World Library - eBooks | Read eBooks online

An Exhibit on Politics

Power

Albany Plan of Union (by Franklin, Benjamin)
Twentieth Century Political Thought (by Roucek, Joseph. S)
Conquest of bread, The (by Kropotkin, Peter)
The Trial and Death of Socrates (by Plato)
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of C... (by Weber, Max)
On Liberty (by Mill, John Stuart)
Heart of Darkness (by Conrad, Joseph)
The Wealth of Nations (by Adam Smith)
On Liberty (by Mill, J. S.)
The Philosophical Works of John Locke : ... (by John Locke)
Capital : A Critique of Political Econom... (by Marx, Karl)
Heart of Darkness (by Conrad, Joseph)
Discourse Upon the Origin and the Founda... (by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques)
Politics (by Aristotle)
The Writings of Thomas Paine Volume Iv (by Paine, Thomas)

Power: An Exhibit on Politics

This virtual exhibit examines the history of political ideologies and the on the application of personal and political power within the context of social and resource control. Throughout history, man has struggled for both control, and sovereignty. The concepts of freedom and independence have been great inspiration for writers throughout millenia. These documents are located in the following Collections: Politics, Anthropology, Sociology, Psychology, Philosophy, Government, Law, Literature...among many other volumes of influential works.

The Social Mind

In Twentieth Century Political Thought, political philosopher Joseph S. Roucek draws from E.A. Ross and C.H. Cooley to say that the state has a “social mind” that prescribes forms and obligations to all associations, and shapes the societal composition. The modern discourse of political struggles is that political victors become the leading creators of the “social mind” that control the order of the defeated. This discourse is common in the study of politics that shape modern nations and international relations today (Twentieth Century Political Thought, Joseph S. Roucek).

The Review of the Management of Our Affairs in China, Since the Opening of the Trade in 1834; With an Analysis of the Government Despatches from the Assumption of Office by Capt. Elliott, on the 14th December, 1836, to the 22d of March, 1839 discusses the history of British influence in China’s opium trade. According to the author, the British collaborated with elite Chinese bureaucrats and merchants, creating profits for a few, but much havoc in the country (; With an Analysis of the Government Despatches from the Assumption of Office by Capt. Elliott, on the 14th December, 1836, to the 22d of March, 1839, Captain Eliot). The aggression of foreign powers entering into China for their own trade interests transformed the country into German, Russian, British and French “spheres of influence” (“May Fourth Movement,” World Heritage Encyclopedia). In this context, the “social mind” in China was actually being influenced by foreign powers rather than according to the interests of the Chinese themselves. According to China at the Peace Conference, August 1919, Paris became the site for the Peace Conference that brought together the world’s leaders to end the World War I (China at the Peace Conference, August 1919, Far Eastern Political Science Review). Wellington Koo and Cao Rulin represented China. Koo demanded an end to imperialist policies in China (“V.K. Wellington Koo,” World Heritage Encyclopedia). However, Western powers refused his claim. China was the only country that did not sign the Paris Peace Conference Treaty. This led to the May Fourth Movemen t in China (“May Fourth Movement,” World Heritage Encyclopedia).

Sovereignty

The writer, Roucek, also states that the indispensable elements of states are populations, territory and sovereign power. The quantity and quality of a population legitimizes a ruling power’s territorial administration. Sovereignty is described as political leaders raising the flag, erecting government buildings and instituting police and army forces to defend their territory. In the words of J.W. Burgess, the original, absolute, unlimited power of the state over individual and collective subjects that reside in that territory (Twentieth Century Political Thought, Joseph S. Roucek). This concept of sovereignty is demonstrated in the the writings of Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. He believed that a state’s stability is always subject to threat.

Niccolò Machiavelli was born in a time when France, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and Switzerland battled Italian city-states for regional influence and control (“Niccolò Machiavelli,” World Heritage Encyclopedia). Machiavelli wrote The Prince, a 16th-century political treatise which argued that there is a benefit to leaders using violence to achieve stability and security, also known as sovereignty (The Prince, Niccolò Machiavelli). However, political sovereignty may also be born from the social, economic and psychic forces emerging out of the population. According to Popular Sovereignty, in order for a peaceful state to be achieved, informed individuals need to be willing to work toward it. It is the responsibility of the the institutions and laws to support the development of informed individuals who will in turn advocate for popular needs and interests (Popular Sovereignty, Charles Anthony).

Ideology

Roucek adds that the state’s power is founded upon territorial residence and control of vital economic items, such as property. Smaller political units called city-states evolved into states. Ancient monarchies expanded into empires. The ideological leadership of states can be absolutist, tyrannical, representative, democratic, socialistic, militaristic and industrial. Other ideological forms include aristocracy and democracy, theocracy, physiocracy and plutocracy. These differences in governments reflect the techniques that dominant groups use to exercise their power (Twentieth Century Political Thought, Joseph S. Roucek).

New political ideologies are adopted by groups as contexts shift. In 1835, French political thinker Alexis de Tocqueville wrote Democracy in America, documenting his travels to America and illuminating the amorphous nature of the state (“Alexis de Tocqueville,” World Heritage Encyclopedia). Through this book, he wanted to inform France about its changing position in the global arena due to the rise of Anglo-America as an emerging imperial power. De Tocqueville observed how state practice of aristocratic politics was giving way to a new ideal called democratic politics: American democracy allowed people to come together for the common cause of creating their political society according to civil laws, while also expanding across the North American continent (Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville).

Another type of political ideology is socialism, which would critique dominant political orders such as U.S. imperial power. In Revolutionary Socialism, A Study in Socialist Reconstruction, Louis C. Fraina wrote that imperialism is the height of capitalism as it animates the economic, social and political forces that structure capitalism to exploit workers. Thus, the death of capitalism is an opportunity to practice Revolutionary Socialism, in which proletariat workers depend upon themselves to produce their own needs, in order to change the elite-controlled society (Revolutionary Socialism, A Study in Socialist Reconstruction, Louis C. Fraina).

Works Cited

“Alexis de Tocqueville.” World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Anthony, Charles. Popular Sovereignty. London: Longmans, Green & Company, 2010.

Captain Eliot. Review of the Management of our Affairs in China, 1834; With an Analysis of the Government Despatches from the Assumption of Office by Capt. Elliott, on the 14th December, 1836, to the 22d of March, 1839. London: Smith, Elder and Company, 1840.

Far Eastern Political Science Review. China at the Peace Conference, August 1919. Canton: Diplomatic Association, 1919.

Fraina, Louis. Revolutionary Socialism. New York: The Communist Press, 1918.

Machiavelli, Niccolò. The Prince. London: Oxford University Press, 1921.

"May Fourth Movement." World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Roucek, Joseph S. Twentieth Century Political Thought. New York: Philosophical Library, Inc., 1946.

“V.K. Wellington Koo.” World Heritage Encyclopedia. WorldLibrary.org. Web. 2014.

Political Collections

Political matters refer to the calculation of forces that seek to assert power over territory and population. The Nature of Organized Power: An Exhibit on Politics features Roucek’s concepts such as the “social mind,” “sovereignty” and “ideology” to explore how a particular definition of order asserts its power over territory, and circulates its ideals to generate public consent of that order. However, this order is always shifting, as different political ideas co-exist and compete for the manifestation of their ideal reality.

Explore other books on politics in these collections.

Top 100 books on Politics

Albany Plan of Union (by Franklin, Benjamin)
Twentieth Century Political Thought (by Roucek, Joseph. S)
Conquest of bread, The (by Kropotkin, Peter)
The Trial and Death of Socrates (by Plato)
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of C... (by Weber, Max)
On Liberty (by Mill, John Stuart)
Heart of Darkness (by Conrad, Joseph)
The Wealth of Nations (by Adam Smith)
On Liberty (by Mill, J. S.)
The Philosophical Works of John Locke : ... (by John Locke)
Capital : A Critique of Political Econom... (by Marx, Karl)
Heart of Darkness (by Conrad, Joseph)
Discourse Upon the Origin and the Founda... (by Rousseau, Jean-Jacques)
Politics (by Aristotle)
The Writings of Thomas Paine Volume Iv (by Paine, Thomas)

Top 100 books on Government

Utopia (by More, Thomas)
The moral crusader, William Lloyd Garris... (by Smith, Goldwin)
The Mayflower Compact
The Works of Aristotle : Volume 12 (by Aristotle)
The Prince (by Machiavelli, Niccolò)
Declaration of Colonial Rights : Resolut...
Politics Aristotle (by Ross, W. D.)
On Liberty (by Mill, John Stuart)
Common Sense (by Paine, Thomas)
1581 : The Dutch Declaration of Independ... (by Hutchinson, Joshua)
Plato redivivus : or, A dialogue concern... (by Neville, Henry)
Between Past and Future : Six Exercises ... (by Hannah Arendt)
Democracy in America I (by Tocqueville, Alexis de)
Leviathan (by Hobbes, Thomas)
Observations on the Importance of the Am... (by Richard Price)

Top 100 books on Anthropology

The Races of Man : An Outline of Anthrop... (by Deniker, Joseph)
International Catalogue of Scientific Li... (by Royal Society, Great Britain)
Anthropology and a Lifetime of Observati... (by Colson, Elizabeth)
On the Functions of the Brain and of Eac... (by Gall, F. J., Franz Joséf)
Anthropology; An Introduction to the Stu... (by Tylor, Edward Burnett, Sir)
Handbook of the Alabama Anthropological ... (by Alabama Anthropological Society, Montgomery.)
Criminal Man, According to the Classific... (by Lombroso-Ferrero, Gina)
On the Functions of the Brain and of Eac... (by Gall, F. J., Franz Joséf)
Animal Figures in the Maya Codices (by Tozzer, Alfred M. (Alfred Marston))
The Fijians : A Study of the Decay of Cu... (by Thomson, Basil)
The Living World : Containing Descriptio... Volume v 1 (by Arnold, Augustus C. L.)
The Prehistoric World : Or, Vanished Rac... (by Allen, E. A.)
The Dolmens of Ireland, Their Distributi... Volume 3 (by Borlase, William Copeland)
Chinook : An Illustrative Sketch (by Franz Boas)
The Golden Bough : A Study in Magic and ... (by Frazer, James George, Sir)

Top 100 books on Biographies

St. Francis of Assisi (by Chesterton, Gilbert Keith)
The Life of Charles Dickens (by Forster, John)
The Yellow Wallpaper (by Gilman, Charlotte Perkins)
Autobiography of a Yogi (by Yogananda, Paramhansa)
Autobiography (by Benjamin Franklin)
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Scul... Volume Vol. 3 (by Foster, Jonathan, Mrs)
The Confessions of St. Augustine (by Augustine, Saint)
The Celtic Twilight (by Yeats, William Butler)
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Scul... Volume Vol. 10
Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Scul... Volume Vol. 2 (by Foster, Jonathan, Mrs)
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (by Franklin, Benjamin)
The Autobiography of Charles Darwin (by Darwin, Charles)
The Diary of a U-Boat Commander (by King-Hall, Stephen, Sir)
Hidden Treasures; Or, Why Some Succeed W... (by Lewis, Harry A)
The Memorabilia (by Dakyns, H. G.)

Top 100 books on History of India

Report(S) (by Archaeological Survey of India)
The Pilgrims' March; Their Messages (by Gandhi, Mahatma)
Indian Narional Evolution. (by Amvika Charan Mazumdar.)
Recreations of an Indian Official (by Malleson, G. B. (George Bruce))
Rulers of India (by Sir Auckland Colvin)
The Unrest in India Considered and Discu... (by Syed Sirdar Ali Khan)
Western India in 1838 : Volume 2 (by M. R. S. Postans)
Recent Essays and Writings : On the Futu... (by Jawaharlal Nehru.)
Clough, Kingdom-Builder in South India (by Hines, Herbert Waldo)
Memoirs of India: Comprising a Brief Gro... (by Wallace, Robert Grenville)
Indian Constitutional Reforms : Governme... (by India. Home Department)
Sketches of a Soldier's Life in India (by Quinney, Thomas)
Journal of a Route Across India, Through... (by Munster, George Augustus Frederick Fitzclarence, S...)
Supplement to The Modern History of Indi... (by Thomas Maurice)
The Raghuvança, the story of Raghu's lin... (by Kalidasa)

Top 100 books on Philosophy

The Republic, Score Plato Rep (by Plato)
The Dhammapada, the Sutta-nipâta, Score ... Volume Vol. X (by Müller, F., Max)
The Sacred Books of China the Texts of T... (by James Legge)
Summa Theologica - 01 Pars Prima, Initia... (by Aquinas, Thomas, Saint)
Symposium (by Plato)
Utopia (by More, Thomas)
The essay on self-reliance (by Emerson, Ralph Waldo)
Phaedrus (by Plato)
Creative Unity (by Rabindranath Tagore)
Sidelights on Relativity (by Einstein, Albert)
Sadhana, the Realisation of Life (by Tagore, Rabindranath)
The Prince (by Machiavelli, Niccolò)
Consolation of Philosophy, The (by Boethius, Anicius Manlius Severinus)
The Tragic Sense of Life in Men and in P... (by Unamuno, Miguel)
Treatise on Tolerance (by Voltaire)

Top 100 books on Sociology

An Account of the War Customs of the Osa... (by Dorsey, James Owen)
Omaha Sociology (by Dorsey, James Owen)
The Laws of Imitation (by Tarde, Gabriel)
How to Be Happy Though Married. Being a ... (by Hardy, Edward John)
Social Statistics; Or, Order, Abridged a... (by Spencer, Herbert)
A Study of Siouan Cults (by Dorsey, James Owen)
Ancient Society : Or, Researches in the ... (by Morgan, Lewis Henry)
The Challenge of the Country: A Study of... (by George Walter Fiske, Young Mens Christian Associat...)
Sociology and Modern Social Problems (by Ellwood, Charles Abram)
The Principles of Sociology : Volume 2 (by Spencer, Herbert)
Business Statistics (by Brumbaugh, Martin A.)
Human Nature and the Social Order (by Cooley, Charles Horton)
Applied Eugenics (by Roswell Hill Johnson)
Siouan Sociology: a Posthumous Paper Volume: 15th 1893-1894
A Story of the Red Cross : Glimpses of F... (by Clara Barton)

Top 100 books on Economics

Alfred Weber's Theory of the Location of... (by Weber, Alfred)
Lombard Street : A Description of the Mo... (by Bagehot, Walter)
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of... (by Smith, Adam)
The Jungle (by Sinclair, Upton)
Principles of Economics : Volume 1 (by Alfred Marshall)
The Iron Heel (by London, Jack)
What Is Property (by Proudhon, Pierre Joseph)
Utopia (by More, Thomas, Sir, Saint)
The Social Contract, Or Principles of Po... (by Rousseau, Jean Jacques)
Mutual Aid (by Kropotkin, P.)
Looking Backward from 2000 to 1887 (by Bellamy, Edward)
Essay on the Principle of Population, An (by Malthus, Thomas)
Das Kapital (by Karl Marx)
The Rights of Property; A Refutation of ... (by Thiers, Louis Adolphe)
Oeconomicus (by Xenophon, of Athens)

Top 100 books on Law

Constitution of the New-England Anti-Sla... (by Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society)
A Law Dictionary : Adapted to the Consti... (by Bouvier, John)
Prince, The (Version 2) (by Machiavelli, Niccolo)
No Treason : The Constitution of No Auth... (by Spooner, Lysander)
Bleak House (by Dickens, Charles)
Oliver Twist (by Dickens, Charles)
Marrow of Tradition, The (by Chesnutt, Charles Waddell)
Oliver Twist (by Dickens, Charles)
Codex Hammurabi (by Hammurabi, King of Balonia)
Amendments to the United States Constitu... (by United States, Founding Fathers of the)
Report on the Right of the Government of... (by United States. Division of Insular Affairs)
Conflict of Laws; Or, Private Internatio... (by Minor, Raleigh C)
Terrorism, Asylum Issues, And U.S. Immig... (by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee On the ...)
Columbia Law Review: Scope of Inquiry on... Volume 21
Laws, Decisions, And Regulations Affecti... (by United States)