The unconquerable world
| Title | The unconquerable world
power, nonviolence, and the will of the people |
|---|---|
| Author | Jonathan Schell |
| Publication | Holt |
| Size | 433p |
| Language |  ENG |
| ISBN | 9780805044577 |
| Topics |
Power (Social sciences)--History Nonviolence Civil disobedience Social change--Through personal action |
| Notes | Schell starts by discussing the cultural embeddedness of men, patriotism and death in battle (going back to Pericles). From this classic root political morality has held onto the need for 'standing up for principles with force', which in practice quickly descends to "plunder, exploitation and massacre". In the 5th century, St. Augustine conjoined this with Christian love... by theorising 'separate realms' for political and religious morality. Politics has thus long been wedded to violence... it is hard to conceptualise a political ideology that does not have a resort to violence clause. As Schell says there has been, "an age old reliance of politics on violent means". Schell then puts forward his main thesis that "violence has now become dysfunctional as a political instrument" and that "forms of non-violent action can serve effectively in the place of violence at every level of political affairs". The key political progress has been the idea of democracy - even the worst democracy - carries within it the principle of equality which is a deeply seated contradiction to an also deeply embedded practice of inequality - see Tocqueville. Ironically modern national democracy allowed for a new kind of army, in which it was possible to mobilise masses of men prepared to die - apparently in defence of their own national interest and the principle of democracy. The disaster of the modern war system was fed by an unholy confluence of democracy, science, industrial revolution, and imperialism which developed through the 19th century. Schell sees the 'taming of violence' being written into liberalisms 'genetic code'. His example is the Civil Rights Movement in the USA. Although he sees nonviolent action being only 'curative' or reforming of a liberal democratic system. [wikipedia] |
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