Amoral Politics

Author : Ben-Ami Scharfstein
Publisher : State University of New York Press
Page : 358 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 2016-02-24
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781438418865

Get Book

Amoral Politics by Ben-Ami Scharfstein Pdf

This is a study of how and why politics is amoral. It deals especially with what the author terms Machiavellism—the disregard of moral scruples for political ends that leads to the justification and use of deception and force in all aspects of political life. A comparative cultural study, it examines the theory and practice of politics in ancient China, ancient India, Renaissance Italy, and modern Europe, as well as tribal cultures, in order to test how widespread such political amorality has been throughout history. Scharfstein concludes that political or ethical theories that do not view Machiavellism as inseparable from political life are inadequate to human affairs and of doubtful relevance to politics. In reaching this conclusion, he explores such topics as why people readily accept political violations of truthfulness and fairness; whether decisive philosophical arguments have been advanced against Machiavellism; whether the use of deception in politics is in politicians' own best interests; and whether the prevalence of Machiavellism rules out the likelihood of a better political future.

Author : Diane Watt
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2003
Category : Courtly love in literature
ISBN : 1452905916

Get Book

Amoral Gower by Diane Watt Pdf

Author : Mila Dragojević
Publisher : Cornell University Press
Page : 220 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2019-10-15
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781501739835

Get Book

Amoral Communities by Mila Dragojević Pdf

In Amoral Communities, Mila Dragojević examines how conditions conducive to atrocities against civilians are created during wartime in some communities. She identifies the exclusion of moderates and the production of borders as the main processes. In these places, political and ethnic identities become linked and targeted violence against civilians becomes both tolerated and justified by the respective authorities as a necessary sacrifice for a greater political goal. Dragojević augments the literature on genocide and civil wars by demonstrating how violence can be used as a political strategy, and how communities, as well as individuals, remember episodes of violence against civilians. The communities on which she focuses are Croatia in the 1990s and Uganda and Guatemala in the 1980s. In each case Dragojević considers how people who have lived peacefully as neighbors for many years are suddenly transformed into enemies, yet intracommunal violence is not ubiquitous throughout the conflict zone; rather, it is specific to particular regions or villages within those zones. Reporting on the varying wartime experiences of individuals, she adds depth, emotion, and objectivity to the historical and socioeconomic conditions that shaped each conflict. Furthermore, as Amoral Communities describes, the exclusion of moderates and the production of borders limit individuals' freedom to express their views, work to prevent the possible defection of members of an in-group, and facilitate identification of individuals who are purportedly a threat. Even before mass killings begin, Dragojević finds, these and similar changes will have transformed particular villages or regions into amoral communities, places where the definition of crime changes and violence is justified as a form of self-defense by perpetrators.

Author : Martin Jay
Publisher : University of Virginia Press
Page : 265 pages
File Size : 53,5 Mb
Release : 2010-05-10
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780813929767

Get Book

The Virtues of Mendacity by Martin Jay Pdf

When Michael Dukakis accused George H. W. Bush of being the "Joe Isuzu of American Politics" during the 1988 presidential campaign, he asserted in a particularly American tenor the near-ancient idea that lying and politics (and perhaps advertising, too) are inseparable, or at least intertwined. Our response to this phenomenon, writes the renowned intellectual historian Martin Jay, tends to vacillate—often impotently—between moral outrage and amoral realism. In The Virtues of Mendacity, Jay resolves to avoid this conventional framing of the debate over lying and politics by examining what has been said in support of, and opposition to, political lying from Plato and St. Augustine to Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss. Jay proceeds to show that each philosopher’s argument corresponds to a particular conception of the political realm, which decisively shapes his or her attitude toward political mendacity. He then applies this insight to a variety of contexts and questions about lying and politics. Surprisingly, he concludes by asking if lying in politics is really all that bad. The political hypocrisy that Americans in particular periodically decry may be, in Jay’s view, the best alternative to the violence justified by those who claim to know the truth.

Author : Richard Hofstadter
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 370 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 2008-06-10
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780307388445

Get Book

The Paranoid Style in American Politics by Richard Hofstadter Pdf

This timely reissue of Richard Hofstadter's classic work on the fringe groups that influence American electoral politics offers an invaluable perspective on contemporary domestic affairs.In The Paranoid Style in American Politics, acclaimed historian Richard Hofstadter examines the competing forces in American political discourse and how fringe groups can influence — and derail — the larger agendas of a political party. He investigates the politics of the irrational, shedding light on how the behavior of individuals can seem out of proportion with actual political issues, and how such behavior impacts larger groups. With such other classic essays as “Free Silver and the Mind of 'Coin' Harvey” and “What Happened to the Antitrust Movement?, ” The Paranoid Style in American Politics remains both a seminal text of political history and a vital analysis of the ways in which political groups function in the United States.

Author : Niccolo Machiavelli
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 202 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 1988-10-28
Category : History
ISBN : 0521349931

Get Book

Machiavelli: The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli Pdf

Professor Skinner presents a lucid analysis of Machiavelli's text as a response to the world of Florentine politics.

Author : John Kane
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 292 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0521663571

Get Book

The Politics of Moral Capital by John Kane Pdf

It is often said that politics is an amoral realm of power and interest in which moral judgment is irrelevant. In this book, by contrast, John Kane argues that people's positive moral judgments of political actors and institutions provide leaders with an important resource, which he christens 'moral capital'. Negative judgements cause a loss of moral capital which jeopardizes legitimacy and political survival. Studies of several historical and contemporary leaders - Lincoln, de Gaulle, Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi - illustrate the significance of moral capital for political legitimation, mobilizing support, and the creation of strategic opportunities. In the book's final section, Kane applies his arguments to the American presidency from Kennedy to Clinton. He argues that a moral crisis has afflicted the nation at its mythical heart and has been refracted through and enacted within its central institutions, eroding the moral capital of government and people and undermining the nation's morale.

Author : Niccolò Machiavelli
Publisher : Good Press
Page : 443 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2023-11-16
Category : History
ISBN : EAN:8596547668503

Get Book

Discourses on Livy by Niccolò Machiavelli Pdf

Machiavelli saw history in general as a way to learn useful lessons from the past for the present, and also as a type of analysis which could be built upon, as long as each generation did not forget the works of the past. In "Discourses on Livy" Machiavelli discusses what can be learned from roman period and many other eras as well, including the politics of his lifetime. This is a work of political history and philosophy written in the early 16th. The title identifies the work's subject as the first ten books of Livy's Ab urbe condita, which relate the expansion of Rome through the end of the Third Samnite War in 293 BC. Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli (1469 – 1527) was an Italian diplomat, politician, historian, philosopher, humanist, and writer. He has often been called the father of modern political science. He was for many years a senior official in the Florentine Republic, with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He served as a secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power.He wrote his most well-known work The Prince in 1513, having been exiled from city affairs.

Author : Reinhold Niebuhr
Publisher : Westminster John Knox Press
Page : 322 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2013-01-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9780664235390

Get Book

Moral Man and Immoral Society by Reinhold Niebuhr Pdf

Arguably his most famous book, Moral Man and Immoral Society is Reinhold Niebuhr's important early study (1932) in ethics and politics. Widely read and continually relevant, this book marked Niebuhr's decisive break from progressive religion and politics toward a more deeply tragic view of human nature and history. Forthright and realistic, Moral Man and Immoral Society argues that individual morality is intrinsically incompatible with collective life, thus making social and political conflict inevitable. Niebuhr further discusses our inability to imagine the realities of collective power; the brutal behavior of human collectives of every sort; and, ultimately, how individual morality can mitigate the persistence of social immorality. This new edition includes a foreword by Cornel West that explores the continued interest in Niebuhr's thought and its contemporary relevance.

Author : Stuart Waiton
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 392 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2010-11-24
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781135909314

Get Book

The Politics of Antisocial Behaviour by Stuart Waiton Pdf

Antisocial behaviour is becoming a universally accepted problem and one that dominates the political and popular imagination. By providing a new criminological framework for understanding the fear of crime, this book reposes the increasingly important debate around antisocial behaviour and the internationally understood idea of moral panics. Through a critical engagement with theories of risk, the book develops Furedi’s understanding of a Culture of Fear to illustrate how firstly, society today is best understood to be in a permanent state of anxiety, and secondly, how this state of affairs has arisen due to the collapse of traditional politics and morality, and equally, of radical alternatives to it. Central to Waiton's thesis is an explanation of the changing therapeutic relationship between the individual and society based on an understanding of diminished subjectivity and the newly emerged vulnerable public.

Author : Robert C Oberst
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 544 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2018-04-19
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780429974847

Get Book

Government and Politics in South Asia by Robert C Oberst Pdf

This comprehensive but accessible text provides students with a systematic introduction to the comparative political study of the leading nations of South Asia: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. The seventh edition is extensively revised and updated, benefiting from the fresh perspective brought on by adding a new author to the team. New material includes discussions of political parties and leaders in India, the Zardari regime and changes to the Pakistani constitution, the rocky relationship between Pakistan and the Obama administration, new prospects and dangers facing Bangladesh, continuing political violence in Sri Lanka, and the troubles facing Nepal as it attempts to draft a new constitution. Organized in parallel fashion to facilitate cross-national comparison, the sections on each nation address several topical areas of inquiry: political culture and heritage, government structure and institutions, political parties and leaders, conflict and resolution, and modernization and development. A statistical appendix provides a concise overview of leading demographic and economic indicators for each country, making Government and Politics in South Asia an invaluable addition to courses on the politics of South Asia

Author : Nayef R.F. Al-Rodhan
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
Page : 342 pages
File Size : 40,6 Mb
Release : 2022-01-01
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780718895730

Get Book

Emotional Amoral Egoism by Nayef R.F. Al-Rodhan Pdf

What makes us who we are? Are we born good or evil? Do we have free will? What drives our behaviour and why? Can technology change what it means to be human? In this thoroughly revised second edition of Emotional Amoral Egoism, Professor Nayef Al-Rodhan demonstrates the impact of our innate predispositions on key issues, from conflict, inequality and transcultural understanding to Big Data, fake news and the social contract. However, it is the societies we live in and their governance structures that largely determine how we act on our innate predispositions. Consequently, Al-Rodhan proposes a new and sustainable good governance paradigm, which must reconcile the ever-present tension between the three attributes of human nature (‘Emotional Amoral Egoism’) and the nine critical needs of human dignity. This book is a perfect resource for enlightened readers, academics and policy makers interested in how our innate instincts and tendencies shape the world we live in, and how the interplay between neurophilosophy and policy can be harnessed for pragmatic and sustainable peace, security and prosperity solutions for all, at all times and under all circumstances.

Author : Ronald H. Stone
Publisher : Wipf and Stock Publishers
Page : 287 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2023-09-26
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781666746228

Get Book

The Political Crisis and Christian Ethics by Ronald H. Stone Pdf

The Political Crisis and Christian Ethics addresses themes in political philosophy in the context of a crisis in democracy after the denial of the 2020 election by the Republican candidate for president. The refusal to accept the results of the election divided the electorate and drove the president’s followers to fail in their attempted coup attempt in January of 2020. Democracy is defended in Reinhold Niebuhr’s writing on politics and in Barack Obama’s use of the theologian’s thought. It is developed further in the political theory of Paul Tillich. The themes of just peacemaking are reviewed in Paul Tillich’s critique of John Foster Dulles’ work and in the author’s critique of just peacemaking in the work of Glen Stassen. Domestically the issues of race, inequality, ecology, and healthcare are addressed from the perspective of prophetic realism. The book concludes in terms of Alfred North Whitehead’s philosophy of education and religion and a vision of the good president. In summary, The Political Crisis and Christian Ethics is a volume of American, Christian political theory in a period of overcoming the trauma of 2016 with Christian ethics and political philosophy.

Author : Jeremias Herberg,Ulli Vilsmaier
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 139 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2024-09-06
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781040124239

Get Book

The Politics of Transdisciplinarity by Jeremias Herberg,Ulli Vilsmaier Pdf

This book discusses collaborative research as both a product of social and epistemic control, and as a process of dealing with it. It offers fresh multi-disciplinary perspectives on old questions that are gaining new urgency with the rise of participatory, transdisciplinary and transformative research. The volume addresses the complexity of collaborative research at the interface of science, policy and society and sheds light on a common dilemma: researchers and their collaborators tackling issues that require political and knowledge-based control. At the same time, collaborative research that involves diverse publics is difficult to predict or regulate. By examining the interplay of power and knowledge in these collaborations, the book offers insights into how researchers navigate the dilemma of social and epistemic control. This exploration is crucial for understanding the politics of transdisciplinarity. Featuring contributions from various fields including transdisciplinary sustainability studies, science and technology studies, policy analysis, participatory research and more, the book discusses different methodologies, practices, theories, and adaptations in response to the control dilemmas inherent in collaborative research to offer a deeper understanding of the nuanced relationship between power and knowledge within collaborative research. The Politics of Transdisciplinarity will be a key resource for the reflexive researcher working with collaborative approaches at the interface of science, policy and society. It was originally published as a special issue of Social Epistemology.

Author : Michael Alexander
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2018-02-28
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 069206642X

Get Book

Roman Amoralism Reconsidered by Michael Alexander Pdf

No ancient evidence supports the proposition that the political culture of the Roman Republic was amoral, although this idea underlies works written by many important historians of the twentieth century. In adopting this premise, they were following a prevalent outlook in the historiography of that era, which was influenced by contemporary events and developments.