National interest  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

(Difference between revisions)
Jump to: navigation, search
Revision as of 21:51, 24 July 2013
Jahsonic (Talk | contribs)

← Previous diff
Current revision
Jahsonic (Talk | contribs)

Line 1: Line 1:
{{Template}} {{Template}}
-In Europe, a distinct concept analogous to ''common people'' arose in the [[Classical civilization]] of ancient Rome around the sixth century BC, with the social division into [[Patrician (ancient Rome)|patricians]] (nobles) and [[plebians]] (commoners). The division may have been instituted by [[Servius Tullius]], as an alternative to the previous clan based divisions that had been responsible for internecine conflict. The ancient Greeks generally had no concept of class and their leading social divisions were simply non-Greeks, free-Greeks and slaves. The early organisation of [[Ancient Athens]] was something of an exception with certain official roles like [[Archon]]s, magistrates and treasurers being reserved for only the wealthiest citizens - these class like divisions were weakened by the democratic reforms of [[Cleisthenes]] who created new ''vertical'' social divisions in contrasting fashion to the ''horizonta''l ones thought to have been created by Tullius.+The '''national interest''', often referred to by the [[French language|French]] expression '''raison d'État''' ({{lang-en|reason of the State}}), is a [[country]]'s goals and ambitions whether [[economic]], [[military]], or cultural. The concept is an important one in [[international relations]] where pursuit of the national interest is the foundation of the [[realism (international relations)|realist]] school.
-With the growth of Christianity in the fourth century AD, a new world view arose that would underpin European thinking on social division until at least early modern times. [[Augustine of Hippo|Saint Augustine]] postulated that social division was a result of the [[Fall of Man]]. The three leading divisions were considered to be the nobility, the priesthood and the common people. Sometimes this would be expressed as "those who fought", "those who prayed", and "those who worked". This threefold division was formalised in the estate system of [[social stratification]], where again ''commoners'' were the bulk of the population who are neither members of the [[nobility]] nor of the [[clergy]]. They were the third of the [[Three Estates of the Realm]] in [[medieval Europe]], consisting of [[peasant]]s and [[artisan]]s. 
-Up until the late 15th century European social order was relatively stable. There were periods where the common people felt oppressed in certain regions, but often they were content with their lot. In 12th century England for example, while the common people would sometimes complain about the "Norman yoke" there was almost no unemployment and the average commoner only had to work only about 20 hours per week.+==See also==
-Though incidents of savage brutality still occurred in Europe, especially when one set of nobles displaced another, in general nobles were seen as just protectors of the common people, as was encouraged by Christian teaching.+* [[Sphere of influence]]
- +* [[Realism (international relations)]]
-With early medieval times being a period of close to absolute faith, the clergy were also highly valued by the common people, bringing much happiness as at the time there was close to universal belief that through [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|sacraments]] such as confession, the priest had the ability to ensure salvation.+* [[Neorealism (international relations)]]
- +* [[Nation state]]
-The social and political order of medieval Europe was shaken by the development of the mobile [[cannon]] in the 15th century. Up until that time a noble with a small force could hold their castle or walled town for years even against large armies - and so they were rarely disposed. Once effective cannons were available, walls were of far less defensive value and rulers needed expensive field armies to keep control of a territory. This encouraged the formation of princely and kingly states, which needed to tax the common people much more heavily to pay for the expensive weapons and armies required to provide security in the new age. Up until the late 15th century, surviving medieval treaties on government were concerned with advising rulers on how to serve the common good: [[Assize of Bread and Ale|Assize of Bread]] is an example of medieval law specifically drawn up in the interests of the common people. But then works by [[Philippe de Commines|Commynes]], [[Niccolò Machiavelli|Machiavelli]] and later [[Cardinal Richelieu]] began advising rulers to consider their own interests and that of the state ahead of what was "good", with Richelieu explicitly saying the state is above morality in doctrines such as [[National interest|''Raison dEtat'']]. This change of orientation among the nobles left the common people less content with their place in society. A similar trend occurred regarding the clergy, where many priests began to abuse the great power they had due to the sacrament of contrition. The [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] was a movement that aimed to correct this, but even afterward the common people's trust in the clergy would continue to decline – priests were often seen as greedy and lacking in true faith. An early major social upheaval driven in part by the common peoples mistrust of both the nobility and clergy occurred in Great Britain with the [[English Civil War|English Revolution]] of 1642. After the forces of [[Oliver Cromwell]] triumphed, movements like the [[Levellers]] rose to prominence demanding equality for all. When the general council of Cromwell's army met to decide on a new order at the [[Putney Debates]] of 1647, one of the commanders, [[Thomas Rainsborough|Colonel Rainsborough]], requested that political power be given to the common people. According to historian Roger Osbourne, the Colonel's speech was the first time a prominent person spoke in favour of universal male suffrage, but it was not to be granted until 1918. After much debate it was decided that only those with considerable property would be allowed to vote, and so after the revolution political power in England remained largely controlled by the nobles, with at first only a few of the most wealthy or well-connected common people sitting in Parliament.+
- +
-The rise of the [[bourgeoisie]] during the [[Late Middle Ages]], had seen an intermediate class of wealthy commoners develop, which ultimately gave rise to the modern [[middle classes]]. Middle-class people could still be called commoners however, for example in England [[Pitt the elder]] was often called ''The Great Commoner'', and this appellation was later used for the 20th century American anti-elitist campaigner [[William Jennings Bryan]]. The interests of the middle class were not always aligned with their fellow commoners of the working class.+
{{GFDL}} {{GFDL}}

Current revision

Related e

Wikipedia
Wiktionary
Shop


Featured:

The national interest, often referred to by the French expression raison d'État (Template:Lang-en), is a country's goals and ambitions whether economic, military, or cultural. The concept is an important one in international relations where pursuit of the national interest is the foundation of the realist school.


See also




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "National interest" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

Personal tools