Rational Discourse For Citizenship And Progress Prepare To Talk Politics

Too many arguments these days stem from heightened passions due to ascriptions, caricatures, and misunderstandings of political others rather than their actual disposition, rationale, or perspective. It is understandable to vehemently fight against a political opponent who believes that, especially if that is truly dangerous or unjust. But do they really think that? It is imperative to fight for justice in the face of enemies who are unscrupulous. But what makes us so sure they are unscrupulous? We should be spending much more time communicating than reacting and attacking based on visceral responses. This book seeks to prepare citizens by educating us to run our lives and our society so we can "bring out the best in another and not just use our best to beat them up." This book will help with self-understanding as much as understanding others. Included is a training camp to enter Rational Discourse, a method for engaging in Rational Discourse, and tons of advice and techniques to get the most out of every encounter. By practicing the techniques in this book we will find ourselves gaining a wider perspective, more patience, stronger resolve, and clarity of how the world operates. With Rational Discourse, everybody wins.

A significant addition to the growing body of literature on citizenship, this wide-ranging overview focuses on the importance, and changing nature, of citizenship. It introduces the varied discourses and theories that have arisen in recent years, and looks toward future scholarship in the field. Offers an analytical assessment of the various thematic discourses and provides guidance in pulling together those discrete themes into a larger, more comprehensive framework Identifies the four broadly conceived themes that shape the many discourses on contemporary citizenship – inclusion, erosion, withdrawal, and expansion Includes a thorough introduction to the subject

Concepts of citizenship have been central to political discourse in the West throughout history -- but the notion of what it means to be a citizen has been radically modified over the centuries, to suit a variety of political expedients. There is now renewed interest in citizenship as a fundamental principle in Western democracy; but what do we mean when we talk of citizens and their rights? Citizenship offers more than fifty carefully chosen extracts from the key political debates surrounding citizenship, from Aristotle and Plutarch in Ancient Greece to Raymond Plant and the Maastricht Treaty in the present day, in an invaluable sourcebook of writings on the subject. The selection highlights the variety of ways in which philosophers, activists and theorists have applied the idea of citizenship to particular circumstances and to serve particular ends. In a substantial introduction, Paul Barry Clarke sets the historical and political context and traces the evolution of the idea of citizenship, providing a springboard for further debate and new thinking on a subject that concerns us all.

This is an essential read for anyone interested in the way language is used in the world of politics. Based on Aristotle's premise that we are all political animals, able to use language to pursue our own ends, the book uses the theoretical framework of linguistics to explore the ways in which we think and behave politically. Contemporary and high profile case studies of politicians and other speakers are used, including an examination of the dangerous influence of a politician's words on the defendants in the Stephen Lawrence murder trial. International in its perspective, Analysing Political Discourse also considers the changing landscape of political language post-September 11, including the increasing use of religious imagery in the political discourse of, amongst others, George Bush. Written in a lively and engaging style, this book provides an essential introduction to political discourse analysis.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC licence. Citizenship is always in dispute – in practice as well as in theory – but conventional perspectives do not address why the concept of citizenship is so contentious. This unique book presents a new perspective on citizenship by treating it as a continuing focus of dispute.The authors dispute the way citizenship is normally conceived and analysed within the social sciences, developing a view of citizenship as always emerging from struggle. This view is advanced through an exploration of the entanglements of politics, culture and power that are both embodied and contested in forms and practices of citizenship. This compelling view of citizenship emerges from the international and interdisciplinary collaboration of the four authors, drawing on the diverse disputes over citizenship in their countries of origin (Brazil, France, the UK and the US). The book is essential reading for anyone interested in the field of citizenship, no matter what their geographical, political or academic location.

From Sex Objects to Sexual Subjects traces some of the ruptures and continuities between the eighteenth-century masculinist formulations of subjectivity elaborated by Rousseau, Diderot and Kant and the contemporary postmodern and feminist critiques of the universal subject--meaning the self viewed as an abstract individual who exercises an impartial and rational (political) judgment that is idential to other similarly defined individuals--developed by Luce Irigaray, Francois Lyotard, Jacques Derrida, Jurgen Habermas, Nancy Fraser, Judith Butler and Michel Foucault. In her work, Moscovici brings together the wide-ranging discussion of subjectivity with debates about public discourse. In so doing she attempts a synthesis between the two discussions that have recently engaged feminist theorists and others.