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This study focuses on May Day celebrations in communist Czechoslovakia in the Žďár nad Sázavou district of today's Czech Republic. The communist regime used these celebrations to symbolically communicate several ideological and political messages. By examining one of these messages, the importance of the relationship between the countryside and the city, we see how its presentation changed over time. The variability of this message was caused not only by the changes the communist regime and society underwent during the studied period but also by specific local conditions. This paper concentrates on actors from two villages and argues that celebrations of May Day, an ideological-political holiday, could have been appropriated by local inhabitants as a community event that helped express the unity of the rural community. Holding May Day celebrations that served largely as community events in some villages also interrupted the union of the village and the city in socialist society, one of the messages that was supposed to be communicated by May Day celebrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European 'messianic' project was not particularly concerned with democracy or human rights, but rather sought 'legitimacy' in the nobility of its cause. However, when failure struck during the Euro-crisis, many sources of legitimacy suddenly collapsed. Similarly, failure struck the rule of law principle, demonstrating its precariousness and weak source of legitimation. The strong waves of de-europeanisation and the rise of illiberal democracies not only bolster the existing preoccupations of problematic democratic procedures, but further bring into question the continuity of the EU as a supranational entity. Interestingly, the European Union's answer to these issues furnishes a solution that, on the one hand, focuses on the enhancement of democracy, while focusing the safeguarding of rule of law on the other. Such an enhancement of democracy could be the result of the Conference on the Future of Europe, whereas, the rule of law crisis is meant to be addressed through financial and techno-managerial mechanisms. However, if the first mechanism aims to palliate or even mitigate the democratic deficit, the second one risks further alienating Union citizens by seeing in it another instance of European Union 'technocracy'. The solution to be foreseen is to reconnect democracy with rule of law as they have always been the foreign implants of European integration. Filling in these empty gaps of political messianism through an outright pairing of democracy and rule of law will rejuvenate the social legitimacy of European exceptionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article seeks to identify the particular culture that undergirds the practice of EU law, by drawing from Paul Kahn’s Cultural Analysis of Law. It will do so by extracting from his work certain models for understanding the imaginative life of a political community, most importantly those of the rule of law and of political action, which in Kahn’s observation of American realities stand in competition to one another. This will lead us, first, to consider the particular place held by European integration, as a messianic project of collective transformation. While this might seem to structure the practice of EU law in a way that is consistent with Kahn’s description of political action, such a view, we will then submit, does not consider the particular place of law in the EU’s legal culture, as the very substance in which the European order appears incarnated, and which provides the impetus for much of its development. To account for these two dimensions in the political imaginary of the EU, it is argued that, unlike Kahn’s description of the American context, the rule of law and political action do not stand in tension with one another. Instead, the practice of EU law operates under an idiosyncratic frame of experience, which can be usefully associated to Robert Cover’s notion of “lawful messianism,” and which synthesizes key aspects of Kahn’s account of the rule of law and political action. Finally, to illustrate the operation of just that culture of lawful messianism and its persistence to this day, the article turns to the place of the rule of law as a “foundational value” of the European legal system and recent developments around this particular norm of EU law.

The present article seeks to identify the particular culture that undergirds the practice of EU law, by drawing from Paul Kahn's Cultural Analysis of Law. It will do so by extracting from his work certain models for understanding the imaginative life of a political community, most importantly those of the rule of law and of political action, which in Kahn's observation of American realities stand in competition to one another. This will lead us, first, to consider the particular place held by European integration, as a messianic project of collective transformation. While this might seem to structure the practice of EU law in a way that is consistent with Kahn's description of political action, such a view, we will then submit, does not consider the particular place of law in the EU's legal culture, as the very substance in which the European order appears incarnated, and which provides the impetus for much of its development. To account for these two dimensions in the political imaginary of the EU, it is argued that, unlike Kahn's description of the American context, the rule of law and political action do not stand in tension with one another. Instead, the practice of EU law operates under an idiosyncratic frame of experience, which can be usefully associated to Robert Cover's notion of "lawful messianism," and which synthesizes key aspects of Kahn's account of the rule of law and political action. Finally, to illustrate the operation of just that culture of lawful messianism and its persistence to this day, the article turns to the place of the rule of law as a "foundational value" of the European legal system and recent developments around this particular norm of EU law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay focuses on political implications of Derrida’s messianicité as a form of Marrano messianism: a universal vision of community “out of joints” which, despite its disjointedness and inner separation, nonetheless addresses itself as “we” (although always in inverted commas). By referring to the generalized “Marrano experience” – the fate of those Sephardic Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity and, in consequence, became neither Jewish nor Christian – Derrida takes the Marrano as his paradigmatic political figure of a “rogue” (voyou) who escapes every identity politics. In Derrida’s project of “living together” (vivre ensemble), the Marrano stands for the non-participatory remnant of otherness which is not just the other of this or that particular tradition, but becomes a bearer of a new universalism, based not on the abstract notion of human nature but on the non-identity, a distance-from-identity or what Yirmijahu Yovel calls the “non-integral identity.”

The myth of Manifest Destiny is predicated on the successful annexation of lands desired by U.S. territorial expansionists, particularly during the James K. Polk's presidency (1845-849). But another myth, that Polk accomplished all four of the goals for his presidency, has obscured the fact that one of the biggest prizes desired by annexationists, Cuba, remained out of reach. This essay explores the close U.S.-Cuba relationship in the 1840s, revealing why both supporters and opponents believed Cuban annexation was eminent in the 1840s, even as the U.S. fought a war against Mexico. It also suggests how a more nuanced view of the course of U.S. territorial expansionism can counter the idea of American exceptionalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with Gershom Scholem's interest in the historical figure of Moses Dobrushka (also known as Thomas von Schönfeld, and, in his last days, as Junius Frey), a central European Frankist, who first converted to Christianity and then to Jacobinism, embracing revolutionary ideals in Paris. The reasons for this interest, it is argued, were not merely scientific, but firmly rooted in Scholem's construction of Zionism's negative political theology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pandemic that we have lived through during the last year has made us question our permanence and care of the earth as a species. 2020 was considered a year of «break» in the social, economic, health and existential aspects for many nations on the planet but, mainly, for the poorest that were faced with sanitary measures never before decreed by the health authorities. In this article we intend to reflect on the errors, excesses and lack of control of some world leaders that caused the coronavirus pandemic to become generalized chaos and the health crisis, beyond its public health context, to become a crisis unprecedented in the last 100 years of human history. It seeks to rescue a more encouraging vision towards life and an ecological approach towards the planet, with the aim of achieving a greater humanization in which the ethical values of solidarity and respect prevail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article aims at analysing Erich Unger's Politik und Metaphysik, his main philosophical text. Even though this text, published in 1921, has been almost forgotten by philosophical literature, we suggest it can be reconsidered in its hidden potentiality, especially if we want to better understand contemporary migrant crisis. The paper is structured as follows: after a brief consideration on Walter Benjamin's uses of Unger's thesis, the essay investigates the messianic dimension of human movement discussed in Politik und Metaphysik, which is, at the end, an attempt to actualize the biblical imagine of the exodus. At the end, the paper suggests understanding human migration as a critique of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Politics & Religion Journal is the property of University of Belgrade, Faculty of Political Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article presents, even in a brief, the importance of politics in social life and, after this, the concept of Messianism in politics. In a second moment, starting from the comprehension of church in the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the articles provides support for acritique of political Messianism in Brazil that has been practiced nowadays by some sectors of the evangelical church. As its methodology it were used both bibliographical research in Bonhoeffer’s texts and texts published in popularization internet sites available in the web as well. Regarding its structure, the articles presents first the ideia of politics and its importance in human life. After this comes a presentation of the idea of Messianism in politics, followed by a presentation of some elements of Bonhoeffer’s theology that can give a basis for a critique to political Messianism and as a conclusion a proposal of application of these Bonhoefferian theological ideas to contemporary Brazilian political scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article deals with the relation of political messianism to ongoing debate on the crisis of democracy. The conceptual framework of political messianism is the convenient analytical tool because it makes the concept of crisis a starting point for formulating a different politics of redemption. Three conceptions of political messianism are being analyzed: as a revolutionary policies, as critical tool, as well as open possibility of radical changes. It shows in all three cases that deep beliefs play an important role in politics and that it is not possible to immunize political order from them. The second part of the paper points to the significance of these insights for understanding the discourse on the crisis of democracy which important part represents the loss of faith in the ability of democratic institutions to formulate a framework for meaningful political actions of citizens. As a result, there has been a transformation of the concept of democracy which now sees political actions of citizens-amateurs as a nuisance. Such a condition produces tensions which are burdening the functioning of democratic regimes. In conclusion, it is noted that contemporary democracies are not able to restore faith in the fundamentals of its existence as long as they insist on the primacy of the form of democracy, which in the meantime has become the norm, but fails to convince the citizens in their intrinsic values.

The issue of messianism and the advent of the savior in apocalypse is one of the beliefs that exist in many societies, including Zoroastrian society. In this regard, people, according to their beliefs, expect the promised truth to emerge and realize the utopia and ideal society and to wipe the wicked and the devil off the people's lives and off the face of the earth. Using library resources and descriptive-analytical method in this paper, we endeavor to examine the issues of politics, prophesy and messianism in Zoroastrian thought and their roles in the socio-political movements of pre-Islamic Iran until the first two centuries AH. The Zoroastrians have never given up their hopes of a bright future and the promised advent of the apocalyptic savior; however, due to the cooperation of religion and politics, the presence of this belief in the political and social movements of ancient Iran is faint, though in the movements of the first two centuries AH, it has a stronger presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from Oliver Jens Schmitt's biography of Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, this study engages into a wider reflection upon the interwar ultranationalist Romanian Legionary movement (also known as the Iron Guard). It starts by situating Schmitt's work within the recent trend of de-orientalizing the Legion of Archangel Michael, after the latter has longtime been conceived of as an exotic incarnation of the generic model of fascism at the Europe's Eastern hinterland. Engaging in a dialogue with the scholarship done in fascists studies in general and on the Legionary movement in particular, the study reflects upon the "fascisticity" of the latter. After arguing that the Legionary movement should be conceived of as a particular species of fascism, the study explores the movement's fulminant rise in Romanian politics and society. This success is accounted within a structuralist framework which insists upon the structural features of Romanian interwar societies that made possible and facilitated the movement's growth. Next, the paper focuses its analytical scope upon the role of Codreanu's charisma in integrating an otherwise internally fractured political organization. Lastly, it concludes with some reflection on Codreanu and the Legion's contested legacy in the heavily disputed politics of memory within contemporary Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios Internacionales is the property of Instituto de Estudios Internacionales de la Universidad de Chile and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the rise and key characteristics of Neo-Zionist political thought in Israel and its relationship with mainstream Zionist thought. It argues that despite the radical and repulsive discourses of Neo-Zionism and the critique expressed by liberal Zionists towards it, the former has always been embodied in classical Zionism. The justifications provided by Neo-Zionists are based on principles propagated by central leaders of mainstream Zionism. Utilising new perspectives in Settler-Colonial Studies, the article demonstrates how both strands encapsulate the Zionist continuum and continuous expansionist drive for new settlements in Palestine based on 'Biblical right' of Jews over the land of Palestine. Both advocate supremacist, exclusivist, and volkish rights for Jews with disastrous consequences for the indigenous people of Palestine. The convictions and practices of the Neo-Zionists in the post 1967 period help unveil the camouflaged motivations, justifications and practices of mainstream expansionist Zionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Throughout history, Jewish notions of justice, hope and redemption have inspired political visions within as well as beyond the Jewish tradition. In the past century, examples can be drawn from Ernst Bloch to Walter Benjamin and Jacques Derrida. Also in the present politico-philosophical debate, a number of prominent voices draw explicitly on Jewish sources in their attempts to formulate radical visions. This article engages with one of the more influential figures in this respect, Giorgio Agamben. Although Agamben offers a highly original and constructive reading of Jewish notions of justice, hope and redemption, it will nevertheless be argued that he fails to do justice to an essential element in Jewish conceptions of liberation. In consistently posing 'law' as the counterpole to liberation, Agamben disregards the extent to which law, in the Jewish tradition, is constitutive of justice, hope and redemption. Moreover, in equating 'law' with coercion and oppression he also fails to recognize the progressive force of the politico-juridical system, which is the target of his critique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the context of literature on Chinese nationalism. It highlights the arguments between the identification of the English-language literature such as the foreign policy for Chinese nationalism and the threat of erroneous Chinese nationalism. It also stresses the political identity of the literature on Chinese nationalism.

Copyright of Filozofija i Drustvo is the property of University of Belgrade, Institute for Philosophy & Social Theory and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Biblical proof-texts for the prophethood of Muḥammad play a prominent role in early Muslim interest in the Bible. This study re-examines the earliest known attempt by Muslims to find such a biblical proof-text in the New Testament - the Arabic version of Jesus's sermon on the "advocate/comforter" (Gk. paráklētos) in John 15: 23-16 found in Ibn Isḥāq's Kitāb al-Maghāzī. Key to understanding Ibn Isḥāq's adaptation of the Johannine text, this study argues, is the Christian Palestinian Aramaic Gospel behind it as well as the climate of Late Antique apocalypticism and messianism out of which Ibn Isḥāq's distinctively Islamic version emerged. This study concludes with an interpretation of Quran 61: 6, which appears to claim that Jesus prophesied a future prophet named Aḥmad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pakistan was bifurcated and Bangladesh emerged as a sovereign state in 1971 after the culmination of a separatist movement that was raised on the basis of Bengali nationalism claimed on ethnic and cultural grounds. Since the pronounced demand as well as well-defined goal of the movement changed from autonomy to the separation only after Pakistan Army's action on 25th March 1971 and also Awami League (AL) and Mujibur Rehman, the party and leader that spearheaded the separatist movement, got prominence as separatists after Agartala Conspiracy Case in 1966 the time and events of the origin of the Bengali Movement need to be looked for. This paper highlights the ideological origins of Bengali separatism even before the partition of India in 1947. It also finds out the early organisations which, when got matured in later decades, became instrumental in promotion of the Bengali separatist movement. The paper then examines the development which for the first time generated the cultural and lingual feelings as well as economic grievances that nurtured the Bengali separatist movement. Therefore main research question of the paper is when and how the Bengali Movement started. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Welsh Middle Ages witnessed the circulation of an enormous number of pieces of “darogan”, highly mobile and adaptable political prophecy. These are, characteristically, messianic texts promising the return – often from overseas – of a redeeming national hero (Owain Glyn Dŵr and Henry Tudor were only two of the actors identified as this “son of prophecy”). Many of these texts were translations, belonging to a wider British and European tradition, and the major Welsh medieval manuscript collections are also among the most important multilingual manuscripts of the period. Focussing on one of these, a fifteenth-century trilingual miscellany, the article considers how an enlarged concept of translatability, considered along with specific discussions of historicity and temporality, may help read the vein of “popular” prophecy contained in the multilingual manuscripts as criticism of the wider tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Set within the wider framework of exploring the relationship between mediated representations of war and public understanding and perception of conflict in the Arab region, this article focuses on Al Jazeera's coverage of the July war in Lebanon. From a broad theoretical viewpoint, it attempts to deconstruct the 'ideological model of war' as depicted by Al-Jazeera through its representation of the 2006 conflict between Hezbollah and Israel. When Al-Jazeera framed it as the '6th war', it added Israel's attack on Lebanon to the series of five episodes of the Arab-Israeli conflict; this war follows the 1948 Palestine War, the Suez War in 1956, the June War of 1967 and the October 1973 War. Stemming from the work of Paul Ricoeur in Time and Narrative (1984), this article suggests a reading of Al-Jazeera's narrative of the war in three times: the first mediated configurations, the media emplotment, and the re-activation by the channel's audience. While it situates the discourse of Al Jazeera in relation to the Voice of the Arabs radio, which advocated in the 1950s for a nationalist, resistant and anti-colonial identity, this article also explores the dual nature of Al Jazeera between pan-Arabism and political Islam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the use of popular music to deliver powerful political messages in Haiti with the associative power of music which is reinforced by active participation of the musicians themselves as actors on the political scene. It mentions that significance of Haitian Creoles lyrics which established political barometer in the country and the successive Haitian administrations to refocus the event on attracting tourism and advertising revenue.

Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) is credited for laying foundations of the political Zionism the aim of which was to be recognizable on the literal as well as visual level. As a result of this postulate Zionism promoted itself by means of various visual arts and viewed them as an important Zionist medium. In this way, the image of Herzl became an incarnation of Zionism and an expression of its ideas. His figure was a multilayered carrier showing the ideology's evolution and providing the point of departure for many motifs and iconographic themes employed by the movement. One of them is the so-called Messianic theme that can be derived from the Zionist projection of the leader's image. Although Herzl is not directly portrayed as the Messiah, there are certain elements implied in his images that drove the development of his Messianic myth. Herzl's image, personality, politics and his ability to wake up the Jewish masses from a "deep slumber" by bringing up their "hidden powers," all evoked associations with the Messiah. Mythical and idealistic elements as well as emotions connected with this figure were mostly focused around the Messianic message. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The last decade has witnessed a surge in writings about the women of the Middle East, making it a new and richer field of study. The women question is inextricably linked with decolonizing attempts, the rise of national sentiment and politicization of Islam in the region. This paper is based on a critical reading of memoirs by two exiled Iranian women set against the backdrop of the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. Through the analysis of the trans-national memoirs, the paper explores complicated issues of identity and nationalism in a cross-cultural milieu. The findings of the paper point to resistance put up by women on the East-West interface. Despite a betrayal of women's cause and retrogressive moves by the government following the revolution, women are fighting back and resisting the appropriation of nationalism by the Islamic regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The controversial concept of “the Russian idea” is reviewed in light of changes in the history of the Russian state. Whether formulated by church hierarchs, statesmen, philosophers, ethnologists, or contemporary politicians, various stages in its conceptualization have helped build patriotism in the country. The Russian idea was developed in a multinationality empire, created on the basis of the spiritual Orthodox community and later distorted by Soviet power. The author argues that messianic ideas of an inherited “Third Rome” are no longer relevant, but that pragmatic ideas of multiethnic unity, stability, fairness and civic orientation can help rejuvenate Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In reflecting on the contemporary challenges and future directions of transitional justice theory and practice, this article addresses causality, accountability and political form in a triangulated assessment of nationalism’s power and ‘stickiness’ in the present formulations of transitional solutions. Addressing the identity politics of transitional justice brings us to assess the political forms that enable, define and consume transition with a particular hew to power-sharing and consociationalism-type arrangements in the aftermath of systematic atrocity. The authors provide a pragmatic, perhaps cynical account of the triumph of consociationalism as the preferred transitional accommodation, and point to the ‘dark side’ of governance arrangements in postconflict settings with implications for understanding cycles of violence and repeat conflict patterns. In both contexts, we deploy a feminist lens to understand the implications for women and gender transformation emerging from our framing of the politics of transitional justice in the contemporary moment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Archives de Sciences Sociales des Religions is the property of Editions EHESS and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Nationalism as a manipulative device may be alimented by identity entrepreneurs and thus depends on the (inter)national and super-national political contexts. It has also proven a quite effective and in the same time dangerous device in instilling malcontent and conflict-loaded environments on the socio-political stage. It may also be applied as a tool of diverting the average citizen's attention from the paramount socio-political and economic issues. As far as breeding nationalism is concerned, the post Second World War decades represent a span of time worth investigating. The present article attempts to investigate certain precise historical moments that have led to the encouragement of nationalism in the 20th century, especially after the Second World War in Romania and in Hungary. It also wishes to provide possible answers to the questions: who are the real actors behind the nationalistic discourse? Who are the actors who suffer the real loss? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]