The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (119 page)

When one social class exerts power over others beyond that accounted for by coercion or law, it may be described as hegemonic, drawing on the Greek word
hegemon
, meaning chieftain. Thus the bourgeoisie was regarded as hegemonic within capitalist society by
Gramsci
, who believed their power depended on the permeation by bourgeois values of all organs of society. Hegemony has also been attributed to other social institutions. Indeed, the phrase first entered the vocabulary of the left following the Russian Revolution of 1905 when Plekhanov used it to describe the relation of the Bolshevik party to the proletariat. Among contemporary North American international relations theorists, the term has been used rather differently. The influence of Britain beyond the boundaries of its formal Empire in the nineteenth century and the analogous power of the United States since 1945 were regarded as hegemonic by Charles Kindleberger , the key to power residing latterly in the functioning of the hegemonic state—supposedly essential to a liberal international economic order and the security system, as provider of a range of
public goods
including relatively open markets, a stable international trading currency, and a nuclear deterrent force. Such arguments have been used: to explain the depth and duration of the depression of the 1930s (said to have stemmed from lack of an effective hegemon); to warn of the possible consequences of current United States economic decline; and to argue that beneficiaries of this regime should contribute more to its costs, which are held to accrue disproportionately to the dominant provider, making hegemony a system with a built-in tendency to self-destruction.
CJ 

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(1889–1976)
German philosopher whose social and political ideas have been the subject of much controversy because of his support for
Hitler
and
National Socialism
in the early 1930s. Heidegger's strongly existentialist and anti-rationalist approach to exploring the nature of human existence (‘Being’) led him to question the whole Enlightenment project of building an ever more progressive world rooted in science, industry, and technology. All notions of universal, objective rationality made manifest in mankind's increasing mastery and control of nature, and in enthusiasm for technocratic planning and social organization, were rejected by Heidegger as being incapable of harnessing the essentially human qualities of authentic, creative, and imaginative existence in a purposeful
polis
or political community.
Like
Nietzsche
before him, Heidegger sought to elevate the aesthetic and mythological power of philosophy and poetry to a leading role in the shaping of human affairs. The emphasis of both these thinkers on the need for inspired political leadership in the cause of romantic and noble ideals—expressed through the imaginative use of mythological symbols and language—suggests linkages with the right-wing, nationalist, and irrationalist tendencies of European fascism after the First World War. Heidegger's excursion into political affairs was, to say the least, ambiguous and open to a variety of interpretations.
KT 

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(1715–71)
Utilitarian thinker of French
Enlightenment
. Not original or profound—although a significant influence on
Bentham
. Reflected commonly held ideas in an extreme form. An egalitarian who believed that differences between men are the result of education. The sole human motivation is self-interest, so each family should be given a piece of land to ensure that all, working for themselves alone, contribute to the aggregate good.
CS 

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

(1744–1803)
See
language
.

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search

Originally one's heritage was the property which one had inherited or stood to inherit. By extension, the term came to include many characteristics other than property rights which people might be said to acquire at birth or as a result of the death of another: for instance, it was a common remark in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries that work is the heritage of the sons of Adam. By a further extension in the same direction the word acquires its modern political meaning as the cultural practices and values people inherit as part of their membership of a family, region, class, nation, or whatever.
The appeal to heritage in this form suggests a duty both to our ancestors, to preserve what they created, and to our descendants, to keep alive ancient values which will give meaning and identity to their lives. Such duties override our normal, more short-term, considerations like utilitarian calculation. Thus considerations of heritage are relevant to policy in a number of fields, but especially education, the arts, and the environment.
The level of heritage to which appeal is most commonly made is the national level: the agency responsible for the protection of buildings and urban character in England is called English Heritage, and the minister responsible for sport and the arts is called the Minister For Heritage. But an idea of global heritage has evolved and UNESCO has involved itself in the classification of ‘World Heritage Sites’; for the most part they are places of great natural interest or concerned with very ancient history.
LA 

 
Back
  -  
 
New Search