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After an introduction of the main themes, including political transformation & the "new" media, this chapter closely examines the idea of the new media, arguing that although no distinct line can be drawn between the concept of "old" & new media, the new media possess several characteristics that have contributed greatly to modern political transformation. Of particular significance are the elements of immediacy & the defiance of hierarchical mediation, interactivity, & the relationship that has emerged between a cultural shift in politics & the mediatization of political dialogue. The chapter then contends that measurable change has taken place within the spheres of both political discourse & political modalities. It concludes by presenting the idea that the mediatization of politics does not represent an anti-politics. Instead, the mediatization process has contributed to the development of a "new" politics for a new millennium. 93 References. K. A. Larsen

A discussion of Michael Hardt & Antonio Negri's Empire (2000) begins by acknowledging the value of Lacan's mirror stage, which is related to Dionysus' mirror, as a political myth & a model for migration dynamics. As migration is hardly attended to in classical political theory, it persists in the realm of myth. Augustine's & Slavoj Zizek's views on migration, or exodus, are looked at in this light & in relation to Hardt & Negri's multitude. For postmodernists, exodus -- typically seen to involve three phases -- has become a two-place relation. Hardt & Negri turn nomadism into the "Neoplatonic ascent of the soul" wherein their Augustinian rhetoric crosses with Deleuze & Guattari's nomadology; migrant & nomad refer to the same people whenever they wish to stress the liberatory potential of nomadism, made possible, they reason, because they believe that now this is a "smooth world" (ie, no longer striated) characterized by a withered civil society, the collapse of national boundaries, & the obsolescence of traditional forms of politics. According to Hardt & Negri, this smoothness is the condition of the multitude's utopian aggregation. Linkages between Durkheimian concepts, organic & mechanical solidarity & the Body without Organs, to Deleuzain/Guattarian ideas in Empire are noted before addressing migration as a model for a politics of unfettered political agency, a politics without sociology, ie, a politics of unimpeded movement. Yet this smooth politics winds up constrained anyway in the social forms it can take. It is then contended that while nomadism might effect political change, in late modernity, it is largely motivated by the desire for wealth. Remarks are then offered on the notion of desire, highlighting Plotinus, Lacan, & desire's centralty to Hardt & Negri. It is argued that Hardt & Negri are actually working with the illusion of a smooth world, ignoring the striations that still exist, however finely wrought. Thus, the multitude is able to see the fantasy of its own unity in this smooth mirror. It is asserted that reasserting Durkheim's organic solidarity against Deleuze & Guattari's conception of the Body without Organs exposes the striations beneath the illusion of smoothness. The example of the Wobblies is used to illustrate the fallacy in Hardt & Negri's rejection of hybridity, which is identity across striation, & suggest that the Wobblies make a productive model for a contemporary politics of migration. Ultimately, Hardt & Negri's secular utopianism retains the social dynamics of its mythological predecessors. J. Zendejas

Argues that Michel Foucault's genealogical method intends to reconfigure the relation between intellectual & political life &, thus, to displace four conventional approaches to these issues: (1) historical approaches that conceive of history in terms of progress or a panoply of alternatives to the present; (2) philosophical approaches bound to metaphysics; (3) policy advocacy that offers specific reforms or legislative proposals; & (4) political position taking on various conflicts, events, & policies. These approaches are described as modernist in that they seek to examine systems & point out their contradictions. Foucault's genealogical method pursues another avenue by asking how logics of power have produced the present, which opens a new political space in which it is possible to call the present into question. This space is to be distinguished from Foucault's particular political dispositions in that it has no necessary political entailments, but rather, simply affords a particular kind of discursive space for political thought & judgment. D. Ryfe

(Originally published in John A. Hall & Ian C. Jarvie [Eds], Transition to Modernity, 1992, see abstract 93c01707.) Max Weber's essays Science as a Vocation (1917) & Politics as a Vocation (1919) raised themes that Ernest Gellner later addresses with a more sanguine attitude. Weber seeks a morality specific to the pursuit of science & politics in the distinction he draws between vocation & profession. Weber's conception of the multiplicity of values leads him to vacillate between ethical pluralism & nihilism. This moral indeterminacy leads Weber to embrace nationalism & its symptomatic conflicts such as WWI. Gellner finds a moral meaning in science & scientific rationality that mediates the value pluralism of modernity. Gellner has a more thorough understanding of religion & nationalism in the modern world & accommodates them in his multilateral vision of the world without embracing them as means to salvation. 10 References. H. von Rautenfeld

The political challenges & implications of the emergence of international terrorism are considered. Differences between 20th century terrorist activities & those represented by the September 11, 2001, attacks are highlighted to demonstrate the more severe problems posed by new terrorism, eg, the difficulty of comprehending the motives of terrorists who do not announce demands or objectives; moreover, it is stressed that 21st century terrorism is particularly dangerous since it combines religious & political perspectives, thereby reifying fallacious West/East & good/evil dualisms on the international level. Although liberalism provides a strategy for addressing security concerns & encouraging pluralism, it is stressed that liberalism must establish proper limits on pluralism & tolerance. Regardless of the ideological approach adopted toward new terrorism, two courses of action are recommended: the separation of politics & religion & Western nations' re-engagement in negotiations with the Middle East & other countries with large Islamic populations. J. W. Parker

Examines political participation among pastors of the evangelical Christian Reformed Church & the more liberal Reformed Church in America. The focus is on the nature & extent of political involvement across time & during the 1966 presidential election. Data were drawn from questionnaires completed by 520 ministers equally divided between the two denominations. The results showed different patterns of clerical involvement in politics depending upon mode of activity & theological orientation. Theological orthodoxy made pastors more likely to refer to political issues in a sermon, take a public stand on issues, or publicly endorse a candidate. Although clergy exhibiting high levels of theological orthodoxy were more likely to make political pronouncements than more modernist ministers, theological orthodoxy was less strongly related to voting, financially supporting political groups, contacting public officials, & circulating petitions. Political activities associated with theological modernists included organizing political groups within the church. A dominant trend over time was greater involvement by orthodox pastors in political activities that were once the province of more modernist clergy. 5 Tables. J. Lindroth

Examines political participation among pastors of the evangelical Christian Reformed Church & the more liberal Reformed Church in America. The focus is on the nature & extent of political involvement across time & during the 1966 presidential election. Data were drawn from questionnaires completed by 520 ministers equally divided between the two denominations. The results showed different patterns of clerical involvement in politics depending upon mode of activity & theological orientation. Theological orthodoxy made pastors more likely to refer to political issues in a sermon, take a public stand on issues, or publicly endorse a candidate. Although clergy exhibiting high levels of theological orthodoxy were more likely to make political pronouncements than more modernist ministers, theological orthodoxy was less strongly related to voting, financially supporting political groups, contacting public officials, & circulating petitions. Political activities associated with theological modernists included organizing political groups within the church. A dominant trend over time was greater involvement by orthodox pastors in political activities that were once the province of more modernist clergy. 5 Tables. J. Lindroth

Michel Foucault often spoke of the political in reference to his concept of governmentality, but he also sometimes employed the term in a strongly antigovernmental sense, which betrays a certain utopianism in his theory. While his notion of governmentality is counterposed to Enlightenment understandings of the liberated self, Foucault also offers the prospect of liberation, from domination imposed both by ourselves & by others. It is suggested that Foucault's occasional embrace of this rhetoric of liberation implies that political discourse has something of a mimetic character. Thus, political thinkers would be wise not to follow Foucault in pretending that utopianism can be avoided in political discourse. Rather, they ought to acknowledge, as Foucault appears to do at times, that political critique depends on a utopian impulse. D. Ryfe

Discusses the present & potential dangers of democratic politics governed by technocracy: "the illegitimate extension of scientific ways of thinking to questions that do not admit of scientific answers, & the elevation of scientists & technicians to a position of responsibility for which their knowledge & skills alone do not qualify them." Although science & technology constitute an increasingly large portion of political & social life, their applications in the political & social realms have not achieved the utopian goals of justice & dissolution of bureaucracy. Despite the technocratic assertion that politics can be separated from ideology, it is suggested that politics requires ideology, & technocracy itself is a form of ideology. Understood as a medium for the socialized expression of conflicting beliefs, politics is thus both formed by & dependent on ideology. Further, it is argued that attempts to eliminate ideology from politics place technocratic rulers in a position of unearned & potentially dangerous authority. It is concluded that ideological disagreement & dissent are fundamental components of democracy, & cannot be eliminated through scientific analysis & methodology. T. Sevier

The author asserts that the corporate & international organization efforts at liberalization of the agrifood business is undermining the small farmers in the Third World countries that must import food from the West. Regulatory agencies, such as the emerging World Trade Organization (WTO), are developing the potential to strengthen the industrialized world's power & limit the growth of Third World citizens. As the US has sought the potential market for food exports to the Pacific Asian countries, the 1994 agreement of the Uruguay Round, OECD projections predicted the decline in prices from local Third World corn producers by 20% by the year 2000, which would cut the income of 500,000 peasant households. According to Watkins, this agreement requires "developing countries to open their food markets in the name of free market principles, while allowing the US & the EU to protect their farm systems & subsidize exports" (1996). The author traces the history & developments of the Western domination of the agriculture markets including detrimental effects of the green revolution, agro-colonialism & agro-industrialism, the formation of GATT, TNCS, & world-agricultural restructuring. L. A. Hoffman

The author asserts that the corporate & international organization efforts at liberalization of the agrifood business is undermining the small farmers in the Third World countries that must import food from the West. Regulatory agencies, such as the emerging World Trade Organization (WTO), are developing the potential to strengthen the industrialized world's power & limit the growth of Third World citizens. As the US has sought the potential market for food exports to the Pacific Asian countries, the 1994 agreement of the Uruguay Round, OECD projections predicted the decline in prices from local Third World corn producers by 20% by the year 2000, which would cut the income of 500,000 peasant households. According to Watkins, this agreement requires "developing countries to open their food markets in the name of free market principles, while allowing the US & the EU to protect their farm systems & subsidize exports" (1996). The author traces the history & developments of the Western domination of the agriculture markets including detrimental effects of the green revolution, agro-colonialism & agro-industrialism, the formation of GATT, TNCS, & world-agricultural restructuring. L. A. Hoffman

Argues that there is an alliance between modern knowledge & the politics of security of the national state. In this alliance, both philosophy & politics are dedicated to the stabilization of security in the face of an actually existing environment of contingency, flux, & more generalized insecurity. This long-standing alliance has taken on varying forms. In Plato & early Christianity, a supersensible universe controlled the insecurity of Heraclitean flux, first by the idea & then institutionally, through the Church as the condition of human salvation. In early modernity, secular delegitimation of the Church led to a new locus of control. Later, in philosophy, the ideas of rationalism & empiricism helped control epistemological insecurity. In politics, for its part, chaos is exogenized by the institution of the Machiavellian & Hobbesian nation-state. Possible contemporary alliances are considered in the context of late-modern assumptions, in which nature becomes no longer a world of entities available to beings for transformation in respect to its finalities, but instead, a stock of raw material for our own ends. 72 References. V. Rios