Chivalrous models of Patriot Kingship: Gilbert West,Lord Lyttelton and The Idea of a Patriot King

This article examines two explorations of the theory expounded in Lord Bolingbroke's The Idea of a Patriot King (written 1738, published 1749), Gilbert West's 1742 dramatic poem The Institution of the Order of the Garter and Lord Lyttelton's The History of the Life of Henry the Second (1767–1771). Both were associates of Bolingbroke's in the Patriot movement and were committed to his ideological programme, understanding its potential and appeal. They both recognised the significant potency in Bolingbroke's last and final theorem, that of the Patriot King, whose miraculous function it was to stamp out corruption, reform the state and rule as a father to his people. Yet they both reframe the theory, by providing relatable models of Patriot Kingship. The models West and Lyttelton provide are two historical English kings, Edward III and Henry II. By portraying these monarchs as Patriot Kings, both writers construct a mythopoeic idealisation of the English and British past, in which the manners of chivalry form the basis of Patriot Kingship. Both these works should also be understood within the context of an eighteenth-century tradition of using the English and British past to extol monarchy and reflect of contemporary politics and society.     

The Patriot Game: Russia and the First World War

D.C.B. LTEVEN. Russia and the Origins of the First World War. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1984. Pp. 213. $25.00 (US); LEWIS H. SIEGELBAUM. The Politics of Industrial Mobilization in Russia, 1915–1917: A Study of the War-Industries Committees. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1984. Pp. xix, 312. $27.50 (US); WTLLIAM OLEASON. Alexander Guchkov and the End of the Russian Empire. Independence Square, Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1983 (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Volume 73, Part 3, 1983). Pp. 90. No price available.     

Transformations of the Indo-Iranian Snake-man: Myth,Language, Ethnoarcheology,and Iranian Identity

This article sets forth a history (with literary-textual focus) of the Iranian mythological Snake-man, from the earliest Vedic and Avestan evidence, down to Ferdowsi. The continuous development of the myth in Iran is accompanied by changes in the monster's name, which show linguistic reassociations, while a constant in all of this is the figure's representation as an inimical outsider. The Vedic name of the brute's fortification, the background of which in etymology and realia will be shown to be the pre-Aryan Bactria-Margiana Archeological Complex, finds a clear but hitherto unobserved correlation in Pahlavi. This illuminates the Indo-Iranian antiquity of the myth in terms of prehistoric inter-ethnic rivalries.     

Patriot Graves: American national identity and the Civil War dead

The Civil War was America’s defining conflict, the war that made the nation and the fulcrum for the development of American national identity in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Yet the role that the Civil War dead played in this process has only begun to be explored. Although the monuments raised to honor the dead, along with the battlefields on which they fought, attract considerable interest, the cemeteries constructed to inter them have been integrated into the landscape – literal and figurative – of the American nation so fully that the need they answered, the manner of their development, the form they took, and their longer‐term symbolic message has been relatively neglected. Yet the Civil War dead were a crucial – indeed, the crucial – component in the construction of American national identity. Although scholars interpret American attitudes toward the Civil War dead within the context of the mourning rituals of the antebellum era, the war required, and produced, a different approach to death, for which antebellum precedent had ill‐prepared Americans. Removed from its antebellum religious and societal framework, death in the Civil War acquired a new and more potent national meaning that not only validated American nationalism through warfare, but anticipated the response to fallen soldiers in future European conflicts.     

New world warriors: 'Nation' and 'state' in the politics of the Zapatista and US Patriot Movements

During the 1990s scholars began to identify and study social movements organized to confront the 'new global order'. Such movements have emerged in Mexico, Japan, South Africa and the USA. In the emerging literature organized to study these movements scholars have noted two characteristics that hold constant across them. First, while such movements oppose globalization, they tend to focus their criticism against their own governments for ushering in its reforms. Second, while the state is regarded as the enemy, these movements frame their politics against the state in nationalistic terms. In this paper we compare and evaluate the projects of 'national' resistance in two social movements against the new global order--the Mexican Zapatista and the US Patriot Movements. To conduct our analysis we employ a post-structuralist approach. We argue that the category of nation is constructed and may take any number of forms, from the liberatory to the repressive. As such, we hold that the best way to evaluate nationalistic projects is to assess whether antagonism infuses constructions of 'nation' and its spatial policing. In our empirical analysis we argue that the nationalistic discourse of Zapatismo, though not without problems, is agonistically constructed, creating a plural space for nation re(building). In contrast, discourses of patriotism are antagonistically defined, fostering exclusive views of nation and a rigid policing of its borders. We conclude by noting potential pitfalls in the Zapatista identity politics and potential progressive openings within the Patriot identity politic. Au cours des années 1990, des chercheurs ont identifié et étudié différents mouvements sociaux qui cherchent à confronter le 'nouvel ordre global'. De tels mouvements ont émergé au Mexique, au Japon, en Afrique du Sud et aux États-Unis. Dans leurs travaux publiés sur ce récent phénomène, les scientifiques ont noté deux traits caractéristiques de ces mouvements. Premièrement, malgré qu'ils s'opposent à la mondialisation, ils ont tendance à diriger leur critique envers leur propre gouvernement qui ouvre la porte à des réformes globalisantes. Deuxièmement, alors que l'état est considéré comme étant l'ennemi, ces mouvements encadrent leurs politiques contre celui-ci selon des termes nationalistes. Dans cet article, nous comparons et évaluons les projets de résistance 'nationale' de deux mouvements sociaux contre le nouvel ordre global: le mouvement Zapatiste au Mexique et le mouvement Patriote aux États-Unis. Une approche post-structuraliste est utilisée dans notre analyse. Nous soutenons que la meilleure façon d'évaluer des projets nationalistes est de juger si les concepts de 'nation' et sécurité du territoire sous-entendent une perspective antagoniste. Dans notre analyse empirique, nous soutenons que le discours nationaliste des Zapatistes, même s'il demeure problématique, s'élabore selon une perspective 'agoniste' favorisant l'ouverture d'un espace pluraliste pour re(construire) la nation. Par contraste, les discours du patriotisme présentent un point de vue antagoniste encourageant une vision exclusive de la nation et du contrôle de ses frontières. Nous concluons en notant les pièges potentiels du discours identitaire Zapatiste et les ouvertures progressistes possibles au sein de son homologue Patriote. Durante los años noventa los especialistas empezaron a identificar y estudiar movimientos socials, organizados con el fin de enfrentarse con el 'nuevo orden global'. Estos movimientos han surgido en México, Japón, Africa del Sur y en los Estados Unidos. En la literatura que estásaliendo para estu diar estos movimientos los especialistas han notado que hay dos características que todos tienen en común. Primero, aunque estos movimientos se oponen a la globalización, tienden a criticar sus própios gobiernos por haber introducido las reformas. Segundo, aunque el estado es considerado el enemigo, estos movimientos construyen sus políticas contra el estado en términos nacionalistas. En este papel comparamos y evaluamos los proyectos de resistencia 'nacional' en dos movimientos sociales contra el nuevo orden global: el Zapatista de México y el 'US Patriot Movement' (Movimiento Patriota de Estados Unidos). Abordamos el análisis empleando un método pos-estructuralista. Sugerimos que la categoría de nación es construída y puede manifestarse de varias formas; de liberatoria a represiva. Por lo tanto, creemos que la major manera de analizar los proyectos nacionalistas es de evaluar si el antagonismo infunde construcciones de 'nación' y su orden espacial. En nuestro análisis empírico sugerimos que el discurso nacionalista del zapatismo, aunque no carece de problemas, es construído del punto de vista agnóstico y, por lo tanto, crea un espacio plural para la (re)construcción de la nación. Al contrario, los discursos sobre el patriotismo se definen de manera antagonística, la cual promueve puntos de vista exclusivos de lo que es la nación y promueve la rígida vigilancia de sus fronteras. Concluímos por mencionar las posibles desventajas de la política de identidad zapatista y las posibles aperturas dentro de la política de identidad Patriota.     

Smith,Richard J.The Qing Dynasty and Traditional Chinese Culture

This book is the third enlarged and revised edition of China "s Cultural Heritage:The Qing Dynasty,1644-1912,published in 1983 and in 1994 (both with Westview Press).