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Modern political authority tends to be considered legitimate to the extent it can be openly and consequentially disputed. This is one reason why the prospects for the organised contestation of decision-making have been a recurrent theme of scholarship on the European Union (EU). Insofar as these prospects are weak, as much work on the 'democratic deficit' suggests, the EU seems anomalous, at least by the measure of our political ideals. As today's Union undergoes rapid reshaping, it is worth asking how far the outlook is changing. Are we seeing the emergence of new channels of opposition that could strengthen the contestation of EU decision-making – the emergence of a more 'politicized' order, as it is sometimes called? Or are the obstacles to such opposition proliferating, such that politicizing Europe, rather than a process in train, becomes an increasingly demanding challenge? In this chapter I show how the irregular forms of decision-making the Euro crisis has occasioned are posing new questions of the temporal framework by which decisions in a democracy are contested. Modern democratic politics has typically been a politics of rhythm. As political improvisation comes to the fore, so the rhythms of democratic politics are put under strain. How political contestation might be achieved under these conditions will be one of our guiding questions.

Modern political authority tends to be considered legitimate to the extent it can be openly and consequentially disputed. This is one reason why the prospects for the organised contestation of decision-making have been a recurrent theme of scholarship on the European Union (EU). Insofar as these prospects are weak, as much work on the 'democratic deficit' suggests, the EU seems anomalous, at least by the measure of our political ideals. As today's Union undergoes rapid reshaping, it is worth asking how far the outlook is changing. Are we seeing the emergence of new channels of opposition that could strengthen the contestation of EU decision-making – the emergence of a more 'politicized' order, as it is sometimes called? Or are the obstacles to such opposition proliferating, such that politicizing Europe, rather than a process in train, becomes an increasingly demanding challenge? In this chapter I show how the irregular forms of decision-making the Euro crisis has occasioned are posing new questions of the temporal framework by which decisions in a democracy are contested. Modern democratic politics has typically been a politics of rhythm. As political improvisation comes to the fore, so the rhythms of democratic politics are put under strain. How political contestation might be achieved under these conditions will be one of our guiding questions.

International audience ; Caracas is one of the most dangerous cities in the world, and insecurity is among the core concerns of Venezuelans. Urban insecurity shapes the anxious meta-narrative of an urbanity in crisis. The Caracazo (uprising that caused hundreds of deaths in 1989 in Caracas) defines a critical turn in the experiencing of urban fears, at least among middle-class sectors: the myth of an inclusive-urbanity-in-a-democratic-society breaks up when traditionally excluded people burst into the formal city. Former social framing and State-society ties are undermined in a time of crisis. The growing fear of insecurity triggers off socio-spatial transformations which are actually socially and racially driven. This paper aims at politicizing fear of crime and insecurity in Caracas by "situating" it, and by underlying its performativity. As a socially-contingent category, fear can be instrumentalized in different ways. It appears that fear of crime and insecurity contributes to consolidate, more than create, urban territorialities grounded on classism and racism. The hegemonic narrative of fear is powerful - and legitimate - enough not to address root drivers of fragmenting dynamics, as a technology of control. Nevertheless, the unexpected implications that current fear of crime might bring are challenging an unequal socio-spatial order, sign of contested supremacies.

International audience ; Caracas is one of the most dangerous cities in the world, and insecurity is among the core concerns of Venezuelans. Urban insecurity shapes the anxious meta-narrative of an urbanity in crisis. The Caracazo (uprising that caused hundreds of deaths in 1989 in Caracas) defines a critical turn in the experiencing of urban fears, at least among middle-class sectors: the myth of an inclusive-urbanity-in-a-democratic-society breaks up when traditionally excluded people burst into the formal city. Former social framing and State-society ties are undermined in a time of crisis. The growing fear of insecurity triggers off socio-spatial transformations which are actually socially and racially driven. This paper aims at politicizing fear of crime and insecurity in Caracas by "situating" it, and by underlying its performativity. As a socially-contingent category, fear can be instrumentalized in different ways. It appears that fear of crime and insecurity contributes to consolidate, more than create, urban territorialities grounded on classism and racism. The hegemonic narrative of fear is powerful - and legitimate - enough not to address root drivers of fragmenting dynamics, as a technology of control. Nevertheless, the unexpected implications that current fear of crime might bring are challenging an unequal socio-spatial order, sign of contested supremacies.

Intro -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface -- Introduction: History's Past Presence -- 1. The History Book Club Offers the Past as an "Image of Ourselves" -- 2. Mythologizing History on Du Pont's Cavalcade of America -- 3. History, News, and You Are There -- 4. The Freedom Train's Narrow-Gauge Iconography -- 5. Building a "National Shrine" at the National Museum of American History -- Conclusion: Once and Future Truths -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

"After the turmoil of the Great Depression and World War II, Americans looked to the nation's more distant past for lessons to inform its uncertain future. By applying recent and emerging techniques in mass communication--including radio and television programs and commercial book clubs--American elites working in media, commerce, and government used history to confer authority on their respective messages. With insight and wit, Erik Christiansen uncovers in Channeling the Past the ways that powerful corporations rewrote history to strengthen the postwar corporate state, while progressives, communists, and other leftists vied to make their own versions of the past more popular. Christiansen looks closely at several notable initiatives--CBS's flashback You Are There program; the Smithsonian Museum of American History, constructed in the late 1950s; the Cavalcade of America program sponsored by the Du Pont Company; the History Book Club; and the Freedom Train, a museum on rails that traveled the country from 1947 to 1949 exhibiting historic documents and flags, including original copies of the U.S. Constitution and the Magna Carta. It is often said that history is written by the victors, but Christiansen offers a more nuanced perspective: history is constantly remade to suit the objectives of those with the resources to do it. He provides dramatic evidence of sophisticated calculations that influenced both public opinion and historical memory, and shows that Americans' relationships with the past changed as a result"--Publisher's description.

Addressing key issues including sovereignty, political community, democracy and international intervention, this book outlines a theory of cosmopolitan politics based on hospitality and makes an important contribution to the debates about cosmopolitanism and ethics in IR.