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Comments on Thom Workman's "The Left After Politics" (2011). Adapted from the source document.

Abstract.This article examines the influence of ideology in Canadian politics. The core theory is that political opinions are bound together into ideological clusters by underlying influences that affect simultaneously the opinions of individuals about more than one issue. The central hypothesis is that ideological disagreement between the left and the right is asymmetrical, that is, that leftists and rightists bundle in different ways their opinions about issues. The analysis draws on evidence from Benoit and Laver's survey of experts (2006) about the policy positions of political parties, the Comparative Manifesto Research Project (Budge et al., 2001; Klingemann et al., 2006), and Cross and Young's survey of Canadian political party members (2002). The results of the analysis indicate, first, that Canada's left/right ideological divide is wide by cross-national standards, and, second, that leftists and rightists organize their opinions about the world in different ways.Résumé.Cet article examine l'influence des idéologies dans l'environnement politique canadien. La théorie centrale stipule que les opinions politiques sur diverses questions sont structurées en groupes idéologiques consolidés par des influences sous-jacentes qui affectent simultanément les opinions des individus. L'hypothèse principale découlant de cette théorie est que la structure du désaccord idéologique entre la gauche et la droite est asymétrique; plus précisément, que les individus situés à la gauche et à la droite du spectre politique canadien organisent de manière différente leurs opinions politiques. L'analyse s'appuie tout d'abord sur les données d'un sondage auprès d'experts politiques réalisé par Benoit et Laver (2006) et portant sur les positions politiques des partis. Elle utilise également les données duComparative Manifesto Research Project(Budge et al. 2001; Klingemann et al., 2006) et celles d'un sondage d'opinion de Cross et Young (2002) effectué auprès des membres de partis politiques canadiens. Les résultats de cette étude démontrent, en premier lieu, qu'il existe un clivage important entre la droite et la gauche au Canada même lorsqu'il est observé dans une perspective comparative, et en second lieu, que les individus se situant à la gauche et à la droite du spectre politique ont tendance à organiser de manière différente leurs opinions sur le monde.

Workman calls on the Left to confront a painful truth: despite our remarkable energy and activism, we are losing the class war that capital is waging against working people at home and abroad. The problem, he argues, is that our activism is overwhelmingly reactive and/or spent on minimal salvage efforts that sublimate the instinct to rebel. If we are to go forward, he suggests, we have to redirect some of that energy towards promoting public conversations where direct questions about the relation between capitalist social relations and the misery, war, and environmental degradation that surround us can be posed. Adapted from the source document.

REBUILDING A U.S. SOCIALIST LEFT requires, first of all, coming to grips with the full magnitude of the social crisis and decline in this society. Adapted from the source document.

(For Part I, see SA 35:1/87R2000.) A discussion of the process of redefinition of the framework in which the Western Left could operate in the 1970s & an analysis of the resulting new Western Left, presented in the broader context of the total Western political constellation. The indifference of the Western Left toward a potential or actual Eastern partner is analyzed, & the Eastern situation is assessed. Perspectives for a dialogue between the Western & Eastern Left are discussed & obstacles to such a dialogue are defined. The republican dimension of leftist tradition could provide an underlying basis for this dialogue. F. Rasmussen

Examines Norberto Bobbio's popular book Destra e Sinistra, published during the 1994 Italian electoral campaign. Challenges the accepted opinion that the book's success is primarily because of the author's clarity, arguing, instead, for its greater complexity & less apparent inconclusiveness. The author summarizes & analyzes Bobbio's argument that the Italian political left & right are generally rejected in three ways: the dyad is altered by a moderate center -- "included center" -- taking up most space between the left & right; contemplation of an "inclusive third" that functions as a synthesis beyond the left & right; and the development of a "transverse third" that penetrates & displaces left & right relevance (as in green politics). The author continues the assessment of Bobbio by noting how he clarifies that in spite of these three possibilities, left & right do not lose their contrast or import regardless of seeming popular rejection of the terminologies. He further clarifies Bobbio's thinking by discussing the inner framework & external context of his argument, his thoughts on inequality, & the future of the left in Italy. R. Rodriguez

In the past decade, there has been a steady rise in left-wing violence in South Asia, confined mostly to India & Nepal. The key characteristics of this uprising are (1) it is rural/agrarian in nature; (2) there is a strong element of ideological presence; (3) it targets a certain class, the state, & its institutions; & (4) victims of this uprising are both civilians & officials (now estimated to be over 10,000). While both countries acknowledge the presence of these factors in their political process, their official definition of this conflict is ambiguous. Do these violent encounters satisfy the definition of civil war? Is it an insurgency? If indeed it is a civil war & the groups fighting the war against the state are insurgents, what constitutes their key objectives? This article seeks to place the nature & character of this conflict within a theoretical framework. It makes an ethno-political analysis of this uprising. It audits the human cost associated with this violence. &, finally, it explores the group motivational factors behind this uprising & the consequent responses of the concerned state. 3 Tables, 49 References. Adapted from the source document.