Elite Circles Research Articles

Being a Sabian at Court in Tenth-Century Baghdad


 
 
 Thābit b. Qurra (d. 288/901), a Sabian of Ḥarrān, and his descendants remained in their ancestral religion for six generations. Why did they persist despite pressure to convert? This article argues that religious self-identification as a Sabian could be a distinct advantage in Baghdad’s elite circles. It focuses on Thābit’s great-grandson Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm b. Hilāl al-Ṣābī (d. 384/994) and his poetry as collected by al-Thaʿālibī (d. 429/1038). Two members of the family who did convert are also considered by way of contrast.
 
 

Career Backgrounds, Professional Network and Party Cohesion: The Success of ANO in the Czech Republic

The volatile and unstable party systems in East Central Europe are associated with the emergence of new parties. However, some such new parties survive and become part of the party system they entered while other newcomers fade away even after they record major electoral success or gain government participation. How can we explain the contrasting fortunes of new parties? What explains their persistence and organizational survival? In this paper, we try to find the answers to these questions by linking the organizational success of new parties to the composition of their elites. We suggest that the similarity in professional and career backgrounds contributes to parties’ organizational success by increasing party cohesion, especially at the level of party leadership. We demonstrate our arguments on three new Czech parties – Public A airs (VV), Dawn of Direct Democracy (Dawn) and ANO – with contrasting political and organizational fortunes. Using data on elites’ career and political pasts we show that, unlike ANO, VV and Dawn have comparatively more heterogeneous elite circles which, we suggest, make them more vulnerable to internal conflicts.

The image of Michael VIII in the historical works of the Palaiologan period

The present paper tends to examine the image of the founder of the Palaiologan dynasty, Michael VIII(1259-1282), in the historical works written during the reign of the last Byzantine dynasty and after the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. With the analysis of Michael?s coming to the throne and the union of the churches in Lyons in 1274, it looks as if the first ruler of the Palaiologoi was mostly remembered, in historiography and among the most learned, elite circles of the capital, as a usurper of the throne and rights of his minor predecessor, Emperor John IV Laskaris. The blinding of the son of Theodore II was an event that had far reaching consequences not only during the reign of Michael VIII, but also his consequent heirs.

Anomalous authoritarianism: what, which, why?

Research on autocracies has gained new momentum in the last decade. One element of this research is the observation that some autocracies are characterised by structural conditions that are normally conducive for democracy. These ‘anomalous autocracies’ have high levels of socioeconomic development and democratic neighbour countries. The study of these cases might expose factors that are decisive for autocratic stability and studying them might give us a better understanding of barriers towards democratisation. This paper contributes to the growing literature on autocracies by mapping anomalous autocracies during the third wave of democratisation, thereby paving the way for systematic case selection in future studies. A large-N analysis of 159 cases (1975–2008) identifies Belarus, Chile, China, Cuba, Morocco, North Korea, Peru, Singapore, Swaziland, Togo and Zimbabwe. In a second step, the paper lays out a theoretical framework that centres on actors and institutions. Rulers must establish elite–elite and elite–mass interaction, and this papers argues that they can do so through quasi-compliance of elites and the masses based on traditional institutions woven into a dominant party. The paper uses the framework to tentatively examine the resilience of authoritarian rule in Swaziland and Morocco, two most-different anomalous cases. In both cases, an elaborate traditional institution has co-opted government, business and rural elites and coordinated interaction within elite circles and with the masses, in turn enabling the remarkable regime resilience.

In Royal Circles: The Nature of Hittite Scholarship

AbstractThis essay advocates a distinction between scribal craftsmen and scholar-scribes, the latter mostly coming from the elite circles of the kingdom and increasingly, as their career advanced, involved in scholarly endeavors rather than tablet production. It is these scholars who were probably also responsible for the so-called tablet inventories (“catalogs”).

Does higher education expansion promote educational homogamy? Evidence from married couples of the post-80s generation in Shanghai, China

The expansion of higher education witnessed in many societies influences the pattern of educational assortative mating. Structural transition theory predicts growing educational homogamy due to increasing preference for highly-educated partners who become more widely available. In contrast, social closure theory suggests depressed educational homogamy because the inflation of the education elite circle fosters the openness of marriage market, reducing the preference for a highly-educated mate and increasing the penetrability across social-status boundaries. Capitalizing the survey data that are representative of the post-80s one-child generation collected in Shanghai, China, we test the hypotheses derived from the two theories. Empirical results suggest that, with increasing availability of highly educated individuals, the extent of educational homogamy by birth cohort reveals a U-shaped pattern. This U-shaped pattern demonstrates increasing levels of educational homogamy and lends support to structural transition theory.

A Multitude of Eyes, Tongues, and Mouths: Readerly Agency in Shakespeare's Sonnets

SUMMARYThis essay analyses how Shakespeare's sonnets theorise readerly agency. It begins with a brief analysis of English sonnet culture's development from its Continental roots, showing how English sonnets were initially perceived as documents of socially elite circles. By the 1590s, however, as English sonnets became widely popular, they exhibited a complex tension between elite social status and what many believed to be vulgar, empty popularity. By the time Shakespeare wrote his, much of the initial burst of popularity had waned. Belated as they are, Shakespeare's sonnets comment productively on the importance of popularity and the role of ‘ordinary’ readers in constructing cultural value. Many scholars have argued that an inability to control readership—and keep poetry out of the hands of low-status readers—was a source of anxiety to writers in this period. However, this essay claims that Shakespeare's sonnets regularly suggest that the very lack of control over readership is what gives sonnets their cultural value. Although sonnets may have originated in socially elite spaces, Shakespeare suggests that their cultural power comes not from those elite communities, but from widespread circulation to common readers, whose varied readings shape the poems and their afterlives. Shakespeare's sonnets thus claim a cultural status for common readers that can be distinguished from the social status of elite communities in which sonnets were often understood to circulate.

Women and Chemistry in Regency England: New Light on the Marcet Circle

Jane Marcet's Conversations on Chemistry (first edition, 1806) was possibly the best-selling English-language chemistry book of the first half of the nineteenth century. Recent scholarship has explored the degree to which her husband assisted in the writing of the book, without diminishing the high merits of the author. Previously unpublished correspondence, some of which appears here for the first time, casts new light on the social and professional circle of Jane and Alexander Marcet, including its influence on Jane's book. One of the members of that circle was a hitherto unrecognised but highly capable young female chemist, Frederica Sebright. The story told here underlines the tensions in elite circles in early nineteenth-century England between broad-minded acceptance and patronising limitations for women in science.

Economic Theories of Social Order and the Origins of the Euro

This paper explores how the Euro project became a reality as a result of conflicting political and economic forces. The idea was born in the interwar period in France, among a circle of Traditionalist elites and conservative intellectuals, politicians, and businessmen. They dreamed of restoring an allegedly genuine social order that would guarantee social stability and the rule of reason against what they considered to be the abomination of the American lawless society. Since then, the Euro project has never ceased to reflect such conservative and inherently anti-Keynesian impulses, which are now perfectly expressed in the Stability and Growth Pact. But if the design of European integration was inspired by a desire for an “ordered society,” it resulted in generalized instability, as we witness today. This paradox is at the root of the inability of European elites to understand the causes of the euro’s crisis and of their stubborn reliance on the same deadly provisions that contradict their intentions of strengthening Europe, in what appears increasingly to be a collective denial of reality.

The National Russian Model of University at the Era of Academic Capitalism

The transformation of the national model of Russian University is under the influence of academic capitalism. The very same academic capitalism was born in the depth of the neoliberal capitalism. The basic principles of the neoliberalization were fully implemented within the transformation of national educational systems: - An arrangement of conditions to accumulate capital and political power in economic elite circles; - A denial of the concept of nation, and, consequently, a promotion of an idea that the government interference in economy is dangerous (in this case in the form of minimization government interference in education); - Assistance in independent and stable functioning of the whole education system including all the levels and elements (schools, institutes, universities, etc.). In Russia and other countries, this leads to the destruction of national educational systems. E. Durkheim said that if in society there are many cultures than each of them which have its own education system. G. Simmel argued that cultural diversity enriches the world community. However the implementation of neoliberal policy in the field of education under the slogan of globalization ignores the law and seeks to simplify the interaction between the educational systems in order to achieve clarity and transparency of market exchange. Author analyzes on the example of Russia the trends that resulted from the modernization of the education system that implements neoliberal principles and creates academic capitalism. Virtually neoliberal utopian promises in practice lead to quite the opposite, rather than expected results.

Controversies Surrounding the Reception of Valī “Dakhanī” (1665?–1707?) in Early Tażkirahs of Urdu Poets

Early Urdu poetry, at the time called Reḳhtah, forms a remarkable example of the circulation of ideas in early modern India. Scholars trace its modern form to the reception in early eighteenth-century Delhi of a Southern literary idiom, usually called Dakhanī that is itself the result of repeated waves of migration from North India to the Deccan. While the historical origins of Urdu occupy an arena of lively scholarly debate, its later historical and literary importance is quite clear. By the start of the nineteenth century a highly literary and Persian-inflected form of Urdu would swiftly replace Persian in elite circles. Thus we have a historically significant moment at which the confluence of the vernacular and the cosmopolitan created a new cosmopolitan vernacular, however this process remains understudied.

Indonesia in 2014

In 2014, Indonesia inaugurated as president the former Governor of Jakarta, Joko Widodo, or “Jokowi,” raising public expectations for reform especially among people outside the powerful political and business elite circles. It is uncertain to what extent, and how, the new government will achieve his reform agendas. Moreover, a relatively weak economy and declining civil liberties may pose an additional challenge, despite Jokowi’s avowed commitment to structural reforms and good governance.

Listen, Copy, Read: Popular Learning in Early Modern Japan ed. by Matthias Hayek and Annick Horiuchi (review)

Reviewed by: Listen, Copy, Read: Popular Learning in Early Modern Japan ed. by Matthias Hayek and Annick Horiuchi Brian Platt Listen, Copy, Read: Popular Learning in Early Modern Japan. Edited by Matthias Hayek and Annick Horiuchi. Leiden: Brill, 2014. 380 pages. Hardcover €125.00/$162.00. The essays in this volume are set against the backdrop of a historical development that is essential to the history of early modern Japan: the dissemination, among broad segments of the Japanese population, of areas of knowledge that were previously the preserve of an exclusive circle of elites. Historians have long been interested in this development, but have focused their attention primarily on formal institutions of learning—schools—in which teachers transmitted knowledge to ever-growing numbers of students. This is an important topic, to be sure, but it can create the misimpression that learning is something that happens only in the setting of a formal [End Page 309] institution, typically via a hierarchical, unidirectional transmission of knowledge from teacher to student. Learning also takes place outside of such settings, of course, and this volume provides a rich sample of the kinds of learning through which early modern Japanese people acquired knowledge. The volume’s title refers to the three basic means by which this acquisition took place: listening to lectures, copying information from copybooks, and reading manuals and guidebooks. The last two of these means speak directly to a phenomenon that is at the heart of this book, which is the extraordinary expansion in commercial publishing during the Tokugawa era. As a number of the essays point out, before the advent of commercial publishing, knowledge could be monopolized by elite families or other exclusive social groups and transmitted directly to initiates. Whether the knowledge in question was transmitted orally or through texts, these groups could control access to it—and indeed, their livelihoods and social status often depended on their exercise of this control. The growth of a market for printed materials during the early modern period eroded this paradigm, creating new mechanisms for the acquisition of knowledge and leading gatekeepers of knowledge to adapt to the new environment. As several contributors to the volume make clear, the growth of print did not mean that orality ceased to be important. Lectures retained their significance as a vehicle for transmitting knowledge, even as they moved away from a pattern of private transmission by a master to the members of an exclusive group and became, instead, increasingly public. In fact, they became part of a strategy for reaching broader audiences—a logic that had been dictated by the spread of educational materials via the commercial press. Among these three modes of learning, then, the one that was not dependent on print—listening—cannot be understood correctly outside of the context of the print revolution. The editors organized the twelve essays in this volume into four sections. The first section includes essays on the “transposition” of knowledge from elite circles to commoners. (As we will see, though, almost all of the essays in the volume could have been grouped under this rubric.) The section begins with Tsujimoto Masashi’s essay on the Shingaku movement, which from its inception represented an effort to reach broader audiences with new knowledge. The movement’s founder, Ishida Baigan (1685–1744), had sought to bring moral knowledge—which had been pursued primarily through textual study of Confucian classics—to ordinary people with simple, everyday language. In contrast to most previous scholarship, Tsujimoto focuses not on Baigan but on subsequent generations of Shingaku teachers. He demonstrates that they adopted a different way of communicating with their audience: instead of a dialogue between teacher and students, they taught by means of a lecture to a mass audience, an oral performance designed to provoke an emotional response in the hearer. Unlike many of the chapters in this volume, which discuss how commercial printing created new pedagogical tools for mass audiences, the chapter by Tsujimoto sheds light on an effort to reach nonliterate audiences who were left behind by the print revolution. Wakao Masaki’s chapter is on the reading habits and intellectual worlds of Kawachika Kashō (1636–1713) and Andō Shōeki (1703–1762...

ИМЭМО в первой половине 1990-х годов (продолжение)

The article describes the debate on foreign policy of the post-Soviet Russia, which took place at the Academic Council of IMEMO in 1992–1994. What are the national interests of the Russian young democracy? What should be Russian foreign policy in the new geopolitical situation, after the collapse of the USSR? To what extent the transformation of socio-political system in Russia changed the nature of its foreign policy? What should be its principles and priorities after the end of the Cold War? All these and other questions were in the focus of IMEMO experts immediately after the collapse of the communist regime in 1991. From the outset, the discussions were marked by different approaches to the issues. Some experts put forward as a priority the relations with the U.S. and the West in general, some put Europe in the first place, and others  - the Commonwealth of Independent States, which brought together some of the former Soviet republics. But all IMEMO experts in general agreed on the negative evaluation of the new Russian foreign policy quality: the default of a senior management for clear understanding of strategic and tactical foreign policy goals, low professional level of those who were called to form and implement foreign policy, the absence of a single center for decision-making, the lack of coordination between various authorities involved in the development of a foreign policy strategy  - Presidential Administration, Security Council, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defense, Parliament, etc. As mentioned in the discussions, the initial stage of idealistic notions and expectations of the West prevalent in Russian society and in the new ruling elite circles after the fall of the Soviet regime was soon replaced by disappointment and even irritation towards the West. Both of these trends were equally dangerous to the interests of the Russian foreign policy, which was in great need of a pragmatic, professional understanding of realities. This policy had to achieve two main objectives  - full integration of Russia into the world community of developed democracies, and protection of its own national interests within this community. One should have been inextricably linked with the other. Academic understanding of national interests in the field of foreign, defense and economic policies, the development of specific proposals and recommendations on these issues for the state leadership has become one of priorities for IMEMO analysts. Acknowledgements. The publication was prepared as part of the President of Russian Federation grant to support the leading scientific schools NSh-6452.2014.6.

Profesor Seidler – anatomia antynomii

The author analyses the personage of professor Grzegorz Leopold Seidler from the angle of contradictions existing in himself, assuming the convention of spinning out the digressions and references to arts and literature which was familiar to the professor. Professor Seidler was using the term of antinomy in his lectures of philosophy of law willingly: he was talking of antinomies in law, presenting them against a background of history of philosophy and political-legal doctrines, also embracing 20th century. In fact he was full of internal contradictions himself, both in his life as well as in his academic achievements. Erudition, intellectual depth of ideas of the professor is stressed, as well as the conditions of time and place, which created the liaison with Marxism, application of methodology of dialectical and historical materialism, when his intellectual friability was exposed, involvement in ideology and affiliation with communist party. Family and intellectual roots of the Professor were presented, development in interwar period, being in the circle of right wing elites of pre-war Poland. The author discusses the studies at Jagiellonian University, first academic achievements, raised under the wings of professor M. Starzewski and professor J. Lande – student of L. Petrazycki, including the political system and history of political-legal ideology. The attention is drawn to work in the Library of the Sejm and the Senate, stressing the connection of the professor with the establishment of those times. The essay ends with considerations on spiritual transformation which took place within the last 15 days of life of G.L. Seidler, on his role in rebirth of Rotary in Poland and on his last dissertations and attitude to the reality. The far route, which Professor Seidler passed, was fascinating but also very complicated: 1. Grzegorz Leopold – during the baptism he was bestowed, for the future, with block of real estates with the name Goldenkugel at Św. Marcin street in Poznan by his paternal uncle generously, by his grandmother – relative of Romaszkan Lvov archbishop of Armenian Rite. 2. Son of popular solicitor [adwokat] – member of Supreme Bar Council, senator of the Republic of Poland and co-author of April Constitution of Poland. 3. Perfecting academic skills under the wings of the so called sanacja regime (1926–1939) professor of Jagiellonian University Maciej Starzewski and Jerzy Lande – student of Leon Petrazycki. 4. Favourite of gray eminence of sanacja regime and important figure of first ten years of People’s Republic of Poland – Henryk Kolodziejski. 5. Participant of Polish September Campaign 1939. 6. Erudite, thinker, expert in political systems at state and legal systems, philosophy, history of thought, literature and arts. 7. Marxist and comrade. 8. Cosmopolitan and polyglot – man of the world, he followed the fashion faultlessly like an English gentleman – with tailor-made suits, a Chesterfield coat, a Homburg hat, and with a cane. 9. Citizen of the world, in contact with great people of this world through his whole life. 10. Finally professor, rector and co-creator of UMCS, visiting-professor at prestigious Western universities, not free of ideological concessions and payment of tribute of conformity, using “the attractions of the court”. 11. „Surgeon”, who called for amputation of social entity, which was created from social and national revolt against totalitarianism and degradation of a man. his own harm and to no purpose. 13. Finally returning to – in modesty of his spirit – his roots, rich in imponderables, both on the spear side and distaff side. One big antinomy.

‘You can never cross the same river twice’: Climbers’ embodied quests for ‘original adventure’ in southern Thailand

This article presents ethnographic research into individual narratives of adventure in a small, undeveloped bay called Ton Sai in southern Thailand’s Krabi Province. Ton Sai is extremely popular with Western rock climbers and increasingly with other adventure seekers and backpackers questing for ‘authentic’ Thailand, yet is subject to almost no representation in the commercial sense. It is an example of a destination that is not on the corporate ‘radar’, yet, as will be seen, is famed, desired and produced by ‘niche’ tourists seeking very specifically valued tropical adventures. This research aims to interrogate how such a destination becomes, and remains, valued as adventurous by climbers and therefore shed some light on individual, subjective production of adventure in specific Developing World contexts. Drawing on original interview and other ethnographic data collected during winter 2012/2013, this article argues that even when third-party commercial mediators are absent, the powers of quest for authenticity and adventure are powerful enough to turn the wheels of mediation themselves. In the ‘elite circles’ in which this group manoeuvres, notions of ideal adventure space run deep and are reproduced discursively and through embodied performances in an exoticised environment that is valued for its ‘primitive timelessness’. The implications of this for locals are explored.

Smoke and mirrors: Institutional entrepreneurship and gender identities in the US Tobacco Industry, 1920–1945

This article examines the institutional entrepreneurship displayed by the US tobacco industry in its attempt to overcome the moral illegitimacy of smoking among women in the years following World War I. Using historical analysis within a critical institutional framework, we trace the strategies used by the tobacco industry in combating seemingly powerful taboos and convincing large sections of the female population to take up smoking. Contrary to popular explanations linking the appeal of cigarettes to the aura of sexual glamour that was associated with them, we posit that the industry was able to initially expand its female consumer base by creatively appropriating the discourse of ‘the new American woman’ that was emerging in elite circles at that time. We found that many tobacco manufacturers were institutionally entrepreneurial in their ability to discursively connect selected ideals of emancipation with a spectrum of female identities in American society. We conclude by drawing implications for an understanding of the management of moral illegitimacy.

A Life Recovered: Mary Hamilton 1756-1816

Through her own words, Mary Hamilton demonstrates the rich resources available for the study of an elite womans life during the latter part of the eighteenth-century and allows us to resurrect more fully the life of a member of an elite circle of women during this period. Her diaries reveal the many opportunities that she had to meet with a number of the significant figures of her day, and shed light on how her academic efforts were perceived by those around her. This article shows how her writings offer researchers an insight into eighteenth-century society as viewed and lived by a woman who was close not only to the centre of high society but also to the intellectual elite of the day. It considers how valuable a resource the diaries and papers are as a potential research tool not only for the study of women‘s history but as a rich resource for the period.

Integration of the Swedish Local Elite: The Role of Professional and Private Networks

This article uses social network data to study the integration of local elites in four Swedish municipalities. Four research questions are asked. First: How integrated are the elites? While the results modify the picture that there are two rather distinct elites in Sweden – that is, a political elite dominated by the labour movement and an economic elite dominated by business and the large business organizations – it is interesting to note that integration between elite spheres is lowest for the relation between politicians and business representatives. To a considerable degree, integration between political and economic elites is indirect, mediated through the administrative elite. The second question is: Are the inner elite circles dominated by the political, economic or administrative elite? The study indicates that local elites in Sweden are strongly dominated by political elites, and also by administrative elites. This is reassuring, since it would indicate a democratic deficit if the structural power of decision making in municipalities resided predominantly in economic actors and administrators. The third question is: What is the role of friendship relations in creating elite integration? The study indicates that private relations among elites both reinforce professional networks and extend them in important ways. The final question is: Is elite integration contingent on political stability and/or the structure of local business? The results are surprisingly stable across the four municipalities, even though the largest distinction was found between elite core and periphery in the politically most stable municipality, which was also the one with the lowest economic diversity.

When Elites Forget Their Duties: The Double-Edged Sword of Star Directors on Boards

Prior research shows both positive and negative effects of prestigious directors on firm performance. This study provides further evidence for a generally positive effect of prestigious directors by focusing on performance effects of directors with additional directorships in large companies. However, this study also presents evidence that the institutional setting regarding elitism is an important moderator for the relationship between the presence of prestigious directors and firm performance. The extent of elite favoring behavior of prestigious directors that can cause cost for companies depends on institutional characteristics of a country’s corporate elite circle. We present evidence that the positive performance effect of prestigious directors is reduced when the identification with the elite is strong and when elites are cohesive and exclusive. Using a 17-country sample covering the years from 2005 to 2010, we show that the overall effect of prestigious directors on company performance is positive, but decreases with identification, cohesion and exclusiveness of the corporate elite.