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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political ideologies > General
This book publishes - for the most part, for the first time - Gandhi's letters to his youngest son, Devadas from 1914, when father and son were both in South Africa to 1948, when they were both in Delhi, the capital of free India where within hours of the last letter Gandhi was assassinated. Gandhi wrote these letters by day, he wrote them by night, he wrote them from aboard trains, steamers, both right and left hands being pressed into service to rest one when tired out. The letters span three decades during which the writer grew from being a fighter for the rights of Indians in South Africa to being hailed as Father of the Nation by millions in India and - opposed by many as well including the man who felled him by three bullets fired at point blank range on 30 January, 1948. The letters hold his aspirations for his son and for his nation. They bear great love and they also scorch. And we see Devadas, the recipient of the letters, move in them from compliant childhood and youth, to adulthood, questioning and remonstrating with his father and being just the independent son his father wants him to be.
Critical Theory and Film brings together critical theory and film to enhance the critical potential of both. The book focuses on the Frankfurt School, most notably the works of Adorno and Horkheimer, as well as associated thinkers.It seeks to demonstrate that cinema can help critical theory repoliticize culture and society and affirm the theoretical and political impact of cinematic knowledge. After discussing how the Frankfurt School saw cinema as an instrument of capitalism use to promote the cultural and political regimentation of the masses, Vighi then proceeds to demonstrate that critical theory can in fact suggest a different verdict on the progressive potential of cinema. Each chapter focuses on a key critical theory concept that is explained and redefined through film analysis to unravel the hidden presuppositions and most radical consequences of critical theory. A unique contribution to the literature, this volume in the Critical Theory and Contemporary Society series offer an innovative reading of film as a critical tool, drawing on the latest developments in Lacanian theory.
First published in 1986, this text brings together a selection of papers written by the great Alec Nove on development economics, Marxist economies, the Soviet economy, and law and politics in the Soviet Union. Reflecting the varied and diverse interests of its distinguished author, the topics range from Soviet constitutional law, to Trotsky 's view of collectivization; from a critique of conventional micro-economics, to the economic disaster of the Allende regime in Chile. The author 's long-standing immersion in the past and present of the Soviet Union helps to provide the unique insights into the workings of Socialist economies characteristic of Professor Nove 's previous work. This volume should be essential reading for anyone interested in development economics, socialist economies, or the problems facing contemporary Soviet economic reformers.
Policy-Driven Democratization offers a comprehensive conceptual analysis of each one of these fuzzy terms separately to then sew them together in one complete and coherent package of democratization.
Coming at a time when scarce attention is being paid to new sources for a political impulse in the West, Performance as Political Act seeks to re-embody the political subject, arguing that when the mind has been dominated by mass communications as in Western capitalism, the body emerges as a site of opposition. Martin's study goes against the conventional wisdom of the three areas it seeks to synthesize: politics, the performing arts, and the body. Whereas most left political studies presuppose consciousness as necessary for political activity, the author contends that consciousness is inadequate without political feeling and senses which are the province of the body. The performing arts, generally viewed from the audience's perspective, are here seen from the standpoint of the performers because the power of social relations, Martin asserts, lies ultimately in performance. Finally, the body, viewed in the relevant literature as either a natural, individual essence or as subjugated to mind is established here as a social, historical agent of political activity. Two distinct, yet related, studies form the basis for Martin's contention that an alternative politics must be based on the body engaged in performance: first, an inside view of the making of a modern dance displays the sources of power for a social body; and second, a comparison of political theatre in the Soviet twenties and American sixties identifies the way in which the body's potential for politics changes. A sustained theoretical discussion that critiques semiotic and phenomenological approaches to the body and outlines a body politics links the two studies. Performing artists concerned with the political aspects of theirwork; sociologists engaged in the study of problems of culture and everyday life; and literary theorists involved with the application of the tools of literary criticism to political problems will find that the perspectives expressed in this groundbreaking examination of the contemporary theory and history of the body form a compelling argument for the extent to which the body can become a source of political activity.
This book offers a comprehensive and accessible study of the electoral strategies, governing approaches and ideological thought of the British Conservative Party from Winston Churchill to David Cameron. Timothy Heppell integrates a chronological narrative with theoretical evaluation, examining the interplay between the ideology of Conservatism and the political practice of the Conservative Party both in government and in opposition. He considers the ethos of the Party within the context of statecraft theory, looking at the art of winning elections and of governing competently. The book opens with an examination ofthe triumph and subsequent degeneration of one-nation Conservatism in the 1945 to 1965 period, and closes with an analysis of the party's re-entry into government as a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in 2010, and of the developing ideology and approach of the Cameron-led Tory party in government.
This important study examines aspects of political leadership and governance in the last decades of the 20th century. Driven by innovations in science and technology, turbulent change has impacted nearly every political system and created a political environment of extreme complexity and fluidity. In this environment, previously dominant leaders, ideas, and institutions have been disempowered and new leaders and ideas empowered. This work examines seven world leaders, members of the first generation of political elites to assume power in the fluid political environment of the late 20th century. Two were heads of advanced industrial countries: Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom and Helmut Kohl of Germany. Three were leaders of states which underwent the transition from communist to postcommunist regimes: Lech Walesa of Poland, Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union, and Boris Yeltsin of Russia. And two were leaders of important Third World states: Deng Xiaoping of China and Rajiv Gandhi of India. Each case study includes: (1) the political-economic context, (2) the operative elements of political turbulence in the domestic political environment, (3) a profile of the leader and his or her group, (4) the leader's political program, (5) strategies and means of achieving power, (6) the policy dimension, (7) the nature and scope of change, and (8) theories and interpretations of the leader and his or her political agenda. Through such analyses, the authors illustrate the scope, depth, and meaning of the most important recent political changes worldwide. The text will suit courses in international relations and comparative politics.
A collection of essays covering the period from the revolt of the American colonies to the World War of 1914.
Confusion, controversy and even fear surrounds the political phenomenon of radicalism. This book attempts to make conceptual and historical sense of this phenomenon, both as a kind of practice and as a kind of thought, before defending it in a traditional if unfashionable form: a form that is historically progressive and politically humanistic.
Sicker examines the fundamental norms of civic conduct considered essential to the emergence and moral viability of the good society envisioned in the source documents and traditions of Judaism. The principles underlying the desired behavioral norms constitute the ethical underpinnings of the unique civilization envisioned by Mosaic teaching, a Judaic civilization characterized by instituted norms of civil conduct deemed necessary to ensure appropriate civil relations between persons, individually and collectively.The tensions in Judaic thought regarding the concept of democracy as a paradigm for Judaic government are examined, including the theological as well as moral implications of democracy that cast doubt on its appropriateness as a political ideal. Sicker considers the role of popular consent as a legitimating factor in the Judaic polity, and the distinctively Judaic approach to the ordering of civil relations in society within the constitutional context of a nomocratic regime based on halakhah, Judaism's own dynamic system of canon law. Three fundamental societal issues are then explored. The status of the individual within the properly constituted society and the relationship of the citizen to the state. Included in this discussion is the question of the legitimacy of civil disobedience. Sicker examines the practical implications for public policy of the Judaic imperatives regarding social justice and the idea of prescriptive equality. He then takes a hard look at the classical Judaic approach to dealing with the problems of ensuring national security within the context of Judaic norms.
The chapters in this volume provide a varied yet consistent analysis of the ways in which ideologies have been used, misused, or abandoned in Latin America in the twentieth century. The volume offers scholars and students a challenging collection of interpretations of and explanations for the ways in which ideologues and ideologies have played a crucial role in the political development of the continent. And, while illuminating key reasons for the rise and fall of specific ideologies and their repeated betrayal throughout the century--from anarchism to communism, to socialism, to Peronism, to neoliberalism--the volume indicates how much there is still left to learn about the importance of ideological discourse in the mind and polity of Latin America. With chapters examining Mexico, Chile, Cuba, Paraguay, and Argentina, this work will be of interest to all Latin Americanists.
This text provides an in-depth analysis of the politics and organization of Muslim autocracies, radical Islamist movements, and democracies, explaining their influence on the never-ending conflicts in the Middle East. In order to properly understand the nature of the conflicts that currently plague the Middle East—and have for so many decades—it is essential to grasp the fundamental differences between Muslim autocracies, radical Islamist movements, and democracies. Recognizing how the countries and governments involved differ in terms of their political, social, and military organization, and with regard to how their past histories influence the way they approach conflicts, is the first step towards achieving a more stable and peaceful environment for the groups involved. Instead of examining causes or consequences of specific conflicts like the Six Day War or Operation IRAQI FREEDOM, this text seeks to explain the dynamics of the Middle East by documenting how the dissimilar characteristics of democracies, Islamists, and Muslim autocrats affect how each approaches decision-making, sustainment, communication, and the use of force.
Democratizing Leadership: Counter?hegemonic Democracy in Organizations, Institutions, and Communities promotes leadership in the democratization of culture to counter the current hegemony of domination and cultivate an alternative hegemony of collaboration. It is premised on a leadership framework for decision?making rooted in democratic voice and leading to collective action. This broad peacebuilding prescription for individual and collective agency accounts for the constructive role of conflict in democratic pluralism, and the need to develop practices and structures that prevent violent conflict in order to advance positive peace. This theory addresses the contexts of deliberative, agonistic, and revolutionary democratic frameworks. Democratizing Leadership is informed by three qualitative case studies described in rich detail. First Bank System Visual Art Program, In the Heart of the Beast Theater's May Day Ritual, and The Minnesota Alliance of Peacemakers exemplify the practice of democratizing leadership. These diverse settings include corporate banking during 1980's deregulation, an annual community May Day parade, and an informal alliance of peacemaking organizations. Leadership in each case promotes authentic voice, encourages decision?making with integrity, and advocates for responsible collective action.
This Book, "Civil Disobedience in Cameroon," written by Justice Aloysius Nelson Taku Mbu, reveal the effect of the cumulative events from 1961 to 1990, precipitated by the enlargement of the presidential powers without corresponding safeguards for the protection of freedom under Cameroons advanced democracy. He analyzed the high tide of unitarism, where poverty and inequality dominates to create a class for the poor and the rich by giving favors and encouraging blackmail, mismanagement, falsity, deception and manipulative electioneering. The majority culture further thought that they could freely assimilate and at the same time treat the other minority part as of no significant consequence because they are Lucifers in heaven. "les enemies dans la maison"] The immediate result was a nonviolent civil disobedience which began in Bamenda. The Cameroonians of English expression hold dearly that 1] benevolent freedom is an essential element in the content of all democratic constitutions 2] it is incorporated as a contract between the citizens and the government to guarantee good governance and protection for their persons, property, liberty and happiness without let or hindrance; 3] freedom is both a blessing and birthright from God, and 4] on it fundamental human rights are planted, nurtured and blossom to bring dignity, love and peace profound to all and sundry. The government failed in its ploy for good governance, resorted to threats, intimidation, and force to oppress the people without the litmus test. Justice Mbu has been an eye witness to the events of this transformation in political, social and economic changes that make Cameroon never to be the same again. He is retired with his family and resides in Maryland USA.
During the American Civil War, political ideology was the most important determinant of French journalistic attitudes. Conservatives usually supported the South while Liberals usually supported the North. Provincial newspapers, however, less consistently followed ideological patterns than their Parisian and big-city colleagues. Slavery was not a determinant of French attitudes, since all French were opposed to slavery; rather, both Conservatives and Liberals used the issue of slavery as a device to garner support. While Conservatives remained firm in believing that the South would prevail until the very end, Liberal journalists sometimes despaired of a Union triumph in the face of Northern military defeats.
South Africa's transition to democracy was met by the global audience at first with disbelief, followed later by applause. This transition is as much a peace process as one of democratization. After fifteen years of democracy big questions remain: has a more democratic regime also led to a more liberal society? And has democracy made for a more peaceful society? We address these questions through survey research of public attitudes and values in South Africa covering the transition from 1981 to 2006, and an elite survey covering the years from 1990 to 2007.
When political 'extremists' - organized into parties that compete openly and successfully in democratic elections - enter the conventional institutional arena, how do mainstream actors react? This book deals with understanding how democracies respond to party-based extremism and with what consequences.
The 38th World Congress of IIS addressed some of the most fundamental issues of sociological inquiry in light of global processes and the development of different fields of knowledge: What does it mean to be human? What is the nature of social as opposed to natural processes? How do efforts to map the social and political world interact with that world and with traditional sociological practices? What can we say about relationships between scientific, political and religious beliefs? This volume sets the stage for a sustained look at what social science can say about the twenty-first century and to address the theme of the congress in 2008: Sociology Looks at the 21st Century. From Local Universalism to Global Contextualism. Contributors are: Gustaf Arrhenius, Rajeev Bhargava, Craig Calhoun, Shmuel N. Eisenstadt, Yehuda Elkana, Raghavendra Gadagkar, Peter Hedstroem, Hans Joas, Hannes Kloepper, Ivan Krastev, Steven Lukes, Vinh-Kim Nguyen, Helga Nowotny, Shalini Randeria, Alan Ryan, Jyotirmaya Sharma, Christina Toren, Michel Wieviorka, Bjoern Wittrock, Petri Ylikoski.
"Theolegal democracy defines a political system that allows public officials to use theology in its democratic process to shape law without instituting an official state religion. In Whose God Rules?, preeminent scholars debate the theolegal theory, which describes the gray area between a secular legal system, where theology is dismissed as irrational and a threat to the separation of religion and state, and a theocracy, where a single religion determines all law. The United States is neither a secular nation nor a theocracy, leading scholars to ask whether the United States is a theolegal democracy. If so, whose God rules?"--
"This book provides a timely assessment of loyalist history, identity and community in Northern Ireland today which provides a comprehensive picture of how loyalism has reacted to changes since the Good Friday Agreement. Challenging simplistic stereotypes of loyalism, the book provides a complex multi-faceted explanation of the loyalist imagination"
Globalization and information technology are driving the world into a new era. Is it the responsibility of business to pursue the common good - and more precisely, to participate in the construction of the global common good? This book brings together contributions from various disciplines, written by scholars who are at the forefront of this debate. It provides multiple insights into a tripartite relationship: business, globalization and the common good. It helps explain why the business sphere will probably not be in a position to ignore the common good much longer, and why this latter concept, widely ignored in today's management realm, is likely to become part of tomorrow's corporate policies and practices in the global context. Finally, this work opens up a plethora of avenues for future research, calling for the development of transdisciplinary approaches and for the elaboration of a research program embracing theoretical, empirical and spiritual perspectives to tackle this complex issue.
Will China become a multiparty democracy? The author posits that the more that Chinese elite thinking on China's development and change reconciles the tension between Chinese nationalism and collectivist, family-like ethics on the one hand, and the western democratic ideals based on each self-seeking individual's subjectivity on the other hand, the greater the chance that China's political development will lead to a multiparty democracy. The author projects that within the next twenty years China will march on the path of democratization.
Martin Heidegger, Emmanuel Levinas, and the Politics of Dwelling explores the ethical and political implications of the debate between Martin Heidegger and Emmanuel Levinas on the question of Place. Throughout his philosophical career, Heidegger exhibited concern about the uprooting of man that accompanies the modern oblivion of Being and vividly described the consequences of modern deracination as manifest in everything from everyday inauthenticity to the growth of world technology. In response to this perceived crisis, Heidegger propounds a series on ontological models that illuminate the manner in which man is ensconced in the house of Being. As it stands, Heidegger's homecoming project is rife with political implications, as it led him to embrace a variety of political stances that run the gamut from an emphasis on the "site" of politics to volkisch nationalism to solitary quietism. No thinker was more disturbed by Heidegger's homecoming project than Levinas. In various writings, Levinas levels an incisive critique of Heidegger's place-bound ontology. More specifically, Levinas accuses Heideggerian ontology of being averse to transcendence and conductive to tyranny, of failing to recognize the inherent dignity of the human person, and of being a manifestation of latter-day paganism. Additionally, Levinas also advances an alternative manner of thinking about the home. For Levinas, the home is a place where wanderers find refuge; and it rises to the fullness of its ethical potentiality when used an instrument of hospitality to the other person. By considering the Heidegger-Levinas debate, this book illustrates the concern that animated their perspective projects and the dangers of chauvinism and rootlessness inherent in the attempt to construct a contemporary politics of place. In the end, Heidegger and Levinas point toward the necessity of politics of place that is both ontological and ethical, and which successfully navigates between the twin extremes of narrow tribalism and rootless cosmo |
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