Political Theory Research Articles

„Eine Sprache ausstellen“

Abstract In their attempt to reposition Germany in an international context after World War II, actors from both the fine arts and the literary scene turned to the idea of art as a universal language. Two major projects that shaped the West German cultural sphere in the 1950 s and 1960s – the contemporary art exhibition documenta 2 and Hans Magnus Enzensberger’s anthology Museum der modernen Poesie – placed this idea at their conceptual core. The debates surrounding these projects show, however, that the notion of art as a universal language was as contested as it was compelling. In close readings of paratexts, including previously overlooked archival material, it becomes evident that very different conceptualizations of monolingualism and community are attached to the idea in each context. Evaluating these differences through the lens of translation studies, curatorial studies, and political theory enables a more nuanced discussion of the concept’s post-war renaissance and its ideological implications.

Gilroy's Black Atlantic diaspora: climate displacement and rights‐bearing beyond the nation

AbstractNationalism studies have only recently started to grapple with the Anthropocene as a foundational shift for the discipline. One of the effects of climate change is the forced displacement of large populations, and if access to rights cannot be ensured outside the structures of territorial sovereignty, this migration could easily translate into widespread rightlessness. I argue that this necessitates a rethinking of how communities become rights‐bearing and how such rights‐bearing communities have existed outside the structures of the nation‐state. Specifically, I propose looking to Paul Gilroy's account of the Black Atlantic diaspora as an example of a rights‐bearing community that successfully claimed “the right to have rights” through a concerted effort of vocalising experiences of displacement. Reading Gilroy through rights‐scholarship in political theory I argue that the Black Atlantic can inform work on climate diasporas and their latent political potential as rights‐bearing communities.

Effect of Political Stability on International Tourism in Kenya

Purpose: The aim of the study was to analyze the effect of political stability on international tourism in Kenya. Methodology: This study adopted a desk methodology. A desk study research design is commonly known as secondary data collection. This is basically collecting data from existing resources preferably because of its low cost advantage as compared to a field research. Our current study looked into already published studies and reports as the data was easily accessed through online journals and libraries. Findings: Political stability is essential for international tourism in Kenya, as stability fosters a sense of safety that attracts foreign visitors. During peaceful periods, Kenya sees growth in tourist arrivals and revenue, while political unrest, such as the post-election violence in 2007-2008, results in sharp declines as safety concerns deter tourists. Tourism in Kenya is highly sensitive to political fluctuations, with even minor instability affecting tourist perceptions. To sustain and grow its tourism sector, Kenya must prioritize political stability through effective governance, peaceful elections, and strong conflict resolution strategies, which will help build a resilient tourism industry. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Social conflict theory, political economy theory & the institutional theory may be used to anchor future studies on the effect of political stability on international tourism in Kenya. Implementing robust governance practices, such as transparency, accountability, and anti-corruption measures, will enhance the overall tourist experience and foster trust among potential visitors. Formulating policies that promote good governance and strengthen institutions will create a conducive environment for political stability.

Motions in Pictures: From Habermas’s Informal Political Sphere to Formal Politics in the Films Footloose, Land and Freedom and The Beguiled

This article analyses three historical fiction films, Footloose, Land and Freedom and The Beguiled, to help illuminate aspects of politics and political theory. We study them to explore the relationship between Habermas’s concepts of the lifeworld and political spheres, which analysts have critiqued as opaque. Drawing on Habermas’s theory of communicative action, we debate prevailing understandings of the implications of his work for deliberative democracy via an exploration of the films. By expanding the definition of the term ‘motion’ (otherwise known as ‘draft resolution’), we relate this concept to these Habermasian themes. Thus, this paper analyses feature film case studies as they incorporate motions into fictionalised accounts. We suggest that focusing on these movies’ motions, embedded in unfolding narratives, can help reconceive Habermas’s work to illustrate fluidity in how people and ideas may move between informal and more formal spheres. Ultimately, by showcasing the importance of motions in political participation, via these movies, we advance the idea that motions may be seen as part of a ladder of involvement, providing further opportunities for encouraging participation.

Face to Face in Freedom: Beauvoirian Ambiguity in Sophocles’ Antigone

Abstract In my examination of Sophocles’ Antigone, I use Beauvoir’s existential philosophy as a lens and hermeneutic model and apply her language and terms—immanence, transcendence, and ambiguity—to the original ancient text to understand the gendered metaphors of the play and to reveal an area of oversight in her superficial treatment of the tragedy. Taking this theoretical approach, I use “feminist” or “existentialist” Beauvoir (The ethics of ambiguity, The second sex) against herself, that is, her interpretation of the Antigone in “Moral idealism and political realism,” to show how existentialist freedom is achieved in the tragedy. In my reading, I cast Antigone as a figure of ambiguity, situated in an oppressive context, and I argue that she creates her own project and strives towards freedom, in the Beauvoirian sense. I also extend the subjectivity of ambiguity to Ismene and illustrate the course of her own existential freedom to portray the reversibility of the transcendence/immanence polarity in these two figures and, ultimately, to suggest that the sisters are intertwined. Inscribing my reading in a tradition of feminist interpretations surrounding the Antigone, I advance a new reading that finds in the play a feminist political theory of existentialism, inclusive of the sororal pair.

Some States Stepping In: Politics and Discourse in Foreclosure Prevention Legislation Outcomes During the Financial Crisis

ABSTRACT At the core of the 2008 global financial crisis was a foreclosure crisis in the United States. The federal government focused on responding to the concurrent banking crisis, leaving foreclosure prevention to the states. Despite a nationwide crisis, only some states advanced foreclosure prevention policies. Political theory scholars argue that political ideology and economic interests are the primary drivers of policy outcomes, while discourse scholars argue that themes in the public discourse shape policymaking. In this article, I integrate these literatures to develop and test an account of foreclosure prevention policymaking. To measure discourse, I scrape the text of over 20,000 state-level media publications and inductively code them using Structural Topic Modeling. Using event history analysis, I examine the relationship between discourse themes, political factors, and the timing of foreclosure prevention policymaking by state legislatures. I find that states where a “markets” theme was more prevalent in the foreclosure discourse were less likely to advance foreclosure prevention policies, whereas states with discourse focused on “intervention” were more likely to do so. Results also corroborate previous scholarship showing that political ideology and special interest group activity impacted these policy outcomes.

Rethinking the theory of quiet politics: bad corporate behavior and the failure of quiet politics in the east coast gas crisis in Australia, 2022

Abstract The theory of quiet politics has two propositions; first, that business interests prefer to engage with governments in ‘quiet’ arenas shielded from the media and the day-to-day political fray, and second that business interests exert power over governments in quiet politics. We counter the second proposition, arguing that business generally exercises influence rather than power in quiet politics. One precondition for the successful exercise of influence is the acceptance by business of certain protocols of behavior in interactions with governments. In this paper we underline the importance of such protocols by exploring the dynamics of a conflict between the east coast gas industry and the federal government in Australia amidst steep rises in domestic gas prices and supply restrictions in 2022. The gas industry behaved badly in the economy and in politics and did not abide by the relevant protocols of engagement with the government. The government responded aggressively and quiet politics failed. The paper underlines the importance of the behavioral pre-conditions for business influence in quiet politics and what can go wrong if this fails.

The Practice Path of Integrating Chinese Excellent Traditional Culture into Ideological and Political Education in Colleges

The excellent traditional Chinese culture has the educational value of never fading. Integrating the excellent traditional Chinese culture resources into ideological and political education can not only provide rich nourishment for college students to practice the socialist core values, but also provide a solid foundation for teachers and students to enhance their cultural self-confidence, and provide useful reference for colleges and universities to improve the quality of ideological and political work. Colleges and universities should create a strong traditional culture environment, into the practice activities of college students; Strengthen the construction of ideological and political teachers and integrate them into the ideological and political theory courses; To innovate the ways and methods of ideological and political education, integrate excellent traditional Chinese culture into various media and other ways to achieve effective integration, so as to innovate the practice path of integrating excellent traditional Chinese culture into ideological and political education, promote the inheritance and innovation of excellent traditional Chinese culture and continue to burst out the vitality of The Times, and promote the high-quality development and enhancement of ideological and political education in the new era.

Integration of Foshan traditional culture into English language university curricula: Status, challenges, and strategic approaches

In contemporary Chinese education, a significant feature is the alignment and synergistic integration of ideological and political theory across various disciplines, including university English curricula. This integration involves embedding ideological and political education within all subject areas, thereby achieving a cohesive and comprehensive approach to curriculum development that fosters holistic student development. Integrating Foshan’s local cultural elements into the English curriculum aims to achieve thematic ideological and political education that is guided by local culture, material-based ideological and political education supported by specific cultural imagery, and methodological ideological and political education based on teaching strategies. This approach weaves the ten key elements of Foshan’s traditional culture into the curriculum’s objectives, content presentation, and pedagogical practices. Such integration not only enhances the quality of professional knowledge instruction in higher education English courses but also enriches students’ humanistic qualities, bolsters their perception and confidence in Foshan’s local culture, and ultimately contributes to the cultivation of innovative talent.

Challenges and Opportunities Faced by Contemporary Environmental Art Design Teaching Strategies

This article explores the importance and implementation strategies of comprehensive educational reform in ideological and political theory courses in universities. The article point south at comprehensive education reform is not only an inevitable requirement to adapt to the development needs of the new era, but also a key to improving the quality of ideological and political education, promoting the development of the teacher team, and building a discourse system for ideological and political education with Chinese characteristics. Faced with challenges such as globalization and informatization, ideological and political courses need to update their teaching content, introduce current hot topics, strengthen practical teaching, adopt diversified teaching methods, and fully utilize modern information technology. At the same time, it emphasizes the student-centered teaching philosophy and focuses on cultivating student’s-learning ability and critical thinking. These efforts aim to make ideological and political courses more relevant to the times and students, and contribute to the cultivation of socialist builders and successors with comprehensive development in morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics, and labor.

Why We Need Minimum Wages: Pay, Recognition, and Economic Citizenship

Statutory minimum wages have become an important tool for regulating labor markets. One major reason is the decline in collective wage bargaining. But how can minimum wages be justified? We show that their best justification does not lie in their economic effects but in the respect for social contributors that they express. The article takes an innovative interdisciplinary approach, bridging political philosophy and comparative political economy. We first discuss existing justifications in political practice and theory. We then show how a distinctive and robust justification should regard minimum wages as paying necessary respect to those who fulfill their obligation to contribute to social cooperation. Our justification thus suggests a new concept of economic citizenship and advances recognition theory applied to work. We outline further implications of the argument, such as the desirability of setting minimum wages through collective bargaining, and a tentative case for a maximum income.

A Multidimensional System of Proportional Representation

ABSTRACT In a representative deliberative democracy, a subset of the population—a committee—is selected to enter into deliberations as well as to make decisions on its behalf. In order to make a system of proportional representation fair to individual voters, the deliberations and decisions of the committee should be as close to deliberations and decisions in the ideal direct democracy where all are able to participate. The Chamberlin-Courant system claims to achieve this with its committee selection rule and voting weight distribution among committee members. After offering a novel streamlined presentation of the Chamberlin-Courant system, I argue that it in fact does not guarantee fairness to the individual voter because it does not take sufficient account of the fact that the satisfactoriness of a representative for an individual may vary per issue. I then propose an alternative—the multidimensional system—that is able to do exactly this. I then connect formal political theory with statistics on the use of voting guides to further motivate the proposed system and show that it is feasible to implement.

Oppressive expression and the Czech and Slovak communities of Northern Ireland

Feminist philosophers of language have, in the last several decades, demonstrated the usefulness of employing a speech-act theoretical lens to understand how expression works to enact and reinforce oppression. Despite the growing influence of these approaches in the philosophy and political theory literature, however, their use in other disciplines remains severely limited. This is surprising, especially given the real potential of the speech-act approach to illuminate the mechanisms by which everyday acts contribute to large-scale oppressions. This paper takes up this call for interdisciplinarity, utilising a speech-act theory of oppression to better understand the real-life experiences of the under-researched Czech and Slovak communities of Northern Ireland. Using semi-structured interviews followed by thematic analysis, our study expands our understanding of oppressive speech by revealing a complex relationship between victims’ experiences and their understanding of wider societal oppression, exposing a channel via which victims can exercise agency by contesting attempts to reinforce their oppression. In so doing, the study also draws attention to a novel theoretical lens with which to understand experiences of harmful speech, one which is currently under-utilised by those outside of the philosophy/political theory disciplines.

A Singular Enlightenment: C. L. R. James, Anti-Colonialism, and Transatlantic Political Thought

This article formulates an original account of the Enlightenment through an interpretation of C. L. R. James’s The Black Jacobins, a landmark work of transatlantic anti-colonial thought. It defends a dialectical account of the Enlightenment as a singular transatlantic historical process whose content and critical import changes across space and time. In The Black Jacobins, James shows the Enlightenment’s revolutionary and emancipatory political legacy by staging the dialectic of the Enlightenment in a colonial situation defined by a slave-plantation economy. James illustrates the Enlightenment’s political legacy as a “concrete universal” that has particular and singular aspects, each with its own unique contours. In doing so, the article considers other themes at the center of both historical and contemporary political theory such as how to best conceptualize colonialism; the traveling and misplacement of Enlightened ideas; and the critical importance of the dialectical legacy and critical theory in these efforts.

Comparative Historical Analysis in Political Theory

AbstractTwo important methodological debates in political theory concern (i) the place of historical research and interpretation in normative inquiry; and (ii) the importance of comparing different cultural traditions of political thought. The first question animates a long-standing controversy over the relative importance of ‘history of political thought’ versus ‘philosophy’ in political theory, while the second has been central to the recent growth of ‘comparative political theory’. Despite both debates being concerned, in fundamental ways, with history and comparison, they have remained surprisingly disconnected from broader debates in the humanities and social sciences about the use of comparative history and, in particular, of the prominent methodological approach in political science known as ‘comparative historical analysis’. This may reflect the fact that the debates over history of political thought and comparative political theory have fundamentally revolved around thought—history as the history of thought and comparison as the comparison of thought—whereas comparative historical analysis is more centrally focused on the study of political behaviour. In this paper I suggest that this neglect of comparative historical analysis in political theory represents a missed opportunity. Like other forms of social scientific inquiry, comparative historical analysis can yield important empirical knowledge for political theorists. But I wish to more ambitiously suggest that comparative historical analysis can also be adapted for conducting normative political theory itself. I summarise the key features of comparative historical analysis for political theorists, and explain how its use of historical cases can supplement both the use of imaginary thought experiments and the study of contemporary politics. I then delineate three specific ways in which comparative historical analysis might be used to support normative inquiry: deductive testing, inductive construction, and casuistic elaboration. All three, I argue, can help meet recent calls to bring the study of real political behaviour more centrally into political theory research.

O herói improvável e o elixir das concórdias

The reproduction of pleasant myths, the fabrication of heroic predecessors for present political movements and the upkeep of useful lies for the defence of noble causes should not constitute the aim of legal historians. On the contrary, it is their scientific duty to point out the inappropriateness of such conducts and the lack of plausibility of narratives produced this way. Showing how the legal community of São Paulo has reconstructed its memory, the article offers a new interpretation about the path of Goffredo Telles Junior as a political militant and State theorist. Re-examining forgotten remains of such path and reinterpreting the already known sources, we aim at demonstrating that his adhesion to Integralismo, far from having been an insignificant and episodical juvenile whim, was a decisive moment which affected his ideological views along four decades. From the thirties to the hardest times of the Military Dictatorship, his texts abounded with typical elements of the far-right antidemocratic thought: the obsession with corporatism as a supposed antidote against class struggle, the repugnance for liberal democracy, the disdain for the opinions of the average citizen, the strong attachment to hierarchy and to the “Principle of Authority”, the rejection of individualism and the belief that small élites, superior to the “mass”, should show the Nation its way. Obvious as well in the first integralist party as in its postwar successor, Goffredo’s longstanding loyalty to that far-right movement tends to be disregarded by his admirers, thus wiping out decades of the jurist’s political activity.

Testing Theories of Threat, Individual Difference, and Ideology: Little Evidence of Personality-Based Individual Differences in Ideological Responses to Threat

Recent attempts to establish the veracity of the conservative shift hypothesis have failed to find supportive evidence. Instead, this work yields inconsistent results and reveals considerable individual differences in ideological responses to ecological threats. In two studies, we build upon this work in two ways. First, we test the conservative shift hypothesis across five ecological threats: unemployment, immigration, racial diversity, COVID-19, and violent crime, more than has been examined previously. Second, we test whether, in line with political personality theories, openness to experience and conscientiousness predict who is likely to shift to the right in the face of threat and who is not. In one nationally representative panel study from the Netherlands ( N = 11,189) and one nationally representative repeated cross-sectional study in the United States ( N = 9,040), we find minimal support for the conservative shift hypothesis and theories that predict personality-based individual differences in ideological responses to threat.

Theory of Thomas Hobbes on the neccessity to move from the state of nature and form a state

This study demonstrated the theory of Thomas Hobbes on the necessity to move from the state of nature and form a state. Law is a prerequisite for ensuring peace, tranquillity and effective governance in a society. When law is in place, it fosters human beings' interaction with each other and creates a conducive environment for socio-economic empowerment. In the state of nature, according to Thomas Hobbes, there existed no government, no law, and nobody was above the other. There was no law, industry, civilisation, social life, economic and political order. If there was no law in place, then there was no morality. If there was no morality, then there was no justice or injustice. Life here was characterised by brutality, selfishness, and solitude and hence was short. The study was guided by Thomas Hobbes's political theory, which emphasises consent and consensus in the formation of government so as to move from the state of nature where life was unbearable. The study was library-based, and the researcher used a purposive sampling method to purposely sample three books that are inclined to materials related to Thomas Hobbes's political theory on the state of nature. The data was collected through reading texts, both published and unpublished. The location of the study was Chuka University Library. The study adopted a descriptive design and used a critical method that questions assumptions, examines the evidence, identifies biases, and strives for a deeper understanding of the state of nature and the necessity of forming a society. The study found that there is a need to have an organised society guided by law. The study recommended the need for equal distribution of resources.

Effects of economic growth target on the urban–rural income gap in China: An empirical study based on the urban bias theory

Urban–rural imbalance is a common phenomenon, and its prominent manifestation is the sustained expansion of the urban–rural income gap. For emerging countries, this gap encountered during the development process should be addressed by promoting development, which also puts forward high requirements for economic management. Inspired by political economy theory and the widening urban–rural income gap in China, this study constructs a theoretical framework of “purpose-behavior-performance-structure” based on the urban bias theory, and then quantitatively examines the effect of economic growth target on the urban–rural income gap based on panel data at the provincial level. In addition, we explore the mechanism by which economic growth targets affect the urban–rural income gap with the mediating effect model, and investigate the impact of marketization and spatial structure on the relationship between economic growth targets and urban–rural income gap with the moderating effect model. The results show that the economic growth target significantly contributes to the widening urban–rural income gap in the face of the political promotion incentives and economic growth target accountability system, and this effect exhibits substantial spatiotemporal heterogeneity. In addition, fiscal expenditure, fixed asset investment, and labor mismatch under urban bias are important mechanisms that lead to the widening urban–rural income gap, and the marketization level and spatial structure significantly affect this relationship. We put economic growth management, urban bias, and urban–rural income gap into the “purpose-behavior-performance-structure” theoretical framework, which provides a new explanatory perspective for understanding the urban–rural income gap in emerging economies, and new policy insights for rational economic growth management.

Relevance of Thomas Hobbes's political theory in addressing the challenges facing the principle of public participation in Kenyan governance

This study sought to address the relevance of Thomas Hobbes's political theory in addressing the challenges facing the principle of public participation in Kenyan governance. Law brings order in the society, and it is a prerequisite for ensuring peace, tranquillity and effective governance in a society. Despite the principle of public participation being enshrined in the constitution, political leaders have not fully embraced it. The study was guided by Thomas Hobbes's political theory. This theory emphasises consent and consensus in the formation of government so as to move from the state of nature where life was unbearable. The study was library-based, and the researcher used a purposive sampling method to purposely sample four books that are inclined to materials related to Thomas Hobbes's political theory on the state of nature. The data was collected through reading texts, both published and unpublished. The location of the study was Chuka University Library. The study adopted a descriptive design and used a critical method that questions assumptions, examines evidence, identifies biases, and strives for a deeper understanding of the principle of Public participation under the constitution of Kenya. The study found that there is a need to have an organised society guided by law. The study recommended the need for the government to engage people in public participation so as to get their consent in developments and governance policies.