We often, particularly around this time each year, pride ourselves here in the UK on our having given birth to modern democracy in the context of the nation state and have even earned the epithet “Mother of Parliaments.” But that does not mean that our parliamentary system has not on occasions been rocked by scandals… Continue reading Who Will Mind the Minders?
Category: Politics
National sovereignty considered as a rule-based game
The Cambridge dictionary defines sovereignty as “The power of a country to govern itself”. As opposed to what? the power of a country not to govern itself? Defined in this way, the idea of sovereignty is a tautology; power, nationhood and government are effectively a closed loop. This historical weight of sovereignty is the… Continue reading National sovereignty considered as a rule-based game
Legality and Morality: Can Man Serve Two Masters?
It is often suggested that obedience to the law is a virtue and by implication that respect for the law is a requirement of morality. But is this necessarily the case? Although this might at first might appear obvious, I would suggest the issue turns out on closer inspection not to be so at all.… Continue reading Legality and Morality: Can Man Serve Two Masters?
Jazz Hands Mired in Controversy
Reports are surfacing of a new controversy over the banning of applause at NUS conferences produced by the agency of human hands. The ban was introduced as a concession to a number of conference delegates who made representations to the organising committee of the national conference that they experienced the outbreak of applause as microaggression,… Continue reading Jazz Hands Mired in Controversy
The Korean Dilemma
Never formally concluded, the wound of the Korean war has been festering for over 60 years; but quietly sidelined by matters considered more geopolitically important, the two Koreas now threaten to be the ground zero of a nuclear Armageddon. The hateful totalitarian nightmare of North Korea has nothing worthwhile to offer the community of nations… Continue reading The Korean Dilemma
Is It Inhumane to Oppose Freedom of Movement?
There are many moral issues relating to the plight of refugees and migrants in our world today we could usefully give attention to. But there is no compulsion to support or advocate freedom of movement as part of a moral response. Ultimately the degree to which freedom of movement is allowed between nations is a political decision with moral arguments capable of being made on both sides.
Freedom and Belonging
The following article is extracted from a longer essay entitled “‘The Re-Enchantment of the World’ as Social Theory and Critique”, which readers who are interested can view in full at https://theaxiologicalperspective.wordpress.com/ Shortly after communist regimes in Russia and Eastern Europe were tumbling, the American political scientist Francis Fukuyama produced a seminal essay entitled ‘The… Continue reading Freedom and Belonging
Values and Identity
We hear much about “values” and “identity” in discussions in the media these days. Often the debate about values is specifically around so-called “British values”; and the discussion about identity is often in the context of what is referred to as “identity politics.” The discourse on both these topics in my experience tends to be… Continue reading Values and Identity
The Limits of Tolerance
Attacks like the one we saw in the heart of London last week always set in motion a series of political spasms on the right and the left, the right decrying the lack of calling a spade a spade in the establishment media, in that the danger is posed not just by Islamist terrorism, or… Continue reading The Limits of Tolerance
The Neoiconoclasts Are Coming. Be Afraid! Be Very Afraid!!
Trigger warning: The following article from our sketch writer contains information about extremist views which some readers may find upsetting and offensive. Those of a sensitive disposition are advised to avoid reading further. As we increasingly hear talk about our entering into a post-truth world where the consensus about what is reasonable and acceptable behaviour is being… Continue reading The Neoiconoclasts Are Coming. Be Afraid! Be Very Afraid!!