Political Theory Research Articles

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.

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.

Liudijimo literatūros reikšmė žmogaus teisių sampratai

The paper analyses whether witness literature could supplement the existing discussion on the nature of human rights. Contemporary theories of human rights are divided into two main groups – ethical and political theories. The latter theories present different conception of human dignity which is the fundamental concept for the understanding of human rights. The author claims that witness literature, by virtue of its frequent focus on the issues of human dignity, can assist in evaluating the arguments presented by ethical and political theories, thus contributing to the ongoing discussion and to the better understanding of human rights.

The Bureaucratic Origins of Political Theory: Administrative Labor in the “Other Half” of the History of Political Thought

The earliest works of political theory precede Athenian democracy—the traditional starting point of Anglophone histories of political thought—by over two millennia. More time passed between the first written accounts of government in Mesopotamia and the birth of Plato than has passed between Plato’s life and ours. And yet this “other half” of the history of political thought has barely registered in the academic field of political theory. This article seeks to “reset” the starting point of the field back to its earliest origins in ancient Sumer. Beginning then and there opens a new vista on the history of political thought by restoring questions of public administration to the foreground of the field. For while the ancient Athenians enslaved their bureaucrats and wrote almost nothing about them, the analogous actors were free and highly valued in ancient Mesopotamian political culture. It was these scribal administrators who invented the world’s first literature and written political thought. In their writings, they valorized their own administrative labor and the public goods that it alone could produce as objects of wonder and enchantment. From this vantage point, the article calls for a new research agenda that will expand political theory’s recent “rediscovery” of bureaucracy by recovering public administration as a major thematic throughline in the five-thousand-year global history of human political ideas. Understanding public administration as an integral part of large-scale human societies from the very beginning may help to counter oligarchic claims in contemporary democracies that bureaucracy is a recent alien imposition.

Три уровня международного политико-экономического анализа: новая перспектива для исследования международных проблем в эпоху многополярности

One of the key issues in current international relations studies is the structure of knowledge. The epistemological foundations of political and economic theories of international development are losing their relevance as the influence of theory on the practice of international relations wanes. The declining ability of international analysis to predict the future of world politics and economics emphasizes the need for a broader, interdisciplinary approach to the study of international relations. This study aims to explore the possibility of creating a new, practical and interdisciplinary model of analysis to address the problems of the modern international system. This approach to the systemic analysis of international relations involves broadening the scope of the study by integrating international political and economic (IPE) analysis and including three analytical levels: explanatory, normative and critical. The article defines the terminology, structure, principles and criteria of such an analysis based on the problems of modern political science. The author also points out the main difficulties in the formation of theoretical and methodological basis of the three-level analysis. Examples of analyzing problems, namely the impact of trade barriers on the instability of global supply chains and the international dimension of the energy crisis of the Federal Republic of Germany (2022 – present) are given, demonstrating the quality and consistency of the results of such analysis.

Aristotle and the Problem of Universal Accessibility in Leisure

Leisure is both a necessary precondition for, and the ultimate purpose of, human activities. As such, it is commonly understood as a state of contemplation practiced for its own sake. However, this view raises a problem regarding its universal accessibility. Aristotle’s ethical and political theories demand leisure as a universally embraced way of life, while contemplative leisure appears impractical for common people. There are broadly two approaches to fix this problem: (a) distinguishing leisure of two sorts, and (b) expanding the semantic scope of contemplation. Nevertheless, they both come with certain limitations. I propose redefining leisure as a moral-psychological concept aligned with the allegedly hexis-state of the soul. This redefinition presents leisure as a basic human condition, offering a possible solution to the problem of its universal accessibility.

Colombia es un Estado pluralista. El sentido pluralista del Estado colombiano tiene un alcance antropológico religioso y no ideológico

Pluralism is the variety of existing vocation, talent or charisma towards the common good. Only in this way, man will be able to satisfy each and every one of his human needs in reciprocity, feeling solid, safe or compact, as a member of the Nation, to which he is a part. Pluralist State will be one whose public power duly constituted, guarantees the population settled in a given territory, the diversity of vocation, talent or charisma to govern human rights towards the Common Good, in the face of the existence of social inequality. Pluralism as political theory and philosophical doctrine will exist as soon as vocations, talents or charisms, these indivisible essences of a different nature, reflect the “common good” in a global way. Only then, is it authentic and legitimate.

Sovereignty across generations: The problem of divisive pluralism dismissed

The Rawlsian conception of constituent power in Alessandro Ferrara’s Sovereignty Across Generations is burdened by a deep contradiction that renders the central argument in the book highly questionable. On the one hand, Rawls is (correctly in my view) presented as the thinker that confronted contemporary political theory with the problem of divisive pluralism. On the other hand, Rawls is also presented (incorrectly in my view) as the thinker who then suddenly found a solution for this divisive pluralism in the ‘common values’ that all the members of these divisively pluralist societies share ‘unproblematically’. The combination of these two moves leaves one with the sense that Rawls rather frivolously put up the problem of divisive pluralism like a strawman that he could shoot down again without much ado. This article proposes a different reading of Rawls that considers him a serious thinker who did not amuse himself and his readers with strawman-problems. For this reading of Rawls, guidance is drawn from Hans Kelsen, the very thinker whom Sovereignty Across Generations casually dismisses for failing to grasp or appreciate the ‘common values’ that pluralist societies share so ‘unproblematically’.

Introduction: Political Ecologies of Paper in Early Modern Art, 1500–1800

Abstract This special issue examines paper as it became the definitive material for both artistic practice and jurisprudence. European paper made from pulped rags and linens to create the mythic white empty grounds for design was foundational to early modern European ideas about both sovereignty and the creative act. The materiality of paper—as a surface created from refuse—also introduced a form of ecological thinking into both artistic practice and political theory that recognised the value and revolutionary potential of the material world to create from the detritus of failed projects and revolutions. Surveying artistic production across the European continent and into the Ottoman empire, this series of essays examines paper as both a material force that redefined the limits of the creative act while also being inseparable from the consolidation of new political regimes emerging from the rise of early modern colonialism. Paper was both the tool of dispossession and also the grounds on which the potential of artistic practice was reimagined.

Conspiracy Theories as Productive Practices: Toward a Theory of Conspiratorial Style, Agency, and Politics

This article reviews anthropological explorations of conspiracy theories—in dialogue with insights from other disciplines, primarily political science, philosophy, and social psychology—to frame conspiracy theories as productive social practices. While conspiracy theories are often depicted through their epistemological shortcomings and associated with social and political margins, this article traces the nascent threads across anthropological scholarship to reach an emic understanding of those narratives and their sociopolitical reverberations and proposes approaching conspiracy theories through their style, agentive implications, and political effects. Conspiratorial style, the article argues, pertains not to the content of the narrative but to its incessant seeking of covert operations beyond readily visible forms as well as a growing flexibility regarding the narrator's belief in the narrative's veracity. The agentivizing dynamic generated through conspiracism differentiates contemporary conspiracism from its predecessors and involves an empowering current. Finally, the article focuses on how contemporary conspiracism is intricately linked to political contestations.

Political leader's background and innovation in developing countries

Studies of innovations in developing countries remain mitigated. Those that have tackled the quest for determinants have been limited to the profiles of business leaders, thus neglecting those of presidents. Yet they are the main drivers of their countries' economic policies. In order to overcome this shortcoming, this article aims to verify, in the light of the political leader theory, the effect of the profile of national leaders on innovation indicators. We formulate the following hypothesis: the preferences of political leaders are defined by their background. We test this hypothesis on a panel of 48 developing countries, covering the period from 1995 to 2018, using the GMM estimation. Results indicate that militaries spend more on R&D than other professions and enhance patent demands, while political horizon hinders innovations. The robustness of the results is verified by using other innovation indicators, in particular domestic patent applications, foreign applications, and the political regime. This article contributes to the pursuit of Sustainable Development Goal 9 by providing a new tool for policy‐makers to rely on.

Locating the State: Between Region and History

If anthropology once concerned itself with politics in stateless societies outside Euro-America over and against prevailing Euro-American political theory, today anthropologists see the state at work everywhere. Anthropologists have sought to trouble spatial metaphors of state power that assumed, among other things, its centralization and the unitary character of sovereignty. Locating the state through an attendant question of region, we explore recent literatures on everyday state practices in Central and Eastern Europe and South Asia to show how different regional histories and configurations of knowledge continue to structure our assumptions about the state and its functions as well as the grammar of our descriptions. We suggest that the state could prove to be a useful optic for the study of region, which provides an alternative to an overly rigid local/global dichotomy that continues to shadow our theorizations.

A Critical Comparison of Kautilya's 'Arthashastra' and Machiavelli's 'The Prince', Their Political Theories and Philosophies

Kautilya’s Arthashastra was translated to English in the year 1915, since then its comparison with Machiavelli started. Chanakya is credited with the creation of Arthashastra, a magnum opus on statecraft, law, military, and other matters of the state. The Arthashastra is the oldest book on political science and political ethics, and he introduced many other prominent issues to be kept in mind compared to Machiavelli. Machiavelli only concentrates on political and fiscal matters, Kautilya writes about the importance of land settlements, promotion of economic activity, rules of society, construction of infrastructure, defence, and communication. He has given a list of behavioral codes for ministers, king, and civilians. There is mention of diverse levels of administration, various departments and the roles for the officials are clearly defined. And the entire administration was based on the foundation of ‘Dharma’. Arthashastra is a comprehensive, coherent, original document while on the other hand Machiavelli was seeking a job and he sent his manuscript with job application. Consequently, he covered a very few topics and did not analyze any topic in depth. Though written and complied centuries apart and prior to Machiavelli’s Prince, The Arthashastra is much more detailed and complete text on state craft which is relevant even today. Some researchers have even gone to the extent of saying that, comparing Machiavelli’s Prince to Kautilya’s Arthashastra is like comparing a candlelight to that of sunlight.

LITURATERRA [Entrevista: 2024, 3] A política contra o destino: o modo de pensar as alternativas

Brazilian philosopher Roberto Mangabeira Unger, a professor at Harvard University (USA) for over forty years, presents and discusses his perspective on politics in this interview. In it, he discusses elements of his social and political theory, one of the highlights of which is his treatment of institutional issues in an original way that differs from conventional institutionalism. He begins by defining the distinction between right and left in contemporary circumstances. It defines the possible types of politics. He deals with the fundamental concepts of his theory of institutional alternatives, explaining the nature of his experimentalist proposal. It approaches the organization of powers with a different emphasis from the dominant reflection on political institutions, always uncritically focused on the issue of stability, and proposes that the main objective of politics is to provide structural transformations. It argues that the democratic regime should have its center of gravity focused on majorities and not minorities. And he suggests that the central cause of the current crisis in democratic societies is of a programmatic nature: we have not yet been able to clear away the rubble of bankrupt social democracy. The general theme discussed was a new institutional model that would enable liberal societies to overcome the dead end in which they find themselves. The interview took place on May 22, 2022, in the district of Araras, in the municipality of Petrópolis (RJ).