Constitutional Reforms versus National Agitation in India, 1900-1950

1962 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 505-522 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dietmar Rothermund
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
The Political ◽  
Vigorous Agitation ◽  
Constituent Assembly ◽  
Constitutional Reforms ◽  
National Congress ◽  
The One ◽  
New Situation

The political development of India during the first half of the twentieth century was conditioned by constitutional reforms introduced by the British rulers, and by a vigorous agitation for national freedom. A constitution is a normative description of existing or intended relationships of political power; under the circumstances prevailing in India at that time, such a description was bound to be challenged again and again by an agitation for the revision of the status quo. In this way a peculiar relationship developed between constitutional reform and agitational advance. The constitutional reforms were designed to fulfill agitational demands on the one hand and to forestall more extreme demands on the other. Therefore they conformed to agitational patterns. In a similar way, the agitation was conditioned by the particular circumstances created by each constitutional reform; the constitution of the national movement itself, i.e., of the Indian National Congress, had to be adapted to the new situation whenever constitutional reforms were at stake. Finally when independence was achieved, an Indian Constituent Assembly adopted a constitution which closely resembled the previous constitutional structure introduced by British Acts of Parliament.

scholarly journals Features of the Political Development of Africa in the Postcolonial Period

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-38
Author(s):  
Wolde Mikhael Kassaye Nigusie ◽  
Natalia Viktorovna Ivkina
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Comparative Method ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ruling Elite ◽  
National Leaders ◽  
Common Opinion ◽  
The One ◽  
Effective Development ◽  
The Impact

The article is devoted to the features of the formation and development of Africa in the postcolonial period. The authors study such fundamental issues as the formation of modern States in Africa, the formation of the ruling elite and its influence on the political and socio-economic system, the role of the army and ethnic conflicts in the process of state formation. The relevance of the research is due to the fact that Russian and foreign historical science has not yet formed a common opinion on how to assess the consequences of the colonial period for Africa. Pluralism of opinions, on the one hand, generates the discussion for research, on the other, introduces a destructive imbalance in the representation of the region. As a novelty of the study, it’s necessary to note the neo-patrimonial approach to studying the features of the postcolonial period in Africa. It identifies separate thematic blocks that help assess the impact of colonization on the development of countries on the continent. The article also considers the correlation between the traditional and westernized elements within African political culture. The borrowing of political institutions and statehood theories is also considered not only as a consequence of the colonial past, but also as the political choice of the first national leaders of Africa, in the framework of their aspiration to choose an effective development way and to find a balance between the tradition and modernization. The main purpose of the study is to assess the results of decolonization in the context of ethnic, military and political aspects of the formation of African States. The polemic nature of the principles of understanding the postcolonial period of African development has led to the need to use a functional approach as a methodological basis. This is due to the need to study the principles of functioning of the political system of the region, rather than individual states. The neo-patrimonialist approach also gave rise to the use of a comparative method to compare the main theoretical postulates with the real situation in Africa. A vast array of sources and literature in Russian and English is needed to reflect the multi-vector possibilities of research on African issues.

Seeing the State

2018 ◽  
pp. 124-165
Author(s):  
Jelle J.P. Wouters
Keyword(s):  
Political Conflict ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Political Status ◽  
Postcolonial State ◽  
Dual Relation ◽  
The One ◽  
The Way

This chapter examines how protracted political conflict shapes the ways ordinary Naga men and women ‘see’ the postcolonial state. For most Nagas, long decades of conflict were marked by a dual relation to the state. On the one hand, they experienced the coercive, repressive powers of the state, while, after the enactment of Nagaland in 1963, the state manifested itself as a source of largesse and livelihood, as part of a politically driven policy of ‘seduction’ to tie Nagas to existing state structures and the political status quo. These historical experiences muddled distinctions between the state as a benevolent provider and protector, and that of a dispenser of bodily violence and misery, between the state as a lucrative resource and reservoir of public resentment. The way Naga villagers engage and ‘see’ the state, I argue, is mediated by this historical ambiguity.

scholarly journals Totstandkoming van de Grondwettelijke Krachtlijnen Voor Een Democratisch Zuid-Afrika

Afrika Focus ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 79-90
Author(s):  
Ted Pekane
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
External Factors ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dutch Translation ◽  
Extensive Introduction ◽  
National Congress ◽  
External Forces

The Realization of the Constitutional Guidelines for a Democratic South Africa Africa Focus publishes a Dutch translation of the “constitutional guidelines for a democratic South Africa”, adopted in March 1988 at Lusaka, by the African National congress (ANC), together with a preface (by F. Reyntjens) and an extensive introduction written by Ted Pekane, member of the constitutional committee of the ANC, about the drafting ofthis important text. In the preface is referred to the political signification of a constitutional text in Africa today and to the more pragmatic content of the guidelines, compared to the Freedom Charter of 1955. T. Pekane explains the external factors that contributed to the drafting of the guidelines. He also points out the dangers of the “ acceptable” models of constitution for the post-Apartheid period advanced by internal and external forces: a lot of those models are discreet options for a status-quo.

Rethinking the Political: Some Heideggerian Contributions

1990 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
pp. 524-552
Author(s):  
Fred Dallmayr
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
World Order ◽  
Political Community ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nazi Ideology ◽  
Political Agent ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One

Recent literature on Heidegger concentrates heavily on his (temporary) involvement in or collusion with Nazi ideology and policies. Without belittling the gravity of the issue, this article shifts the focus somewhat by invoking a distinction which recently has emerged (or reemerged) in political thought: namely, the distinction between “politics” and “the political” or between politics viewed as partisan ideology or policy making, on the one hand, and politics seen as regime or paradigmatic framework, on the other. The main thesis of the article is that Heidegger's promising contributions to political theory are located on the level of ontology or paradigmatic framework rather than that of ideological partisanship. While not neglecting the dismal intrusions of the latter plane, the article probes Heideggerian cues for a “rethinking of the political” by placing the accent on four topical areas: first, the status of the subject or individual as political agent; second, the character of the political community, that is, of the polity or (in modern terms) the “state”; thirdly, the issue of cultural and political development or modernization; and finally, the problem of an emerging cosmopolis or world order beyond the confines of Western culture. In discussing these topics, an effort is made to disentangle Heidegger from possible misinterpretations and to indicate how, in each area, his thought pointed in the direction of an “overcoming” of Western political metaphysics.

scholarly journals The Realization of the Constitutional Guidelines for a Democratic South Africa

Afrika Focus ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted Pekane ◽  
Filip Reyntjens
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
External Factors ◽  
The Political ◽  
Dutch Translation ◽  
Extensive Introduction ◽  
National Congress ◽  
External Forces

Africa Focus publishes a Dutch translation of the "constitutional guidelines for a democratic South Africa", adopted in March 1988 at Lusaka, by the African National congress (ANC), together with a preface (by F.Reyntjens) and an extensive introduction written by Ted Pekane, member of the constitutional committee of the ANC, about the drafting of this important text. In the preface is referred to the political signification of a constitutional text in Africa today and to the more pragmatic content of the guidelines, compared to the Freedom Charter of 1955. T. Pekane explains the external factors that contributed to the drafting of the guidelines. He also points out the dangers of the "acceptable" models of constitution for the post-Apartheid period advanced by internal and external forces : a lot of those models are discreet options for a status-quo. KEYWORDS : African National Congress, constitution, politics, South Africa 

scholarly journals THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIO-HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT ON GREEK PHILOSOPHY IN THE PERIOD OF EARLY HELLENISM: STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM AND BASIC APPROACHES TO ITS SOLUTION

2021 ◽  
pp. 52-65
Author(s):  
Vladimir Brovkin
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Basic Approaches ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Hellenistic Philosophy ◽  
Of Greece

The article deals with the problem of the influence of the political development of Greece on the early Hellenistic philosophy. The main approaches to solving this problem are shown. The traditional approach goes back to G. W. F. Hegel and E. Zeller. This approach is based on the idea of changing the nature of Greek philosophy in the conditions of the formation of Hellenistic monarchies and the decline of the polis in the period of early Hellenism. The tendency to alienation of the individual from society comes to the fore in the philosophical teachings of Hellenism. Another approach, presented in the works of P. Hadot and E. Brown, is based on the position on the preservation of the polis in the period of early Hellenism and, as a result, the tendency to political activity in Greek philosophy. The one- sidedness of these approaches is shown.

scholarly journals Russia’s 2020 Constitutional Reform: The Politics of Institutionalizing the Status-Quo

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
William E. Pomeranz ◽  
Regina Smyth
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Constitutional Change ◽  
Institutional Governance ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Status ◽  
Societal Expectations ◽  
Empirical Approaches

Abstract The articles in this issue explore the longer-term implications of Russia’s 2020 Constitutional Reform process. Assessing constitutional change from different theoretical and empirical approaches, these authors find that the constitution largely codified the status-quo as it had evolved over the past decade. The resulting institutional changes solidified the personalist political system that concentrates power in one leader. These reforms also created new mechanisms to preclude elite defection and generate societal quiescence. At the same time, the three-staged reform process that included formal adoption, national vote, and legal reconciliation, introduced new political risk by raising societal expectations, reinforcing cleavages through patriotic legitimization strategies, introducing new rigid structures, and relying on personalism and networks over institutional governance. These risks do not predict state failure but they suggest new challenges that will continue to shape Russian political development.

Organized Business Politics in Democratic Brazil

1998 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 95-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Ross Schneider
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
Reform Proposal ◽  
Business Politics ◽  
Constitutional Reforms ◽  
National Congress ◽  
As If

In May 1996 Brazil's National Confederation of Industry (CNI) convened a meeting of industrialists in Brasilia for a mass show of unity and focused lobbying in favor of constitutional reform. Industrialists large and small heeded the call. Nearly three thousand of them from all over Brazil chartered planes and packed shuttles. Fortified by a morning of speeches demanding constitutional reforms, the industrialists fanned out over Brasilia in the afternoon to argue their case to members of the national congress. As if to demonstrate that it could not be intimidated, however, Congress chose that very afternoon to vote down a reform proposal backed by business. By the end of that year, it was clear that business had made little progress in pushing several amendments it supported.

Constitutional reform will be Armenia's dividing line

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Party ◽  
State Power ◽  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
The Political ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Parliamentary System ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
National Congress ◽  
Ruling Party

Significance President Serzh Sargsyan has proposed moving from a presidential to a parliamentary system of government. His embrace of constitutional reform at this stage stems from a new degree of self-confidence, following his political neutralisation of the Prosperous Armenia (BH) party. The opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK) will oppose the reforms. The ARF and HAK moves are rooted in political weakness and desperation: it seems that ARF wants to return to the governing coalition, and HAK to regain lost credibility, especially after the defeat of its political partner, BH, whose leader, Gagik Tsarukian, has resigned. Impacts The hobbling of Armenia's second-largest political party will reinforce the grip on power of the ruling party and the president. However, this could prove merely a tactical victory for Sargsyan against the political aspirations of his predecessor in office, Kocharyan. The threat to move against Tsarukian's business interests will mark a dangerous trend in the selective application of state power.

Hernandez faces multiple pressures in Honduras

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Constitutional Reform ◽  
The Political ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Constitutional Reforms ◽  
Multiple Pressures ◽  
The Government ◽  
Political Spectrum

Subject The government of President Juan Orlando Hernandez faces major challenges. Significance Pressure has been growing on President Juan Orlando Hernandez as a result of a corruption scandal and potential constitutional reform. Even if he is not forced to accede to calls for his resignation, political weakness may force him to make deals with his opponents. Impacts Continuing protests over corruption will erode the legitimacy of the government. The government will appear increasingly open to the possibility of an international anti-corruption body. Constitutional reforms offer potential for deals to be struck across the political spectrum.

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