scholarly journals Is Green the New Red? Marxism, Ecology, and Contemporary Architectural Theory

Humanities ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Curtis Swope
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Design ◽  
The Political ◽  
Architectural Theory ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Cultural Products ◽  
Cultural Objects ◽  
Architectural Practice ◽  
Political Status ◽  
Western Marxism

This essay examines the role of Marxist concepts in recent architectural theories of ecology using two architecture firms, Estudio Teddy Cruz and Sauerbruch Hutton (SH), as case studies. In their writings, Cruz and SH mobilize the critique of capital, a dialectical materialist understanding of history, and the Frankfurt School’s critique of functionalist culture for the theorization of sustainable design. Their work has two vital ramifications for current sustainability discourses in two different fields which this essay seeks to bridge. For Marxist theorists concerned about ecology but averse to Western Marxism because of its supposed idealism, Cruz and SH show anew the importance of aesthetic concerns to conceptions of the environment. For design scholars accustomed to thinking of Marxism as having been absorbed into broader debates about cultural studies, the architects’ theories have the potential to recentralize the left-wing inheritance through its adaptation to concerns of ecology. In addition, in the essay’s conclusion, I reflect briefly, as a suggestion for further research, on how Cruz’s and SH’s architectural practice and theories might productively be analyzed in light of the terms of the Adorno-Benjamin debate of the 1930s over the political status of the cultural products of capital. Can eighty-year old discussions of the potentially revolutionary and retrograde qualities of mass cultural objects be relevant to radical thought in the age of climate change.

Parliamentary Life in the Crown of Aragon: Cortes, Juntas De Brazos, and Other Corporate Bodies

2002 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 362-395
Author(s):  
Xavier Gil
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
Active Role ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Status ◽  
Crown Of Aragon ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
Political Scene

AbstractThe Cortes of Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia were well known in Renaissance times for their mature institutional development and their capacity to counterbalance the tendency of monarchs towards authoritarianism. But, from the mid sixteenth century onwards, they were summoned by kings at increasingly long intervals, thus losing part of their visibility in the political scene. But this did not exactly mean parliamentary decline. As Cortes became rarer, lesser corporate bodies, ultimately deriving from the Cortes themselves, acquired an enhanced political status. Different sorts of meetings of estates (brazos) and small committees of members of the estates, while already known in previous times, won a more active role by the late sixteenth century and were a major, if not crucial, factor in the different political crises of the seventeenth century. This article contributes to the current reassessment of the Cortes by emphasizing the role of these bodies, focusing on their interplay with the Cortes, with some comparative remarks on other such bodies in Europe.

scholarly journals Good times for a change? Ireland since the general election

Soundings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 75 (75) ◽  
pp. 66-81
Author(s):  
Colin Coulter ◽  
John Reynolds
Keyword(s):  
Status Quo ◽  
General Election ◽  
The Political ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Popular Vote ◽  
Election Result ◽  
Political Status ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Fianna Fail ◽  
First Time

The 2020 Irish general election result was widely characterised as both a 'shock' and as a victory for the left. These claims are only partially true. The recent turn to the left was not a sudden development, but rather an expression of how the Irish political landscape has changed since the global financial crash. And while the electorate certainly appear more open to left-wing politics, the principal beneficiaries in terms of the popular vote (Sinn Féin) and access to power (the Greens) were parties with only questionable left-wing credentials. Before a new government could even be formed, the advent of the global health pandemic transformed the political terrain once more, with the two traditionally dominant centre-right parties (Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil) agreeing to share power for the first time. While the restoration of the political status quo has exposed the weakness of the republican left, we suggest that the neoliberal policies that lie ahead may in time revive the fortunes of the socialist left.

scholarly journals The Role of Ardalan’s Dynasty in Iran’s Political Structure

2013 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 76-83
Author(s):  
Mohammad Ghorban Kiani
Keyword(s):  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
Kurdistan Region ◽  
Political Structure ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Political Status ◽  
The Times

This paper aims at studying the role of Ardalan’s dynasty in the political system of Iran. Going through a brief overview of the political situation of Kurdistan during Ardalan supremacy, this study is primary focused on describing Ardalan’s situation in political structure of Iran. Similar with governors in other parts of Iran, Ardalan authorities were considered as the political elites of Iran and possessed a special and unique political status among the states of Iran from Safavid to Qajar periods. Also, they were always, or at least most of the times, were among the topmost states of Iran attained the high authority and power. Ardalans had always benefited from the most prominent epithets and titles including Sultan, Khan, Baig, governer, and Biglar Baigy and they ruled their kingdom in much of the historical period covered in this study. Since Ardalans were the ruler of Kurdistan region before the Safavid dynasty, both Safavid and Qajar kings maintained them as rulers over their inherited and inborn region.

Left-wing Regimes in Contemporary Latin America: Theoretical Concepts and Political Practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 126-160
Author(s):  
Zbigniew Iwanowski ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
The Political ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Social Functions ◽  
Political Pluralism ◽  
Theoretical Concepts ◽  
Role Of The State

The article examines contemporary approaches to the interpretation of left-wing political regimes and offers his own typology. Particular attention is paid to the fluctuations of the political pendulum in the region in the first decades of this century, the reasons for the successes and failures of the left forces. The author analyzes the ideology and practical activity of the center-left and radical left governments and comes to the conclusion that the persisting and even deepening disagreements between them are associated not only with the interpretation of the socialist ideas, the recognition of various forms of property, the role of the state in the economy, its social functions and foreign policy orientation, but also with the peculiarities of electoral legislation, ensuring political pluralism, forms of political participation and respect for human rights and civil liberties.

Small Business in Distress:

2020 ◽  
Vol 64 ◽  
pp. 121-147
Author(s):  
Spyros Dimanopoulos ◽  
Christos Hadziiossif ◽  
Kostas Katsoudas ◽  
Nikos Potamianos
Keyword(s):  
Small Business ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
The Political ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Business Associations ◽  
European Economic ◽  
Political Status ◽  
Political Ferment ◽  
Of Greece

The character of postwar small business associations in Greece was indelibly stamped by the authoritarian democracy that was constructed between 1945 and 1967. The integration of Greece in the process of European economic unification in the early 1960s was the fuse that sparked the accumulated frustrations into strong collective action, leading some tradesmen and artisans to question the political status quo and identify with centrist and left wing parties. This socio-political ferment led to the renegotiation of petit-bourgeois identity and attempts to link it to a new political context.

The meaning and role of the concepts of democracy and corporatism in Italian neo-fascist ideology (1945–1953)

Modern Italy ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-313
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Cassina Wolff
Keyword(s):  
Social Movement ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Political Idea ◽  
Lively Debate ◽  
Concepts Of Democracy ◽  
Post War

While caution, tactics and compromise characterised the political practice of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement in post-war Italy, a section of the Italian press took a less guarded approach to the 20-year regime (Fascism) and to fascism as a political idea (fascism). A lively debate began immediately after the death of Mussolini; Italians sympathetic to fascism opposed the new Italian republican settlement and their opinions were freely expressed in newspapers and magazines. Neo-fascism in Italy was represented by three main ideological currents (left-wing, moderate and right-wing), and this article gives an account of the different views of the issues of democracy and corporatism that were held by fascist loyalists. An extensive number of articles published in the period 1945–1953 are used as primary sources.

scholarly journals Fighting Thatcher with Comedy: What to Do When There Is No Alternative

2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 374-397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavin Schaffer
Keyword(s):  
The Political ◽  
Left Wing ◽  
Political Values ◽  
Alternative Material ◽  
Political Challenge ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Weapon ◽  
The Relationship

AbstractThis article offers a history of British alternative comedy as a case study of political challenge and opposition in the 1980s and considers the role of humor in political campaigning more broadly. It explores left-wing thinking on culture as a potential political weapon, and questions how this informed the development and impact of alternative comedy as a genre. The article observes that pioneering alternative comedians went some way to change British comedy values and inform political discussions. However, it also argues that the complex operation of jokes and the tendency of comedians to become “incorporated” within the political and cultural mainstream ensured that the impacts of radical alternative material were limited and ambiguous. It contends that the practice of alternative comedy was undermined by business and political values that were often influenced by Thatcherism, and that alternative comedians mostly failed to capture the imaginations of working-class Britons. These communities retained instead an affection for more traditional, differently rebellious, comedic voices. Ultimately, this article frames alternative comedy within a longer history of radical humor, drawing out broader lessons concerning the revolutionary potential of jokes and the relationship between comedians, their audiences, and politics.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Jennifer Walker
Keyword(s):  
Catholic Church ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Third Republic ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cultural Products ◽  
Musical Transformation ◽  
Simplistic Notion ◽  
International Identity ◽  
The Relationship

The study of music in the political and religious contexts of Third Republic France poses challenges that center around the relationship between the Catholic Church and the French Republic and the role of the musician therein. This introduction frames how the political and religious landscapes of the Third Republic have been discussed in the past and how cultural products shaped and were shaped by their social environment. Finally, it sets up the book’s ultimate move away from the simplistic notion that Church and State were separated by irreconcilable differences by introducing key players in the Republic’s musical transformation of Catholicism into an acceptable and desirable facet of its national and international identity.

scholarly journals The naturalisation of architecture

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 257-270
Author(s):  
Rosa Urbano Gutiérrez
Keyword(s):  
Design Process ◽  
Architectural Design ◽  
Sustainable Design ◽  
Environmental Consciousness ◽  
Critical Question ◽  
Architectural Practice ◽  
Cultural Constructs ◽  
Marketing Tactic ◽  
Design Techniques

Sustainability is gaining a firm presence within the discipline of architecture in spite of the number of obstacles with which it has been challenged: either confronting detractors, sceptics, and the discredit resulting from the abusive use of the term as a marketing tactic, or dealing with the actual practicalities inherent to its implementation. This heightened environmental consciousness increasingly engrained within the profession is solidly supported by a growing social, political and media interest, which has impelled new regulations and the involvement of new experts like physicists, engineers, and ecologists in the design process. This phenomenon is transforming architectural practice and design techniques, moving the focus from a mechanical perspective of architecture (tectonics, construction, materiality, structure) to a biotechnical approach which attempts to equip the architect with instruments to regard buildings as living structures permanently exchanging energy with their environment. Using the environment as a creative generator for design has prompted the emergence of new aesthetic models in current architectural design. The access to new tools, together with new concerns and ways of thinking, have opened new lines of intervention that seem to affect the profession in a more fundamental way. The focus of this paper is to provide an account of these cultural constructs as experimental aesthetic systems, with the intention of not only clarifying their principles and objectives, but also reflecting on the design techniques associated to them. Ultimately, this paper provides a reflection on the role of aesthetics in sustainable design, and on the critical question: is sustainability finally becoming an intrinsic part of architecture?

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