This chapter addresses the limitations of contemporary debates on ethics and democracy. It discusses the notion of heteronomous freedom and its relation to ethical obligation, political antagonism and sexual difference. It proposes a feminist democratic praxis and an ethics of dissensus, which opposes the conservative political work performed by privatized moral discourse and is inseparable from transformative praxis which aims to change unjust power relations and to acknowledge infinite responsibility for violence and the oppression of others. This chapter argues that the effectiveness of democratic struggles against racist and sexist oppression depend on an ethical-political understanding of freedom that side-steps the seemingly intractable debate between the two positions available today: the liberal position that seeks normative criteria for the determination of political justice beyond difference and the communitarian position that advocates the continued contestation or negotiation of heterogeneous forces based on an ethical obligation to the other.

This chapter considers how architectural developments reflected political and social changes in the last generations of Irish autonomy. It analyzes architectural types and techniques associated with the late Elizabethan colonization of Munster, which may be applicable to early modern Ireland in general. The chapter concludes with a study of the tower-house, which was used widely by both Irish aristocracy and English colonial landowners. A key period in Irish history, the reign of Elizabeth began with a medieval, semi-feudal society and ended with a central state authority and displaced populations.

This chapter examines how William Blundell's anxieties about aspects of Catholic belief and practice affected his practical engagement with the world. The analysis of the entries in his commonplace books regarding social order, the place of women and natural phenomena shows that Blundell was frequently torn between an approach to the world concomitant with his religious beliefs. This chapter concludes that the effect of this tension was that Blundell steered a distinctly idiosyncratic middle way through the two approaches.

This chapter explores how Hugo Chávez came to power as president of Venezuela, focusing on the strategies he used to achieve hegemony. It examines not only the political content of the Chávez discourse but also its cultural content and how that contributed to his gaining legitimacy with the majority of the Venezuelan population and thus moving towards hegemony. It first looks at the origins of Chávez and the Bolivarian Movement and then analyses the coup d'état of 1992, the emergence and construction of Chávez's discourse and symbolism, and the subsequent transformation of the military Movimiento Bolivariano Revolucionario 200 into the electoral and popular civic-military Movimiento Quinta Republica, which, allied to other leftist movements and parties in the Polo Patriotico, led to Chávez's victory in the 1998 elections. The chapter also examines the more recent attempt at unification of these disparate elements into a unified Socialist party, Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela. Finally, the chapter considers the manner in which Chávez reshaped Venezuela through the mechanism of the Assamblea Nacional Constituyente and the resulting Bolivarian constitution of 1999.

To understand why parliamentary reform does or does not take place requires a prior understanding of the context in which it does or does not occur. The characteristics of the institution of parliament are a product of its historical development, and that development has fostered the emergence of particular norms and values that continue to shape its functioning and capabilities. Crucially, parliament cannot be understood in isolation from government and, consequently, parliamentary reform cannot be understood separately from its likely impact on government. Parliamentary reform can most usefully be analysed with reference to the norms and values that structure the institutional context in which parliament exists. It is necessary, therefore, to explore those norms and values, and the specific ways that they regulate and restrict parliamentary capabilities. This chapter discusses institutional theory and historical institutionalism with respect to parliamentary reform in Britain, along with ministerial responsibility, parliamentary sovereignty, strong party government, the power of the executive at Westminster, role of parliament and individual MPs within the political system, and approaches to parliamentary reform.

This chapter discusses the film Family Portrait, Jennings' most personal work, as noted by a number of observers who have called the film a personal essay, personal in the sense that it is Jennings' summing-up of his notions about England. Family Portrait, which was praised at the time of its release as a vibrant and creative work, won applauds for its masterly style and its fine balance of camerawork, editing, voice-over and music. It negotiates a theme running through Jennings' work concerned with national identity, which, in this case, is framed within a particular moment within modernity in Britain. The ambiguity at the core of modernity is recast within Family Portrait at the intersection of the past and the future. Within this context, Family Portrait celebrates Britain's past achievements in the fields of industry, science, exploration and the arts, and also looks to the nation's future.

This chapter deals with bogus officials and forgers in early modern England. It contends that the bureaucratisation process resulted in problems with the clear roles and identification of officials, and contributed to the rise of bogus officials. The chapter explains that while bogus officials tried to impersonate officials by means of a forged document, the forgers are temporary impostors with the primary intention of gaining money or property by forging letters, bonds, bills or even a will in the name of real personages.