Search results

"Kamandaki's Nītisāra, or The Essence of Politics, redefined the field of political thought in early medieval India and became one of the most influential works in the genre across South and Southeast Asia. It was likely written during or shortly after the Gupta Empire (c. 325-550 C.E.) and enjoyed wide popularity for nearly a millennium. An elegant introduction to the intricacies of statecraft, The Essence of Politics encompasses virtually all aspects of elite social life, making it indispensable for generals, spies, ministers, and other members of the royal court, especially poets writing about war and conquest. Addressed directly to the king, its lessons range from the finer points of military strategy and economic policy to the moral qualities of effective rulers. Kamandaki anchors political practice in intellectual and spiritual discipline. His model of leadership, based on self-control and personal cultivation, is as relevant today as it was in its own time. The Sanskrit text, presented here in the Devanagari script, accompanies a new English prose translation"--

In the late nineteenth century Populism was a major feature of US politics and society. It originated as an agrarian revolt born in response to the crisis of American agriculture vis-à-vis industrialization and the opening of global markets for agricultural products. The ensuing Populist movement involved millions of farmers in the Southern and Mid-Western rural areas hit by the crisis and it spilled over into local and national elections, eventually spreading to other regions and including sections of the emerging middle class, thus posing a formidable challenge to the established two-party system. Though it ultimately failed to bring about an electoral realignment, its influence was nonetheless significant and long-lasting. The Populists instigated political and economic reforms for decades to come while actively partaking in the cultural transformations of the time. Populism, however, generated a culture that was both forward- and backward looking, and as it continued to affect politics over the course of the twentieth and early twenty-first century, its majoritarian impulse inspired new forms of democratic inclusion as well as threats to minorities and republican institutions. This complex phenomenon and its many ramifications have engaged generations of historians, whose political sensibilities changed as events unfolded and scholarly research proceeded. At a time when Populism has once occupied center stage in America, it is worth looking back at its origins and pondering how the historiography has tried to make sense of it.

Although in comparison to other key Gramscian concepts, ideology has not been among the most studied, this is beginning to change. In particular, recent scholarship has demonstrated a diffuse and variegated usage of the term in the Prison Notebooks, as well as an innovative extension of the concept, which is articulated around a network of closely correlated terms and concepts. Nevertheless, debates remain over how to understand its meaning in Gramsci's carceral discourse, with some arguing that his distinctive conception of ideology has a "neutral", and arguably, also "positive" meaning, while others contend that it is neither "neutral", nor "positive", but a critical concept. This essay argues that Gramsci's conception of ideology is neither neutral nor positive, but rather, an eminently critical and differentiated analysis of the diverse ideological forms of consciousness through which the popular masses are enveloped within the web of a class's hegemony through the mediation of the philosophers' philosophies, the fruit of his attempt to rethink philosophy politically. In short, understanding Gramsci's conception of ideology in the full sense can only be ascertained by following the threads of his philosophical investigations in their shifts and re-elaborations. Keywords: Gramsci, Politics, Philosophy, Ideology