5 results
Search Results
2. Tragedy, Politics and Political Science.
- Author
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Lebow, Richard Ned
- Subjects
- *
POLITICAL science , *SOCIAL conflict , *CIVIL society , *HUMAN rights , *CONFLICT management - Abstract
I review the respective claims of Frost, Mayall and Rengger about the normative benefits of knowledge of tragedy and the potential of global civil society to transform the international system. I argue that Thucydides and Morgenthau were more optimistic about the ability of human beings to learn from art, history and experience. They believed ? as do I ? that tragedy is part and parcel of the human condition, and will always be with us for the reasons Frost so effectively summarizes. This does not preclude significant improvements in human rights and conflict management at the domestic and international levels. Pessimistic outlooks on such prospects are all too readily made self-fulfilling, so it is important that we commit ourselves to this goal independently of our estimates of ultimate success. These expectations, and our behavior, should nevertheless be tempered by sensitivity to the causes and consequences of tragedy. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2006
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
3. Reestablishing the Commons for the Common Good.
- Author
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Gardner, Howard
- Subjects
COMMON good ,POLITICAL science ,CITIZENSHIP ,VOLUNTEER service ,CIVIL society ,COMMUNITIES ,ETHICS - Abstract
For individuals living in a small community, the notion of "common good" seems almost natural; it can be thought of simply as neighborly morality. However, in a complex modern society, it is far more challenging for individuals to define and agree upon what is the common good. Nonetheless, two contemporary roles would benefit from embracing a broader sense of the good: 1) membership in a profession; and 2) membership in a polity. Drawing on findings from the GoodWork Project, I describe how the common good can become a guiding value in the professional and civic realms; discuss threats to such guiding values; and suggest some ways to promote the common good in contemporary American society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2013
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
4. Complicity in democratic engagement with autocratic systems
- Author
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Eva Pils
- Subjects
Civil society ,democracy ,Sociology and Political Science ,authoritarian influencing ,media_common.quotation_subject ,Control (management) ,Autocracy ,Political science (General) ,Political science ,sharp power ,structural injustice ,China ,media_common ,autocracy ,Ethics ,academic freedom ,Academic freedom ,complicity ,BJ1-1725 ,Democracy ,Political economy ,Political Science and International Relations ,responsibility ,Complicity ,china ,JA1-92 - Abstract
Autocratic control of civil society, including academia, can be extended to democratic societies and institutions in ways that pose threats to liberal-democratic values, such as academic freedom, for example through mechanisms and practices that lead to academic self-censorship. Engaging critically with the literature on ‘sharp power’ and ‘authoritarian influencing’ addressing this phenomenon, this paper argues that democratic actors who, without sharing the repressive goals of autocracies, contribute to their success in settings of international collaboration and exchange can become structurally complicit with such wrongs. Recognizing the risk of complicity is a necessary first step towards addressing the political responsibilities resulting from it.
- Published
- 2021
5. Civil Society's Barbarisms.
- Author
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Heins, Volker
- Subjects
CIVIL society ,POLITICAL science ,ETHICS ,SOCIAL theory ,MASS society ,SOCIAL contract - Abstract
Instead of arguing about elements and boundaries of civil society, recent discussions in social theory have focused on the concept of civil society itself as embedded in different currents of social and political thought. Following up on these discussions, this article reconstructs the concept of civil society by identifying a number of implicit oppositional terms and the respective semantic fields, which in different historical contexts have lent meaning to the concept. Three such oppositional terms and counter-meanings will be distinguished in turn and traced back to different traditions of European social and political theory: (1) the barbarism of disorder; (2) the barbarism of order; and (3) the realm of toil and material necessity. It is argued that the multiple meanings and counter-meanings of civil society are connected by a deep structure of discourse. This deep structure of civil society thinking can be translated into a 'semiotic square' in the tradition of A.J. Greimas. In conclusion, it is suggested to further investigate current uses of civil society along these lines, in order to clarify normative goals and possible ways of mediating between opposing moral worlds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2004
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
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