Political Events (political + event)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Comparing the perceived causes of the second Iraq war: a network analysis approach

AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, Issue 4 2006
Umbereen Rafiq
Abstract The objective of this research was to examine the representation by British students of 11 perceived causes of the invasion of Iraq. We used network analysis to develop a network of the pattern of causes that are involved. Overall most participants identified a nexus of causes that reciprocally linked religious prejudice, racism and the history of conflict in the Middle East. They identified a reciprocal link between religious prejudice and September 11th, indicating that it was a cause and effect of religious prejudice. They also supported a link between the personalities of Bush and Saddam and economic gain, and acknowledged the effect of the first Gulf war on Saddam. We also found that Muslim participants were significantly less in favour of the invasion than Christian participants, and produced different networks of the links between causes. The study demonstrates that network analysis can be used to compare and contrast representations of a political event, and thus extends its use in the study of social representations. Aggr. Behav. 32:321,329, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


The Super-Hun and the Super-State: Allied Propaganda and German Philosophy during the First World War

GERMAN LIFE AND LETTERS, Issue 4 2001
Gregory Moore
When war broke out in August 1914, intellectuals on both sides sought to discover the underlying causes of the catastrophe not in mundane political events, but in the dominant ideologies and native intellectual traditions of the Great Powers. German scholars argued that Europe was witnessing a truly world-historical conflict rooted in the mutual antagonism that existed between two fundamentally different forms of life, a confrontation which the sociologist Werner Sombart summed up as the battle between the rapacious ,Händler' of utilitarian Britain and the idealistic ,Helden' defending a superior German Kultur. British academics conceived the war in no less apocalyptic terms: this was a struggle pitting the forces of democracy against a brutal predatory militarism, the basic impulse of which was to assert the supremacy of the state over the individual. Although initially Nietzsche and Treitschke were denounced as the figures most directly responsible for fostering this belligerent spirit, soon the entire German philosophical canon came under scrutiny. This essay examines some of the spurious genealogies of Prussian immorality which Allied writers concocted to elucidate the deeper meaning of the war. [source]


A parliament full of rats?

HISTORICAL RESEARCH, Issue 203 2006
Piers Plowman, the Good Parliament of 137
This article reconsiders the relationship between the Middle English poem Piers Plowman and the political events of the later fourteenth century. Its contention is that Piers Plowman articulates a profound sense of disappointment in the inability of the late medieval English parliament to rectify the woes of the kingdom. This disillusionment was generated not only by the reversal of the measures taken against the court in the Good Parliament of 1376, but also by a much broader context of failure by the crown to address the petitions presented in parliament by the political community. Ultimately, it was parliament's failure to deliver institutional remedies to these longstanding problems that set the conditions for the ,direct action' of the rebels in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. [source]


The ,Terrible Wednesday' of Pentecost: Confronting Urban and Princely Discourses in the Bruges Rebellion of 1436,1438

HISTORY, Issue 305 2007
JAN DUMOLYN
On 22 May 1437 a violent disturbance of the social order occurred in Bruges. Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, only narrowly escaped with his life, while Jean de Villiers, lord of L'Isle-Adam, was killed. Contradictory and competing accounts of these events have survived which illustrate princely and urban discourses on the Bruges rebellion of 1436,8. Careful analysis of these sources reveals that the social and political struggles between the centralizing dukes of Burgundy and their powerful and autonomous Flemish cities reflected a discursive struggle for the representation of political events. [source]


The Republics of Ideas: Venice, Florence and the Defence of Liberty, 1525,1530

HISTORY, Issue 279 2000
Stephen D. Bowd
The sixteenth century has often been regarded as a crucial period in the history of political events in Italy, and in the history of political ideas. The contributions of Florence and Venice to this process have long been acknowledged. Florentine admiration for the Venetian political system reflected internal political instability in the former city. The evidence for Venetian-Florentine contacts, and for a Venetian concern or admiration for Florence has been less noted. This article aims to show that there is evidence that Venetian concern for the defence of republican liberty after 1525 was allied to an awareness of Florentine political events and their significance for Venetian political practices. This awareness was stimulated by the pressure of imperial intervention on the peninsula after 1525. Florence and Venice were allies under the treaty of Cognac, and diplomats in both cities articulated a concern for republican libertas in Italy and an antipathy towards imperial rule. The work of Gasparo Contarini can be placed in this context, and as a result the critical point in the development of his arguments about Venetian political stability can be placed in the 1520s rather than in the years around 1509. The politics and political ideas of both cities were therefore developed in a wider context than has hitherto been supposed. [source]


The psychology and ideology of an islamic terrorist leader: Usama bin Laden

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOANALYTIC STUDIES, Issue 2 2004
Maria T. Miliora
Abstract This essay presents what the author proposes are the motivational bases for Usama bin Laden's avowed "holy war" against the United States. Bin Laden's biography is presented against the backdrop of the recent political history of the Middle Eastern Islamic world including the emergence of radical Islam. In assessing bin Laden's personality from the data that are available, three features are prominent: archaic narcissistic states (expressed as conscious and unconscious fantasies), paranoia and a Manichean sense of reality. It is shown that his ideology derives from his personality and his perception of and reaction to political events involving the United States and nations in the Middle East. The findings suggest that bin Laden imagines that he is walking in the shoes of the prophet Muhammad as he engages in an apocalyptic war to restore Islam as a potent force in the world. Usama bin Laden is compared to Hitler as a charismatic, messianic leader. Copyright © 2004 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source]


Tourism in Dubai: overcoming barriers to destination development

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TOURISM RESEARCH, Issue 2 2006
Joan C. Henderson
Abstract The Middle East as a whole attracts comparatively few visitors, and political events in the current century have generated new uncertainties and tensions which seem likely to further discourage tourists and investors. Additional barriers relate to poor accessibility, a perceived lack of conventional attractions and limited promotion. Despite these apparently unfavourable circumstances, international tourism has been adopted by the Dubai authorities as a core element in a programme of economic diversification. They have invested heavily in expensive facilities, as well as undertaken extensive marketing, and the outcome has been strong growth in tourism. There are great expectations of the future, reflected in the setting of very high arrival targets. However, there are also several constraints that might inhibit progress, with a need to review strategies. The experience of Dubai thus serves to illustrate factors that are critical to destination development, major impediments and approaches to overcoming these. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley &Sons, Ltd. [source]


Exchange Rate Volatility and Democratization in Emerging Market Countries

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 2 2003
Jude C. Hays
We examine some of the consequences of financial globalization for democratization in emerging market economies by focusing on the currency markets of four Asian countries at different stages of democratic development. Using political data of various kinds,including a new events data series,and the Markov regime switching model from empirical macroeconomics, we show that in young and incipient democracies politics continuously causes changes in the probability of experiencing two different currency market equilibria: a high volatility "contagion" regime and a low volatility "fundamentals" regime. The kind of political events that affect currency market equilibration varies cross-nationally depending on the degree to which the polity of a country is democratic and its policymaking transparent. The results help us better gauge how and the extent to which democratization is compatible with financial globalization. [source]


Agricultural policies and the emergence of cotton as the dominant crop in northern Côte d'Ivoire: Historical overview and current outlook

NATURAL RESOURCES FORUM, Issue 2 2009
Oluyede Clifford Ajayi
Abstract In most of sub-Saharan Africa, where the agricultural sector experiences dismal performance and is characterized by a gloomy picture, the cotton sub-sector in Côte d'Ivoire is often mentioned as a "success story" given the spectacular rise in the quantity of cotton production and the profile of the crop within the farming system. What are the historical and political antecedents of the development of cotton and the factors responsible for the feat accomplished in the midst of general failures in the same continent? To what extent can cotton be regarded as a "success story" and, what lessons can be drawn for agricultural development strategies based on the Ivorian case study? This paper traces the historical and socio-political background of cotton development in Côte d'Ivoire and identifies key policy and institutional interventions that have influenced the rise of cotton production and its emergence as the dominant crop in the farming systems of the country. Four stages in Ivorian cotton development are identified: planning, take off, crisis and the renaissance phases. The study demonstrates how a combination of good planning, technological advancement and appropriate policy and institutional conditions have contributed significantly to the rise of cotton production and its influence on the agricultural economy of northern Côte d'Ivoire. The study also highlights how the sustainability of agricultural development has been impacted by domestic and international policies and political events over which smallholder farm families have little control, and can at best only respond to. Important questions about cotton development in Côte d'Ivoire are raised that need to be answered before the program can be categorized conclusively as a success story. The study shows that there are no quick fixes to agricultural development in the sub-region. Rather, good planning and putting the necessary building blocks in place are important prerequisites. It is recommended that agricultural development efforts in the continent take cognizance of the complexity of the sector and address the inter-relationships that exist among the technical, policy, market and institutional factors that combine individually and collectively to influence African agriculture. [source]


Mexico: New Democracy with Old Parties?,

POLITICS, Issue 3 2003
Carlos E. Casillas
Mexico's 2000 presidential election was one of the most important political events in the nation's contemporary history. The victory of the National Action Party (PAN) and Vicente Fox, the first ,non-official' candidate ever to win a Mexican presidential election, surprised both local and world observers. This article comprises four parts. Part I very briefly places the election in historical perspective. In Part II, each of the three front-runners in the contest is profiled. Part III includes a systematic analysis of the general election results by constituencies or other territorial units, and features tabulated data. Part IV addresses the development of political parties and the party system before and after the elections. [source]


Uneven Developments: From The,Grundrisse To,Capital

ANTIPODE, Issue 5 2008
Joel Wainwright
Abstract:, Since its publication, Marxists have debated the relation between the,Grundrisse and the first volume of,Capital. This paper offers one entry point into this debate by comparing the way each text frames its "problematic of uneven development", that is, the way that capitalism's inherently uneven development is thematized as a problem for explanation. In the,Grundrisse the uneven nature of capitalism as development is explained by the emergence of capitalism from precapitalist relations. While this analysis is not entirely absent from,Capital (cf the discussion of primitive accumulation), precapitalist formations are not treated as systematically in,Capital. By contrast, uneven development enters,Capital in the final section, particularly where Marx criticizes Wakefield. Reading these two texts together, I argue that the problematic of uneven development shifts from,Grundrisse to,Capital in a way that underscores Marx's growing stress on capital's imperial character. This shift has its roots in political events of the period when Marx rewrote,Grundrisse into,Capital. [source]


AESTHETICS AND CULTURAL POLITICS IN THE AGE OF DREYFUS: MAURICE DENIS'S HOMAGE TO CÉZANNE

ART HISTORY, Issue 5 2007
KATHERINE MARIE KUENZLIArticle first published online: 12 DEC 200
This article examines the alliance between painterly modernism and right-wing politics in France at the height of the Dreyfus Affair. Political struggles took on an aesthetic dimension in the cultural battles waged around 1900. Maurice Denis's monumental group portrait Homage to Cézanne (1900) serves as the focus of my inquiry. This painting is often cited and reproduced in histories of French modernism, but has yet to be examined within its historical and political moment. Although Homage does not directly reference contemporary political events, Denis's formal and compositional choices in Homage were informed by Adrien Mithouard's right-wing nationalist cultural politics. [source]