vol 3: Development
chapter 11: Politics
Introduction
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Introduction
Politics, in this scheme of things, applies the technology provided by religion to the concrete task of keeping the peace. Religion tells us that there is a limit to control. Beyond this limit we must submit to the way things are, that is to nature. Divine nature. Different religions express this proposition differently, but all express the moral idea that the best way to go about things is to obey or submit to god, whatever god may be.
Politics is made necessary by the contrast between the need to share and the desire for personal power. Since everybody cannot have everything they want, the public appropriation and allocation of resources becomes the fundamental political issue.
This part of the site explores the principles and practice of deciding what is to be realised and what not in the public domain.
This requires the creation of workable political structures. The nodes within such structures are the political roles such as constituent, head of state, minister, parliamentarian, judge and so on.
These roles are filled by people, but in an open democratic society the relationship between people and roles is not fixed The method of choosing people for roles is part of a the political system. In some regimes, succession, particularly in the top role, can lead to unrest and bloodshed. In better designed system, regular elections and other policies of choice help to fill roles peacefully and effectively.
The peace is threatened from by the tendency of concentrations of wealth and power to grow by plundering the lesser powers surrounding them. This is power politics. Power politics may cause feelings of revolt to arise in those who are deprived of power. The peacekeeping force that balances concentration is justice, that is the notion that the each human niche in the world should give its occupier equal chances, so that the game of life is fair.
Further reading
Books
| Axelrod, Robert, The Evolution of Cooperation, Basic Books 1985 Amazon.com: 'This book is a must-read not only for students (broadly defined) of the social sciences, but also for politicians and bureaucrats, especially those in charge of military and foreign affairs. Axelrod's book is a tour-de-force in multi-method approaches. Although the author is a trifle repetitive and occasionally laborious, I think the profound content of the book far outweighs the minor inadequacies of its form. At the risk of sounding like a logical positivist, I would venture to say that Axelrod's approach offers hope for a bottom-up construction of cooperation in an uncertain world without a central authority.' Reeshad Dalal Amazon back |
| Axelrod, Robert, The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration, Princeton University Press 1997 Amazon back |
| Forsyth, Muray, and Maurice Keens-Soper (editors), The Political Classics: A guide to the Essential Texts, Oxford University Press 1992 Jacket: 'This book aims to make the classical writings of Western political philosophy accessible to the modern reader. It provides a lively and informed introduction to some of the greatest works of political thought, starting with Plato's Republic and ending with Rousseau's Social Contract. The other works examined are Aristotle's Politics, Augustine's The City of God, Machiavelli's Discourses and The Prince, Hobbes's Leviathan, and Locke's Second Treatise of Government.' Amazon back |
| Goldblat, Jozef, Agreements for Arms Control: a critical survey, Taylor and Francis 1982 Jacket: 'This is the most comprehensive handbook on arms control ever published, It contains an analysis of the bilateral and multilateral agreements reached since World War II. ... The critique is searching, objective and free of thje usual biases of official government reports. ... The tests of the relevant documents are reproduced ... and the status of the implementation of the most imortant multilateral arms control agreements is presented in tabular form.' Amazon back |
| Larsen, Egon, A Flame in Barbed Wire: The Story of Amnesty International, Frederick Muller 1978 Jacket: 'This book tells the story not only of [Amnesty Intyernational's] phenomenal growth, but also of the various personal and policy crises that have rocked the movement. But the main subject is man's inhumanity to man in our time of violence; it is a tale of human suffering and heroism, of torture and of ordinary people's idealism in one of the great causes of today.' Amazon back |
| Levi, Margaret, Of Rule and Revenue, University of California Press 1988 Jacket: A magnificent book, one of the best blends of rational choice theory and historical analysis I've seen ... [Levi's] resolute focus throughout on rulers' efforts to balance extraction of revenues against the compliance of their polities organises this vast collection of material into a tight, compelling account.' Russell Hardin Amazon back |
| McNeill, William H, The Pursuit of Power: Technology, Armed Force and Society since AD 1000, University of Chicago Press 1984 Jacket: 'In this global history of war, from antiquity to the atomic age, WMcN traces the history of lethal technology, showing that the crucial factor on military success has nearly always been superior weaponry. He examines the motivation of warring people through the ages, the development of war-related industries, and the personalities of great warriors and leaders.' Amazon back |
| Neville, Robert C, The Cosmology of Freedom, State University of New York Press 1974-1996 Jacket: 'This remarkably fresh and creative treatment of the concept of freedom integrates many of the basic notions of personal and social freedom in one cosmological scheme. ... Neville first considers personal freedoms: the freedom to respond to opportunities in the sociophysical environment, the freedom to act intentionally, the freedom of choice. The author then focusses on freedom to participate in society ...' Amazon back |
| Popper, Karl Raimund, The Open Society and its Enemies (volume 1) : The Spell of Plato, Routledge 1966 Introduction: 'This book ...attempts to show that [our civilisation] has not yet fully recovered from the shock of its birth - the transition from tribal or 'closed society', with its submission to magical forces, to the 'open society' which sets free the critical powers of man. ... It further tries to examine the application of the critical and rational methods of science to the problems of the open society.' Amazon back |
| Popper, Karl Raimund, The Open Society and its Enemies (volume 2) : The High Tide of Prophecy, Hegel, Marx and the Aftermath , Routledge 1966 Jacket: '... "a work of first-class importance which ought to be widely read for its masterly criticism of the enemies of democracy, ancient and modern. His attack on Plato, while unorthodox, is in my opinion thoroughly justified. His analysis of Hegel is deadly. Marx is dissected with equal acumen, and given his due share of responsibility for modern misfortunes. The book is a vigorous and profound defence of democracy, timely, very interesting andf very well written".' Bertrand Russell Amazon back |
| Reynolds, Henry, and (compiler), Dispossession : Black Australians and White Invaders (The Australian Experience), Allen & Unwin Amazon back |
| Walker, Geoffrey de Q, The Rule of Law: Foundations of Constitutional Democracy, Melbourne University Press 1988 Jacket: 'The author argues that the survival of any useful rule of law model is currently threatened by distortions in the adjudication process, by perversion of law enforcement (by fabrication of evidence and other means), by the excessive production of new legislation with its degrading effect on long-term legal certainty and on long-standing safeguards, and by legal theories that are hostile to the very concept of rule of law. In practice these trends have produced a great number of legal failures from which we must learn.' Amazon back |
Papers
| DeJong, Gerben, "Physical disability and public policy", Scientific American, 248, 6, June 1983, page 26-35. 'The civil rights of disabled Americans require a more accessible environment. The present Administration, however, hesitates to enforce laws calling for the removal of architectural barriers.'. back |
| Disney, Julian , "Expanding the agenda", Eureka Street, 3, 5, June/July 1993, page 10-11. 'For more than a decade Canberra orthodoxy has ruled many social and developmental issues out of court. Now some cracks are opening up, argues JD. So dust off your theories on regional development, state boundaries and the way we are governed ...' [part I in ES, May]. back |
| Foulkes, Pamela, "Why can't Catholic women be priests", Eureka Street, 3, 6, August 1993, page 18-. 'A recently published Catholic pamphlet puts the question. PF analyses the arguments'. back |
| Gottfried, Kurt, "Sowing nuclear misconceptions", Nature, 403, 6766, 13 January 2000, page 131-133. Commentary: In recent deliberations over the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the US Senate was not well served by the directors of the US weapons laboratories.' . back |
| Myers, Norman, "Lifting the veil on perverse subsidies", Nature, 392, , 26 March,1998, page 327. back |
| Padilla, Ana Padilla, "Science moves to centre stage", Nature, 403, 6768, 27 January 2000, page 357-359. 'Science is playing an increasing part in many decisions made by the UK Parliament, and probably in other legislation. What are the implications?. back |
| Rayner, Moira, "The wedge gets thicker", Eureka Street, 7, 9, November 1997, page 20-21. 'Managerial culture and political expedience are eroding hard-won democratic procedures, says MR'. back |
| Turner, P E, "Prisoner's dilemma in an RNA virus", Nature, 398, 6726, 1 April 1999, page 441. back |
Links
| Australia Australian Commonwealth Government Entry point back |
| Australian Government ScalePlus SCALEplus is the legal information retrieval systemowned by the Australian Attorney General'sDepartment. SCALEplus is an integral part of the Window On The Law initiative to bring low or no-cost access to the law for the community. back |
| Australian Legal Information Institute AustLII Search Search a large database of Australian legal material back |
| Australian Parliament Joint Standing Committee on Treaties - General Information Page back |
| Jurimetrics Jurimetrics Journal Home Page back |
| Political Reference Almanac The Political Reference Almanac, online 1999-2000 edition back |
Click on an "Amazon" link in the booklist at the foot of the page to buy the book, see more details or search for similar items
Related sites:
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Revealing Vatican attempts to propagate its religion by international treaty
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