DOCSLIB.ORG

Freedom in the World 1978 Complete Book

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Freedom in the World 1978 Complete Book Freedom in the World Political Rights and Civil Liberties 1978 RAYMOND D. GASTIL With essays by Richard W. Cottam Robert A. Dahl Herbert J. Ellison Giovanni Sartori Published by Freedom House in cooperation with G. K. Hall & Co. 70 LINCOLN STREET, BOSTON, MASS. FREEDOM HOUSE, NEW YORK International Standard Book Number: 0-932088-00-7 Freedom House, 20 West 40th Street, New York, N.Y. 10018 International Standard Book Number: 0-8161-8301-5 G. K. Hall & Co., 70 Lincoln Street, Boston, Mass. 02111 Copyright © 1978 by Freedom House, Inc. All rights reserved. "A Realistic Appraisal of What Is Meant by Democratic Rule," Giovanni Sartori, from Democratic Theory, 2nd revised edition [1979]. Printed by permission of the author. "Democracy as Polyarchy," Robert A. Dahl, from Polyarchy: Par- ticipation and Opposition. Copyright 1971 by Yale University Press. Reprinted by permission. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Gastil, Raymond D Freedom in the world. Includes index. 1. Civil rights. I. Cottam, Richard W. II. Title. JC571.G336 323.4 78-53867 ISBN 0-932088-00-7 Contents PREFACE ix PART I: THE STUDY OF 1977 The Comparative Survey of Freedom 3 A Working Definition of Political and Civil Freedom 7 The Resources of the Survey 8 The Tabulated Ratings 9 Comparison with Other Surveys 23 Changes in 1977 30 Elections and Referenda 42 The Relation of Political-Economic Systems to Freedom 43 Peoples Without National Rights 51 Conclusion 60 The Year of Human Rights Introduction 64 Human Rights East and West, Herbert J. Ellison 71 The Case of Iran, Richard W. Cottam 88 PART II: FUNDAMENTAL ISSUES Freedom and Democracy: Definitions and Distinctions 111 Complementary Views of Democracy A Realistic Appraisal of What Is Meant by Democratic Rule, Giovanni Sartori 127 Democracy as Polyarchy, Robert A. Dahl 134 v vi CONTENTS The Importance of Ideas: How Democratic Institutions Be- come Established 147 The Relation of Alternative Political-Economic Systems to Freedom 163 Self-Determination, Subnationalities, and Freedom 180 PART III: COUNTRY SUMMARIES Introduction 219 Country Summaries 223 INDEX 327 Map and Tables The Map of Freedom 20-21 Tables 1. Independent Nations: Comparative Measures of Freedom 10 2. Related Territories: Comparative Measures of Freedom 14 3. Ranking of Nations by Political Rights 16 4. Ranking of Nations by Civil Liberties 17 5. Comparison of Surveys 25 6. National Elections or Referenda 36 7. Political-Economic Systems 44 8. Major Peoples Without a Nation-State 48 9. Major Peoples Separated from Existing Nation-States 53 10. Some Requirements for a Democracy Among a Large Number of People 135 11. Conditions Favoring Polyarchy 138 vii Preface he urge of men and women to make choices and divest themselves Tof natural and unnatural restrictions is as old as the human race. No less persistent is the compulsion of some to restrict and repress their fellows. In most times and places, the oppressors have carried the day. To be sure, religious toleration brought a glimmer of hope to the ancient world. The European Renaissance and Meiji restoration in Japan introduced new possibilities for human relationships. Self-determination of peoples received impetus after World War I, and the Four Free- doms inspired the free and unfree throughout World War II. Yet on the 24-hour clock by which the entire span of humanity on earth may be shown, individual freedom has been a broadly shared goal for only the past few seconds, and, even then, it has been far more widely recognized in theory than in practice. Table 1 (page 10) suggests that today barely thirty-five percent of the nations are free; more than 2.6 billion people are not free or are only partly free. Today, in countries considered unfree, dissenters speak of human freedoms through samizdat, manifestos, or the underground press. In free nations, as never before, the national and international politics of human rights is everywhere apparent. Indeed, 1977 may well be remembered as the Year of Human Rights. The Carter administration in the United States established a climate that supported freedom activists in many countries. The 1975 Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Helsinki Accords, had spotlighted the procedural elements of human rights. The 1977-78 conference to review progress since the Final Act took steps to institutionalize the international assessment of human rights in the thirty-five signatory countries. Freedom of the individual citizen, what- ever his nationality, has now been recognized as a concern of all peoples. As an aspect of its thirty-seven year mission to promote the defense and development of civil and political liberties, Freedom House has ix x PREFACE produced since 1950 an annual assessment of the status of freedom in the world. Beginning in 1972-73 these balance sheets were suc- ceeded by an annual Comparative Survey of Freedom. This is published along with evaluative essays for each continent in the January/February edition of the organization's publication Freedom at Issue. The Comparative Surveys have apparently filled a need for an improved perspective on the gains and losses, or threats and oppor- tunities, in the field of human freedoms. They have been extensively quoted by the mass news media around the world. In March 1977, the Department of State incorporated data from the Survey in each of eighty-two reports to Congress on the level of human rights in countries receiving security assistance. Inquiries have been made by foreign governments in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Latin America relating to the Survey's ratings and criteria. This interest suggests that the public might welcome a more sub- stantial form of the Comparative Survey. Such an expanded survey should incorporate additional research, develop the theoretical under- pinnings of the work, and show the relation of the work to current policy concerns. The volume before you is the first result of this effort at expansion. The material is divided into three parts. The first presents the basic data of the Comparative Survey as of January 1, 1978, and explains the meaning of the categories and the methods that are employed. In this part we have also included discussions of the current issue of greatest importance in the area of freedom, the question of how effectively a country such as the United States under the Carter administration can hope to influence human rights in other countries, particularly communist and Third World countries. The discussion depends primarily on invited pieces by two experts on the USSR and Iran respectively. The second part discusses in some depth four fundamental issues: the definition of freedom and constitutional democracy, the importance of the diffusion of democratic ideas, the relation of different economic systems to freedom, and the question of self-determination and sub- nationalism. The first, or definitional, essay, is complemented by selected writings from two leading authorities on freedom and democracy. The final part of the book consists of summary discussions of individual countries giving the facts about each that were most deter- minative of the ratings found in Part I. We acknowledge with deep appreciation the assistance in the conception of this volume provided by the Advisory Panel for the Comparative Survey consisting of Robert J. Alexander, Professor of Economics, Rutgers University; Richard W. Cottam, Professor of PREFACE xi Political Science, University of Pittsburgh; Herbert J. Ellison, Professor of History, University of Washington; Seymour Martin Lipset, Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution; Lucian Pye, Professor of Political Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Leslie Rubin, lawyer, professor and African specialist; Giovanni Sartori, Professor of Political Science, Stanford University; Robert Scalapino and Paul Seabury, Professors of Political Science, University of California, Berkeley. We thank Professors Robert A. Dahl and Giovanni Sartori for permission to excerpt material from their recent books. We acknowledge as well the guidance from its inception given the Comparative Survey of Freedom by Leonard R. Sussman, execu- tive director of Freedom House. And we are grateful for the support provided by the following foundations in the development of the Survey and the publication of this volume: the J. Howard Pew Freedom Trust, the John Dewey Foundation, and the Relm Foundation. JOHN RICHARDSON, JR. PRESIDENT OF FREEDOM HOUSE PART I The Study of 1977 The Comparative Survey of Freedom orld War II taught a generation the value of freedom, and the Wdifficulty with which it is maintained. After the war it was optimistically assumed that the United States and its allies could bring freedom to the rest of the world. Under direct military occupation West Germany, Italy, and Japan developed democratic systems. The United States supported anticolonialism almost everywhere, and aid was freely given to what were considered proto-democracies. But dis- illusionment soon set in. Independence did not always mean freedom. Economic development was slow, and often its achievement did not bring a people closer to democracy. The communist states achieved considerable equality and development, but showed few signs of evolution toward free states. Anticommunist leaders too often turned out to be tyrants as well. Our economic aid provided little leverage for creating democracies: it was no substitute for the political control that had allowed us to transform the former Axis nations into democracies. Disillusionment affected the political beliefs of leaders and intel- lectuals in both developed and underdeveloped countries. Lack of freedom in the underdeveloped world was said to mean that the people had evidently "chosen" not to be free, or that freedom "had no meaning" for them. It was said that political and civil liberties were not, after all, what most people really wanted; they were more interested in economic development and security, or in national success and pride. It was claimed that these could be achieved in poor nations only by establishing closely controlled societies.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Social Justice in an Open World – the Role Of
    E c o n o m i c & Social Affairs The International Forum for Social Development Social Justice in an Open World The Role of the United Nations Sales No. E.06.IV.2 ISBN 92-1-130249-5 05-62917—January 2006—2,000 United Nations ST/ESA/305 DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS Division for Social Policy and Development The International Forum for Social Development Social Justice in an Open World The Role of the United Nations asdf United Nations New York, 2006 DESA The Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat is a vital interface between global policies in the economic, social and environmental spheres and national action. The Department works in three main interlinked areas: (i) it compiles, generates and analyses a wide range of economic, social and environ- mental data and information on which States Members of the United Nations draw to review common problems and to take stock of policy options; (ii) it facilitates the negotiations of Member States in many intergovernmental bodies on joint course of action to address ongoing or emerging global challenges; and (iii) it advises inter- ested Governments on the ways and means of translating policy frameworks devel- oped in United Nations conferences and summits into programmes at the country level and, through technical assistance, helps build national capacities. Note The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations. The designations employed and the presentation of the mate- rial do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitations of its frontiers.
    [Show full text]
  • Ernest Gellner: Civilizational Analysis As a Theory of History
    Comparative Civilizations Review Volume 41 Number 41 Fall 1999 Article 6 10-1-1999 Ernest Gellner: Civilizational Analysis as a Theory of History Leonidas Donskis Dickinson College Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ccr Recommended Citation Donskis, Leonidas (1999) "Ernest Gellner: Civilizational Analysis as a Theory of History," Comparative Civilizations Review: Vol. 41 : No. 41 , Article 6. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/ccr/vol41/iss41/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Comparative Civilizations Review by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Donskis: Ernest Gellner: Civilizational Analysis as a Theory of History 56 COMPARATIVE CIVILIZATIONS REVIEW Ernest Gellner: Civilizational Analysis as a Theory of History LEONIDAS DONSKIS There seems to be no general reason why specialists in coercion, and specialists in ritual and legitimation, should not be identical. These two supremely impor- tant specializations are indeed sometimes combined. But it is a fact crucial for the history of mankind that they were very often distinct to a greater or lesser degree. The sword may dominate, but the priests help crystallize cohesion among swordsmen. Ernest Gellner In mapping Gellner's (1925-1995) philosophy of history and civilizational theory, it is very important to refer to his intellectu- al and even ideological background. He obviously belongs to a small minority of the twentieth-century social theoreticians who never passed through a Marxist phase. Gellner's consistent, severe and analytically incisive criticism of Marxism and its sociopolitical effects brings him to the company of such critics of the totalitarian regimes and their ideologies as Hannah Arendt, Karl Jaspers, Raymond Aron, Leszek Kolakowski, and Czeslaw Milosz.
    [Show full text]
  • Church of All Saints in the Vendée “To Know and to Share Jesus Christ”
    Church of All Saints in the Vendée “To know and to share Jesus Christ” February 2013 CONTACTS: Locum Priest: Revd Bernard Rumbold Phone no: 0251 00 98 59, e-mail:[email protected] Church Wardens: Barbara Kenyon: Phone no: 0251 40 51 59, e-mail: [email protected] Joan Stewart: Phone no: 0251 00 34 70, e-mail:[email protected] Readers: Robin Kenyon: Phone no: 0251 40 51 59, e-mail: [email protected] John Matthews: Phone no: 0549 75 29 71, e-mail: [email protected] Website: www.allsaintsvendee.fr WHAT IS THE CHURCH FOR? That sounds like the title of a long, erudite and mind-numbing book! I'm going to try to answer the question in a few hundred words and I will make them as non-theological and 'non-party' as possible. So here goes.... Firstly, who or what is 'the Church'. Well for our purpose, it`s the group of Christian people who meet regularly or occasionally as the congregations of All Saints Vendée. Somebody is going to ask 'who are Christians'; again, for our purpose, the same group of people! There are, of course, many talents given to people by God to do different jobs - administrators, musicians, cooks, worship leaders and so forth, but, there is only one type of Christian, none are more senior or important than others in God's eyes - the word 'minister' means a servant. They can be members of any church that proclaims 'Jesus is Lord' - or none. We can probably identify at least four different tasks that the Church is 'for' : Worshipping and glorifying God - we do this when we meet together for our Sunday services, when we pray or read the Bible in our own home and, perhaps most importantly, when we put our Christian love into action by serving others as described below.
    [Show full text]
  • Christians and Jews in Muslim Societies
    Arabic and its Alternatives Christians and Jews in Muslim Societies Editorial Board Phillip Ackerman-Lieberman (Vanderbilt University, Nashville, USA) Bernard Heyberger (EHESS, Paris, France) VOLUME 5 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/cjms Arabic and its Alternatives Religious Minorities and Their Languages in the Emerging Nation States of the Middle East (1920–1950) Edited by Heleen Murre-van den Berg Karène Sanchez Summerer Tijmen C. Baarda LEIDEN | BOSTON Cover illustration: Assyrian School of Mosul, 1920s–1930s; courtesy Dr. Robin Beth Shamuel, Iraq. This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Murre-van den Berg, H. L. (Hendrika Lena), 1964– illustrator. | Sanchez-Summerer, Karene, editor. | Baarda, Tijmen C., editor. Title: Arabic and its alternatives : religious minorities and their languages in the emerging nation states of the Middle East (1920–1950) / edited by Heleen Murre-van den Berg, Karène Sanchez, Tijmen C. Baarda. Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, 2020. | Series: Christians and Jews in Muslim societies, 2212–5523 ; vol.
    [Show full text]
  • John Milton USP Marie-Hélène Catherine Torres UFSC
    Apresentação 9 APRESENTAÇÃO John Milton USP Marie-Hélène Catherine Torres UFSC Little theoretical attention has been paid to the subject of Retranslation and Adaptation. In Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies there is no section on Retranslation. Adaptation fares a little better, and the section on “Adaptation”, written by George Bastin mentions a number of key elements associated with adaptation: it is often associated with the belles infidèles concept of translation; it is particularly common in theatre translation; adaptations are often made in order to prevent a communication breakdown, being linked to the skopos, the purpose; and the study of adaptations look beyond linguistic transfer and will throw light on the translator as mediator (Bastin, 1998: 5-8). These concepts are developed by a number of contributors to this volume. Two key statements on retranslation are Yves Gambier’s formulation (1994, p. 414): “[…] une première traduction a toujours tendance à être plutôt assimilatrice, à réduire l’altérité au nom d’impératifs culturels, éditoriaux […] La retraduction dans ces conditions consisterait en un retour au texte-source” {“[…] a first translation always tends to be more assimilating, tends to reduce the otherness in the name of cultural or editorial requirements […] The retranslation, in this perspective, would mark a return to the source-text”} and that of Antoine Berman, who distinguishes “deux espaces (et deux temps) de traduction: celui des premières 10 John Milton & Marie-Hélène C. Torres traductions, et celui des retraductions” [“two spaces (and two ti- mes) of translation : that of the first translations, and that of the retranslations”] (Berman, 1985: 116). After the work has been introduced into the foreign culture, Retranslations will attempt to get much closer to the source text.
    [Show full text]
  • The Political Clubs of United Russia: Incubators of Ideology Or Internal Dissent?
    The Political Clubs of United Russia: Incubators of Ideology or Internal Dissent? Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Eileen Marie Kunkler, B.A. Graduate Program in Slavic and East European Studies The Ohio State University 2010 Thesis Committee: Goldie Shabad, Adviser Trevor Brown Copyright by Eileen Marie Kunkler 2010 Abstract In 2008, three political clubs were officially formed within the United Russia party structure: the Social-Conservative Club, the Liberal-Conservative Club, and the State-Patriotic Club. Membership of these clubs includes many powerful Duma representatives. Officially, their function is to help develop strategies for implementing the government‟s Strategy 2020. However, a closer examination of these clubs suggests that they also may function as an ideology incubator for the larger party and as a safety valve for internal party dissent. To answer the question of what the true function of these clubs is an attempt will be made to give: a brief overview of Unity‟s and Fatherland-All Russia‟s formation; a description of how United Russia formed; a summary of the ideological currents within United Russia from 2001-2009; a discussion of the three clubs; and a comparative analysis of these clubs to the Christian Democratic party of Italy and the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. Based on this evidence, it will be argued that primary purpose of these clubs is to contain intra-party conflict. ii Dedication Dedicated to my family and friends iii Acknowledgements I wish to thank my adviser, Goldie Shabad, for all of her help, advice, and patience in working on this project with me.
    [Show full text]
  • The United Nations' Political Aversion to the European Microstates
    UN-WELCOME: The United Nations’ Political Aversion to the European Microstates -- A Thesis -- Submitted to the University of Michigan, in partial fulfillment for the degree of HONORS BACHELOR OF ARTS Department Of Political Science Stephen R. Snyder MARCH 2010 “Elephants… hate the mouse worst of living creatures, and if they see one merely touch the fodder placed in their stall they refuse it with disgust.” -Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 77 AD Acknowledgments Though only one name can appear on the author’s line, there are many people whose support and help made this thesis possible and without whom, I would be nowhere. First, I must thank my family. As a child, my mother and father would try to stump me with a difficult math and geography question before tucking me into bed each night (and a few times they succeeded!). Thank you for giving birth to my fascination in all things international. Without you, none of this would have been possible. Second, I must thank a set of distinguished professors. Professor Mika LaVaque-Manty, thank you for giving me a chance to prove myself, even though I was a sophomore and studying abroad did not fit with the traditional path of thesis writers; thank you again for encouraging us all to think outside the box. My adviser, Professor Jenna Bednar, thank you for your enthusiastic interest in my thesis and having the vision to see what needed to be accentuated to pull a strong thesis out from the weeds. Professor Andrei Markovits, thank you for your commitment to your students’ work; I still believe in those words of the Moroccan scholar and will always appreciate your frank advice.
    [Show full text]
  • An African Basketry of Heterogeneous Variables Kongo-Kikongo-Kisankasa
    ISSN 2394-9694 International Journal of Novel Research in Humanity and Social Sciences Vol. 8, Issue 2, pp: (2-31), Month: March - April 2021, Available at: www.noveltyjournals.com An African Basketry of Heterogeneous Variables Kongo-Kikongo-Kisankasa Rojukurthi Sudhakar Rao (M.Phil Degree Student-Researcher, Centre for African Studies, University of Mumbai, Maharashtra Rajya, India) e-mail:[email protected] Abstract: In terms of scientific systems approach to the knowledge of human origins, human organizations, human histories, human kingdoms, human languages, human populations and above all the human genes, unquestionable scientific evidence with human dignity flabbergasted the European strong world of slave-masters and colonialist- policy-rulers. This deduces that the early Europeans knew nothing scientific about the mankind beforehand unleashing their one-up-man-ship over Africa and the Africans except that they were the white skinned flocks and so, not the kith and kin of the Africans in black skin living in what they called the „Dark Continent‟! Of course, in later times, the same masters and rulers committed to not repeating their colonialist racial geo-political injustices. The whites were domineering and weaponized to the hilt on their own mentality, for their own interests and by their own logic opposing the geopolitically distant African blacks inhabiting the natural resources enriched frontiers. Those „twists and twitches‟ in time-line led to the black‟s slavery and white‟s slave-trade with meddling Christian Adventist Missionaries, colonialists, religious conversionists, Anglican Universities‟ Missions , inter- sexual-births, the associative asomi , the dissociative asomi and the non-asomi divisions within African natives in concomitance.
    [Show full text]
  • The Principle of Solidarity : a Restatement of John Rawls' Law Of
    DISSERTATION: THE PRINCIPLE OF SOLIDARITY: A RESTATEMENT OF JOHN RAWLS´ LAW OF PEOPLES ZUR ERLANGUNG DES AKADEMISCHEN GRADES DOCTOR PHILOSOPHIAE (DR. PHIL) VON MILICA TRIFUNOVIĆ EINGEREICHT IM DEZEMBER 2011. AN DER PHILOSOPHISCHEN FAKULTÄT I DER HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN PRÄSIDENT DER HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN: PROF. DR. JAN-HENDRIK OLBERTZ DEKAN: PROF. MICHAEL SEADLE GUTACHTER: 1. PROF. DR. VOLKER GERHARDT 2. PROF. DR. WULF KELLERWESSEL TAG DER MÜNDLICHEN PRÜFUNG: 20. JUNI 2012. 1 CONTENT CHAPTER ONE.............................................................................................................................................5 Instead of Introduction: Global Justice Debate- Conceptions and Misconceptions........................................5 1. Global Justice Debate – Conceptions and Misconceptions............................................................5 1.1. CONCEPTUAL ANALYSES....................................................................................................6 1.1.1. Aristotelian Paradigm................................................................................................7 1.1.2. Rawlsian Paradigm ...................................................................................................9 1.1.3. Aristotelian and Rawlsian Paradigm in A Global Context .......................................13 1.2. METHODOLOGICAL ANALYSIS ...........................................................................................21 1.2.1. Political Constructivism in a Global Context............................................................22
    [Show full text]
  • Beyond Emboldenment Beyond Mark S
    Beyond Emboldenment Beyond Mark S. Bell Emboldenment How Acquiring Nuclear Weapons Can Change Foreign Policy What happens to the foreign policies of states when they acquire nuclear weapons? This question has grown in importance as new nuclear powers have emerged and other states have moved closer to joining the nuclear club. Indeed, determining the costs that the United States and others should be prepared to pay to prevent nuclear proliferation hinges on assessing how nuclear weapons affect the be- havior of the states that acquire them and how dangerous those effects are. If states expand their interests in world politics or act more aggressively in the aftermath of nuclear acquisition, preventing nuclear proliferation should be a higher priority than if nuclear weapons do not signiªcantly affect the for- eign policies of the states that acquire them. Crafting deterrence strategies for new nuclear states also requires understanding the foreign policy effects that nuclear weapons are likely to have in a given case.1 Despite its importance, the question of how nuclear weapons affect the for- eign policies of the states that acquire them has not been satisfactorily an- swered. The literature on nuclear weapons has generally examined the effects of nuclear weapons on outcomes other than foreign policy; has focused on the effects of nuclear weapons on the calculations of other states rather than the acquiring state; and has often sought to explore how states with nuclear weapons should behave rather than how they do behave. The literature that has examined the effects of nuclear weapons on foreign policy has tended to conºate effects of nuclear weapons under catch-all terms such as “em- boldenment” while ignoring other potential effects of nuclear acquisition.
    [Show full text]
  • Cress Presentation
    Keiter 1 “To Sail Free in Her Own Element”: The Novelization of the Epic and the “Cress” Letters in William Carlos Williams’ Paterson Joshua Keiter The long, scathing letter from Cress, a female poet detailing “woman’s wretched position in society,” at the end of Book Two of Paterson has appeared perplexing, to say the least, to readers and critics of William Carlos Williams’ magnum opus since its first publication. The letter arrives directly at the center of the projected four books of Paterson, which we learn in Book I concerns itself overall with “A man like a city and a woman like a flower / —who are in love. Two women. Three women. / Innumerable women, each like a flower. / / But / only one man—like a city” (Williams, P 7). The tension between the symbolic and the literal man and woman of Paterson holds a central place in the poem, and invites a gendered reading, particularly at the crucial juncture of the Cress letter, based around the appropriation of a female voice by a dominant male author/text. My paper will argue that Williams’ appropriation is more of an attempt, however inadequate, at integration—rather than imposing male poetic dominance over a female voice, Williams aims to deconstruct male authority, if not destroy his own authorship, by emphasizing the relational, dialogic nature (even in terms of “marriage” and “divorce”) of communication itself. A hopeless task, perhaps, but one that is emblematic of the entire project and problematic of Paterson as a “whole.” Indeed, the first part of my paper is devoted to a discussion of how the genre theory of Mikhail Bakhtin in his essay on the “Epic and Novel” provides, in distinctive terms, the kind of critical framework necessary to understand the role of Cress in Paterson.
    [Show full text]
  • Francis Fukuyama the National Interest Summer 1989
    The End of History? Francis Fukuyama The National Interest Summer 1989 IN WATCHING the flow of events the intellectual climate of the world's over the past decade or so, it is hard to two largest communist countries, and avoid the feeling that something very the beginnings of significant reform fundamental has happened in world movements in both. But this history. The past year has seen a flood phenomenon extends beyond high of articles commemorating the end of politics and it can be seen also in the the Cold War, and the fact that "peace" ineluctable spread of consumerist seems to be breaking out in many Western culture in such diverse regions of the world. Most of these contexts as the peasants' markets and analyses lack any larger conceptual color television sets now omnipresent framework for distinguishing between throughout China, the cooperative what is essential and what is restaurants and clothing stores opened contingent or accidental in world in the past year in Moscow, the history, and are predictably Beethoven piped into Japanese superficial. If Mr. Gorbachev were department stores, and the rock music ousted from the Kremlin or a new enjoyed alike in Prague, Rangoon, and Ayatollah proclaimed the millennium Tehran. from a desolate Middle Eastern What we may be witnessing is not capital, these same commentators just the end of the Cold War, or the would scramble to announce the passing of a particular period of rebirth of a new era of conflict. postwar history, but the end of history And yet, all of these people sense as such: that is, the end point of dimly that there is some larger process mankind's ideological evolution and at work, a process that gives coherence the universalization of Western liberal and order to the daily headlines.
    [Show full text]