Suchergebnisse

"This book is a memoir of Philip Resnick's life, growing up Jewish, giving up the religion, studying Political Science at McGill, at Paris and the University of Toronto; how he then taught in the Political Science Department at the University of BC for over forty years: He has published ten books on Political Science. His memoir deals with how he formulated his ideas on Canadian identity; the role of minority peoples within a larger nation state. (here he deals with such situations as Quebec and Catalonia's desire for independence); the role of the Left in Canada and the world at large; the growth of Identity Politics and its dangers; and the importance of free speech in the university. The book also deals with the need for a close look at the importance of democratic institutions in the world today and the dangers facing those democratic ideas and institutions. He also explores how his writing of poetry helped to develop his political and social ideas."--

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- One. Quetzalcoatl's Heirs -- Two. Chosen Peoples -- Three. Trajectories to Independence -- Four. "Language Has Always Been the Perfect Instrument of Empire" -- Five. Manifest Destiny and the Fate of a Continent -- Six. Market Society and Possessive Individualism -- Seven. Democracy and Its Discontents -- Eight. The Protean State -- Nine. New World Utopias and Dystopias -- Ten. An Archipelago of Regions -- Eleven. A North American Civilization? -- Twelve. Dwellers of the Labyrinth -- Bibliography -- Index

According to a recent feature in The Economist, democracy has been only half achieved this century and should flower in the next. In preparation for new forms of democracy, well-known political theorist Philip Resnick addresses some of the fundamental questions surrounding the practice of democracy at the end of the twentieth century and the difficulties of governance in the twenty-first century, including issues of globalization, nationalism, and direct democracy.

Does North America in the deeper cultural, historical, metaphysical, or political sense exist? And if it does -in more than its trade-driven NAFTA form- in what might this North American identity consist? The article proceeds to explore two key themes the notion of a new world, and how this has shaped the three North American states; and the notion of new Jerusalems, in other words, the early religious underpinnings of Mexico, the United States, and Canada. The article does not foresee the emergence of a single North American identity, but points to congruent experiences and unifying links in the three countries" historical development. ; ¿Existe América del Norte en un profundo sentido cultural, histórico, metafísico y político? Si es así -en una forma más allá del acuerdo que llevó al TLCAN-, ¿en qué consiste? Este artículo explora dos temas claves: la noción de nuevo mundo y cómo ha conformado a estos tres Estados de América del Norte, y la idea de nuevos Jerusaléns, es decir, las tempranas bases religiosas de México, Estados Unidos y Canadá. Este trabajo no prevé el surgimiento de una única identidad norteamericana, sino que señala las experiencias congruentes y los vínculos unificadores en el desarrollo histórico de los tres países.

ABSTRACT. The article sets out to explore the rather different roles that hubris and melancholy can play in the relations between majority and minority nationalities within multinational states. In the case of majority‐type nationalities, there is a sense of being a Staatsvolk, a feeling reinforced by linguistic, cultural, geographical, and political characteristics associated with the larger nation‐state. There may also be a sense of pride caught up with the larger identity between the nation‐state and the empire with which it is associated. For their part, minority‐type nationalities have been more prone to express their national sentiment in melancholic terms. Hence a tendency to dwell on lost battles of the past, on suppressed rebellions, on recurrent threats of assimilation and linguistic extinction. There may be elements both of hubris and of melancholy to national sentiment in multinational states, and the dialectic between the two colours their overall political development.