Nationality and Cultural Pluralism - Annotated Bibliography Example

Reading review Chapter five Nationality and cultural pluralism Miller D. (1995). On Nationality: "Nationality and Cultural Pluralism" Ch.5. Oxford: Clarendon Press In chapter five, nationality and cultural pluralism has been discussed in detail. These factors play a key role in understanding the stand of the Islam in what is termed as the politics in place in the regions where they reside. In this study it is evident that nationalism still remains one the key elements which have a significant influence on how individuals in states live and relate. Liberals to date believe that it is because of the oppression and the force from outsiders which brought about the aspect of struggle and a price for all, especially the Islam community. After the World War II, it became evident that it was important for the governments to set their goals in maintaining a step which would promote nationality. The question which became of great concern after this war was whether the government would be able to recognize or identify individuals and groups which were within the boundaries and range of the states. So as to adequately answer this question, it became evident that the aspect of pluralism. This phenomenon was established so as to promote and conserve culturalism as well as radical multiculturalism. The interesting thing that I learnt was that conservative nationalism is an aspect which entails giving favor to nationalism in totality. This simply meant realizing that the national identities that we have, whether having a past history or are current, matters so much to us because it shapes the way we live with others and the way we also conduct ourselves in a nation. This phenomenon stresses on the aspect that our identities are more important than any other aspect which we encounter everyday in our lives. It also implies should have liberal powers which it should exercise on the citizens so as to be able to enable tem live harmoniously. These liberal policies encompass aspects like making them to have their own freedom of doing things and encouraging each citizen to fight for his or her own rights. Radical multiculturalism on the hand implies that promoting individuals and group identity regardless of the diverse backgrounds that each person has. This aspect realizes the importance of diverse culture as an aspect of creating flourishment and co-existence in the society. Proponents of this view state that individuals who have diversity in religious beliefs, gender, ethnicity and age should be recognized in the way they are and not merely disregarding them. From this point of view, human life is considered a very fundamental aspect which is spiced by the way in which the diversities are seen and taken into consideration. Cultural pluralism implies taking every person as a citizen who can contribute to any policies in place, the establishment of the laws in the nation and in the contribution of key issues which are very fundamental in a nation. Aspects like multicultural and multiculturalism are often used in a manner in which it creates no clear meaning to people. It is therefore very fundamental to consider pluralism as an issue which is very critical when dealing with the diverse cultures which people hold together in a state. Reference: Bertrand, Jacques. (2004). Nationalism and Ethnic Conflict in Indonesia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Princeton University Press. Chapter six Yark, B. The myth of the Civic nation. Princeton, N. J: Princeton University Press. The overall study of the topics in the study was very critical and full of knowledge in issues which matter in a nation and in states. In chapter six, the critical aspect of study in this chapter was the myth of a civic nation. It is obvious that without education, no one can be able to obtain information of what is happening in the world around him. The political legitimacy and loyalty are very critical aspects which need to be put into consideration when dealing with the diverse cultures that individuals hold. Proponents state that there is a strong relationship between political and cultural identities and therefore individuals need to be aware of the aspects lest they be fooled. In schools and colleges for instance, students are able to study one of the areas which deals with living harmoniously with people so as to create a favorable environment of peace and tolerance. The relation between political and cultural phenomena in understanding the national community has a distinct meaning of the term nation. It views the nation as comprising of individuals whose social and political constructs is based on the conceptual dichotomies like Western vs. the Eastern world, i.e. the demos and the ethnos. The myth of a civic nation therefore implies that every individual in a state or a nation ought to be able to understand all what is involved in the cultural and political arena so as to be able to stay pout in the society. Aspinall Aspinall, Edward. (2003). ‘Modernity, history and ethnicity: Indonesian and Acehnese nationalism in conflict’, in Damien Kingsbury and Harry Aveling (eds.), Autonomy and Disintegration in Indonesia. London: Routledge Curzon. One of the most interesting things to learn in this chapter was the review of the role played by Islam in the development of the Acehnese identity. It is commonly regarded that ache and Islam are one and same thing. This is attributed way back to the location of the Aceh province in the northern part of the Sumatra where is regarded as the first area of contact between an Indian and an Arab in a trade. This became the first significant conversion where an Indian was converted to Islam. In the sixteenth century Aceh became a powerful region where many divided nations united to form opposition groups to the power and forces of the intruding Portuguese in their regions. The emergence of the Aceh identity can be attributed to the Dutch war that made must of the Muslims to follow them. Acehnese remained defiant to the Dutch until they were overwhelmed by the number of the Islam who had ganged with the Dutch and because they could not fight them due to their less number of forces compared to the Dutch they opted to join them. Chapter seven Dunn, J. Introduction: Crisis of the nation state. King’s College, Cambridge In chapter seven, there is a clear distinction between the Nation and State, which is drawn from the fusion of the two into one term, coupled with historical backdates of the political states of each of the two, and finally the current political condition of the fused term, could the finger of confusion in progress be pointed to the nation state? Political ideas controls to a large extend the stability and the development of the nation and also that of the state. Then, with the bonafide constituents of the nation-those identified by birth, language or culture, fused with the bonafide constituents of the state-those identified by their sovereign legal authority, to bear the nation state, what will transpire? Could the thinking and ideologies be different from either side to an extent of misguiding the political trend of the nation state? It has been argued so by the journalists. Within the nation state, it is possible for either side to draw something from the other. There has been a great deal of history in the twentieth century caused by the nation state for instance. This was seen in the aftermath of World War 1, the Second World War and the European empire which succeeded it and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe which were among the great impacts to attest the strength of nation state. The twist of things however has been raised by the political journalists blaming the nation state of its failure to maintain its own order at the face of the global climate change and the global economic crisis, and the increasing rate of hazards affecting its subjects. The accusation of the nation state on this basis has been intense enough to shelf the blame of crisis on the nation state. But does it deserve this when other big challenges like those of economic, ecological, military, political and cultural, which go beyond the national boundaries and can only, be solved by nation state? Of course no and is therefore not a crisis of nation state but its challenge. Chapter eight Legitimacy in a pluralistic world In chapter eight the legitimacy of the power has been discussed in length. In a bid to bring the powers to the lime light there are many challenges that have faced the whole process and has seen it being trampled by many people. In this age of modernity it makes it rather odd to try to make some political systems and forms of power to fit and go by the forces of the contemporary world. This has put the significance of the legitimacy of the authorities as a common and convergence point of the stability of the political systems and governance at the verge of criticism. From time in memorial the authority had been practiced from the very small levels of human congregations, including the family groups, the clans, the tribal affiliations and many others in the category. The leaders in these groups had sought to fortify their areas of jurisdiction and ensure they perpetuated in the throne using any of the formulas ever known to them. Some are known to be primitive methods while others have emerged from the school of thought postulated by the classes of the elites. It is interesting to learn in this study that legitimacy, which is the process of gaining or having access to the right to govern a particular human congregation regardless of the size or social class implies having the existence of a certain class of people who was being referred to as the ruling class. These people justified themselves by assuming the Max Weber’s legitimacy doctrines that postulates three classes of that categorized the authority holder derivation. The first is the patrimonial that emphasized the traditions and the norms and the norms for legitimacy. The second category is the rational bureaucracy that challenges the present laws and their validity. They based their legitimacy on the judicial system and legality of regulations. The third category consisted of the charismatic categories that stressed on the various gifts of the people. Some are said to be clever natural and other influences the people easily through conduct and speech. Reference: Hefner, Robert. (2000). Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia. Princeton, NJ: New York press Chapter ten Nairn, T. (198). The maladies of development. Blackwell: Oxford University Press In chapter ten, the topic of discussion was mostly concentrated on nationalism. This has been shown as a different thing from what many people have been thinking of. Nationalism is the aspect of a strong identification of the community and the state. The relation has been shown to merely not arise from the simple reasons of living in a country but rather the superiority derived from the legitimacy of the validation of the membership of the people. The main idaeolo9gy here is the derivation of nation hood. Primarily it is gained through the initial birth of every person in a certain state and it does not require any other authentication. Still better nationalism can be achieved through other means which any states reserves the right to revoke if in their opinion is not legal. The most interesting thing that I learnt in this chapter was that nationalism can not be complete and practicable without the interaction of different communities and in some cases different races. This calls for understanding and establishment of strong rules that binds their differences together. Of importance is the way the problems and crises are solved between the different categories of the nationalities. The judgement has to be one that douse not seem to favor any side but rather equalize all the differences. Nationalism in greater length is influenced by the political systems and d the authorities. The people in the political classes and the elites of the nations tend to make decisions for the countries which favor them and ensure their stay in power is indefinite. This tends to make some people feel uncomfortable and hate the identity of the country and their affiliation dies. Nationalism has also been associated with the state of peace and political stability in any given nation. The integration of the communities and different races in a nation contribute to peace conditions and the economic growth. The political system is expected to be one that does not discriminate and make laws that are fair to all the members of the state. Religious believes are sometimes seen t o influence the nationalism. Israel politics and the democracy Dowty, A. (1999). "Is Israel Democratic? Substance and Semantics in the "Ethnic Democracy" Debate." Israel Studies 4(2): 1-15. In this topic the issue, the point of discussion revolves around Israel politics and the democracy in the country. It is argued that the ethnic democracy is one of the rarest things that the country of Israel can be associated with. There is rather more of the ethnocracy; a state of whish is more in practice than the ethnicity. The debate has suggested that there is no much inconsistency between the Jewish religion in Israel and the democracy. The practices are seen as two different autonomous aspects that should not call for any alarm. The relation between the two has resulted to what is referred to as democratic struggle and the consequences are the emergence of a class of people in the second category. The people in this class are seen as threat to the class one category and they are put under strict control. In the essays they tend to avoid or rather very far from the discussion o f the relation ship between ethnicity and the democracy. The discussion is seen to concentrate in the issues of nation and state relation and how they influence the politics in the country. Nation has been depicted to mean the people and the relation within the country, their linkages and interactions in form of blood languages the religion the customs and traditions and their common interests. On the other hand the state has been use to bring in the aspect of power and authority in the country and the country that is concerned with territorial boundaries. The country of Israel can be termed as the old word model due to it intense in the nation state idea and seem to be more towards the ethnic end. One of the most interesting things with this country is the way it upholds the law or return. The country acknowledges the ancestral linkages to the nation up to even two millennia ago. Other countries like Germany have similar concept what they call the right of return to Germany refugees by one of their basic provisions in law. Other countries later after the world war two adopted such laws. Reference: Duara, Prasenjit. (1995). Rescuing History from the Nation: Questioning Narratives of Modern China. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Read More