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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political ideologies > Liberalism & centre democratic ideologies
America has departed from its founding as a Christian nation and is rapidly abandoning the godly principles which blessed its people with liberty and justice for all. While many people from every level of society have offered secular solutions to the social and economic woes of today's America, it is clear the problem has resulted from the denial of God's providential hand on America by ungodly forces. The pathway from America's founding as a constitutional republic kept only by godly virtue to the loss of good will and reason which has now hopelessly dead-locked and divided the nation can be traced here. The only solution left for Christians is to get on their knees and pray for God to rain down a national spiritual revival reminiscent of the Great Awakenings which have historically and miraculously swept the land.
This new textbook invites readers to explore their own responses to
debates about democracy's meaning. It provides tools for thinking
actively about democracy as a practice, an ideal, and a site of
contestation. Open-minded and written with genuine clarity for an
undergraduate audience, Saward's book avoids providing easy answers
to democracy's dilemmas. Instead, it offers to students the diverse
approaches to democracy, showing how the key narratives of
contemporary political life have been created and adapted.
Working through a series of compelling real and hypothetical cases, twentieth-century narratives of democracy and their roots, and major new challenges such as globalization and environmentalism, the book makes the ideal starting point both for students already curious and those needing to be enticed and provoked. It concludes with an extraordinary snapshot and appraisal of the new theories of democracy that are making waves in the twenty-first century, and invites informed speculation on the shape of the democracy of the future. "Democracy" includes an extensive glossary of types of democracy, as well as a guide to further reading.
There has been a recent outpouring of memoirs and biographies of the 'great men' of the southern African liberation movements. But the writing of critical reflective histories of these movements by non-partisan, independent scholars is still in its infancy. This collection of essays illustrates the intertwined histories of southern African liberation struggles and those of regional and international solidarity movements from the 1960s to the establishment of a non-racial democracy in South Africa in 1994, reflecting the new directions currently taken by 'indigenous' southern-African based scholars, and those writing from abroad. Distinct from the polemical, hagiographic, justificatory or partisan accounts that have flowed since the inception of the liberation struggles, the essays probe beyond the heroic portrayals of armed struggles and nationalist resistance to examine the fissures and tensions that existed within them. The essays also provide insights into the more troubling and darker aspects of the movements' histories: human rights abuses perpetrated by the 'liberators'; the important, if ambiguous, roles played by other southern African states which hosted, and provided succour for, the ANC and its armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in exile; the support provided to the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) by the Lesotho government and the ways in which the fractious and personality-dominated politics of the organisation contributed to its weakness and ultimate eclipse by the ANC; the relationship between Muslims in Northern Mozambique and that country's liberation movements. These essays also seek to present more nuanced accounts of the solidarity movements that flourished alongside the liberation and exile movements, such as the British-based Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM), which in the 1970s found itself at odds both with international interest groups pursuing constructive engagement with the South African government and with elements in the country's grassroots movements. Even this organisation, committed to the downfall of systemic racial domination in South Africa, was beset by its own tensions of race, and had a difficult relationship with Black Britons. The collection's uniqueness lies in drawing together internal and external struggles in exile. And it provides new insights into the relationships that exiles and guerrillas developed with host societies and solidarity organisations, both within the southern African region, and in the United Kingdom.
"My culture is depraved, Not sure it can be saved . . . Of Thee I
Zing. Land filled with STDs, Pants way down to the knees, Nary a
"thanks" or "please" This is going to sting. . . . "
As well as promoting debates about liberal democracy, the dramatic events of 1989 also bought forth a powerful revival in the interest of the notion of civil society. This revival was reflected mainly in two broad tracts of literature. The first focused primarily on events surrounding the Solidarity movement in Poland and the tumultuous events of 1980-81. The second was concerned with the Velvet Revolutions more broadly. Following the events of 1989, there appeared a number of works sharing the common central argument that civil society played a key role in the overthrow of these Communist regimes in 1989. Killingsworth's book presents three broad arguments, all of which reject the way civil society has been applied in the analysis of opposition and dissent in totalitarian Czechoslovakia, the GDR and Poland. First, it argues that the totalitarian nature of Soviet-type regimes means that it was not possible for a genuine civil society to exist. Second, the civil society paradigm, as it has been applied to opposition and dissent in Soviet-type regimes in Eastern Europe, lacks analytical rigour. Thirdly, the book argues that the dominant liberal interpretation of dissenting opposition in Soviet-type regimes is politically and morally flawed.
Evolution/ Science/ Darwin/ BiographyAre we politically, economically, morally, spiritually, and environmentally going up, down, sideways, or crazy? As progressive vision is swept aside by the politics of lunacy, what's to be done about global warming, nuclear overkill, terrorism, galloping corruption, rule by corporation?How are we to go forward rather then be driven backward in evolution? Darwin's Second Revolution is the first book of a trilogy written to provide a new grounding in historical, political, economic, moral, spiritual, and environmental reality for the theory and story of evolution and an integrated new scientific vision for our troubled time.Part I, The Triumph of the Neos, uncovers the story of what set us off in both better and worse evolutionary directions for the 20th and 21st centuries. Part II, A New Language for Evolution and Revolution, cuts through the baffling overload of scientific concepts and languages to a new path for moving ahead. Part III, The Rise and Fall of the Super Neos- including a hard-hitting critique of Richard Dawkins and fellow sociobiologists and evolutionary psychologists, in contrast to the vision of Stuart Kauffman, Ervin Laszlo, and scores of Darwinian second revolutionaries-completes an amazing story of global psychotherapy for the 20th century with a vision of liberation for the 21st century. ..". An amazing accomplishment ...scholarship of deep humanity and needful wisdom... advances a new vision." Robert J. Richards, national award-winning science historian and Darwin scholar. "David Loye's is one of the few voices desperately needed in the Darwin debates... Read him, it's one of the most important topics alive today." Ken Wilber, pioneering integral philosopher and psychologist, author A Brief Theory of Everything."To shift from despair to hope as we face the renewed challenge of evolution: that and nothing less, is the challenge and the task taken up by David Loye in his profound, thorough, and deeply inspiring books on Darwin and evolution. Ervin Laszlo, pioneering systems philosopher, scientist, and global activist...". stupendous output ...clearly and entertainingly ...points the way to new paradigms for science crucial to our sustainable future." Ralph Abraham, pioneering mathematician and chaos theorist...". must-read for all of us working for global transformation to a cleaner, greener, more equitable future for the human family." Hazel Henderson, author, Creating Alternative Futures, Building a Win-Win World. The author, David Loye, is a psychologist, former member Princeton and UCLA School of Medicine faculties; founder of the multinational Darwin Project with a council of over fifty leading American, European, and Asian scientists and educators; and author of the national award-winning The Healing of a Nation. This is the first book for the trilogy Darwin and the Battle for Human Survival. See opening pages for nine pages of endorsements by concerned scientists and authors.Cover by John MasonProduction: Cassandra Gallup BridgeBack cover photo: Don Eddy
This book compares the trajectories of states and societies in Africa, Asia and Latin America under neoliberalism, a time marked by serial economic crises, escalating social conflicts, the re-militarisation of North-South relations and the radicalization of social and nationalist forces. Sam Moyo and Paris Yeros bring together researchers and activists from the three continents to assess the state of national sovereignty and the challenges faced by popular movements today. They show that global integration has widened social and regional inequalities within countries, exacerbated ethnic, caste, and racial conflicts, and generally reduced the bureaucratic capacities of states to intervene in a defensive way. Moreover, inequalities between the countries of the South have also widened. These structural tensions have all contributed to several distinct political trajectories among states: from fracture and foreign occupation, to radicalization and uncertain re-stabilization. This book re-draws the debate on the political economy of the contemporary South and provides students of international studies with an important collection of readings.
The collapse of the bipolar international system near the end of the twentieth century changed political liberalism from a regional system with aspirations of universality to global ideological dominance as the basic vision of how international life should be organized. Yet in the last two decades liberal democracies have not been able to create an effective and legitimate liberal world order. In A Liberal World Order in Crisis, Georg Sorensen suggests that this is connected to major tensions between two strains of liberalism: a "liberalism of imposition" affirms the universal validity of liberal values and is ready to use any means to secure the worldwide expansion of liberal principles. A "liberalism of restraint" emphasizes nonintervention, moderation, and respect for others. This book is the first comprehensive discussion of how tensions in liberalism create problems for the establishment of a liberal world order. The book is also the first skeptical liberal statement to appear since the era of liberal optimism based in anticipation of the end of history in the 1990s. Sorensen identifies major competing analyses of world order and explains why their focus on balance-of-power competition, civilizational conflict, international terrorism, and fragile states is insufficient."
Libertarianism seems fairly straightforward on the surface: "Keep your government out of my bedroom and my wallet." But how that principle applies to real-world political and economic issues is complicated. In "Libertarianism, from A to Z," acclaimed Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron sets the record straight with a no-frills dictionary that walks us through the movement's controversial stances on prostitution and drug use to explore issues ranging from abortion to the war on terror. He shows us how to follow those principles to their logical--and sometimes controversial--ends and how to think like a libertarian.
Is Winning a Second Presidential Term Really Barack Obama's
"Ultimate End Game"?
C Street - where piety, politics, and corruption meet Jeff Sharlet
is the only journalist to have reported from inside the C Street
House, the Fellowship residence known simply by its Washington, DC
address. The house has lately been the scene of notorious political
scandal, but more crucially it is home to efforts to transform the
very fabric of American democracy. And now, after laying bare its
tenants' past in "The Family," Sharlet reports from deep within
fundamentalism in today's world, revealing that the previous
efforts of religious fundamentalists in America pale in comparison
with their long-term ambitions.
Was the financial collapsecaused by free-market capitalismand deregulation run amok, as liberals claim? Not on your life, says Peter Schweizer. In Architects of Ruin, Schweizer describes how a coalition of left-wing activists, liberal politicians, and "do-good capitalists" on Wall Street leveraged government power to achieve their goal of broadening homeownership among minorities and the poor. The results were not only devastating to the economy, but hurt the very people they were supposedly trying to help. This tale of liberal "Robin Hood capitalism run wild" has never beentold. But more than just a story about the past, Architects of Ruin is also an urgent warning about the future. The very same people who planted the seeds of the collapse are back in Washington, determined to use the crisis they caused as cover for a massive overhaul of the American economic system. These people have learned nothing from their past mistakes and are busy applying the same methods to other sectors of the economy--health care, the auto industry, real estate (again!), and above all the promotion of"green" technologies--inflating bubbles that are sure to bring about another crisis. Ordinary Americans who foot the bill for the last state-capitalist bubble have reason to be afraid--very afraid--of the inevitable result.
As the 2008 presidential election nears, Americans on both the right and the left agree that America is in a moral crisis. For most citizens, though, this crisis is not about abortion, gay marriage, or the Owar on Christmas, O but a growing culture of self-interest and a lack of greater purpose. Just as Americans must determine the leader that best represents our true values, America's elected officials must look to restore our core beliefs of personal responsibility and duty to others. But we need a clear vision. In The Moral Center, now with a new introduction and updated throughout, Callahan explains how progressives and moderates can find common ground to build a new majority and a unified America.
Today almost half of all Americans decline to define themselves as either "liberal" or "conservative." In fact, modern liberalism and conservatism seem hopelessly fragmented ideologies. Liberals claim to believe in individual freedom yet advocate a more collectivistic approach to government and an increasingly paternalistic role for the state. Conservatives are hopelessly divided between two incompatible ideals--the highly individualistic, limited-state philosophy of classical liberalism and an older, more collectivistic tradition of cultural conservatism that holds government responsible for shaping social morality. As a result, modern liberals are economic collectivists and moral individualists, while conservatives are economic individualists and moral collectivists.
-- affirmative action -- the death penalty -- gay marriage -- illegal immigration -- judicial activism -- the relationship of religion and politics -- the role of government in the economy
For almost four decades, Bruce Springsteen's music has directly inspired, influenced, and uplifted millions of devoted fans, who hold a special place in their hearts and minds for his work. Springsteen's rise to the top of American music coincided with the triumph of American conservatism, and the veneration of marketplace values above democratic principles and humanistic priorities. Springsteen has consistently summoned his creative power and artistic vision to indict these political developments and demand the cultivation of a more compassionate and progressive society. And yet his often harsh critique of the status quo and radical ideas for reform have either been ignored or misunderstood, as a result of his "All American" image and his narrative storytelling style. On nearly every major issue--poverty, racism, urban decay, war, and peace-- Springsteen's music has offered a unique vision for moving forward with the agenda of creating the "country we carry in our hearts"--as he called it in an op-ed for the New York Times." Filled with provocative analysis of Springsteen's best known hits and his most obscure songs, comparisons to other important works of American culture--ranging from The Sopranos "to Edward Hopper--and a wealth of information about the last fifty years of American politics, culture, and society, Working On a Dream "is a powerful and engaging study of this songwriter and performer's art. David Masciotra shows how Springsteen's music darkly comments on the increased isolation of Americans, and calls for a return to community living and values, based on compassion, empathy, and tolerance. He illustrates how Springsteen has forced listeners to wrestle with the facts of rising poverty rates in the world's richest nation, of wars with questionable justification, and of the continued mistreatment of racial minorities, arguing that Springsteen does this by emphasizing the suffering that everyday people - usually ignored in mainline political discussions - endure on a daily basis. By using Springsteen's life and music to shine a light on the dark recesses of America's most important political and social trials and conflicts-- race, religion, and working class hardship--Working on a Dream "connects readers with the power, purpose, and promise of Springsteen's extraordinary and enduring music.
The Conscience of a Conservative reignited the American conservative movement and made Barry Goldwater a political star. It influenced countless conservatives in the United States, and helped lay the foundation for the Reagan Revolution in 1980. It covers topics such as education, labor unions and policies, civil rights, agricultural policy and farm subsidies, social welfare programs, and income taxation. This significant book lays out the conservative position both politically and economically that would come to dominate the Conservative Movement in American.
An essential toolkit for all progressives- helping them to respond
to the current sustained right-wing criticism of US domestic and
foreign policy "The game is begun," Rush Limbaugh said, the day after Barack
Obama won the presidency; and he was right. The clash of views on
US domestic and foreign policy is, if anything, even more intense
now than it was before the change of leadership in Washington.
Right-wing media figures and Republican politicians regularly
regale us with conservative criticisms of the realignment of policy
and politics now underway. Even more than in 2008, now is the time
for liberals to "answer back," to counter those criticisms by both
recognizing their content and locating their weaknesses. In the
great clash of parties and philosophies that will shape the next
American century, an informed citizenry will require more accurate
information, ideas, and arguments than right-wing radio
characteristically provides, and the market is wide open for a book
that engages with both the worst and the best of the Republican
case. "Answering Back "is that book. "Answering Back "intends to lift the quality of political
discourse in the United States by bringing together the best
conservative and the best liberal arguments on the eight key policy
issues now in contention between the parties: trickledown economics
and the role of public spending, the desirability of welfare
reform, the future of social security, the establishment of health
care for all, the possibility of comprehensive immigration control,
religious issues and the social agenda, the war in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and the causes of the financial meltdown.
Despite political theorists' repeated attempts to demonstrate their incoherence, liberal values appear to have withstood the test of time. Indeed, engagement with them has become the meeting point of the different political philosophical traditions. But should radical critique justifiably become a thing of the past? Should political philosophy now be conducted in the light of the triumph of liberalism? These are the wider questions that the book takes up in an attempt to demonstrate the intellectual power of systemic critique in the tradition of Hegel. Working through the theories of prominent liberal theorists, John Rawls, Jeremy Waldron, Charles Larmore and Will Kymlicka, the author demonstrates that an adequate appreciation of the deep structural flaws of liberal theory presupposes the application of critical reconstructionism, a philosophical methodology that has the power to reveal the systemic interconnections within and between the varieties of liberal inquiring practices. In the absence of such a methodology liberalism's radically aspiring critics, whether communitarian, feminist, discourse ethicist, post-Marxist or postcolonial, have yet to trace the individualist commitment of liberal theory back to its source in liberal inquiring practices.
The new political movement that now controls much of the Republican party is a coalition of Americans who simply wish to be left alone by the government. They want to be free to run a business, keep the money they earn, own a gun, practice their faith, and perhaps homeschool their children--in short, to control their own destinies. Directly opposed is the descriptively titled Takings Coalition, which is at the heart of the tax-and-spend left. These forces will battle for control of America's future over the next fifty years. In this compelling and powerful narrative, Grover Norquist describes the two competing coalitions in American politics, what they can achieve and what they cannot do, and how you may fit into the contest. Required reading for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of politics in America today, "Leave Us Alone" outlines the order of battle for the next generation.
This book features the return of a classic history of liberalism. In a book that William E. Leuchtenburg, writing in the ""Atlantic"", called 'a work of considerable power', Allen Matusow documents the rise and fall of 1960s liberalism. He offers deft treatments of the major topics - anticommunism, civil rights, Great Society programs, the counterculture - making the most, throughout, of his subject's tremendous narrative potential. Matusow's preface to the new edition explains the sometimes critical tone of his study. The Unraveling of America, he says, 'was intended as a cautionary tale for liberals in the hope that when their hour struck again, they might perhaps be fortified against past error. Now that they have another chance, a look back at the 1960s might serve them well'.
An engaging be hind-the-scenes look at the lesser-known forces that
fueled the profound social reforms of the 1960s
Today's dispute over the line between church and state (or the lack thereof) is neither the first nor the fiercest in our history. In a revelatory look at our nation's birth, Forrest Church re-creates our first great culture war--a tumultuous, nearly forgotten conflict that raged from George Washington's presidency to James Monroe's. Religion was the most divisive issue in the nation's early presidential elections. Battles raged over numerous issues while the bible and the Declaration of Independence competed for American affections. The religous political wars reached a vicious peak during the War of 1812; the American victory drove New England's Christian right to withdraw from electoral politics, thereby shaping our modern sense of church-state separation. No longer entangled, both church and state flourished. Forrest Church has written a rich, page-turning history, a new vision of our earliest presidents' beliefs that stands as a reminder and a warning for America today.
This book presents a provocative reinterpretation of recent political history. In this pioneering exploration of the interplay between liberalism and black nationalism, Devin Fergus returns to the tumultuous era of Johnson, Nixon, Carter, and Helms and challenges us to see familiar political developments through a new lens. What if the liberal coalition, instead of being torn apart by the demands of Black Power, actually engaged in a productive relationship with radical upstarts, absorbing black separatists into the political mainstream and keeping them from a more violent path? What if the New Right arose not only in response to Great Society Democrats but, as significantly, in reaction to Republican moderates who sought compromise with black nationalists through conduits like the Blacks for Nixon movement? Focusing especially on North Carolina, a progressive southern state and a national center of Black Power activism, Fergus reveals how liberal engagement helped to bring a radical civic ideology back from the brink of political violence and social nihilism. He covers Malcolm X Liberation University and Soul Town, two largely forgotten, federally funded black nationalist experiments; the political scene in Winston-Salem, where Black Panthers were elected to office in surprising numbers; and the liberal-nationalist coalition that formed in 1974 to defend Joan Little, a black prisoner who killed a guard she accused of raping her. Throughout, Fergus charts new territory in the study of America's recent past, taking up largely unexplored topics such as the expanding political role of institutions like the ACLU and the Ford Foundation and the emergence of sexual violence as a political issue. He also urges American historians to think globally by drawing comparisons between black nationalism in the United States and other separatist movements around the world. By 1980, Fergus writes, black radicals and their offspring were 'more likely to petition Congress than blow it up.' That liberals engaged black radicalism at all, however, was enough for New Right insurgents to paint liberalism as an effete, anti-American ideology - a sentiment that has had lasting appeal to significant numbers of voters.
Populism is a genuine 'third way' in politics, a middle path between the extremes of corporate anarchy and collective authoritarianism. It is a trenchant and timely study.Populism is distinguished from other political movements by its insistence on two things conspicuously missing from modern systems of political economy: genuine democracy based on local citizen assemblies, and the widespread distribution among the population of privately-owned economic capital. Adrian Kuzminski's book, in offering a comprehensive historical account of populism, shows that populism, now largely overlooked, has in fact had a consistent and distinct history since ancient times. Kuzminski demonstrates that populism is a tradition of practice as well as thought, ranging from ancient city states to the frontier communities of colonial America - all places where widely distributed private property and democratic decision-making combined to foster material prosperity and cultural innovation.The political economy of populism was first articulated by the ancient Greek philosopher Phaleas of Chalcedon and variously developed by thinkers as diverse as Aristotle, James Harrington, George Berkeley, Thomas Jefferson, Edward Kellogg and Frederick Soddy. Only where none are rich enough to dominate others economically nor poor enough to be so dominated, populists argue, can the public interest be served. By democracy-for-all, populists mean full and direct participation in empowered local citizen assemblies. This vision of a decentralised, 'bottom-up' democracy was developed in his later years by Thomas Jefferson, who called for completing the American revolution by rooting broader levels of government in such local assemblies, which he called 'ward republics.' The book includes extensive extracts from Jefferson's writings on the matter.In calling for a wide distribution of both property and democracy, populism opposes the political and economic system found today in the United States and other Western countries, where property remains highly concentrated in private hands and where representatives chosen in impersonal mass elections frustrate democracy by serving private monied interests rather than the public good. As one of very few systematic alternatives to our current political and economic system, populism offers a pragmatic program for fundamental social reform which deserves wide and serious consideration.
We Who Dared to Say No to War uncovers some of the forgotten but compelling body of work from the American antiwar tradition -- speeches, articles, poetry, book excerpts, political cartoons, and more -- from people throughout our history who have opposed war. Beginning with the War of 1812, these selections cover every major American war up to the present and come from both the left and the right, from religious and secular viewpoints. There are many surprises, including a forgotten letter from a Christian theologian urging Confederate President Jefferson Davis to exempt Christians from the draft and a speech by Abraham Lincoln opposing the 1848 Mexican War. Among others, Daniel Webster, Mark Twain, Andrew Carnegie, Grover Cleveland, Eugene Debs, Robert Taft, Paul Craig Roberts, Patrick Buchanan, and Country Joe and the Fish make an appearance. This first-ever anthology of American antiwar writing offers the full range of the subject's richness and variety. |
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