Nationalism,Loss-Gain Framing and the Confederate States of America

Abstract. In recent years, numerous states have become racked with internal secessionist strife. Why have calls for independence by regional subgroupings been heeded even after long periods of inter-ethnic peace or in regions without any previous history of secessionist activity? I contend that this question can be answered by examining the phenomenon of loss-gain framing, in which people are motivated to adopt risky stratagems, like secession, due to fears of unacceptable losses. This article examines the enigma of why most white American Southerners in 1861 willingly fought for the establishment of the Confederacy, a nation based upon slavery, despite the fact that most Southerners did not own slaves and had continuously rejected secessionist appeals for years. Confederate President Jefferson Davis overcame this reluctance by emphasising what all Southerners – slaveholder and non-slaveholder alike – would lose by remaining in the United States rather than accentuating what would be gained by secession.     

Measurements,figures and formulas for the interpretation of Western Norwegian boats and viking ships

Along the coast of Norway we find a family of closely‐related boats. The Nordlands boat is one of them, and in many respects it is the most modern. The plan for the shape of these boats is typically coded into figures. Thus the “secret” of the boat's structure is a sort of “number code”. The question addressed here is: to what extent can the shape of the hull in Viking ships be expressed as a number code similar to that of the 19th‐century west‐coast boats of Norway. The principles behind the methods used to explore this question will be illustrated by three basic concepts, which will be treated separately below.     

What Is Religion?

Abstract

This essay considers the question: “What is religion and is it essentially violent?” Rather than answer the question directly, Martin suggests that it is a loaded question and reflects on what might motivate it. Through a comparison of the concepts of “religion” and “child abuse”–as analyzed in Ian Hacking’s work on social constructionism–Martin points to the social or political stakes of defining terms tied to normative discourses and which could be designed to pathologize certain behaviors.     

The Character and Influence of Abolitionism: A Sermon that Gripped a Nation and Defined a Man

This article examines Henry Van Dyke's antiabolitionist sermon The Character and Influence of Abolitionism and civilian responses to it. Preached shortly before South Carolina's secession, the sermon's timely appearance led to a wide distribution throughout the nation and stimulated opinions on slavery and abolition in relation to the Bible, clearly revealing a divided citizenry. Van Dyke's preference for conciliation caused some Northerners to question his loyalty, and while he represented himself as apolitical in order to preserve the unity of the church, his famous address contributed to the politicization of religion during the secession crisis and Civil War.     

Kosovo: Cultural Heritage in Conflict

Abstract

The secession of territory represents a unique challenge in the protection of cultural heritage in conflict. The declared independence of Kosovo has considerable implications for international cultural heritage. This paper focuses on the deliberate destruction of examples of historic architecture such as De?ani Monastery and Hadum Mosque as a means of contextualizing the nature of heritage in conflict with respect to international cultural heritage law. It offers a preliminary examination of aspects of cultural heritage in conflict, particularly in regard to the secession of territory and how it applies to historic monuments. The aim of this paper is two-fold: to address the considerations of immovable cultural property within the borders of Kosovo; and to utilize the examples of Visoki De?ani Monastery and Hadum Mosque to highlight the significance of cultural property in conflict.     

A Loving Attack on Caputo’s ‘Caputolism’ and his Refusal of Communism

Abstract

For various reasons, John D. Caputo is one of my favorite philosophers. However, one may identify two basic weaknesses or contradictions when it comes to his thoughts on political economy: (1) Caputo insists on capitalism—even if it be a significantly transformed capitalism (what I will be calling here “Caputolism”)—but he does not question whether capitalism can accommodate the required reforms; and (2) Caputo’s refusal to entertain the possibility of communism as a good/better alternative to capitalism, even though he has referred to an earthly “Kingdom of God” composed of a “radical community of equals”—which (strongly) resembles communism, thus rendering his refusal of communism all the more perplexing.     

SEKE,the KKE and the language question

Abstract

This article presents an overview of SEKE and the KKE's views on the language question between 1918 and 1936. By examining unpublished sources, shifts in the party's views become discernible which cannot be attributed solely to changes in the language debates. The article introduces two innovations: it argues that there is a correlation between political changes within the KKE and transformations in its views on language, and analyses these with reference to ideas on language in the USSR. Studying these views augments our knowledge of a relatively neglected dimension of the language question. Moreover, as the influence of Marxism on some Greek intellectuals increased in this period, its findings can be used to elucidate aspects of literary production.     

There is Something of One (God): Lacan and Political Theology

Abstract

For both Lacan and Badiou, Plato's Parmenides is a primary locus for the question of the One. Moreover, for both Lacan and Badiou, the One ultimately takes on political valence, as key to the problematics of representation and the discursive conditions of collectivity. However, unlike Badiou, Lacan's exploration of the question of One also passes through theology— through what I am calling "something of One God"— and I want to argue that it is only by bringing the One into explicit relationship with those monotheistic issues that we can fully understand its implications for analytic discourse and political life. Lacan's thinking on the "something of One" takes a necessary swerve back through a theological problematic, and in the process articulates the terms of a political theology, an essential conjunction of political and religious understandings of sovereignty, subjectivity and collectivity.     

Thinking the other,thinking otherwise: Levinas’ conception of responsibility

ABSTRACT

Probably no other philosopher described the encounter with the other (human being) in a more radical way than Emmanuel Levinas. This led him to a new interpretation of responsibility as origin of all our ethical obligations towards others. He put into question a philosophical tradition of thought he accused of taking the ego as sole origin of all foundation of meaning. In this paper, I begin by outlining Levinas’ criticism of the occidental tradition of thought to explain the place of the other in his writings. I go on to explicate Levinas’ peculiar understanding of ‘responsibility for the other’. I will show how important it is in Levinas’ work not to isolate the question of responsibility from the question of justice. Finally, I examine what other capabilities would be required in order to act in a responsible and just way.     

Philosophy of Religion in an Age of Austerity: Towards a Socially Engaged Philosophy for the Well-Lived Life

Abstract

This paper explores the shape that a socially-engaged philosophy of religion might take. Against the backdrop of the so-called "Age of Austerity," questions are being asked about the relevance of academic subjects to the world outside the academy. A functionalist view of education may well be resisted, but pursuing the question of what makes philosophy of religion relevant enables an account of the discipline to emerge that is rather different from the model that dominates analytic forms of the subject. I suggest that returning to existential themes offers a way forward for the discipline that makes it not just relevant but particularly important for current public discussions of what makes for a well-lived life.     

Moroccan Jewish first-places: contraction,fabrication, dissipation

Abstract

The idea of first places is inevitably linked with diasporas. At the heart of this idea and since the very start, there has always been the Jewish case. The diaspora of the Jews of Morocco, in the periphery, was presented by some authors, as a good case with which to relativize the theoretical pertinence and conceptual inspiration of the Jewish model. Focusing on Jewish history, heritage, and travelling in Morocco, I will continue to question the paradigm of social studies based on the bi-polar center-diaspora model. I will testify to the emergence and fabrication of new Jewish ‘first-places’, a process attending the aging and departure of the last Jews of Morocco and with the support of the Kingdom, while following current, and disruptive trends of contraction, commutation and dissipation of ‘first-places’ in different Jewish practices and narratives. The individualization of religious practice in post-secular societies allows and includes – and often merges – secular, ethnic and political approaches of what once was purely designated as religious identity. Heritage Moroccan landscape (and landscaping) allows different approaches and thus probably why one can think of it as an emerging ‘first-place’ for some.     

Human flourishing,tourism transformation and COVID-19: a conceptual touchstone

Abstract

As the planet remains in the grips of COVID-19 and amidst enforced lockdowns and restrictions, and possibly the most profound economic downturn since the Great Depression, the resounding enquiry asks—what will the new normal look like? And, in much the same way, tourism aficionados, policy makers and communities are asking a similar question—what will the tourism landscape, and indeed the world, look like after the pandemic? As casualties from the crisis continue to fall by the wayside, the rethinking about what an emergent tourism industry might resemble is on in earnest. Many are hopeful that this wake-up call event is an opportunity to reshape tourism into a model that is more sustainable, inclusive and caring of the many stakeholders that rely on it. And some indicators, though not all, point in that direction. In line with this, the concept of ‘human flourishing’ offers merits as an alternative touchstone for evaluating the impacts of tourism on host communities. Human flourishing has a long genesis and its contemporary manifestation, pushed by COVID-19 and applied to travel and tourism, further expands the bounds of its application. Human flourishing has the potential to offer more nuanced sets of approaches by which the impact of tourism on host communities might be measured. The challenge remaining is how to develop robust indices to calibrate human flourishing policy successes.     

Graphical Estimation of Military Heights

Abstract

The author analyzes the voting behavior of legislators in the Congresses of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. He shows that the occupation of Confederate Congressional districts by Federal troops led legislators to abandon their previous voting behavior and instead support the strengthening of the central government in Richmond. Specific case evidence involving voting on a number of salient issues is provided to further demonstrate the robustness of this result. Most importantly, the result leads to outcomes at odds with the logic of secession as enunciated by Southern elites.     

The Whole Country is Poisoned: Fratning Disease Mortality in the Historiography of the South African War

Abstract

‘Hobbes inquires, For what reason do men go armed … if they be not naturally in a state of war? But is it not obvious that he attributes to man before the establishment of society, what can happen but in consequence of this establishment, which furnishes them with motives for hostile attacks and self-defence.’ Montesquieu     

The Cyprus question, 1949-1952: British attitude,American reactions and Greek dilemmas

Abstract

The present study is an attempt to construe the position of Britain and the US as well as Greek reactions with regard to the Cyprus question at a stage which preceded its internationalisation and the concurrent deterioration of Anglo-Greek and Greek-Turkish relations. There is a voluminous bibliography on the problem, which has developed into one of the major international entanglements of our time. Most works on the Cyprus question, in the form of either general scholarly works or memoirs, devote very little space to the 1949-1952 period – when they do not overlook it entirely. A notable exception is Angelos Vlachos' Deka hronia Kypriako (Ten Years of Cyprus Question) which mainly examines the attitude of the Greek government and the Greek-Cypriot Ethnarchy towards the question of Enosis. Francois Crouzet's Le Conflict de Chypre, 1946-1959, on the other hand, published in 1973, offers a rather limited insight of the question at its early stage given the absence of relevant primary sources at that time. The present paper, however, is primarily based on British and American diplomatic records. Whereas, though, the relevant British Cabinet and Foreign Office documents are in their vast majority open to research, a great number of US State Department documents on Cyprus remained classified in early 1987, when this research was conducted. To be specific, for 1950, one classified document corresponded to two declassified, while for the following year the ratio increased to three against two, with an even number of classified and declassified papers for 1952. Yet, the author believes that a fairly precise picture of British and American attitudes on the question can be drawn on the basis of the material available. Greek reactions are also examined and interpreted to the extent that British and American diplomatic records as well as Greek secondary sources permit.     

A case for Slovene nationalism: initial citizenship rules and the erasure*

ABSTRACT. When Slovenia became a sovereign state in 1991, it had to define who its citizens were. Were all residents of Slovenia, regardless of their ethnic belonging, equal in this respect? This article provides an answer to this question by elucidating certain parts of the secession legislation – the initial designation of citizenry and one of its indirect outcomes, the erasure from the register of permanent residents. The ethnic/civic dichotomy will be applied in order to demonstrate opposing nationalist claims made by the ruling elite. In terms of specific processes, Slovene nationalism will be presented in three distinct phases: counter‐state nationalism (before the break‐up of Yugoslavia), state‐building nationalism (the initial designation of citizenry), and the nationalising state (after the secession; marked by the erasure and threats to revoke citizenship statuses of naturalised citizens).     

What is a Salafi Reformist?

Abstract

Tariq Ramadan is one of the most prominent and controversial Western Muslim political thinkers today. He has been called everything from a moderate liberal Muslim thinker to a radical Islamist in disguise. He calls himself a Salafi reformist. According to him, Salafi reformists read the sacred texts of Islam dynamically, using reason, and reject literalist readings. Yet Ramadan also calls Sayyid Qutb a Salafi reformist. The problem is that, by most accounts, Qutb is the quintessential radical Islamist. This raises the question of what Ramadan thinks actually makes someone a Salafi reformist, and what this can tell us about his political teaching. To answer this question, I put Ramadan and Qutb into conversation. I argue that, while Ramadan meets his own criteria for being a Salafi reformist, Qutb does not. I suggest some reasons why Ramadan may not share this view; his political theology tells a different story.