Oedipus Rex and Regina: The Queen Mother in Africa

Africa ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Cohen
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Essential Ingredient ◽  
Royal Power ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Queen Mother ◽  
Female Counterpart ◽  
Power And Authority

Opening ParagraphThe importance of female title holders, especially that of the Queen Mother, is widespread throughout the state systems of Africa. Royal monarchical power and authority is often linked to a senior woman of the royal line, sometimes a real mother, sometimes not, who is the female counterpart to the male royal person. One writer has suggested that in Africa the monarchy itself involves not simply a King but rather a royal couple—the King and his mother—so that centralized authority is in fact inherent in a mother-son ‘royal duo’ (de Heusch, 1962: 145). The Queen Mother in such a view is not simply ‘important’ but an essential ingredient in the nature of royal power and authority, and therefore of centralized government as this has developed historically on the continent.

scholarly journals “No CCP, No New China”: Pastoral Power in Official Narratives in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 235 ◽  
pp. 784-803 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoling Zhang ◽  
Melissa Shani Brown ◽  
David O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Use Of Force ◽  
The State ◽  
Autonomous Region ◽  
Interdisciplinary Approaches ◽  
Pastoral Role ◽  
Pastoral Power ◽  
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region ◽  
Regional Capital ◽  
Core Role ◽  
Power And Authority

AbstractGuided by Michel Foucault's concept of “pastoral power,” this article examines the ways in which contemporary discourses within official narratives in China portray the state in a paternal fashion to reinforce its legitimacy. Employing interdisciplinary approaches, this article explores a number of sites in Urumqi, the regional capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), in order to map how a coherent official narrative of power and authority is created and reinforced across different spaces and texts. It demonstrates how both history and the present day are depicted in urban Xinjiang in order to portray the state in a pastoral role that legitimates its use of force, as well as emphasizing its core role in developing the region out of poverty and into “civilization.”

Prospect of Promoting Sikkim as a Smart Tourism Destination

2022 ◽  
pp. 326-345
Author(s):  
Supriya Dam
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
The State ◽  
Tourism Destination ◽  
Essential Ingredient ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Two Cities ◽  
Tourism Destinations ◽  
Smart Tourism

Since 2006, Sikkim progressively switching to a full-fledged tourism-centred state having declared it a predominant industry as an engine for its economic growth. The state accounted for the highest influx of foreign tourists amongst the eight north eastern states of India during the last 20 years or so. The smart city mission was commissioned by government of India as a centrally sponsored scheme destined to provide financial support for the allotted cities to the extent of INR. 100 Crore per city per year spanning over five years. Studies suggest that induction of smart city concept will act as precursor for growth of smart tourism destinations (STDs) across the country. The STD as a concept revolves around “6A's,” an essential ingredient for promoting smart tourism in destinations. Incidentally, two cities in Sikkim have been enlisted amongst the top 100 cities in India for promoting smart city, instrumental in promoting STD in tourism-driven states. The chapter delves into the concept of smart city as an antecedent for promoting STD along with conditions with respect to Sikkim.

Ethics and Sovereignty

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Weinert
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
The State ◽  
International Norms ◽  
Ir Theory ◽  
Sovereign State ◽  
The Core ◽  
New Literature ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Power And Authority

Literature concentrated on sovereignty’s location laid the groundwork for the distinctive sort of ethical detachment that has characterized sovereignty in international relations (IR). While it is customary to refer to sovereign absolutism as linking a logic of prerogative with sovereignty, mainstream IR theory has reproduced its own variation on the theme and done little until recently to decouple the two. Yet beginning in the late 1970s, the literature began to entertain the idea that interdependence and globalization impede, constrain, corrode, or diminish the core assumptions of sovereignty: the centralization of power and authority, the supremacy of the state, the state’s capabilities to achieve its objectives, and the degree of permissiveness afforded by an anarchical system. Put differently, the space within which sovereignty could operate unencumbered rapidly diminished in size and scope, and the sovereign state, by losing control over various functions, was becoming incoherent at minimum, and irrelevant at maximum. If these arguments focused on a narrow question, then a new literature emerged in the mid to late 1990s that focused on, and questioned, sovereignty as authority. Moreover, the debates about globalization underscored sovereignty’s disjunctive nature. Yet by linking it so closely with material structures and factors, the literature generally elided consideration of the constitutive effect of international norms on sovereignty and the ways the institution of sovereignty has changed over time.

The Sefwi Wiawso Riot of 1935: the deposition of an Omanhene in the Gold Coast

Africa ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
State Council ◽  
Western Province ◽  
Gun Shot ◽  
Cash Economy ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Shot Wounds

Opening ParagraphOn 15 November 193 5 a riot took place in Wiawso, the capital town of Sefwi Wiawso district in the then Western Province of the Gold Coast. It followed weeks of struggle to bring destoolment charges against the omanhene, Nana Kwame Tano II. Four people died of gun-shot wounds, forty were injured and the omanhene was assaulted. On 2 December the State Council completed its hearing of fifteen charges against the omanhene and brought in a majority verdict in favour of destoolment, which in due course was confirmed by the Governor.Studies of the deposition of chiefs in the Gold Coast have tended to focus on the changing reasons for and, particularly, the increased frequency of destoolment (Busia 1968: passim; Owusu 1970: 63ff.). Arhin especially has looked at the effect of the cash economy upon the relationships between chiefs and their subjects (Arhin 1976). Others have described the increasing complexity of the politico-jural structures surrounding the office and functions of chieftaincy as revealed in destoolment cases (Dunn and Robertson, 1973; Robertson 1976).

Charles Gore, Kenosis and the Crisis of Power

2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark D. Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Church Of England ◽  
The State ◽  
Sermon On The Mount ◽  
The Church ◽  
Power And Authority

ABSTRACTThis article discusses the theology of one of the major figures of theology in Edwardian England, Charles Gore (1853–1932), particularly his understanding of kenosis and vulnerability in relation to Christ and the Christian. Beginning with an analysis of the loss of invulnerability by the Church of England, the article uses the theology of Donald Mackinnon as a backdrop for understanding the notion of ‘rough discipleship’ outlined by Gore which strips away the trappings of power. Through a detailed discussion of Gore's works on the incarnation and the Sermon on the Mount, a picture is drawn of the requirements of the Christian character as well as what he regarded as the authentic church freed from the state. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of kenoticism in relation to the crisis of authority in contemporary Anglicanism. Assertions of power and authority are shown to be a denial of the complexity and vulnerability implied by the powerlessness and tragedy of Christ.

The African Standpoint

Africa ◽  
1935 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Gutmann
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Leadership ◽  
The State ◽  
Grade System ◽  
Tribal Community ◽  
Age Class ◽  
Absorptive Power ◽  
The People ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Opening Paragraph ◽  
Warrior Class

Opening ParagraphThe State in its essential nature is power. Its character is determined by the force with which it asserts its distinction from neighbouring states, by its dealing with the organic bonds in which the life of the people finds expression, and by its success in absorbing into and developing within its own structure the underlying spirit of those bonds. The origin of the State's consciousness of power lies at the point in the interlacing roots of tribal organization where the tension between associations based on kinship and those based on age brings about a change of balance, and leadership begins to pass to the latter, the age-class becoming a warrior class which outgrows the clan and subjects kinship-groupings to its own leaders. Once this change in leadership has taken place, that is to say, when no longer the spirit of the clan but the spirit of the age-class becomes dominant, then, by reason of the resulting tightening-up of the forces of war and of expansion, it is only a question of time before the age-class associations pass into a system of vassalage, with leaders who emerge from the age-grade system and acquire an authority more or less political in character. With the individualization of the leadership goes the differentiation of function in the State, which is first required in the organization of the army. Henceforward the tasks in the service of the State are no longer dependent on a man's place in the tribal organization, but upon accomplishments which can be learned. To acquire these forms of skill, to become proficient in their use and to obtain the advantages secured by them becomes an absorbing task which is pursued in common and given stability by associations for the purpose. This is the birth of organization. Without such organizations the State cannot take form, for they alone ensure to it the concentration of the primitive forces of the tribe for the accomplishment of the aims of the State. Thus these organized associations become agencies to develop and foster the consciousness of statehood. The tribal community consciousness which still persists in the organic tribal relationships and in their leadership systems is gradually, under the absorptive power of the new state-consciousness, forced back into the realm of mere emotion and habit and finally deprived entirely of its spiritual leadership. So that what is in reality the starting-point of man's spiritual existence, namely, his membership of an organic and tribal order of society, comes to be regarded as something purely natural and as the sphere of the instinctive preservation of the species.

scholarly journals Ecclesiastical Household of Anna Yaroslavna, Queen of the Franks (1051–1075)

2020 ◽  
pp. 6-19
Author(s):  
Vladimir Shishkin
Keyword(s):  
Social History ◽  
System Analysis ◽  
The State ◽  
Systemic Approach ◽  
Level Of Involvement ◽  
Historical Literature ◽  
High Level ◽  
Church Policy ◽  
Queen Mother ◽  
The Church

Introduction. The court of Anna Yaroslavna, the French queen of the 11th century, has not been specifically studied in historical literature. The author proposes to find out how the ecclesiastical environment of the Queen was formalized and structured in 1051–1075, who of the church persons formed her inner circle, and whether the royal ecclesiastical household had an influence on the formation of the church policy of the crown. Methods. The methodology is a combination of institutional and social history as part of the systemic approach that makes it possible to understand the evolution of the Queen’s household within the curial Capetian system. Analysis. The reviewed sources indicate that Anna Yaroslavnas staying in France and her relationships with the curial clerics were very close. The Royal acts attest to Anna’s high level of involvement in the ecclesiastical affairs of France, her regular support for the church persons of Curia regis, the Chancellor-Bishop and his servants, as well as the state of curial priests. Results. The ecclesiastical entourage of King Henri I and Queen Anna largely shaped the policy of the Capetians and strengthened dynastic authority. As a widow and queen mother, Anna Yaroslavna played in accordance with the policies of Henry I and his predecessors, contributing to the further strengthening of the church presence at the court, and in particular the bishops in Curia regis, as opposed to the feudal clans and influence of the pope. At the same time, all her actions were aimed at the interests of the crown in order to guarantee the safe preservation of the throne for her son Philip I.

scholarly journals The Mayor’s career in “The Government Inspector”. On Nikolai Gogol’s political views

Literary Fact ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 237-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Igor Vinogradov
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Royal Power ◽  
Political Views ◽  
State Administration ◽  
Hidden Agenda ◽  
The Social ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
The Government

The paper is devoted to the study of Nikolai Gogol’s idea of the social and official status of the Mayor, the character of a “head official” in the satirical comedy The Government Inspector. So far Gogol’s view of his character as a raznochinets, a “mean plebeian”, who blemished his rank and position, hasn’t been considered by the scholars. In Gogol’s opinion, Skvoznik-Dmukhanovsky, who started his career from the lowest position and acquired his rank and title of nobility with “hard service”, nevertheless hasn’t become a true nobleman because of his bribery and corruption. From this perspective, the character of the Mayor helps to better understand the purpose of Gogol’s satire. Both in The Government Inspector and The Gamblers, another Gogol’s play, that has much in common with his most famous comedy, the satire is not aimed at “those in power”, nor the “state machine”, but at all kinds of frauds and swindlers among officials. Critically examining the state administration in Russia, Gogol shows them through the eyes of a high-ranking, responsible official who takes the problem very much to heart. This point of view resonated with that of the Emperor Nicholas I: it took his personal intervention to have the play published and staged. The paper consists of five parts: 1. The Mayor’s career; 2. Character archetypes in The Tale of How Ivan Ivanovich Quarreled with Ivan Nikiforivich and The Government Inspector; 3. Characteristic features of an “average official” in Gogol’s works; 4. The Mayor as a liminal character; 5. Gogol’s use of satire. The paper is based on extensive factual material that allows to trace in detail the Mayor’s career and to specify Gogol’s idea of the comedy as a satiric play aimed at obnoxious saboteurs, both nobles and commoners, who subvert the royal power and the state with their unworthy behavior, who are unfit for the positions they occupy and unable to meet the requirements of the supreme authority. The milestones of the Mayor’s career clearly confirm Gogol’s words that “the government consists of us, we climb the career ladder and make up the government”, that “the occupant of the position is to be blamed, and he is our brother”, and that readers and should be able to find with themselves the faults satirized in the comedy. With utmost sincerity and acuteness Gogol advocates healing self and society, extirpation of vices without the hidden agenda of changing political regime. The paper for the first time considers the connection between two scenes (“Anna Andreevna and Maria Antonovna”. “Khlestakov and Rastakovsky”) published in 1841 and the idea of The Government Inspector

Uses of the Past: Archaeology in the Service of the State

1987 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don D. Fowler
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
People’S Republic Of China ◽  
People's Republic Of China ◽  
Republic Of China ◽  
The Past ◽  
Symbolic Resources ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Symbolic Resource ◽  
Power And Authority

Nation states, or partisans thereof, control and allocate symbolic resources as one means of legitimizing power and authority, and in pursuit of their perceived nationalistic goals and ideologies. A major symbolic resource is the past. In this paper I review three cases in which the past and, in particular, relevant archaeological resources were "used" for such purposes, and I refer to several other well-known instances. The three cases discussed are Mexico from ca. A.D. 900 to the present, Britain from ca. A.D. 1500 to the present, and the People’s Republic of China since 1949. The implications of such uses in relation to archaeological theories and interpretations are discussed.

The Function of the Triad ‘Territory’, ‘Jurisdiction’, and ‘Control’ in Due Diligence Obligations

2020 ◽  
pp. 75-91
Author(s):  
Federica Violi
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Due Diligence ◽  
Precise Identification ◽  
And Function ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
And Control ◽  
Power And Authority

This chapter analyses the notions ‘territoryʼ, ‘jurisdictionʼ, and ‘controlʼ and their influence on the scope of due diligence obligations. It demonstrates that these notions epitomise the link between the state charged with the obligation and the risk itself and argues that the precise identification of this link is essential to understand how due diligence obligations arise and function. The chapter traces the gradual ‘widening’ of the scope of due diligence in international law, through court and arbitral decisions, treaties and non-binding instruments. It reflects on whether current international law is able to move away from the territoriality principle and conceive other forms of organising power and authority, and whether due diligence obligations might also be borne by private actors.

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