Political Ideas Research Articles

Favouritism, Patronage and the ‘Family System’ in England, c.1700–1850

Abstract This article examines the interrelationships between familial, social, political and professional ideas about favouritism in England. It shows that there was a cross-fertilisation of discourses over the century-and-a-half between c.1700 and 1850, when favouritism was increasingly problematised in the domestic, social and professional spheres. Although several issues were identified as emanating from its practice, it was the very role of the family itself that increasingly made favouritism so deeply objectionable to those who articulated a vision of social and professional mobility and advancement based on merit rather than interpersonal relationships and family structures. Indeed, the link between the body politic and family was reformulated from the age of reform onwards as concerns about favouritism were directed inward to the privatised family and then to the pathologised individual. Overall, therefore, this article demonstrates that the institution of the family was both conceptually and practically fundamental to the meta-structure of social, professional and political life, long beyond the early modern period.

Changes in the Language of the Reformed Church in the Second Half of the 20th Century: The Convergence of Oral History and Big Data

The author’s journey begins with a deep immersion in his traditional Protestant faith, where he was taught to thoroughly know both the Old and the New Testament. As he reflects on his faith, the concept of being a “stranger and sojourner” comes to the forefront, highlighting the feeling of alienation within the secular world. The narrative takes an interesting turn when the author discusses the impact of changing political language on his perspective. The introduction of new political ideas and discourse challenges the previously straightforward worldview, leading to a sense of uncertainty in decision-making. Believers find themselves in a world with a multiplicity of perspectives that require a re-evaluation of what it means to “deny” or to make choices. In a changing social and political context, the narrative continually explores the intricate connection between faith and language. The author’s experiences and reflections provide a compelling insight into the complexities of navigating a shifting spiritual landscape while grappling with the ever-evolving meaning of words and beliefs. The second half of the article presents the results of a computer analysis of the vocabulary of two Bible translations that defined the language usage of the Reformed Church in the second half of the 20th century: the 1908 Károli and the 1975 New Translation. The analysis focuses on words that present difficulties in understanding due to their archaic or religious nature. As a point of comparison, it also showcases the vocabulary of the Gospel of John, where a mere 199 word roots constitute 80% of word occurrences. Keywords: language of the church, Bible translation, vocabulary of the Bible, letter and soul, protestant language use

Joel Barlow in Denmark: American Republicanism and the Republic of Translations in Continental Europe in the Revolutionary 1790s

ABSTRACT Through a case study of the Danish and German translations of the American revolutionary Joel Barlow's 'Advice to the Privileged Orders of Europe' (1792), this article explores the role of translations and the example of the American Revolution in forming ideas of republicanism in the Age of Revolutions. While it is today a little-known text, the article shows that Barlow's Advice had a significant impact on the formation of revolutionary ideology in the Northern Germany and Denmark. The article furthermore argues that contrary to what historians have hitherto believed, republicanism did make its way into Denmark in the period. Here, the article shows, it influenced the political ideas of key intellectuals such as Christen Henriksen Pram, August Hennings, and C.U.D. von Eggers. Because censorship made it difficult to express republican ideas, studying translations may give us a fuller and more precise picture of political ideas in the Age of Revolutions including in places like Denmark. The article thus argues that Barlow and his text was part of a broader ‘republic of translations,’ which was transformed in the wake of the American and French Revolutions and through which spread republicanism across the world, including Northern Europe.

Towards cyber-cooperatives: Studying the sharing economy of the tourism industry through an evolutionary approach to organizational cybernetics

Purpose: The lodging industry is transitioning to the online collaborative economy, with digital platforms mediating between hosts and guests. However, this has created significant inequalities between the platform management and the service providers. Objective. The paper proposes (a) to contribute to organisational cybernetics through evolutionary theory, (b) to analyse the emergence of platform cooperativism, and (c) to propose a platform cooperative based on the VSM, which we have called a cyber-cooperative. Design: Applying cybernetic evolutionary epistemology and the VSM, the article analyses the current state of the platform lodging industry and proposes the core characteristics of the cyber-cooperative. Findings: The article finds: a) it contributes to the theory of viable systems by integrating evolutionary theory; b) it uses the proposed theory to explain the developments in the collaborative economy of the lodging industry; c) it relates meme theory with the identity of the system and identifies the political ideas in cooperative organisations; d) it proposes the idea of the cyber-cooperative for developing the lodging industry. Originality: Evolutionary epistemology in organisational cybernetics, and the politics of identity in cooperativism are both novel approaches in the VSM. Type of paper: Research paper.

Towards a sportive agoraphobia of professional athletes

ABSTRACT In careers that span anonymity to public individual, the work of professional athletes is highly visible: anyone can observe and comment on what they do. Based on the accounts of 26 full-time, UK-based professional athletes from seven sports, eight female and 18 male interviewees, the object of this article is to examine the working lives of professional athletes and how, as they go about daily routines, they value and manage the fluid balance between privacy and social participation. The focus is on an emerging uneasiness with ‘social’ spaces, proposing the idea of a sportive politics of agoraphobia, examining the ways in which professional athletes cope with the highly visible aspects of their daily lives, importantly their fears of uninvited attention from strangers, people who are well-acquainted with past work performances and who possess personal information. The data indicate that professional athletes go about their daily routines unhesitatingly careful of where and how they can be vulnerable to personal intrusion and transgressing norms of interaction. Their strategies to cope with their ‘being’ in public involve a combination of conveying normalness, performing positive affect, and adjusting to being interpreted in public.

THE ORIGIN OF THE RULE OF LAW; APPLIED RESEARCH ON IRAQI LAW AND INTER-RELIGIOUS LAWS

Political systems adopt the principle in some of its manifestations and not others. The transformation into a state of law is gradual, passing through several systems of government in which the state develops and transforms into civilized democratic systems subject to the law and respecting the principle of the rule of law. On this basis, the state of law is one that subjects its public authorities to all legal rules in all actions and behaviors issued by it. This commitment is what takes it out of the category of oppressive states in which the ruling authority has absolute freedom to take whatever actions and procedures it deems appropriate in confronting individuals to achieve whatever goals it pleases without being bound by the provisions and rules of the law. Some constitutional law scholars have distinguished between the principle of the state’s submission to the law and the principle of the rule of law. They say that the principle of the state's submission to the law means subjecting all authorities in the state, and it is a legal principle that aims to protect the rights and freedoms of individuals in the face of the state or the administration. As for the principle of the rule of law, it means the supremacy of the legislative authority over the executive authority, and the inability of the latter to take any action unless it is in implementation of the law or with the authorization of the law. It is a political idea that originated from the fact that parliament represents the will of the nation. The rule of law means the supremacy of the provisions of the law in the state; such that the provisions and rules of the law are superior to all wills in the state (the wills of the rulers and the ruled together).

One Justice for All? Social Dilemmas, Environmental Risks and Different Notions of Distributive Justice

A just or fair distribution of environmental bads and goods is important for solving environmental social dilemmas and is a core idea of environmental justice politics and research. Environmental justice is mostly associated with egalitarianism as the sole justice principle for all people. In contrast, we argue that it is important to uncover and consider heterogeneity in justice concerns to achieve socially accepted solutions to environmental social dilemmas. With noise pollution as an example, we explore citizens’ preferences for justice principles regarding the allocation of politically initiated environmental benefits. In our survey in four European cities, respondents were asked to choose between different outcomes of a program to reduce road traffic noise in line with the following four notions of distributive justice: equal shares, equal outcomes, the greatest benefit for the least advantaged (Rawls), and the greatest benefit for the greatest number (Bentham). We found that most respondents chose Rawls’ principle, a preference that was stable over time but weaker when explicitly introducing the veil of ignorance. The preference for Rawls notwithstanding, we observed substantial heterogeneity in justice preferences. Multinomial logit analyses of survey and geo-referenced data on noise exposure showed that respondents with a higher socio-economic status and lower exposure to traffic noise were more likely to choose Rawls’ principle. Taken together, our study confirms the prominence of Rawls’ principle, demonstrates empirically the heterogeneity of justice preferences, and calls for more direct measurements of such preferences in research on environmental social dilemmas, environmental justice, and beyond.

Understanding Mawdudi's Thought

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the ideology of Sayyid Abul A'la Mawdūdī, a prominent Islamic scholar and thinker of the 20th century. Focusing on Mawdūdī's religious, social, economic, and political ideas, the paper examines his contributions to Islamic thought and their relevance in contemporary perspectives. With a special focus, the paper explores Mawdūdī's interpretations of Islam, his vision for society and governance, and his critiques of modern ideologies. Additionally, the paper examines the controversies surrounding Mawdūdī's thought and offers insights gained from comparative analysis with other Islamic thinkers. By exploring Mawdūdī's intellectual legacy, this paper seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of Islamic thought and its implications for contemporary Muslim societies. It seems that over the coming years the comprehension and influence of his thoughts will grow within the field of contemporary Islamic social sciences and he will be recognized as one of the most influential thinkers in contemporary world of Islam.

MUHAMMAD ASAD'S DESIGN OF AN ISLAMIC STATE IN POST-COLONIAL PAKISTAN

The paper aims to highlight Muhammad Asad’s epistemological postulate on Islamic politics as reflected in his works on Islamic state. It seeks to address these fundamental problems: what is the legal basis that support and establish Asad’s position of founding an Islamic state? and how could this idea fairly accommodates with the prevailing notion of nation state in post-colonial context. Thus, the study set forth to find the answers based on such range of objectives: to analyse the underlying ideas of Islamic state as advocated in the classical sources, to define the basic constitutional framework as developed by Asad in the context of historical Pakistan, to estimate the implication of implementing Islamic law and its impact on the global politics and its compatibility with international law. In this regards, Asad had formulated the constitutional ideas of Islamic state whose constitution contains the provision of Islamic law that practiced and implemented the norms stated in the Divine Writ. This ideas was partly enshrined in the Pakistan constitutional law whose political establishment was formed in 1947. The paper essentially discussed Muhammad Asad’s political ideas and its underlying philosophy as espoused in his works. The study conducted based on qualitative approaches of the type of library research. The data were analysed by way of descriptive, analytical and comparative technique. The finding shows that Muhammad Asad had formulated comprehensive theoretical framework of legal aspect of Islamic governance drawn up from the fundamental principle and doctrine of the shariah, and its moral norms deriving from the explicit Qur’anic and sunnah text, while also advocating democratic ideals and principles based on conventional practice and requirement of modern context of nation state. Based on this main finding, it is concluded that Islamic teaching and its spiritual norms were compatible with democratic ideal and values of human right, participatory and constitutional government as implemented in the democratic space of Pakistan.

Prinsip Pemerintahan dalam Islam menurut Muhammad Asad

The paper discusses Muhammad Asad’s work on the principle of Islamic governance and its basic constitution and foundational structure. In this regards, he formulated the constitutional ideas of Islamic state whose constitution contains the provision of Islamic law that practiced and implement the norms stated in the Qur’an and hadith. This ideas was partly enshrined in the Pakistan constitutional law whose political establishment was formed in 1947. It essentially discussed Muhammad Asad’s political ideas and its underlying philosophy as espoused in his works, such as The principles of state and government in Islam, This law of ours and other essays, Islamic constitution making, journal Arafat, The message of the Qur’an, Sahih al-Bukhari the early years of Islam and, etc. The study is based on qualitative methods in the form of library research. The data were analysed using descriptive, analytical and comparative methods. The finding shows that Muhammad Asad had formulated comprehensive theoretical framework of legal aspect of Islamic governance based on the fundamental principle and doctrine of the shariah, derived from the teaching of the Qur’an and the sunnah, while advocating democratic ideals and system based on conventional practice and requirement of modern context of nation state.

The Unity and Struggle of Opposites in Concepts of the Right of Nations to Self-Determination Developed by V.I. Lenin and V. Wilson

The paper deals with the conflict between the concepts of self-determination stated by V.I. Lenin and V. Wilson, which determined the formation of a new world order from the beginning of the 20th century until the end of the Second World War, which is based on the political and legal idea of self-determination.In 1914, Vladimir Lenin put forward the concept of self-determination in the article «On the right of nations to self-determination», which was dedicated to the confrontation between the «oppressive» and «oppressed» nation with the right to secede the latter and «form a national state». This concept was taken up by American President Woodrow Wilson. He used it as a basis for the «Fourteen Points» when addressing the US Congress in 1917 as a political formula and legal justification for the US entry into the First World War, the fragmentation of Europe into nation states and the increase in political influence.The author concludes that the principle of self-determination, developed by Lenin and further developed by Wilson, was based on various ideological premises and initially had a diametrically opposite meaning. Whereas in Lenin’s work the emphasis was on the creation of a sovereign state up to the point of secession and/or annexation to another state, but under the protection of international law, then for Wilson self-determination was almost identical to «government of the people» or «government by consent», with the possibility of exerting political influence on a self-determined nation and justifying military conflicts with the participation of the United States in Latin America.Exploring the conceptual component of ideas, foreign policy documents of Soviet and American diplomacy, the author, based on an analysis of the world order that emerged after the First World War and the rapid process of national liberation movements and decolonization, concludes about the stunning influence of the Leninist formula on the emergence of new states in Europe, Asia, and others regions of the world, as well as for the return of the national outskirts of the former Russian Empire lost as a result of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty.

The Shepherd-King Metaphor in the Light of Interdisciplinary Research

RESEARCH OBJECTIVE: The aim of the article is to analyze the sources of the shepherd-king metaphor, mainly from the perspective of social-political ideas, within a broad cultural and intellectual context. THE RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODS: The article focuses on identifying the intellectual sources of the shepherd-king metaphor in antiquity, their anthropological and cosmological context, and the metaphor’s fundamental message. Particular emphasis is placed on the socio-political aspect; thus, analyses of strictly theological significance are left aside. To achieve the research objective, the author makes use of interdisciplinary instruments, referring to archaeological, biological, and historical knowledge and especially to analyses from the field of the history of ideas. THE PROCESS OF ARGUMENTATION: The article’s line of argument reflects the fundamental problems that need to be solved in order to determine the essence and shape of the shepherd-king metaphor. Therefore, the issues analyzed include animal domestication; ancient anthropology understood as the divine domestication of humans; and the distinctions drawn in ancient thought between the essence of the nature of animals, humans, rulers, and gods. RESEARCH RESULTS: As a result of the analyses indicated above, it was possible to capture the main components of the shepherd-king metaphor, their structure and essence, as well as their direct reference to, and significance for both anthropology and socio-political thought. CONCLUSIONS, INNOVATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS: The article highlights the importance of the shepherd-king metaphor to the history of political ideas, outlining the impact of both its explicit theses and its more implicit, but no less important, elements. Attention was also drawn to the need for further research, which would enable the metaphor’s socio-political aspects analyzed in this article to be combined into one coherent interpretation with the religious and theological aspects.

«КРАТКИЙ КУРС ИСТОРИИ УКРАИНЫ» А. ПАЛИЯ И ПРЕДШЕСТВУЮЩАЯ ИСТОРИОГРАФИЯ

The article continues the analysis of the historiographical situation in Ukrainian historical science. A comparison of the work of A.Palia "A short course in the history of Ukraine" with earlier works on the history of Ukraine – "Ukrainian history. A short course" (collective work, 1948) and "The history of Ukraine from ancient times to the present day" (V.I. Semenenko, L.A. Radchenko, 1999). These works reflect the advantages and disadvantages of Ukrainian historical science in different periods of its development. The "Short Course", a collective work of Ukrainian and Russian specialists, included a number of political ideas that were characteristic of the 1940s – 1950s, in particular, the idealization of the Soviet period in the history of Ukraine. It was a classic example of the official Soviet version of Ukraine's history. At the same time, compared with previous literature, this work contained numerous facts, especially from socio-economic history. In the 1999 book The authors made an attempt to overcome the established historiographical traditions and present readers with an honest interpretation of Ukrainian history, especially its Soviet period. The authors highlighted a number of important and previously unknown facts, freed their work from the ideologization characteristic of the science of the Soviet period. The comparison revealed how the level of scientific historical thought of Ukrainian specialists has decreased, how primitive and tendentious it has become in the works of historians such as A. Paly, how knowledge of the past has been replaced by naked propaganda.

Assimilationism, Sexual Nationalism, and the Backlash Against Gender and Sexuality

Fifteen years ago my co-authors and I wrote an article discussing the politics of sexual nationalism in the Netherlands (Mepschen at al., 2010). We argued that gay and lesbian emancipation had come to center almost solely on the political idea of the “integration” of alleged sexual and religious others into the Dutch moral community. We pointed out that the Dutch case was exemplary of wider European developments. In various European countries we have witnessed complex transformations in the relationship between the nation and the question of sexual democracy (Fassin, 2012). Lesbian and gay rights and discourses have been weaponized to frame Western Europe as the “avatar of both freedom and modernity” (Butler 2008, 2) and depict its Muslim citizens and others with a migration background as backwards and homophobic. In the words of the queer theorist Jasbir Puar (2007), who coined the term ‘homonationalism,’ gay rights have been recast as an “optic, and an operative technology” in the production and disciplining of Muslim Others (See also Rahman 2014.) Cases of homophobia among Muslim and migrant citizens are highlighted, treated as archetypal, and cast within Orientalist narratives that underwrite the superiority of European secular modernity. Homophobia is increasingly represented as peripheral to Western European culture (Mepschen 2017). As I see it, we still live in the same historical moment: the notion of sexual nationalism is more relevant than ever. But at the same time, things are changing. Before we get to that, a short overview of what has been discussed in the last fifteen years.

Incompatible logics? Professionals and volunteers as collaborating partners in the disability services, the social services, and the probation services

ABSTRACT This study explores the integration of volunteers within Sweden’s public sector, specifically in disability services, probation services, and social services. In a study of public documents, it examines the differing logics of professional and voluntary social work, noting three key distinctions: practical preconditions, qualifications, and tasks. Professionals are paid employees with formal education, while volunteers are often unpaid, valued more for their personal engagement. Volunteers tend to focus on interpersonal relations, whereas professionals handle more complex tasks like assessments. Despite legislative support for volunteer involvement, practical implementation reveals several challenges. Recruitment difficulties, lack of comprehensive guidelines, and the different operational logics of professionals and volunteers complicate integration. For instance, recruitment is claimed to be hard, there is a notable lack of knowledge about the specific content of volunteer interventions as well as of expected outcomes. In the frame of such logics, a shift is ongoing in practice, from volunteer involvement to professionals taking on the task of being the persons people in need meet. The study highlights a gap between legislative aspirations and professional practices, noting that the political idea of integrating volunteers often does not align with the ideas of structured professional social work. Working together with volunteers, adding their humanistic approach to the professionals’ work, do not fit into the structured, outcome-focused framework of professional social work. The study concludes that more support and structured guidance of the professionals are needed to effectively combine the logics of professional and voluntary work in social services.

Interactional and convivial possibilities at war: Ukrainian students’ home-making on a multicultural campus

This article examines Ukrainian students’ home-making at London’s multilingual and multicultural universities, contrasting the ways in which students’ idea of themselves and their sense of belonging developed after their arrival in London, and the ways in which this experience was altered by the outbreak of war on 24 February 2022. For international students in the UK, making themselves at home on a university campus is a relational process in which cultural, linguistic and political ideas and practices, brought together from the students’ former homes, are negotiated and transcended in newly established social networks. In this article, we explore the ways in which students’ networks, old and new, are altered as a result of their experience of war. Our findings indicate that when imagined personal life trajectories are disrupted as a result of the social and political crisis that accompanies the war, the possibilities of articulating the individual experience and the social interactions that provide such affordances are existential processes, which allow (or not) individuals to (re-)engage in home-making and to find new meaning in their emplacement and sense of self.

المعتزلة ودورها في شرعنة الدولة العباسية ومواجهة الطوائف المعارضة

The Mu'tazila scientist provided a great and important service to the Abbasid state, as the Mu'tazila participated in the revolution against the Umayyads, and the summit of their political, military and intellectual activity against the Umayyad authority was represented in their contribution with the Shiites in overthrowing the Umayyad rule, which led to the stability of power in the hands of the Abbasids. This activity has reached an extent of clarity and effectiveness, as during the last period of the Umayyad state, "Wasel" and his followers were actively working in the service of the Abbasid cause. and that the doctrine of "Wasel" and the doctrine of the early Mu'tazila were the two official theological doctrines of the Abbasid movement. In addition, the Abbasid rulers were able to pass their political ideas through Mu'tazili thought, which they found the best way to legitimize their authority, liquidate their political and religious opponents, and justify their actions. Therefore, during the time of al-Ma'mun, the Abbasid state adopted retirement as an official principle of the state.

Reputational costs of receptiveness: When and why being receptive to opposing political views backfires.

A fast-growing body of research finds that receptiveness to opposing political views carries reputational benefits. A different body of research finds that opposing political views and the people who hold them are seen as repugnant. How could it be that people receptive to opposing political ideas are viewed positively when the political opponents they are receptive to are seen negatively? In seven main (N = 5,286) and nine supplemental studies (N = 3,983 participants in online studies; N = 124,493 observations in field data), we reconcile this tension by arguing that the identity of the person one is receptive to determines whether receptiveness carries reputational benefits or costs. When the information source belongs to the opposing party, receptiveness to opposing political views often carries reputational costs. We find these reputational costs across both strong and weak signals of receptiveness, eight different political and social issues, and multiple types of prototypical out-party sources. We argue that these costs arise because members of the opposing party are frequently stereotyped as immoral, and thus receptiveness to their ideas is seen negatively. As a boundary condition, we find that the costs of receptiveness are pronounced for sources who are prototypical of the out-party and attenuate (or even reverse) for sources who are nonprototypical. These findings resolve a seeming contradiction between two distinct literatures in psychology, contribute to a rapidly expanding literature on the interpersonal consequences of receptiveness, and lay the groundwork for understanding novel barriers to, and ultimately solutions for, the lack of cross-party openness and political polarization. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

The knowledge of lies

From the point of view of the dialogue partner and interpretive knowledge, a way of seeing and assuming the events that humanity experiences and experiences towards a new reinterpretation of knowledge is explained. We are at a crossroads that we assume and unintentionally cause discouragement in human beings. The fact of how it will be resolved still represents a mystery for each individual on a day-to-day basis. This work is presented in several parts, from a pretension of initial political and educational ideas, the opening of the socio-anthropological method and the dialectic of possible solutions.

Beyond the paradigm of uninterrupted expansion of participation: Backing the policy of emancipation from andragogical powers

Participation rate in adult and continuing education (ACE) is one of the multiple indicators of distributive justice. Nonetheless, the literature of recent decades has turned it into a cardinal principle and value. Expansive paradigm that envisages the progressive and generalised development of participation rate in ACE is examined in this article. The aim is to analyse the structure of their argument. Their comparison with Eurostat data on participation and with the results of the RegALE-European Union (EU)-Survey on opinions of local and regional stakeholders is carried out to reach two conclusions. The first concerns the incapacity of Member States to translate expansive paradigm into effective ACE policies. The second one puts forward the theory of the learning exclusion equilibrium as a tool for explaining the reasons for the lack of progress recorded in terms of participation rate in ACE. At the same time, a critical analysis of the political idea of participation rate is performed. Contrasted with the participation objective is a different parameter focused on the individual and social future consequences of the learning processes in which each adult is involved.