines, despite the availability ofvaccine services. In the past, despite an impressive record of vaccine effectiveness in the United States, several factors havecontributed to a decreased acceptance of vaccines that has resulted in outbreaks of infectious diseases, e.g., measles. More recently, vaccine hesitancy has spread to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines. There are many causes of vaccine hesitancy, such as misinformation, fallacies, and myths, that have contributed to vaccine hesitancy.Objective: The purpose of the present report is to address the many causes of vaccine hesitancy and to suggest ways that the allergist/immunologist can be involved in the promotion of vaccine acceptance.Methods: The current COVID-19 vaccines were reviewed, together with their mechanisms(s) of action and adverse reactions to them.Results: The many causes of vaccine hesitancy include many doubts and concerns related to COVID-19 vaccines as well asa diminished level of confidence and trust by segments of the public in the nation's leaders in government, medical, and business communities, that those groups once enjoyed.Conclusion: Vaccination with COVID-19 vaccines is the only way that COVID-19 will be eliminated or at least controlled today, and vaccine hesitancy is the potential nemesis. The present report describes how the allergist/immunologist not only plays a major role in the delivery of specialized therapy of COVID-19 but also in educating the public with regard to the importance of COVID-19 vaccines, in dispelling misinformation, and in promoting trust for vaccine acceptance but must be informed with the most accurate and current information to do so.


Amidst ‘Brexit’, a divided and out of power Labour Party, and the wider international rise of populism, contemporary British social democracy appears in a state of crisis.  This book, a collection of essays by some of Britain’s leading academics, public intellectuals and political practitioners, seeks to engage with the ‘big picture’ of British social democracy, both historical and contemporary, and point to grounds for greater optimism for its future prospects.  It does so in honour of the renowned centre-left thinker David Marquand.  Drawing on many of the themes which have preoccupied Marquand in his career and his writing, such as social democratic citizenship, values and participation, the volume offers the original perspective that social democracy is as much about cultures and mindsets as it is about economic policy or public institutions.  This points to the importance of education, democratisation, and relationships as under-valued tools in social democracy, which must raise horizons as much as pay packets.  It also suggests the need for social democrats to re-visit their relationship with ‘the people’, both so as to be better in tune with their aspirations, and to be able to forge a more lofty and optimistic agenda which challenges both the government and the governed to raise their sights.


2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 473-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niels G. Mede ◽  
Mike S. Schäfer

Populism is on the rise in many countries. Scholars have stated that it is characteristic for political populism to describe society as a fundamental struggle between an allegedly virtuous people and political elites which are portrayed negatively. This anti-elitist sentiment not only targets politicians, however, but also other representatives of the alleged establishment—including scientists and scholarly institutions. But the specifics of such science-related populism have not yet been conceptualized. We aim to do so, integrating scholarship on political populism, the “participatory turn,” and alternative epistemologies. We propose to conceptualize science-related populism as a set of ideas which suggests that there is a morally charged antagonism between an (allegedly) virtuous ordinary people and an (allegedly) unvirtuous academic elite, and that this antagonism is due to the elite illegitimately claiming and the people legitimately demanding both science-related decision-making sovereignty and truth-speaking sovereignty.


Author(s):  
Lenka Bustikova ◽  
Petra Guasti

Populism is an anti-establishment, anti-elite ideology and political strategy. Populism as an ideology adopts a discursive approach and focuses on the tensions between the “pure people” and the “corrupt elite.” The “people” can be subsumed into three discursive frames: the nation, the (economic) underdog, and the ordinary people (Canovan 1981, cited under Theoretical Approaches). The narrative of the people as a “nation” is hostile to migrants and ethnic minorities. The populist rhetoric of the “underdog’’ expresses anxieties related to economic differences. Finally, the language of the “ordinary people” resonates with visions of a simple, everyday life. Populism viewed as a political strategy focuses on its agency, or the ability of populist movements to instrumentally appeal to followers, to maintain a direct relationship between the leader and the followers, and to exploit existing institutional weaknesses. Populists target the establishment and the elites selectively. Populists can become the elite. Yet populist politicians (re)elected to office continue to use anti-elite appeals to delegitimize opponents, even after they have come to represent the very establishment they had attacked in the past. Scholarship on populism has grown exponentially in recent years. In Europe, it is rooted in the study of the radical right, which emphasizes exclusionary identity-driven politics. The rise of populism is often viewed as a consequence of an economic crisis or socioeconomic changes in general. Populist critique also targets the institutional underpinnings of liberal democracy. Populists seek to strengthen majoritarian elements of democracy and undermine minority protections. Populist leaders seek power, and the presence of populist parties in the electoral arena, parliament, government, or presidency reshapes political agendas. Media is a crucial tool of communication used by populist leaders to gain power and to stay in power. Social media, in particular, allows populists to establish and maintain a direct communication channel to their supporters, and populists accuse traditional media of being “corrupt.” Populists are omnipresent. In the West, populism is mostly exclusionary. In the Global South, and especially in Latin America, it is often inclusionary, as it broadens the scope of the people to the previously politically excluded poor and indigenous communities (Mudde and Rovira Kaltwasser 2013, cited under General Overviews). Regionally, this bibliography focuses on populism in Europe and Latin America, but it also includes the United States and other countries (Stockemer 2019, under General Overviews).


2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-26
Author(s):  
Laila Al-Soulaiman

Publicly, the United States positions itself as the world’s protector and enforcer of democracy. This role, however, is more preferential than universal — especially in the case of the developing conflict in Syria. As the policy has evolved along with the ever-changing dynamics on the ground, it is clear that there are inherent contradictions between the moralistic rhetoric of policy and the amoral empirical realities of policy implementation. U.S. government officials have publicly pledged their support of the Syrian people, called for the abdication of Assad, and stated that the use of chemical weapons is a red line that, if crossed, would provoke military intervention. The U.S., however, has delivered on none of these commitments. In fact, the administration’s foreign policy response to Syria has left many questions unanswered. On one hand, the lack of impactful initiatives to deter the bloodshed over the past five years makes it clear that the U.S. policy did not aim to do so in the first place. If the U.S.’s response to this crisis continues in its current form, and Assad’s regime continues, violence and repression will persist. To this end, democracy will be impossible in Syria, and those who will truly bear the burden of such inaction will be the people of Syria. What exact proposals in need of reversing this conflict are uncertain, but what remains clear is that the U.S. faces an impasse due to its irrevocable decisions, and whatever is to occur in the future will ultimately be decided by the will of the Syrian people. 


Slavic Review ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-351
Author(s):  
Jakub Beneš

By 1911 it was clear that multiethnic Austrian Social Democracy could no longer resist the currents of ethnic nationalism that had already fragmented most of the late Habsburg political scene. The exit that year of most Czech Social Democrats to form their own party, along with Austrian Germans’ insensitive reactions, signaled that workers were not immune to nationalism. The relevant historical literature has either viewed workers’ nationalism as the product of elite manipulation and “bourgeois” influence, or, more recently, has questioned the extent to which nationalism actually resonated with ordinary people at society's grassroots. Jakub Benes'š article attempts to avoid the oversimplifications of both approaches and calls for more precise engagement with workers’ own discourse. To this end, it highlights an important dimension of working-class political culture—socialist popular literature—in which proletarian authors articulated increasingly ethnic nationalist positions of a class-specific sort. Examining this influential but neglected genre illuminates how and under what circumstances workers found meaning in nationalism.


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