The Politics Of Common Sense

"Looks at everyday political practice in contemporary Pakistan"--Provided by publisher.

"The way that movements communicate with the general public matters for their chances of lasting success. Comparing the public discourse on the living wage and marriage equality between 1994 and 2004, Deva Woodly shows that movement-led political change is rooted in whether or not movements are able to gain political acceptance"--

Common sense has always been a cornerstone of American politics. In 1776, Tom Paine’s vital pamphlet with that title sparked the American Revolution. And today, common sense—the wisdom of ordinary people, knowledge so self-evident that it is beyond debate—remains a powerful political ideal, utilized alike by George W. Bush’s aw-shucks articulations and Barack Obama’s down-to-earth reasonableness. But far from self-evident is where our faith in common sense comes from and how its populist logic has shaped modern democracy. Common Sense: A Political History is the first book to explore this essential political phenomenon. The story begins in the aftermath of England’s Glorious Revolution, when common sense first became a political ideal worth struggling over. Sophia Rosenfeld’s accessible and insightful account then wends its way across two continents and multiple centuries, revealing the remarkable individuals who appropriated the old, seemingly universal idea of common sense and the new strategic uses they made of it. Paine may have boasted that common sense is always on the side of the people and opposed to the rule of kings, but Rosenfeld demonstrates that common sense has been used to foster demagoguery and exclusivity as well as popular sovereignty. She provides a new account of the transatlantic Enlightenment and the Age of Revolutions, and offers a fresh reading on what the eighteenth century bequeathed to the political ferment of our own time. Far from commonsensical, the history of common sense turns out to be rife with paradox and surprise.

"International politics is not a cumulative subject in which the latest book makes all the others obsolete . . .The assumption underlying these pages is that our understanding of international politics is more likely to be improved by reflecting upon and reworking what we already know about the subject, than by topping up our knowledge with either more detailed research or more contemporary analysis. . . "Each of the chapters deals with a different aspect of international theory . . .A discerning reader may become aware of certain unifying threads running through and linking all of the chapters. They have all been written out of a conviction that explanation and not prescription is the only proper role of the political scientist; and they all reflect my skepticism about the 'scientific' nature of international politics." — John C. Garnett In a refreshing and clear analysis, Dr. Garnett looks at the nature of international theory and the problems associated with its development. Drawing from many disciplines, he examines fundamental questions in a new way, giving a measure of commonsense to a subject which has become complicated and esoteric. His use of analogies and quotations bring his subject alive in a study that will be of interest to those involved in both the social sciences and politics.

In the Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution, Independent congressman, presidential candidate and activist Bernie Sanders continues his fight against the imbalances in the nation’s status quo, and shows you how to make a difference to effect the changes America—and the world—need to create a better tomorrow. Throughout the Presidential campaign, Senator Bernie Sanders promised voters a future to believe in through his progressive platform and a vision for America worth fighting for. This vision calls for an economic, environmental, health care, and social justice revolution beyond the stagnant agendas of Democrat and Republican politicians to build an equitable future for all Americans—especially the younger generation that will inherit the consequences of decisions made now. Inside this practical and inspiring guide to effecting change in today’s world, you’ll learn how to: · Understand and navigate the current system of policy and government · Work to change the system to reflect your values and to protect our society’s most vulnerable · Organize for the causes you care about most · Resources for further reading and organizations to get involved with With more than two decades of Washington D.C. insider knowledge and experience, Senator Sanders knows how to fight and change the system from within, a system desperately in need of reform in health care, immigration, taxes, higher education, climate change, and criminal justice. The political revolution is just beginning. What role will you play?

“Brilliant, wise, profound and persuasive. Common Sense for the 21st Century will come to be recognized as a classic of political theory.”—George Monbiot, via Twitter An urgent, essential, and practical call to action from a cofounder of Extinction Rebellion What can we all do to avert catastrophe and avoid extinction? Roger Hallam has answers. In Common Sense for the 21st Century, Roger Hallam, cofounder of Extinction Rebellion, outlines how movements around the world need to come together now to start doing what works: engaging in mass civil disobedience to make real change happen. The book gives people the tools to understand not only why mass disruption, mass arrests, and mass sacrifice are necessary but also details how to carry out acts of civil disobedience effectively, respectfully and nonviolently. It bypasses contemporary political theory, and instead is inspired by Thomas Paine, the pragmatic 18th-century revolutionary whose pamphlet Common Sense sparked the American Revolution. Common Sense for the 21st Century urges us to confront the truth about climate change and argues forcefully that only a revolution of society and the state, similar to the turn that Paine urged the Americans to take into the political unknown, can save us now.

The way that movements communicate with the general public matters for their chances of lasting success. Deva Woodly argues that the potential for movement-led political change is significantly rooted in mainstream democratic discourse and specifically in the political acceptance of new issues by news media, the general public, and elected officials. This is true to some extent for any group wishing to alter status quo distributions of rights and/or resources, but is especially important for grassroots challengers who do not already have a place of legitimated influence in the polity. By examining the talk of two contemporary movements, the living wage and marriage equality, during the critical decade after their emergence between 1994-2004, Woodly shows that while the living wage movement experienced over 120 policy victories and the marriage equality movement suffered many policy defeats, the overall impact that marriage equality had on changing American politics was much greater than that of the living wage because of its deliberate effort to change mainstream political discourse, and thus, the public understanding of the politics surrounding the issue.

Common Sense and a Little Fire traces the personal and public lives of four immigrant women activists who left a lasting imprint on American politics. Though they have rarely had more than cameo appearances in previous histories, Rose Schneiderman, Fannia Cohn, Clara Lemlich Shavelson, and Pauline Newman played important roles in the emergence of organized labor, the New Deal welfare state, adult education, and the modern women's movement. Orleck takes her four subjects from turbulent, turn-of-the-century Eastern Europe to the radical ferment of New York's Lower East Side and the gaslit tenements where young workers studied together. Drawing from the women's writings and speeches, she paints a compelling picture of housewives' food and rent protests, of grim conditions in the garment shops, of factory-floor friendships that laid the basis for a mass uprising of young women garment workers, and of the impassioned rallies working women organized for suffrage. From that era of rebellion, Orleck charts the rise of a distinctly working-class feminism that fueled poor women's activism and shaped government labor, tenant, and consumer policies through the early 1950s.