bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Church and State
Authors: Lienesch Michael 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
In the history of political thought, few issues have been more central than the relationship between church and state, and few more complex and contested. From ancient times to today, thinkers have conceived of the connections between religious and political institutions in a wide variety of ways, with the two being sometimes combined, sometimes separated, and sometimes (in fact often) at odds. Christian writers have been particularly active in conceptualizing the relationship between church and state, and in applying those concepts to the modern nation‐state. But those from other religious traditions have contributed as well, as have secular theorists, inspiring an array of institutional relationships that ranges from theocratic regimes and established churches to secular states like today's France and Turkey, with multiple systems based on cooperation, neutrality, and strict church–state separation found in between. Moreover, while appearing to be static, relations between church and state are in fact quite fluid, changing frequently as a result of court decisions, public policies, and shifting political opinion. Today especially, with the appearance of religiously based political movements in many parts of the world, the issue has become even more complex and contested, as what was once seen as a dualistic and exclusive relationship between two dominant sources of power has become a multifaceted set of interactions that includes interest groups, social movements, and political organizations that engage in multiple forms of religious politics within civil society.
Civil Disobedience
Authors: Clor Harry 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Civil disobedience, as usually understood, is the nonviolent, though deliberate and public, violation of law that is believed to be unjust. In persistent arguments for and against this enterprise, large questions, including philosophic questions are raised. Opponents of civil disobedience invoke a putative obligation of the citizen to respect the law. But if this is a moral obligation, what is the basis of it? What is it about “law” that constitutes an imperative claim upon us? Proponents of civil disobedience maintain that higher standards exist transcending the legal order and mandating a higher obligation. But what are these standards, whence is their authority derived, and how does law violation on their behalf comport with the interests of society? The great proponents, including Thoreau, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, provide somewhat different answers to such questions. Hence, we can recognize variety among philosophies of civil disobedience.
Collective Memory
Authors: Bruyneel Kevin 
Published: August 2023

AbstractCollective memory is a genre of political discourse. It is the field through which communities construct a shared identity by defining present‐day identities through past events and myths. Collective memory is a critical concept for understanding the meaning, terms, and construction of collective identity. In contrast to individual memory, collective memory is driven by sociological and political imperatives more than psychological ones. Maurice Halbwachs, a seminal figure in the field, argued that “there are no recollections which can be said to be purely interior, that is, which can be preserved only within individual memory. Indeed, from the moment that a recollection reproduces a collective perception, it can itself only be collective” is thus a shared narrative, reconstructed through such functions as elite narratives, popular culture, national myths, and public memorials. Collective memory is often associated with the identity of the nation, for while a nation without a military may be deemed weak and vulnerable, a nation without a collective memory does not exist at all.
Cosmopolitanism
Authors: Brown Garrett Wallace 
Published: August 2023

AbstractBroadly defined, cosmopolitanism is the idea that there are moral duties and obligations owed to all human beings based solely on our humanity alone, without reference to ethnicity, nationality, political association, race, culture, religion or other communal particularities. The etymological origins of cosmopolitanism can be traced back to the Cynic philosopher Diogenes of Sinope (400–323bce), who is reputed to have resisted the idea of city‐state patriotism by claiming that he was not a citizen of any one particular community, but that he waskosmopolites, “a citizen of the world”. By combining two words –kosmos(universal) andpolites(citizen) – Diogenes was suggesting that every person belonged to a universal fraternity of humankind and that all persons should be treated with a sense of dignity and hospitality,as if they werecommon citizens. As is often related, Diogenes substantiated this claim by arguing that every person was a member of the same species and inhabited the same earthly cosmos, and, since this human condition is common to all, it naturally bestows a universal reason to treat every person with a sense of brotherly love and hospitality, regardless of place of birth or political affiliation.
Cropsey, Joseph (1919–2012)
Authors: Colmo Christopher A. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractJoseph Cropsey received his graduate training in economics at Columbia University. While teaching economics at City College of New York (1946–58), he met Leo Strauss, then teaching political philosophy at the New School for Social Research. Cropsey moved to the department of political science at the University of Chicago in 1958, joining Strauss who had gone there in 1949. They contributed to and edited their now‐famousHistory of Political Philosophy(1962). After Strauss's death in 1973, Cropsey edited a third edition of this book (1987), which included for the first time articles on Husserl, Heidegger, and Strauss himself. Cropsey's influence can be measured in part by the hundreds of undergraduates he taught and by the 134 dissertation committees (76 as chair) on which he served.
Decision Theory
Authors: Wong James K. L. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

Decision theory models decision‐making by agents such as individuals or groups of individuals. On the positive level, it explains why agents, in a given scenario, behave as making a certain decision; it also predicts how agents would make decisions in other similar scenarios. On the normative level, it evaluates and recommends how agents should make decisions based on some standard of goodness. Individual decisions play a role in democratic politics insofar as they interact with, and influence, the decisions of each other, or as these decisions are aggregated into group or collective decisions. This entry focuses on
how
decision theory models an agent's decision under uncertainty.
Democratic Centralism
Authors: Barrow Clyde W. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractDemocratic centralism is a Communist organizational principle that ostensibly combines the practices of elective democracy and free discussion with centralized executive direction and political discipline. The origin of the concept is commonly traced to several writings by V. I. Lenin, particularlyWhat Is to Be Done?(1902) and it is often summarized in his statement: “unity in action, freedom of discussion and criticism.” The democratic aspect of democratic centralism is the freedom enjoyed by members of a political party to discuss and debate matters of policy, but once a decision is made by the party through majority vote, every member is expected to adhere to this “party line” and follow the central directives of party leaders aimed at implementing that decision.
Derrida, Jacques (1930–2004)
Authors: Rubenstein Diane 
Published: August 2023

AbstractJacques Derrida, the French philosopher and public intellectual, is commonly associated with the term “deconstruction.” As someone for whom America was to play a consequential role in his career, he started life with an appropriate given name, “Jackie,” named after Jackie Coogan, the child actor from California. He was born in El Biar, Algeria, in 1930 to what he would often describe as an assimilated petit bourgeois Sephardic Jewish family. It is difficult to circumscribe his influence. His academic reach extended from the humanities and social sciences to law schools, psychoanalytic institutes, art exhibits, and theatre. His written work exceeded the confines of genre as well as discipline: poetry (Rams); theatre(Marx en Jeu); pseudo‐epistolary novel (The Postcard); life writing (Circumfessions,Counterpaths, Monolingualism of the Other): typographical experimentation (Glas). He was the subject of two documentary films (D'Ailleurs Derrida, Faathy 1999;Derrida, Dick & Kofman 2003) and acted in another (Ghostdance.)
Descartes, René (1596–1650)
Authors: Watson Richard A. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractRené Descartes is known as the father of modern philosophy. He is also a primary founder of modern mechanistic science, the inventor of analytic geometry that led to the calculus, and a pioneer in vivisection and the psychology of the emotions. His work constitutes a definitive break with the Aristotelian Scholasticism of passive matter and active form, and is foundational to the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century. His metaphysics consisting of two substances – immaterial mind whose essence is active thinking and material body whose essence is passive extension – has set the foundations and agenda for philosophy and science ever since, from the dualism of mind and body to the monisms of idealism (only the mental exists) and materialism (only bodies exist). The most recent manifestation of the problems set by Descartes is materialist neurophysiology, according to which the mental realm of ideas and sensations is either reduced to material activities in the brain or elevated to epiphenomena that have no causal effect in the deterministic material world.
Despotism
Authors: Garrow Robert 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

“Despotism” derives from the Greek word “despotēs,” which means “master.” In his
Politics
, Aristotle defines a despot as the head of a household in his capacity as ruler over slaves, though this kind of rule also characterizes the rule of the soul over the body. Despotic rule is thus the part of household management which uses humans as if they were soulless bodies or tools. The science proper to despotic rule is mastery in the use of slaves, and Aristotle claims that there is “nothing great and dignified about it.” It may be distinguished from both the rule of a father over his children and of a husband over his wife.
Downs, Anthony (1930–)
Authors: Pennington Mark 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

Anthony Downs, born in 1930, is an American economist and political scientist and an early pioneer of public choice theory. His two most influential works are
An Economic Theory of Democracy
(1957) and
Inside Bureaucracy
(1967). In later years Downs developed a longstanding relationship with the Brookings Institution and in particular had a keen interest in housing and transportation issues, reflected in the 1992 volume
Stuck in Traffic
.
Dworkin, Ronald (1931–2013)
Authors: Williams David Lay 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Ronald Dworkin was among the most important and influential Anglo‐American philosophers of the twentieth and twenty‐first centuries, standing at the intersection of legal and political thought. Dworkin published numerous books, articles, and essays on a wide variety of topics related to legal, political, and moral philosophy, including civil disobedience, rights, community, abortion, constitutional law, democratic theory, pragmatism, terrorism, taxation, religion, and pornography. While influential in all these realms, however, his greatest impact and influence came through his contributions to jurisprudence and the philosophy of justice.
Empire
Authors: Pagden Anthony 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Of all the terms in the political lexicon “empire” is one of the most elusive. Ancient Macedonia, Rome, Byzantium, Ottoman Turkey, China, Vishanagar, Assyria, Elam, Urartu, Benin, Maori New Zealand, Peru and Mexico, the Soviet Union, the United States, even, by its enemies, the European Union, have all been described as “empires.” What all of these states share in common with one another are three things: they are all (relatively) large; they are all states in which one ethnic or tribal group, by one means or another, rules over several others, and for the most part, most of them have been acquired by conquest. Some of them, but by no means all, were also believed to be, either actually or potentially, universal. As such, empires have always been more frequent, more extensive, human experiences than tribal territories or nations have ever been. Nations and nation‐states are relatively recent inventions, and although they have now been spread across the globe, they are of exclusively European origin. The political history of most of the world can be understood as the slow, but inexorable replacement of empires by nations. (Which is not to say that the process might not, at some future date, be reversed.)
Engels, Friedrich (1820–95)
Authors: Carver Terrell 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

Friedrich (or Frederick) Engels has figured most prominently in modern political thought as coauthor with Karl Marx (1818–83) of
The German Ideology
, edited in the 1920s from manuscripts written 1845–6 and published in full only in 1932, and
The Communist Manifesto
, published anonymously in 1848 but only widely circulated after 1872. These are two landmark works in the modern Marx canon, and are also essential reading for any understanding of Marxism as a modern ideology (though neither Marx nor Engels endorsed the “ism”). Their major contribution to political thought lies in the necessary inclusion of economic relations into any theorization of politics. For both this meant a view of human history as a succession of social formations rooted in class struggle and secured by governmental power structures. In modern industrial and industrializing societies, they argued, the contradiction between oppressed wealth‐producers and privileged wealth‐owners would intensify. Politically the two worked to bring this conflict to a point of radical dissolution, and they expected the workers of the world to unite and form a classless society.
Ethics
Authors: Sabl Andrew 
Published: August 2023

AbstractIn its original, Aristotelian meaning, ethics meant the study of character; politics was seen as a comprehensive activity aiming at perfection of character. In a modern, pluralistic context, ethics as applied to politics includes debates over whether and how the old, Aristotelian model might still apply; political ethics in a narrow sense, involving questions of ends and means, leadership and responsibility; the question of civic ethics or the virtues and practices required of ordinary citizens; and questions of corruption, involving problems of enforcement and institutional design. In all these cases, contemporary normative disputes reflect larger historical debates about the ends of politics, the nature of political leadership, the demands of collective action, and the structure of political value.
Evangelicalism
Authors: R. Murphy Andrew 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

The term “evangelical” comes from the Greek word
evangelion
, meaning “good news” or “gospel.” It has a long Protestant pedigree; Martin Luther himself used it to describe the reform movement to which his critique of Catholic doctrine and practice gave rise. Over time, “evangelical” has come to be more particularly associated with a strand of Protestant Christianity that emphasizes an individual's personal relationship with God and de‐emphasizes ritual and liturgy. David Bebbington articulated four primary characteristics of evangelical religion: (1) conversionism (the idea of life‐changing religious experience, often described as being “born again”); (2) activism (putting the gospel into action); (3) biblicism (the Bible as inspired word of God, the ultimate authority for human life); and (4) crucicentrism (an emphasis on the death of Jesus as central to the redemption of humanity).
Exploitation
Authors: Lipscomb Michael E. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThe concept of exploitation is a central term of political discourse, both descriptively and normatively. As a descriptor, exploitation marks a concrete application of power, perhaps most often in the economic realm, and is thus central to what we call politics. Furthermore, the term is sometimes used neutrally as any act in which a resource is being utilized, and it is even used complimentarily to refer to the skillful mastery and use of a set of resources or potentials. More typically, however, the invocation of “exploitation” signals an ineluctable normative element within the political, carrying an accusation of injustice.
Failed States
Authors: Grigsby Ellen 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Failed states are states that are incapable of exercising sovereignty over their territories and populations. That is, a failed or failing state (depending on the degree of incapacity) is one that is no longer capable of carrying out the most basic governing responsibilities, such as the enforcement of the rule of law and the provision of security throughout its territory, control of its borders, maintenance of its basic infrastructure and revenue extraction processes, and interaction with other states in the global arena as an independent decision‐making entity as regards its own diplomacy, treaties, and international agreements. A combination of internal and external factors may contribute to state failure.
Feminism
Authors: Marso Lori J. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractFeminism is defined by social and political movements on behalf of women, and as a critical orientation that initiates curiosity and consciousness about how gender hierarchy pervades institutions, state formations, economic structures, the constitution of racial and other forms of difference, the construction of desire, and the ability to embrace possibilities for freedom. It is arguably more accurate to speak of “feminisms” rather than “feminism,” and “movements” rather than a “movement,” as feminism's several movements and critical orientation are, and have always been, characterized by plural, internally contested visions and goals.
Fichte, Johann Gottlieb (1762–1814)
Authors: Clarke James 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

J. G. Fichte was one of the leading representatives of German Idealism. He sought to complete Kant's philosophical project by developing a comprehensive system of transcendental philosophy – the
Wissenschaftslehre
(doctrine of science). This system is based on the claim that there is an aspect of human selfhood that is radically free and self‐determining. Political philosophy or the “philosophy of right” (
Rechtsphilosophie
) preoccupied Fichte throughout his career and plays a central role in his philosophical system.
Gadamer, Hans‐Georg (1900–2002)
Authors: McClimans Leah 
Published: August 2023

AbstractHans‐Georg Gadamer was a German philosopher most well known for his work on philosophical hermeneutics, which he developed in his magnum opusTruth and Method. Born in Marburg and continuing to live in Germany throughout his life, Gadamer was witness to the entire twentieth century, a century in which German politics often took center stage. Although Gadamer himself remained relatively apolitical, his work on hermeneutics is of central importance to ethics and political philosophy. This importance stems from Gadamer's account of the engagement and understanding that can be achieved with those works of art, texts, and individuals who are separated from us in time and/or tradition, for instance, Greek tragedies or Iranian mullahs. If, as some have suggested, the great political challenge of the twenty‐first century is the understanding of the other, then we can expect Gadamer's philosophy to continue to play a key role in contemporary ethical and political thought.
Gemeinschaft
and
Gesellschaft
Authors: Inglis David 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

Gemeinschaft
and
Gesellschaft
are a pair of concepts normally translated into English from German as “community” and “society.” The terms were originally coined by the German social and political theorist Ferdinand Tönnies (1855–1936). They came subsequently to be highly influential in German‐speaking social theory. The terms were systematically propounded in Tönnies's first book, entitled
Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft
(1887). This work was indebted to, among others, Hobbes, Adam Smith, Tocqueville, Marx, Nietzsche, and Carlyle. These writers furnished Tönnies with a vocabulary to describe what he saw as
the
key contemporary sociopolitical issue, namely the shift from more “community”‐oriented to more “individualistic” forms of thought and practice in western Europe since around the sixteenth century.
Genital Mutilation
Authors: LeJeune John 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Genital mutilation is the alteration of genital organs, including the partial or total removal of external genitalia, for cultural and nonmedical reasons. While sometimes associated with male circumcision, the term typically refers to a traditional practice most prominent in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia and administered to girls usually between infancy and puberty. Varying across groups, the practice ranges in intensity from pricking of the clitoris, to removal of the clitoris, labia minora, and labia majora followed by narrowing or stitching of the vaginal orifice. Parents who sanction the practice want the best for their children and usually associate it with desire for proper marriage. Other explanations include religious piety (Islamic), rites of passage, and tradition. The World Health Organization estimates that between 100 and 140 million women are currently affected by female genital mutilation.
Geopolitics
Authors: Rubinovitz Ziv 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Geopolitics is a profound field of research in social and political sciences, with significant influence on practically every aspect of life and every international occurrence, past, present, and probably future. Although geopolitics relates to international relations, the terms are not synonymous. It is one of the most influential concepts in modern political thought, in forming international relations and political theories as well as foreign policies. There is hardly any other field or set of theories that has had such influence. It was so powerful that it was ostracized by the bulk of the academic world for decades due to the horrors of World War II.
Gibbon, Edward (1737–94)
Authors: Danford John W. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract

Edward Gibbon, eighteenth‐century man of letters, achieved international fame with his monumental six‐volume
History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
(the first volume appeared in 1776). He is important in the history of political thought because his work appeared during an extended debate, on both sides of the Atlantic, about the proper size and structure of republics, part of a larger controversy (the quarrel between the ancients and the moderns), the central issue of eighteenth‐century political thought, encompassing subsidiary debates about luxury, social contract theory, individualism, commerce, and the ends of political life itself.