Refraining the Meaning of “Political” in Research with Adolescents

Abstract

The Gettysburg Address contains no direct quotations from the Bible; nevertheless, it is replete with biblical phrases and themes. Lincoln, who had an intimate and thorough knowledge of the King James Bible, used the Bible in ways essential to the mission and message of his brief address delivered on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of a national cemetery at Gettysburg. The unifying theme of his speech was the conception, birth, and death of the nation, which parallels the life of Jesus as recounted in the New Testament. This theme climaxes with the nation's “new birth of freedom,” secured through the sacrifice of the Civil War, especially through the shed blood and death of the “brave men” on Gettysburg's battlefield. Lincoln invoked biblical cadences, phrases, and themes to solemnify the occasion for his speech and to infuse the great sacrifice of the dead and wounded with profound meaning.     

Polanyi's Magnum Opus? Assessing the Application of the Counter-Movement in International Political Economy

The concept of the ‘counter-movement’ has had a significant impact within studies in International Political Economy (IPE). In the light of the credit crisis and the growth of growing resentment to the notion of the free market, the idea of the counter-movement has been utilised to understand social reaction to neoliberalism. This article argues that whilst the counter-movement has been used in unique and innovated ways, Karl Polanyi himself used the term largely to refer to a specific period in nineteenth-century British history. This article argues that whilst the counter-movement remains interesting, its application remains open to scrutiny. It questions whether the concept was indeed central to Polanyian economic thought and how much can be given to it in today's contemporary era of neoliberalism. It also suggests that by focusing merely on the counter-movement, Polanyian accounts within IPE are in danger of ignoring much of his wider critique of market economics.     

In the Wake of Political Intervention： British Hong Kong and the Lingnan Macroregion

This article attempts a preliminary exploration of the intraregional cohesion and division between British Hong Kong and the Lingnan macroregion. A deliberately overlooked locale in Skinner＇s macroregional model, Hong Kong developed from a periphery zone on the far eastern outskirt of Lingnan in its precolonial days to a thriving metropolis at the end of British rule. The transformation of British Hong Kong attests to the economic fundamentals of intraregional cohesion. More significantly it highlights the decisive power of political intervention, underestimated in Skinner＇s approach, which brought enduring changes to the shape as well as the internal and external relations of the macroregion.     

“In the Truth of Our Political Nature”: Pierre Manent's Defense of Political Reason in Cours familier de philosophie politique

Abstract

Throughout the 1980s, Polish trade unions generated enormous interest among researchers as a vivid example of the power and influence of mass social movements in politics. Following the reemergence of Solidarity and the downfall of the communist regime in 1989, the focus of attention has shifted. Analyses of elite choices and strategies, rather than studies of social groups and organizations, have begun to dominate the scholarship on postcommunist Eastern Europe. Although the new perspectives have made it possible to compare democratization in Poland and other former Marxist-Leninist states with postauthoritarian transitions in Southern Europe and Latin America,¹ they often fail to provide an accurate assessment of the actual significance of the trade union movements and organizations in this process.     

Colouring Inside What Lines? Interference of the Urban Growth Boundary and the Political–Administrative Border of Brussels

This paper discusses the relationship between the political–administrative border and the urban growth boundary (UGB) around Brussels, the Belgian capital. Our hypothesis is that the interests of the various regions and language groups in Belgium interfere strongly with urban planning policies, implying that the administrative border of the Brussels-Capital Region (BCR) operates in reality as an unintended UGB. Based on demographics, commuter data and property market features, we argue that this situation may cause excessive urban compaction of the BCR, while spillover effects to municipalities that are rather distant from Brussels may result in undesired forms of suburbanization and long-distance commuting.     

Political preferences in the new middle class: A ‘correspondence analysis’ of the orientations of Australian professional workers

Most discussions of the relationship between class and political orientation assume a coherent and homogeneous class response. Here, the new middle class of professional workers is disassembled into constituent occupations. An analysis of political preference data by means of ‘correspondence analysis’ reveals a pattern which is consistent with a structural relationship between occupational experience and political preference.     

Autonomia and the Political: An Italian Cycle of Contention, 1972–1979

Sidney Tarrow has identified a ‘cycle of contention’ taking place in Italy between 1966 and 1972; Tarrow characterises the left-wing terrorism of the late 1970s as an after-effect of this cycle. However, there was a second cycle of contention between 1972 and 1979, incorporating the left-wing ‘armed struggle’ milieu alongside a group of related mass movements (notably the ‘area of Autonomia’, the ‘movement of 1977’ and the ‘proletarian youth movement’). The second cycle, unlike the first, was met with repression, and with the exclusion of its ideological and tactical innovations from the political mainstream. The difference between the two cycles relates to the role played by the Italian Communist Party, which functioned as a ‘gatekeeper’ in each case; the party's engagement with the first cycle can be characterised as inclusive, while its engagement with the second cycle was unremittingly exclusive.     

Mouzinho da Silveira and the Political Culture of Portuguese Liberalism, 1820–1832

Summary

Liberalism as an identity and as a political ideology was non-existent in Portugal, as in most of the countries of Ibero-America, before the beginning of the nineteenth century. But the semantic development of the term ‘liberal’ in Portuguese underwent a clear and rapid mutation in the following decades. It became associated with specific meanings in relation to constitutional issues and civil law matters. While the former prevailed between 1820 and 1823, the latter were dominant in the writings of Mouzinho da Silveira and his Civil War legislation of 1832 to 1834.     

The Emergence of Political Parties and Political Dynamics in Afghanistan, 1964–73

The 1960s in Afghanistan's history were marked by the emergence of a number of political parties, from monarchist to radical left and right. They played an important role in the social, cultural and political dynamics of the time and even the future of the country. This paper explores how political parties emerged in a country which was characterized as a tribal-peasant society with only a very small number of educated people. It also discusses why the monarch would not sign the Political Parties' Bill and how this influenced Afghanistan's political culture and led to the radicalization of the political parties. In addition, it examines how the anti-government and radical political parties managed to mobilize people and dominate the political scene while the pro-government and nationalist parties had little influence.     

Who Shapes the Politics of Expertise? Co-Production and Authoritative Knowledge in Thailand's Political Forests

Expert environmental knowledge has often been described as a governmental rationality that reduces political debate and facilitates state control. In this paper, I argue instead that this line of reasoning simplifies how knowledge gains political authority, especially when expertise is shared and left unchallenged by diverse actors, including those in conflict with each other. Using the framework of co-production from Science and Technology Studies (STS), I apply this argument to conflicts over the supposed watershed functions of forests in Thailand, where simplified narratives about the impacts of land use on water supply are used as justifications for territorialisation and restrictions on forest land. In particular, I focus on local resistance to the proposed Kaeng Sua Ten dam in northern Thailand in order to demonstrate how protestors have deliberately reproduced formal expertise to empower themselves, but by so doing also reinforcing simplified visions of watershed science and community culture. I argue that exposing the co-production of authoritative knowledge and visions of social order offer greater opportunities for understanding the role of expertise as a political force than analysing competing assemblages based on oppositions of state-led expert knowledge and traditional local practices.     

Political imprisonment and the sanctity of death: performing heritage in ‘Troubled’ Ireland

The ‘Troubles’ is a euphemism associated with sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland from the late 1960s until the late 1990s. Similarly, that term also is used to depict turmoil in all of Ireland between 1916 through 1924. During both eras, political imprisonment coupled with various forms of political violence (e.g. bombings, executions, and prisoner abuse) marred Irish society in ways that invoke socio-religious meaning. In particular, the sanctity of death captures the intense semiotics of those events and points to further theorising along lines of the Durkheimian tradition. As we shall examine herein, violations of the sanctity of death compound social conflict and the resistance it creates. Fieldwork was undertaken in Dublin and Belfast where official landmarks were explored in-depth: Kilmainham Gaol and the Crumlin Road Prison, respectively. Additionally in Belfast, other – unofficial – cultural sites provide further evidence of socio-religious symbolism, most notably the Irish Republican History Museum, Roddy McCorley’s Club in West Belfast, and murals in both Loyalist and Republican communities. Whereas Durkeimian theory remains at the forefront of the analysis, insights also are informed by heritage studies, in particular notions of cultural performance in contested societies.