Matching Items (9)
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Alexis de Tocqueville concludes the second volume of his influential political work Democracy in America with a discussion of “What Kind of Despotism Democratic Nations have to Fear.” The phenomenon Tocqueville seeks to capture in his final chapters is often called “democratic” or “soft” despotism, and it is notably

Alexis de Tocqueville concludes the second volume of his influential political work Democracy in America with a discussion of “What Kind of Despotism Democratic Nations have to Fear.” The phenomenon Tocqueville seeks to capture in his final chapters is often called “democratic” or “soft” despotism, and it is notably distinct from the traditional conception of despotism. The threat soft despotism represents to democracies is new to the world Tocqueville lived in, and as such, Tocqueville chose the word despotism to describe it because he felt no better word existed. So, to accurately describe the phenomenon that Tocqueville feared, he had to re-conceptualize despotism. When Tocqueville discusses soft despotism, he means a democratic state where people are incapable of being truly free. In examining this concretely, I have developed five criteria which capture all the characteristics of soft despotism: 1. The equality of conditions; 2. The destruction of social connection; 3. The creation of a centralized administrative state; 4. The fulfillment of base desires; and 5. The death of the political sphere. In “Defining Soft Despotism,” I offer explanations of what each of these five criteria means, and I discuss both how Tocqueville and later scholars view them. I offer my own understanding of each of these criteria framed in Tocqueville’s thought. Next, in “Understanding Soft Despotism,” I discuss what about soft despotism is so concerning to Tocqueville and focus on his belief that it fundamentally changes the people who live under it, depriving them of their humanity. Then, I discuss why Americans should be concerned today. Lastly, in “Measuring Soft Despotism,” I take data for each of the five criteria and examine them to see if they appear to match what Tocqueville envisioned a soft despotism would be like. In my assessment, I find that America today does not seem to be a soft despotism. America does not meet all five criteria I believe define a soft despotism. Instead, it appears America is only close to experiencing two of the five: the destruction of social connection, and the death of the political sphere. Despite these findings, there is still room for concern that America is heading towards becoming a soft despotism, or is perhaps headed in a different, but equally undesirable direction.
ContributorsBartlemay, Robert Charles (Author) / German, Zachary (Thesis director) / Carrese, Paul (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Civic & Economic Thought and Leadership (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
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Despite the reactionary Habsburg regime under Emperor Franz Joseph, forces within the government and leading intelligentsia proposed various reforms to solve the issue of ethnic discrimination across the Austro-Hungarian Empire, attempting to resolve the tensions that the Ausgleich of 1867 had further aggravated by the inclusion of Hungarians as a

Despite the reactionary Habsburg regime under Emperor Franz Joseph, forces within the government and leading intelligentsia proposed various reforms to solve the issue of ethnic discrimination across the Austro-Hungarian Empire, attempting to resolve the tensions that the Ausgleich of 1867 had further aggravated by the inclusion of Hungarians as a privileged class to the detriment of the remaining minorities. This paper will look at the Austro-Marxist and Federalist reformers and the ways in which their concepts, if implemented, could have saved the Empire from its downfall in 1918. Ultimately, neither the Austro-Marxist concept of a centralized system of universal rights across the borders of all nations within the existing empire nor the Federalist idea of a national territorial sovereignty allowing for a certain degree of individual autonomy managed to be adopted by the Allied victors of World War I. The myopic focus of the ‘Big Four’ on the German Empire blinded them to the intricate economic and political balance needed for peace in the Balkans. While France, Britain, and Italy exhibited a general lack of concern to the outcome in the Balkans, Wilson’s ‘self-determination’ doctrine is most responsible for creating the unsustainable, irredentist-driven states that the reform-minded intellectuals—Austro-Marxist or Federalist—most had sought to avoid. In addition to a discussion of the reform movements in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, this paper will explore the reforms’ strong similarities to the present struggles within the European Union, particularly the divide between Euro-federalists and Euro-sceptics. The crisis situation and reform efforts of the Austrian Empire from 1867 to 1914 reveal significant policy lessons applicable to the European Union as it navigates the current crossroads between further federal integration or a return to medieval disintegration.
ContributorsAppel, Michael Edwin (Author) / Niebuhr, Robert (Thesis director) / Carrese, Paul (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / School of Civic & Economic Thought and Leadership (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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Russian President Vladimir Putin is a revisionist leader seeking to restore Russia’s status as a great power and rival U.S. global dominance by constructing a multipolar world order at the expense of the United States. Putin’s aggressive tendencies are not limited to Europe and the former Soviet sphere as Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin is a revisionist leader seeking to restore Russia’s status as a great power and rival U.S. global dominance by constructing a multipolar world order at the expense of the United States. Putin’s aggressive tendencies are not limited to Europe and the former Soviet sphere as Putin has expanded his revisionist ambitions into other regional theaters, including the Middle East. Putin has pursued an active foreign policy in the Middle East, exploiting the volatile region plagued with a historical predisposition to great power competition as a crucial part of his revisionist grand strategy. Putin is a realist, and employs a ruthless strategy of pragmatic flexibility, capitalizing on historical relations between the Soviet Union and Middle Eastern regimes when possible, but is also skilled at adapting to new circumstances and developments, and exploiting them for Russia’s strategic benefit. Putin has engaged in heightened relations and involvement with Turkey, Iran, and Syria. In Turkey, Putin has taken advantage of that country’s central location and used Turkey as a hub for the expansion of the Russian energy industry, placing pressure on NATO and the European Union. Putin has opportunistically used Iran’s controversial nuclear program to Russia’s benefit by acting as Iran’s primary international sponsor and patron for its nuclear program, elevating Russia’s regional prestige as a rival to the United States, and countering American foreign policy objectives. Putin intervened decisively on behalf of the Assad regime in the Syrian civil war, thwarting U.S. calls for regime change in Damascus and forcefully asserting Russia as a formidable regional power with veto-authority in matters of global power dynamics at Washington’s expense. Putin’s achievements with Turkey, Iran, and Syria serve to complement his larger grand strategic objectives to rival the United States as a great power and to create a multipolar world order. Putin’s ruthless, opportunistic foreign policy poses significant challenges to U.S. foreign policy and endangers the liberal world order. Washington must come to terms with the threat posed by a revisionist Russia and adopt a more assertive policy toward Putin.
ContributorsMarch, Nicolas Robert (Author) / Drummond, Charles (Thesis director) / Carrese, Paul (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
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Political and educational institutions inevitably shape one another. When the telos, the end for the sake of which a thing exists, of either is incompatible with the other, tension inevitably mounts. One of the significant sources of friction which prevents both governmental institutions and educational institutions from effectively functioning is

Political and educational institutions inevitably shape one another. When the telos, the end for the sake of which a thing exists, of either is incompatible with the other, tension inevitably mounts. One of the significant sources of friction which prevents both governmental institutions and educational institutions from effectively functioning is the way in which their teloi are at odds. The political philosophy which shaped the United States comes in no small part from John Locke, but the country could not and should not attempt to implement his educational theories. I argue that attempts to do so are disastrous, and that it would ultimately be better to have pedagogical truths shape political mechanisms. I end by offering a detailed examination of two ancient sources for better educational approaches, both found in the Socratic dialogues of Plato.
ContributorsLasser, Jesse Alfred (Author) / Doody, John (Thesis advisor) / Wright, Johnson (Thesis advisor) / Carrese, Paul (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
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There has been a recent change in education. Teachers face behavioral challenges inthe classroom that continue to increase. Students no longer show respect for teachers simply because they are the authority in the classroom. The need for change is evident. But the answer to what needs to change was fist articulated in

There has been a recent change in education. Teachers face behavioral challenges inthe classroom that continue to increase. Students no longer show respect for teachers simply because they are the authority in the classroom. The need for change is evident. But the answer to what needs to change was fist articulated in the late eighteen hundreds through the work of Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche is one of the first thinkers to articulate the effect that civilization had on man’s psyche and speaks to the internalization of his instincts. Further thinkers such as Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung add to the understanding around what is named the unconscious and help readers to understand its importance. The missing link in education then is the failure to recognize and respond appropriately to this aspect of students so that they become whole in themselves and develop into true individuals.
ContributorsMueller, Kirah (Author) / Doody, John (Thesis advisor) / Wright, Kent (Thesis advisor) / Bolmarcich, Sarah (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
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In this essay, I explore a claim that Socrates makes in Plato’s Gorgias where he professes to be the only true practitioner of the political art in Athens, the only true statesman. I argue that the Gorgias enables readers to have a greater understanding of how Socrates conceives his own

In this essay, I explore a claim that Socrates makes in Plato’s Gorgias where he professes to be the only true practitioner of the political art in Athens, the only true statesman. I argue that the Gorgias enables readers to have a greater understanding of how Socrates conceives his own purpose and relationship with Athens as a practitioner of the “true science of politics” as he calls it and as a skilled user of what he develops as the "true art of rhetoric." This ennobling art of rhetoric, which Socrates professes to be a practitioner of, is opposed to the sycophantic and flattering art propagated by Gorgias and others. Furthermore, I argue that the view of rhetoric and politics that Socrates develops in the Gorgias serves as a foundation for his actions and statements in the Apology of Socrates.
ContributorsMaratea, Anthony Michael (Author) / Sheehan, Colleen (Thesis advisor) / Doody, John (Thesis advisor) / Zuckert, Catherine (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
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Catholic education is an education in the scriptural and traditional teachings of the Church as well as knowledge of the world in. As the main educational aid to the Catholic family, Catholic schools have an obligation to provide an environment in which students are not just taught doctrines through rote

Catholic education is an education in the scriptural and traditional teachings of the Church as well as knowledge of the world in. As the main educational aid to the Catholic family, Catholic schools have an obligation to provide an environment in which students are not just taught doctrines through rote memorization or for the sake of passing an exam, but to come to understand the Catholic faith for the sake of knowing and living it out. In America today, Catholic education looks eerily like public education, a system of schools that is notoriously failing the American people and students. While Catholic schools compete with public schools in college and career readiness, they are failing to educate students effectively in the doctrines of faith and morality, neglecting to prepare them to enter society with at the very least a non-relativistic worldview, let alone a Catholic one.The modern progressive model of education employed in American public schools has been adopted by Catholic schools en masse. This pedagogical model undermines Catholic education because it is based in philosophies that espouse that education is for the sake of becoming a good worker, that man does not need supernatural help to work towards his perfection, and that morality is relative. Research shows that this model has not served Catholic students well; they are just slightly more likely to believe in Catholic teachings than their public counterparts. One major facet necessary for renewing the spiritual and academic rigor of Catholic education is re-implementing the classical liberal arts in the Catholic schools. Classical liberal education is an education in the great books and languages of the Western tradition with the intention to seek the fullness of truth, goodness, and beauty. The Catholic and classical traditions both hold a view of man as teleological, an understanding that truth can be known, and that moral training is essential to a proper education. Re-adopting a classical liberal education would bring a synergistic pedagogical method and curriculum to Catholic schools, working with Catholic doctrine to reinforce understanding of man and the world in which he lives.
ContributorsVibbert, Magda Carolina (Author) / Sheehan, Colleen A (Thesis advisor) / Shelley, Trevor (Committee member) / Doody, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
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Alasdair MacIntyre’s three-stage framework for the concept of virtue is used to assess the Mary College at Arizona State University program. Mary College at Arizona State University is a partnership between the University of Mary and Arizona State University, universities with conflicting views of practice of education, narrative of self,

Alasdair MacIntyre’s three-stage framework for the concept of virtue is used to assess the Mary College at Arizona State University program. Mary College at Arizona State University is a partnership between the University of Mary and Arizona State University, universities with conflicting views of practice of education, narrative of self, and hermeneutic of moral tradition. Members of Mary College at Arizona State University achieve the internal good of initiation and engagement into these conflicting views. The Mary College partnership has the potency to reignite the historically extended, socially embodied argument about the purpose of a university education between rival institutions of higher education and thereby revive the decaying social significance of the university.
ContributorsHofer, Jonathon (Author) / Doody, Jack (Thesis advisor) / Sheehan, Colleen (Thesis advisor) / Carrese, Paul (Committee member) / Seagrave, Adam (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
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Aristotle’s great work, Nicomachean Ethics, presents a complex and sometimes overwhelming account of ethical virtue and the perfected nature of man. However, if one looks at the conflict inherent in ordering oneself to a telos, such as the pursuit of happiness or eudaimonia in Aristotle’s terms, then the prospect

Aristotle’s great work, Nicomachean Ethics, presents a complex and sometimes overwhelming account of ethical virtue and the perfected nature of man. However, if one looks at the conflict inherent in ordering oneself to a telos, such as the pursuit of happiness or eudaimonia in Aristotle’s terms, then the prospect of sharing in or attaining Aristotelian virtue becomes less overwhelming and perhaps even inspiring for modern readers.
ContributorsSmith, Meredith Mae (Author) / Zuckert, Catherine (Thesis advisor) / German, Zachary (Thesis advisor) / Doody, John (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023