Christian Scheinpflug – författare

Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Politics - General and Theories of International Politics, The Open University, language: English, abstract: Albeit democracy being "e;the worst form of government"e;, according to Churchill, it has proven remarkably tenacious. Democracy's infancy can be traced back to ancient Greece, and provides for key driver of social change. During industialization, representative democracy, as form of government, rose to become the pre-eminent tool to organize societies in the northern hemisphere. This work looks at some key thinkers and intersections representative democracy was shaped by. It then elaborates briefly on the current state of representative democracy and its future prospects.

Essay from the year 2010 in the subject Politics - Miscellaneous, grade: 2.2, The Open University, language: English, abstract: Since Aristotle first set out his famous definition of the political animal"e;, numerous thinkers have re-interpreted, evaluated and attempted to extend the term to living beings Aristotle himself did not intend to endow with political rights. This essay willprimarily look at the works of thinkers like Wollstonecraft, Bentham, Latour, among others, who sought to include nature, i.e. non-human beings, into the political sphere. In their works they constantly challenged the notion of a boundary line"e;, which aimsto draw a distinction between the human and the non-human being. The main section will depart from an Aristotelian point of view in which characteristics would be absolutely necessary to having the privilege to entitlement of political rights. Afterwards,specifics, which have been put forward by other thinkers and aim at incorporating minorities and non-humans into the political sphere, will be discussed. At the end of the piece it should become clear that ideas about a more inclusive approach to nature are neither new, nor are they bizarre and thus should not be dismissed indiscriminately. Limits of this all-encompassing inclusive approach are exemplified by the works of Nilsen. [...]

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Politics - Topic: Globalization, Political Economics, grade: 2.0, The Open University, language: English, abstract: The common perception of Globalisation is that it is an exclusive human affair. This is especially due to the dominance of economics in every layer of society. This paper challenges this assumption with the examples of plate tectonics and Antarctica. These examples make clear that although human agency is a significant influence in causing Globaisation, it has no monopoly over the phenomenon.

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Politics - Topic: Globalization, Political Economics, grade: 2.0, The Open University, language: English, abstract: Material objects are important for peoples' sense of belonging. This paper explores, with the help of real world examples, on how important exactly. The sense of belonging is to be established in relation to place and community. In the course of the essay it also will become clear that it is not always easy to distinguish between territory as spatial entity and territory in a metaphysical community-based sense.

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Politics - Region: Other States, grade: 1,7, The Open University, language: English, abstract: The often abstract sounding term called 'the international' could be made better sense of if it is to be conceived of as a system. As such, it functions because socially organized entities (currently nation-states) are affected by mutual social interaction on political, socio-cultural, economic and technological levels. This kind of interaction among those entities, or more precisely, the seeds of current social order, can be traced back to pre-modern times, when agriculture facilitated settlement and communities formed as a consequence (Bromley and Brown, 2004, p. 3). A key event in specific communal organisation is the rise of the sovereign nation-state, an outcome most are convinced of the Peace Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. This development was so successful that the sovereign social organisation of communities is still the most common form, and up to this day determines relations at all levels within the international system (Bromley and Brown, 2004, p. 3). While the nation-state can claim authority to regulate domestic political life and social interaction, it lacks a comparable authority in the international realm. Any interactions be they social, political or economic - among nation-states are therefore taking place in an anarchic, as opposed to a hierarchic, environment. In order to be able to analyse interaction among states, or simply put, international politics, a framework can be modeled that is informed by observations and abstractions, which are derived from actual and perished societies, represented as the problematic of the international (Bromley and Brown, 2004, p. 3). The problematic of the international also includes the studying of interaction of various socially organized entities (not merely nation-states) so-called geopolitics - and so reveals agents, transforming characters and processes that are entangled with them within specific social orders (Bromley and Brown,2004, p. 12). Various academic traditions approach the problematic of the international from different starting points, by assigning more or less importance to certain levels of interaction among socially organized communities. [...]

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Politics - Topic: Development Politics, The Open University, language: English, abstract: China's and Brazil's economic development over the last 60 years has been remarkable and earned them the status of 'rising powers'. Especially China's transformation stands out as it increased its share of global GDP more than six fold from 1970 - 2009, to around 6%. Brazil's share actually decreased slightly but still remains stable since 1995 at around 2.5% (Farooki and Mohan, 2013, p. 106, fig. 5.1). Notably, both countries increased their service sectors' share of domestic GDP - China by 21%, Brazil by 23% - from 1980 to 2009, hinting at increasing sophistication (ibid, p. 108, table 5.1). This essay shows that these increases are results of structural changes in the global economic system and intentional action in both countries, which were initiated by international, national and non-governmental actors. Comparisons and contrasts are made to show how China and Brazil moved towards broader goals, such as governance, macroeconomics, and industrialization; as well as narrower ones, like decisions on aid and rural/urban development. Frameworks provided by development theories inform this attempt. The concluding section will summarize the main points and close with the argument that, although both countries' trajectories diverged nationally, major international crises linked their ascendance.

Essay from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - Topic: Globalization, Political Economics, grade: 2,0, University of Leicester (Department of Politics and International Relations), language: English, abstract: On September 11, 1991, George H. W. Bush outlined the main tenets of a so-called New World Order (NWO) (Bush Sr. 1991). He did this shortly before 'Operation Desert Storm' commenced. After 40 years of Cold War and with Communism in its last convulsions the idea of a different, more peaceful, world, without the constant threat of nuclear holocaust or material scarcity, held much sway in international politics. In order to properly account for the rise of such a vision, this essay uses the frames of vindicationism , developed by Jonathan Monten (2005) and passive revolution , developed by Antonio Gramsci. Two parts guide the discussion: 1) Rise and Manifestation ; and 2) Opposition and Entrenchment . Subsections about the theoretical and cultural heritage of the NWO, as well as its introduction into the material world further point the way. It will emerge that the NWO is a US driven global initiative, based on cultural perception and logic of market expansion. With the help of the Chilean coup d etat in 1973, the concepts will be applied to a real world example and show how theory becomes practice. Chile 1973 was a key event that fostered the rise of a vision of New World Order, for it marked the beginning of applying theoretical concepts, developed especially by Chicago School economics, into the physical world. Those concepts thus still mark capitalist modernity. This section also paves the way for Part II. Contrary to observers who view power and the world in militaristic terms, this section argues that a vision of New World Order never fell. To underline this claim, examples such as al-Qaeda s 9/11 attacks and China s economic development are evaluated. During this exercise, it emerges that although both actors are seen as challenges to the US-centred world order, they are actually, in the case of al-Qaeda deviant, parts of it. The last section therefore concludes that the NWO is not new and firmly embedded in the structures of the global political economy.

Essay from the year 2014 in the subject Politics - General and Theories of International Politics, grade: 1,2, University of Leicester, language: English, abstract: Marxist International Relations (IR) theory is fundamental to the discipline. Its distinct approaches are neither strictly positivist, nor post-positivist but derive insights from both methodologies. Common elements in the Marxist tradition are imperialism, exploitation, capital accumulation and expansion, as well as hegemony. Materialist approaches, i.e. those which privilege how natural resource endowment, geography, military capability, or technology influence the structure of international relations (Baylis et al. 2008:583) are prevalent.