Defining Moment (defining + moment)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The Increasing Political Power of Immigrants from the Former Soviet Union in Israel: From Passive Citizenship to Active Citizenship

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION, Issue 1 2003
Tamar Horowitz
The immigrants in Israel from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) followed a different pattern of political growth than other immigrant groups. Their increased power began on the national level and moved down to the local level, rather than from the periphery toward the centre , the pattern followed by the Oriental Jewish immigrants. We can trace three stages in the development of their political power. The first stage was during the 1992 elections when the immigrants attempted to organize their own list. Though they failed, the results of the election strengthened them because they were given credit for the left's victory, giving them a sense of political effectiveness. The second stage came during the 1996 elections. It was a defining moment for the former Soviet immigrants' political power. In this stage external factors and internal factors reinforced each other. The change in the electoral system made it possible for the immigrants to vote for their community on the one hand and for a national figure on the other, thus resolving their identity dilemma. The local elections in 1998 marked the third stage in their political strength. They found the immigrant community better organized, with an improved understanding of its local interests, the capacity to put forward a strong local leadership, and a stronger link between the immigrant political centre and the local level. [source]


Old wine in new bottles: civic nation-building and ethnic nationalism in schooling in Piedmont, ca.

NATIONS AND NATIONALISM, Issue 3 2007

ABSTRACT. Gellner (1983: 35) equates nationalism with ,the organisation of human groups into large, centrally educated, culturally homogeneous units'. As the theorist of nationalism argues, and as recent and not so recent historical research shows, the modernisation of schooling is a defining moment in this process. The objective of this article is twofold: first, to show that during the Risorgimento schooling in Piedmont became nationalist; and second, to explain why that was the case. In doing so, it is argued that: (a) the modernisation of schooling reflected the rise of laissez faire liberalism, industrialisation and the enfranchisement of the middle class; and (b) the leadership of the Risorgimento revived pre-modern ethnic symbols of patriotism to legitimate inequality and state formation under conditions of individualism. [source]


Re-articulating Identity: The Shifting Landscape of Indigenous Politics and Power on the Ecuadorian Coast

BULLETIN OF LATIN AMERICAN RESEARCH, Issue 2 2010
DANIEL ERIC BAUER
The Levantamiento Indígena of 1990 was a defining moment in the advancement of indigenous politics in Ecuador. Following the uprising of 1990, scholars have paid close attention to the politics of identity and indigenous representation in Ecuador with the main focus being placed on the highland and Amazonian regions of the country. Based on fieldwork conducted in Ecuador's Manabí province, this article provides preliminary insight into the growth of an indigenous discourse on the Ecuadorian coast. I focus on the process of re-indigenisation in the coastal community of Macaboa. This research is significant because while a great deal of scholarly attention has been paid to indigenous movements in Ecuador's highland and Amazonian regions, indigenous politics on the coast have gone largely unnoticed. The case outlined in this article is emblematic of the shifting nature of identity and the way in which ethnic discourses are increasingly being adopted by marginalised groups in their attempts to negotiate with the state. [source]


The Veterans' Bonus and the Evolving Presidency of Warren G. Harding

PRESIDENTIAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 1 2008
NIALL A. PALMER
Scholars attempting a positive reappraisal of Warren G. Harding's presidency claim that his political beliefs changed markedly during his short administration. This article concurs but suggests that revisionist writers underestimate the crucial part played in this metamorphosis by the president's clashes with Congress over cash compensation for war veterans. These confrontations shattered Harding's belief that the presidency and Congress could return to a cooperative working relationship after the tensions of the Roosevelt-Wilson era. The bonus clashes are, therefore, the defining moments of Harding's administration,eroding his partisan loyalty and forcing him to adopt the assertive, interventionist executive posture he had once criticized. [source]