Pub Date : 2018-07-25DOI: 10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.3.0193
Nigel Biggar
Abstract:In “just war” thinking, proportionality is a criterion both of going to war and of fighting in it. This article uses the Battle of the Somme—a byword for immorally profligate warfare—to consider how proportionality should be understood. It reaches six conclusions: (1) a very large number of casualties is not in itself disproportionate; (2) the proportionality of a particular military operation depends on the moral standing of the larger belligerency to which it belongs; (3) aptness in the sense of being a fit response to injustice requires an account of what kinds of injustice warrant the costs of war; (4) strategy or tactics that are inefficient in the spending of lives are disproportionate; (5) if a strategist or tactician could have known that his plans were inefficient, and if we judge that he should have known, then the disproportion is culpable; nevertheless, (6) attrition can be the most efficient way of fighting.
{"title":"Proportionality: Lessons from the Somme","authors":"Nigel Biggar","doi":"10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.3.0193","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.3.0193","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:In “just war” thinking, proportionality is a criterion both of going to war and of fighting in it. This article uses the Battle of the Somme—a byword for immorally profligate warfare—to consider how proportionality should be understood. It reaches six conclusions: (1) a very large number of casualties is not in itself disproportionate; (2) the proportionality of a particular military operation depends on the moral standing of the larger belligerency to which it belongs; (3) aptness in the sense of being a fit response to injustice requires an account of what kinds of injustice warrant the costs of war; (4) strategy or tactics that are inefficient in the spending of lives are disproportionate; (5) if a strategist or tactician could have known that his plans were inefficient, and if we judge that he should have known, then the disproportion is culpable; nevertheless, (6) attrition can be the most efficient way of fighting.","PeriodicalId":231294,"journal":{"name":"Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"126 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128079137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-07-25DOI: 10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.3.0238
Jonathan H. Ebel
Abstract:This article examines the intersection of religious ideas and movements with the development of weapons technologies during the First World War, arguing that soldiers’ ways of understanding and interacting with the rifle and the grenade were an extension both of the technology as a thing and of its meaning as a sign, and that the latter in particular needs to be woven into religious histories of the American experience of war in general, the Great War in particular.
{"title":"Thou Shalt Kill: A Religious History of the Rifle and the Grenade in America’s Great War","authors":"Jonathan H. Ebel","doi":"10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.3.0238","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.3.0238","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article examines the intersection of religious ideas and movements with the development of weapons technologies during the First World War, arguing that soldiers’ ways of understanding and interacting with the rifle and the grenade were an extension both of the technology as a thing and of its meaning as a sign, and that the latter in particular needs to be woven into religious histories of the American experience of war in general, the Great War in particular.","PeriodicalId":231294,"journal":{"name":"Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116621119","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-07-25DOI: 10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.3.0219
C. Burnidge
Abstract:From the beginning of the Great War through peace negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference, US president Woodrow Wilson focused less on military strategy and more on establishing peace. Both early twentieth-century observers and twenty-first-century historians recognize how important Christianity was to Wilson; yet, the relationship between his internationalism and Christianity is often misunderstood. Even though Wilson's position on the war reflected widely held Christian values and norms—first, avoiding war through neutrality and, second, using just war theory to explain American entry into the war—his conception of the League of Nations demonstrated how he understood Christian internationalism.
{"title":"Woodrow Wilson’s Christian Internationalism and the Pursuit of a Just and Lasting Peace","authors":"C. Burnidge","doi":"10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.3.0219","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.3.0219","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:From the beginning of the Great War through peace negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference, US president Woodrow Wilson focused less on military strategy and more on establishing peace. Both early twentieth-century observers and twenty-first-century historians recognize how important Christianity was to Wilson; yet, the relationship between his internationalism and Christianity is often misunderstood. Even though Wilson's position on the war reflected widely held Christian values and norms—first, avoiding war through neutrality and, second, using just war theory to explain American entry into the war—his conception of the League of Nations demonstrated how he understood Christian internationalism.","PeriodicalId":231294,"journal":{"name":"Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116030644","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-04-06DOI: 10.5325/soundings.101.2.0110
Melanie A. Howard
Abstract:Given the discourse surrounding immigration in the 2016 presidential election, this article inquires how Jesus's teachings regarding nonresistance to evil and love of enemies (Matthew 5:38–48) may look from a Christian immigrant perspective. The article suggests that there are several possibilities. First, the article investigates peace church perspectives on the Sermon. Second, taking a cue from the Sermon's hyperbolic speech, the article explores reading the Sermon as satire. Finally, the article explores this passage as a "text of terror" and concludes that each of these paradigms offer both strengths and drawbacks given the diversity of immigrant experiences.
{"title":"Paradigm of Peace, Silly Satire, Text of Terror: Perspectives on Matthew 5:38–48 for Immigrant Populations","authors":"Melanie A. Howard","doi":"10.5325/soundings.101.2.0110","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/soundings.101.2.0110","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:Given the discourse surrounding immigration in the 2016 presidential election, this article inquires how Jesus's teachings regarding nonresistance to evil and love of enemies (Matthew 5:38–48) may look from a Christian immigrant perspective. The article suggests that there are several possibilities. First, the article investigates peace church perspectives on the Sermon. Second, taking a cue from the Sermon's hyperbolic speech, the article explores reading the Sermon as satire. Finally, the article explores this passage as a \"text of terror\" and concludes that each of these paradigms offer both strengths and drawbacks given the diversity of immigrant experiences.","PeriodicalId":231294,"journal":{"name":"Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115314382","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-04-06DOI: 10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.2.0079
A. Speckhard, Ardian Shajkovci
Abstract:The participation of predominantly young, Balkan Muslims in the Syrian and the Iraq conflict has become a dangerous trend. Equally alarming is the fact that many youth in the region continue to separate themselves from the mainstream religious community and move to supporting conservative Islamic ideas that cater to jihadist narratives. Drawing from the authors' recent fieldwork in the Balkans, this article addresses the issues of radicalization leading to violence and suggests ways to strengthen current counter radicalization and reintegration policies, including improving the community's resistance in Kosovo and the Southern Serbian Sandjak region. The authors highlight that while "hard" power measures that focus on intelligence activities and attacking extremist ideologies are important, other counterterrorism programs that address prevention, intervention, rehabilitation, and reintegration of those already on the extremist trajectory must also be considered.
{"title":"The Balkan Jihad: Recruitment to Violent Extremism and Issues Facing Returning Foreign Fighters in Kosovo and Southern Serbia","authors":"A. Speckhard, Ardian Shajkovci","doi":"10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.2.0079","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.2.0079","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:The participation of predominantly young, Balkan Muslims in the Syrian and the Iraq conflict has become a dangerous trend. Equally alarming is the fact that many youth in the region continue to separate themselves from the mainstream religious community and move to supporting conservative Islamic ideas that cater to jihadist narratives. Drawing from the authors' recent fieldwork in the Balkans, this article addresses the issues of radicalization leading to violence and suggests ways to strengthen current counter radicalization and reintegration policies, including improving the community's resistance in Kosovo and the Southern Serbian Sandjak region. The authors highlight that while \"hard\" power measures that focus on intelligence activities and attacking extremist ideologies are important, other counterterrorism programs that address prevention, intervention, rehabilitation, and reintegration of those already on the extremist trajectory must also be considered.","PeriodicalId":231294,"journal":{"name":"Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"221 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116006818","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-04-06DOI: 10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.2.0147
H. Bailey
Abstract:This article analyzes ex-Scientologist Jenna Miscavige Hill's 2013 memoir in terms of the genre of "Scientology escape narrative." It argues that this memoir adheres to what Grace Hong calls the "narrative of development," which shows how a white protagonist can overcome social expectations to realize the power of individuality, allowing them to become a fully self-possessed white liberal subject. Using Hong, critical race theory, and critical prison studies, this article demonstrates how this memoir shows "whiteness as property" in that a subject previously deemed abnormal via affiliation with Scientology is ultimately more legible to the U.S. state than individuals of color.
{"title":"Unlikely Captivities: The Narrative of Development in Jenna Miscavige Hill's Ex-Scientology Escape Narrative","authors":"H. Bailey","doi":"10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.2.0147","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.2.0147","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article analyzes ex-Scientologist Jenna Miscavige Hill's 2013 memoir in terms of the genre of \"Scientology escape narrative.\" It argues that this memoir adheres to what Grace Hong calls the \"narrative of development,\" which shows how a white protagonist can overcome social expectations to realize the power of individuality, allowing them to become a fully self-possessed white liberal subject. Using Hong, critical race theory, and critical prison studies, this article demonstrates how this memoir shows \"whiteness as property\" in that a subject previously deemed abnormal via affiliation with Scientology is ultimately more legible to the U.S. state than individuals of color.","PeriodicalId":231294,"journal":{"name":"Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115401645","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-04-06DOI: 10.5325/soundings.101.2.0173
L. Hunt
Abstract:This article considers how legal and philosophical ideals relate to contemporary politics. While political commentary is often concerned with descriptive analysis of public affairs, this article pursues normative analysis of emerging trends in public life. The article's underlying theme is that "liberal" states—such as the United States—from time to time become illiberal by departing from the basic legal and philosophical norms of that tradition. Although it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions while in the moment, the tentative conclusion is that we are in the midst of a departure from liberal norms. The article takes a discursive approach—drawing upon Appalachian culture, popular culture, and personal narrative—to highlight the altered trajectory from those norms.
{"title":"Commentary: Norms, Narratives, and Politics","authors":"L. Hunt","doi":"10.5325/soundings.101.2.0173","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/soundings.101.2.0173","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article considers how legal and philosophical ideals relate to contemporary politics. While political commentary is often concerned with descriptive analysis of public affairs, this article pursues normative analysis of emerging trends in public life. The article's underlying theme is that \"liberal\" states—such as the United States—from time to time become illiberal by departing from the basic legal and philosophical norms of that tradition. Although it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions while in the moment, the tentative conclusion is that we are in the midst of a departure from liberal norms. The article takes a discursive approach—drawing upon Appalachian culture, popular culture, and personal narrative—to highlight the altered trajectory from those norms.","PeriodicalId":231294,"journal":{"name":"Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"55 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129982714","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-01-25DOI: 10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.1.0041
P. O'Connor
Abstract:During the decades following the Civil War, taxation was a source of significant political agitation among much of Virginia's white community. Especially influential was federal tobacco taxation. A centerpiece of Republican fiscal policy, the tobacco tax seemed to many Virginians an affliction upon their once prosperous industry. Critics of both the Republicans and Virginia's Readjuster Party associated tobacco taxation with emancipation and black civil rights—policies popularly understood to have corroded Virginia's erstwhile cultural stability. By the 1880s, this association helped fuel a reactionary backlash and elevate the white supremacist Democrats into power.
{"title":"\"The Festering Sores of Our Body Politic\": Federal Tobacco Taxation, Race, and the Politics of Fear in Postemancipation Virginia","authors":"P. O'Connor","doi":"10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.1.0041","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.1.0041","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:During the decades following the Civil War, taxation was a source of significant political agitation among much of Virginia's white community. Especially influential was federal tobacco taxation. A centerpiece of Republican fiscal policy, the tobacco tax seemed to many Virginians an affliction upon their once prosperous industry. Critics of both the Republicans and Virginia's Readjuster Party associated tobacco taxation with emancipation and black civil rights—policies popularly understood to have corroded Virginia's erstwhile cultural stability. By the 1880s, this association helped fuel a reactionary backlash and elevate the white supremacist Democrats into power.","PeriodicalId":231294,"journal":{"name":"Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"10 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125241302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-01-25DOI: 10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.1.0067
Dane J. Cash
Abstract:This article examines the responses of some of America's leading political commentators to the Korean War, 1950–53. Many on both sides of the political spectrum were terrified that Korea would prove to be the opening salvo of World War III, potentially culminating in global nuclear annihilation. By war's end, conservatives in particular had largely concluded that the American "defeat" in Korea marked a turning point in history, namely, the beginning of the end of the American empire. These debates reveal much about the origins of modern conservatism and also shed light on the ways in which debates about a multilateral vs. unilateral foreign policy persist into our own time. The article concludes by examining whether viewing the hopes and fears of a given historical crisis through the long view of history can bring a useful perspective to analyzing our own hopes and fears as we begin a new era in American political history in 2017.
{"title":"\"The Distant, Rising Note of Requiem\": Liberal and Conservative Hopes and Fears during the Korean War","authors":"Dane J. Cash","doi":"10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.1.0067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.1.0067","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:This article examines the responses of some of America's leading political commentators to the Korean War, 1950–53. Many on both sides of the political spectrum were terrified that Korea would prove to be the opening salvo of World War III, potentially culminating in global nuclear annihilation. By war's end, conservatives in particular had largely concluded that the American \"defeat\" in Korea marked a turning point in history, namely, the beginning of the end of the American empire. These debates reveal much about the origins of modern conservatism and also shed light on the ways in which debates about a multilateral vs. unilateral foreign policy persist into our own time. The article concludes by examining whether viewing the hopes and fears of a given historical crisis through the long view of history can bring a useful perspective to analyzing our own hopes and fears as we begin a new era in American political history in 2017.","PeriodicalId":231294,"journal":{"name":"Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122357868","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2018-01-25DOI: 10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.1.0052
J. Reddoch
Abstract:According to Stoicism, hope and fear are dangerous emotions that are irrational since they encourage us to designate external circumstances as good or bad, which from the Stoic perspective are a matter of indifference and have no bearing on our personal happiness. The Stoic theory of emotions provides a basis for identifying the dangers of hope and fear in contemporary American politics. Drawing on examples from the 2008 and 2016 presidential elections in which the American electorate experienced much hope and fear, this article explains how abandoning emotional gratification provides a more rational and compassionate approach to political engagement.
{"title":"The Stoics on Hope and Fear: How to Be a Politically Engaged Stoic","authors":"J. Reddoch","doi":"10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.1.0052","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5325/SOUNDINGS.101.1.0052","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract:According to Stoicism, hope and fear are dangerous emotions that are irrational since they encourage us to designate external circumstances as good or bad, which from the Stoic perspective are a matter of indifference and have no bearing on our personal happiness. The Stoic theory of emotions provides a basis for identifying the dangers of hope and fear in contemporary American politics. Drawing on examples from the 2008 and 2016 presidential elections in which the American electorate experienced much hope and fear, this article explains how abandoning emotional gratification provides a more rational and compassionate approach to political engagement.","PeriodicalId":231294,"journal":{"name":"Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128925141","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：