Homer (Greek: ?µ???? Hómeros) is the name given to the supposed unitary author of the early Greek poems the Iliad and the Odyssey. It is now generally believed that they were composed by illiterate aoidoi (rhapsodes) in an oral tradition in the 8th or 7th century BC, but it is a matter of debate among scholars whether a single aoidos is largely responsible for the poems as they stand. The Emperor Hadrian asked the Oracle at Delphi who Homer really was, and she said that he was Ithacan, the son of Epikaste and Telemachus, from the Odyssey.[1] The name Homer is nevertheless often used, as a convention, by those who do not believe in single authorship of the Homeric poems. Homer's works begin the Western Canon and are universally praised for their poetic genius. By convention, the compositions are also often taken to initiate the period of Classical Antiquity.
1
The Iliad (Greek ?????, Iliás) is, together with the Odyssey, one of two ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer, supposedly a blind Ionian poet. Most modern scholars consider the epics to be the oldest literature in the Greek language, possibly equalled by Hesiod, dated to the 8th or 7th century BC.
The poem concerns events during the tenth and final year in the siege of the city of Ilion, or Troy, by the Greeks (See Trojan War). The word "Iliad" means "pertaining to Ilion" (in Latin, Ilium), the city proper, as opposed to Troy (in Greek, ????a, Troía; in Latin, Troia), the state centered around Ilium, over which Priam reigned. The names "Ilium" and "Troy" are often used interchangeably.
2
The Odyssey (Greek ?d?sse?a (Odússeia) ) is one of the two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to the Ionian poet Homer. The poem is commonly dated circa 800 to circa 600 BC. The poem is, in part, a sequel to Homer's Iliad and mainly centers on the Greek hero Odysseus (or Ulysses in Latin, which is what the Romans called him after they were told of his journeys) and his long journey home to Ithaca, following the fall of Troy.
It takes Odysseus nine years to reach Ithaca after the nine-year Trojan War.[1] During this absence, his son Telemachus and his wife Penelope must deal with a group of unruly suitors who have moved into Odysseus' home to compete for Penelope's hand in marriage, since most have assumed that Odysseus has died.
The poem is fundamental to the modern Western canon and continues to be read in Homeric Greek and translations into modern languages around the world. The original poem was composed in an oral tradition by an aoidos perhaps a rhapsode. The details of the ancient oral performance, and the story's conversion to a written work inspire continual debate among scholars. The Odyssey was written in a regionless poetic dialect of Greek and comprises 12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter. Among the most impressive elements of the text are its strikingly modern non-linear plot, and the fact that events are shown to depend as much on the choices made by women and serfs as on the actions of fighting men. In the English language as well as many others, the word odyssey has come to refer to an epic voyage.
3
The Western canon is a term used to denote a canon of books, and, more widely, music and art, that has been the most influential in shaping Western culture. It asserts a compendium of the greatest works of artistic merit. Such a canon is important to the theory of educational perennialism and the development of high culture. Although previously held in high regard, it has been the subject of increasing contention through the latter half of the 20th century. In practice, debates, and attempts to actually define the Canon in lists, are essentially restricted to books of various sorts: Literature, including Poetry, Fiction and Drama, autobiographical writings and Letters, Philosophy and History. A few accessible books on the Sciences are usually included.
4
The process of listmaking—defining the boundaries of the canon—is endless. One of the notable attempts in the English-speaking world was the Great Books of the Western World program. This program, developed in the middle third of the 20th century, grew out of the curriculum at the University of Chicago. University president Robert Hutchins and his collaborator Mortimer Adler developed a program that offered reading lists, books, and organizational strategies for reading clubs to the general public.
An earlier attempt, the Harvard Classics (1909) was promulgated by Harvard University president Charles W. Eliot, whose thesis was the same as Carlyle's:
There has been an ongoing, intensely political debate over the nature and status of the canon since at least the 1960s. In the USA, in particular, it has been attacked as a compendium of books written mainly by "dead white European males", that thus do not represent the viewpoints of many others in contemporary societies around the world. Others, notably Allan Bloom in his 1987 book The Closing of the American Mind, have disagreed strongly. Authors such as Yale Professor of Humanities Harold Bloom (no relation) have also spoken strongly in favor of the canon, and in general the canon remains as a represented idea in most institutions, though its implications continue to be debated heavily.
Defenders maintain that those who undermine the canon do so out of primarily political interests, and that the measure of quality represented by the works of the canon is of an aesthetic rather than political nature. Thus, any political objections aimed at the canon are ultimately irrelevant.
One of the main objections to a canon of literature is the question of authority—who should have the power to determine what works are worth reading and teaching?
6
Works which are commonly included in the canon include works of fiction such as some epic poems, poetry, music, drama, novels, and other assorted forms of literature from the many diverse Western (and more recently non-Western) cultures. Many non-fiction works are also listed, primarily from the areas of religion, mythology, science, philosophy, economics, politics, and history.
Works which directly address the canon (both for and against):
7
8
Who some of the central figures of the Elizabethan canon are, has long been established. They are Edmund Spenser, Sir Philip Sidney, Christopher Marlowe, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and John Donne. This list is so established that there seem to be few attempts to change it, simply because the cultural importance of these six is so great that even re-evaluations on grounds of literary merit has not dared to dislodge them from the curriculum. For this reason the challenges to the canon that have been made during the last century have mainly been concerned with the so-called "minor" poets.
This distinction between "major" and "minor" poets, and between "major" and "minor" works by individual poets, is one of the mainstays of the canonical tradition. Its aim can be summed up in the words of F. T. Palgrave who in his The Golden Treasury aimed to pass over "extreme or temporary phases in style" in favour of "something neither modern, nor ancient, but true in all ages". This anachronistic ideal has curiously enough been prevalent throughout two hundred years of literary history whose ostensible goal has been to describe the period.
9
Donne, Ben Jonson, and Spenser were major influences on 17th century poetry. Spenser was the primary English influence on John Milton; while Donne was imitated by the Metaphysical poets and Jonson by the Cavalier poets. Both Donne and Jonson influenced the leading poet of the late 17th century, John Dryden. However, Dryden condemned the Metaphysical tendency in his criticism. Metaphysical poetry fell further into disrepute in the 18th century, [1] while the interest in Renaissance verse was rekindled through the scholarship of Thomas Warton and others. The Lake Poets and subsequent Romantics were well-read in Renaissance poetry; Coleridge admired Donne, which is slightly unusual for this period. However, the canon of Renaissance poetry was formed only in the Victorian period, with anthologies like Palgrave's Golden Treasury. A fairly representative idea of the "Victorian canon" is given by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch's Oxford Book of English Verse (1919). The poems from this period are largely songs; apart from the major names, one sees the two pioneers Sir Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey, and a scattering of poems by other writers of the period. The dominant figure is Anonymous. Some poems, such as Thomas Sackville's Induction to the Mirror for Magistrates, were highly regarded (and therefore "in the canon") but omitted as non-lyric.
The canon was also redistributed after Jacob Burckhardt's The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy from 1860 formulated a view of the Renaissance as an aristocratic court culture. Consequently, later anthologies such as Arthur Symons's A Sixteenth-Century Anthology from 1905 focused on lyric poetry at the expense of other genres, a preference which remained throughout the first half of the 20th century.[2]
10
Classical antiquity (also the classical era or classical period) is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, which begins roughly with the earliest-recorded Greek poetry of Homer (8th–7th century BC), and continues through the rise of Christianity and the decline of the Roman Empire (5th century). It ends with the dissolution of classical culture at the close of Late Antiquity (300-600), or, using the similar and better-known periodization of history, with the Early Middle Ages (500-1100).
Such a wide sampling of history and territory covers many disparate cultures and periods. "Classical antiquity" typically refers to an idealized vision of later people of what was, in Edgar Allan Poe's words, "the glory that was Greece, the grandeur that was Rome!"
11
Ancient Greece is the period in Greek history lasting for close to a millennium, until the rise of Christianity. It is considered by most historians to be the foundational culture of European civilization. Greek culture was a powerful influence in the Roman Empire, which carried a version of it to many parts of Europe.
The civilization of the ancient Greeks has been immensely influential on the language, politics, educational systems, philosophy, science, art and architecture of the modern world, fueling the Renaissance in Western Europe and again resurgent during various neo-classical revivals in 18th and 19th century Europe and The Americas.
"Ancient Greece" is the term used to describe the Greek-speaking world in ancient times. It refers not only to the geographical peninsula of modern Greece, but also to areas of Hellenic culture that were settled in ancient times by Greeks: Cyprus and the Aegean islands, the Aegean coast of Anatolia (then known as Ionia), Sicily and southern Italy (known as Magna Graecia), and the scattered Greek settlements on the coasts of Colchis, Illyria, Thrace, Egypt, Cyrenaica, southern Gaul, east and northeast of the Iberian peninsula, Iberia and Taurica.
The Hellenistic period of Greek history was the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the annexation of the Greek peninsula and islands by Rome in 146 BC. Although the establishment of Roman rule did not break the continuity of Hellenistic society and culture, which remained essentially unchanged until the advent of Christianity, it did mark the end of Greek political independence.
12
Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of the city-state of Rome, founded in the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC. During its twelve-century existence, the Roman civilization shifted from a monarchy to an oligarchic republic to a vast empire. It came to dominate Western Europe and the entire area surrounding the Mediterranean Sea through conquest and assimilation. However, a number of factors led to the eventual decline of the Roman Empire. The western half of the empire, including Hispania, Gaul, and Italy, eventually broke into independent kingdoms in the 5th century; the eastern empire, governed from Constantinople, is referred to as the Byzantine Empire after AD 476, the traditional date for the "fall of Rome" and subsequent onset of the Middle Ages.
Roman civilization is often grouped into "classical antiquity" with ancient Greece, a civilization that inspired much of the culture of ancient Rome. Ancient Rome contributed greatly to the development of law, war, art, literature, architecture, and language in the Western world, and its history continues to have a major influence on the world today.
13
In the 18th and 19th centuries reverence for classical antiquity was much greater in Western Europe and the United States than it is today. Respect for the ancients of Greece and Rome affected politics, philosophy, sculpture, literature, theatre, education, and even architecture and sexuality.
In politics, the presence of a Roman Emperor was felt to be desirable long after the empire fell. This tendency reached its peak when Charlemagne was crowned "Roman Emperor" in the year 800, an act which led to the formation of the Holy Roman Empire. The notion that an emperor is a monarch who outranks a mere king dates from this period. In this political ideal, there would always be a Roman Empire, a state whose jurisdiction extended to the entire civilized western world.
Epic poetry in Latin continued to be written and circulated well into the nineteenth century. John Milton and even Arthur Rimbaud got their first poetic education in Latin. Genres like epic poetry, pastoral verse, and the endless use of characters and themes from Greek mythology left a deep mark on Western literature.
In architecture, there have been several Greek Revivals, which seem more inspired in retrospect by Roman architecture than Greek. Still, one needs only to look at Washington, DC to see a city filled with large marble buildings with façades made out to look like Roman temples, with columns constructed in the classical orders of architecture.
In philosophy, the efforts of St Thomas Aquinas were derived largely from the thought of Aristotle, despite the intervening change in religion from paganism to Christianity. Greek and Roman authorities such as Hippocrates and Galen formed the foundation of the practice of medicine even longer than Greek thought prevailed in philosophy. In the French theatre, tragedians such as Molière and Racine wrote plays on mythological or classical historical subjects and subjected them to the strict rules of the classical unities derived from Aristotle's Poetics. The desire to dance like a latter-day vision of how the ancient Greeks did it moved Isadora Duncan to create her brand of ballet.
The Renaissance discovery of Classical Antiquity is a book by Roberto Weiss on how the renaissance was partly caused by the rediscovery of classic antiquity.
"Classical antiquity", then, is the contemporary vision of Greek and Roman culture by their admirers from the more recent past. It remains a vision that many people in the twenty-first century continue to find compelling.
14
Topical:
15
Contemporary history describes the term of historical events, that are immediately relevant to the present time. That way, it is a certain perspective of modern history. This intentionally loose definition includes major events like the Second World War, but not those like the Cuban Missile Crisis, whose effects have long been overcome. Events of the same year, or the past two years, however, are not considered historical.
16
The name "Institute of Contemporary History" is used by the following institutions:
See also:
17
The Wiener Library is the world's oldest institution devoted to the study of the Holocaust, its causes and legacies. Founded in 1933 as an information bureau that informed Jewish communities and governments worldwide about the persecution of the Jews under the Nazis, it was transformed into a research institute and public access library after the end of World War II. The official name of the institution is now the "Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library, Ltd."
18
The Institut für Zeitgeschichte (IfZ) (Institute of Contemporary History) in Munich was founded in 1949 under the name „Deutsches Institut für Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Zeit“ (German Institute for the History of the National Socialist Time) by the German state and the Free State of Bavaria, incited by the Allied Forces. It was renamed to the current name in 1952. Its purpose is the analysis of contemporary German history. The institute is funded by the Republic of Germany, and the German states Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony. Representatives of those states are also members of the institute's board.
Since 1953, the institute has been publishing the journal Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte (VfZ, Quarterly Journal of Contemporary History), which is regarded as one of the most important publications of German historical research.
1994 the institute founded a branch in Potsdam, which from 1996 on has been based close to the German federal archive. The focus of research of the "Berlin branch" of the institute is the history of the GDR. The branch Abteilung des IfZ im Auswärtigen Amt (department of the IfZ in the Foreign Ministry), founded in 1990 (first situated in Bonn, from 2000 in Berlin), publishes documents of the German foreign ministry.
In 1999, the institute conceived the Dokumentation Obersalzberg on the Obersalzberg near Berchtesgaden upon a request by the Free State of Bavaria. This exhibition documents the construction of the Obersalzberg into a showy residence for Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist leadership circles.
19
The Allies of World War II were the countries officially opposed to the Axis powers during the Second World War. Within the ranks of the Allied powers, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United States of America, and the United Kingdom were known as "The Big Three." U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt referred to the Big Three and China as the "Four Policemen". France, before its defeat in 1940 and after its liberation in 1944, was also considered a major Ally.
During December 1941, Roosevelt devised the name "United Nations" (UN) for the Allies, and the Declaration by United Nations, on 1 January 1942, was the basis of the modern UN.[1] At the Potsdam Conference of July-August 1945, Roosevelt's successor, Harry S. Truman, proposed that the foreign ministers of China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States "should draft the peace treaties and boundary settlements of Europe," which led to the creation of the Council of Foreign Ministers.[2]
20
Council of Foreign Ministers was an organisation agreed upon at the Potsdam Conference in 1945 and announced in the Potsdam Agreement.
The Potsdam Agreement specified that the Council would be composed of the Foreign Ministers of the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China, France, and the United States. It would normally meet in London and the first meeting was to take place no later than 1 September 1945. As the immediate important task, the Council was authorised to draw up were treaties of peace with Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland, and to propose settlements of territorial questions outstanding on the termination of the war in Europe. Also the Council should prepare a peace settlement for Germany to be accepted by Germany when a "government adequate for the purpose is established".
The Ministers met twice in 1945 first at the London Conference of Foreign Ministers and then in December at the Moscow Conference of Foreign Ministers and again at the Paris Conference of Foreign Ministers in 1946.
The London Conferences was marred by a dispute between the Soviet Union and the United States over occupation of Japan and little of substance was accomplished. The Moscow conference was more productive; it was agreed to the preparation of peace treaties with Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Finland; the creation of an eleven power Far Eastern Commission and a four power Allied Council for Japan. It also agreed to the establishment by the United Nations of a commission for the control of atomic energy, as well as a number of other lesser issues bought about by the end of World War II. France joined the Council in 1946 and at the Paris Conference the final wording for the Paris Peace Treaties of 1947 was agreed. The outstanding issue of Free Territory of Trieste were resolved at the New York meeting of the Foreign Ministers in November and December 1946.
In 1947 the ministers met twice first in Moscow, in the Spring, and again in the Autumn in London, but by this time the Cold War was gathering pace and they failed to agree on a peace treaty for Germany and Austria. They did however agree to the dissolution of the free state of Prussia, thereby recognising the annexation of the Prussian terrotories east of the Oder-Neisse line.
At a meeting in Paris in September 1948 the Ministers failed to agree on what to do with the former Italian colonies. The council was revived in 1949 and met in Paris, during May and June, where they agreed to the ending of the Soviet blockade of Berlin, but failed to agree on German reunification. The Berlin meeting in 1954, ended in deadlock, but, the following year in Vienna, they agreed on a peace treaty for Austria (known as the Austrian State Treaty).
Meetings by the foreign ministers in Geneva the first at the Geneva Summit in July 1955 and again a year later failed to reach agreement on German reunification, or European security and disarmament. A third meeting in 1959 again failed to reach agreement over Germany. The Western powers would only agree to a comprehensive peace treaty with a Germany reunited under a democratic government, not treaties with the governments of East and West Germany. The also refused to agree with a Soviet proposal to a change in the status of Berlin from an occupied city into a demilitarised one.
Twelve years later in 1971 the foreign ministers of the four powers signed the Four Power Agreement on Berlin (effective from June 1972). It regularised trade and travel relations between West Berlin and West Germany and aimed at improving communications between East Berlin and West Berlin. The Soviet Union stipulated, however, that West Berlin would not be incorporated into West Germany. Along with the Basic Treaty (effective June 1973) which recognized two German states, and the two countries pledged to respect one another's sovereignty. Under the terms of the treaty, diplomatic missions were to be exchanged and commercial, tourist, cultural, and communications relations established. Under the Agreement and the Treaty, In September 1973, both Germanies joined the United Nations.
In 1990 after the fall of the Berlin Wall on September 12, 1990 the Treaty on the Final Settlement With Respect to Germany was signed by the four powers and the two German governments which was the final peace treaty of World War II and the restoration of German sovereignty. This allowed German reunification to take place on October 3, 1990 and the reunited country became fully sovereign again on March 15, 1991.
21
Since the founding of the United Nations after World War II this organization has sought to act as a forum for resolution in matters of international conflict and is often instrumental in peace processes and peace treaties. The number of international treaties and obligations member states are involved in which they seek to limit and control behaviour during wartime has perhaps made the idea of total war less tenable. This has meant that formal declarations of war are frequently not undertaken and therefore a peace treaty at the end is also not entered in to. The Korean War is an example of a war which was suspended with a cease-fire but never closed with a treaty.
22
23
There are numerous international environmental agreements made to protect the environment in different ways. Many of these are legally binding.
International environmental agreements include:
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_agreement"
Categories: Treaties on the environment | Environment
24
Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see Elite (disambiguation).
Look up elite, élite in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Elite (also spelled Élite) is taken from the Latin, eligere, "to elect". In sociology as in general usage, the élite (the "elect," from French) is a relatively small dominant group within a larger society, which enjoys a privileged status which is upheld by individuals of lower social status within the structure of a group. When applied to an individual, as in the phrase "many elites come from this squad," the usage quite economically both refers to an individual within that class and establishes the speaker as non-elite.
An elite is the result of economic and political forces within a social structure. Upon formation, societies have always had the tendency to stratify due to a combination of politics and ability. The position of an elite at the top of the social strata almost invariably puts it in a position of leadership and often subjects the holders of elite status to pressure to maintain their position as part of the elite. However, in spite of the pressures borne by its members, the existence of the elite as a social stratum is usually unchanged.
In religion the Latin form "elect" is preferred over the French form "elite" in discussing Cathar or Calvinist theology, for examples, and the social structure that is theologically driven. Other religious groups may use expressions like "the saints" to describe the elect.
Perhaps the most globally recognized of all religious elite reside in Rome: the Pope and the Vatican Assembly. While it is true that the Pope is elected by the college of Cardinals, the cardinals who vote for him are appointed by prior papal decrees. The Pope is himself chosen from among the college of Cardinals. Once elected, the Pope is in "office" for the remainder of his life. While the Christian scriptures say that all men are fallible, a decree was issued that declared that the Pope, while acting in official capacity, is infallible. Recent survey research that has been conducted in recent times by various scholors and institutions have revealed that most catholic believers do not believe in the dogma declaring the Pope as an "infallible." See M. Dogan, "Religious Beliefs in Europe: Factors of Accelerated Decline," in Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, Edited by R. Piedmont and D. Moberg, Brill, 2003. However, this does not however change the fact that the official dogma of Roman Catholicism is that of Papal infallibility.
Some elite groups speak a language that is not shared by the commonality: in Tsarist Russia and in Vietnam the elite spoke French, in the Philippines the elite spoke, and in many cases still speak, Spanish. In Plantagenet England the elite spoke Anglo-Norman, while Finland was ruled by a Swedish-speaking elite up to the beginning of the 20th century (though some argue that the Swedish-speaking fraction of the population still enjoys a privileged status) and in Ptolemaic Egypt the elite spoke Koine Greek. (See linguistic imperialism.) Elites establish correct usage for the language when they share one with the commonality. Elite usage is reflected in "prescriptive" dictionaries; common usage is reflected in "descriptive" dictionaries. Elites establish cultural canons, which are more widely agreed-upon within the elite and more generally ignored or resented among the non-elite. In the 1950s, the British elite spoke what linguists of the time called U English.
Political elites play a more important role in contemporary societies than any other category of elites. Their recruitment and socialization processes have been discussed in hundreds of academic books. But, the concept of political elites is challenged because many citizens believe that politicians don't constitute a true elite. Recent surveys have demonstrated that in most countries in the world, including many European countries, and particularly in old democracies like Great Britain and France, most people don't trust most politicians, who appear as discredited in many surveys done throughout the last two or three decades (Mattei Dogan Ed., Political Mistrust and the Discrediting of Politicians, Brill, 2005)
Elite advantages are the usual ones of a dominant social class: easier access to capital and political power, more rigorous education largely free of indoctrination, resulting in cultural influence, and leadership.
Elites may justify their existence based on claims of inherited position; with the rise in authority of science, certain 19th and 20th century elites have embraced pseudoscientific justifications of genetic or racial superiority. In Nazi Germany, genetic superiority was used as the basis of an imagined "Aryan" elite. Elite classes headed by monarchies have traditionally employed religious sanctions for their position.
Meritocracy is a facet of society that tries to promote merit as a route to the elite. Societies such as that of the United States have it in their culture to promote such a facet [see Horatio Alger]. However, while it tends to be imperfect it sheds light as to what many believe to be the "ideal" elite: an elite that is porous and whose members have earned their position as society's top class.
Aristocracy and oligarchy are social systems which feature an elite as the ruling class. An elite group, ranged round the alpha male, is a distinct feature of other closely-related social primates.
Elites are educated to govern. While common public education is often designed to educate the general population to produce knowledgeable and skilled citizens, the elite approach to education is often presented at a more intellectual and demanding level, and is geared to produce leaders of a sort. It is generally defined at education geared at producing an individual capable of thinking at an intellectual level more advanced than the general population, consisting of diverse philosophical ideals and theories in order to enable the elite to logically evaluate situations.
Wealth isn't a sure sign of elite status, as the "new rich" are frequently seen as arriving from non-elite positions. Neither does an elite necessarily show a sense of public obligation (see noblesse oblige).
A military elite is a unit of soldiers or recruits picked for their competence and put in a special, elite unit. Elite units enjoy some benefits as compared to other units, at least in the form of higher status, but often also higher pay and better equipment. Napoléon's Imperial Guard would be a good example. Note that the word elite in the military sense is fundamentally different from most other uses of the term. A social or societal elite has usually not been picked by anyone except themselves and do not necessarily make part of the elite due to their competence. Military elite units do not exercise any special leadership over other units. In the societal and social sense of the word, the elite of the army is the officer corps, not the elite units.
In the military community, it is not considered good resource management to create elite units that are expected to do the same things as a regular military unit only better, as opposed to special forces that are expected to do other things than regular soldiers. Critics argue that it creates a negative "second class soldier" feeling among the regular units; for example the grenadier and light infantry companies of the 18th and 19th century British Army. Such companies had both a weakening and demoralising effect on the other soldiers of their parent battalions, especially when these companies were detached from a number of battalions and grouped together to form ad hoc grenadier and light infantry battalions. It is also argued that an especially competent soldier does more good as an NCO or as just the man who sets a good inspiring example for his comrades.
However, most nations will maintain elite military forces for the purposes of Power projection and for the purposes of expeditionary warfare. The limiting factor in such operations is usually the availability of airlift and sealift assets, rather than manpower, first to get forces in theatre and then to sustain these forces with stores and supplies e.g. Britain in the Falklands War. Such amphibious and airborne forces, usually operating with minimal armor, artillery and logistics support will normally face enemies with superior numbers, prepared positions and interior lines of communications. Under such circumstances the additional effort and cost needed for the selection, training, indoctrination and equipping of elite formations is not only worthwhile, but essential for success.
Historically at times of military and technological change it would have been impossible financially to re-equip the entire army with new weapons at the same time. To maximize the benefit of new weapons, elite units may be formed, who would be superior to the regular troops because of both the new weapons and additional training and expectations. For example, in the British Army the Rifle Regiments were armed with rifles when the rest of the army was equipped with muskets; before them the Fusiliers were the first to be armed with flintlocks when the line units had matchlocks. Armies going through change may need formations familiar with new concepts and doctrines to act in the familiarization and adversary training roles. Such units will naturally perform better than their students; e.g. historically the Panzerlehrdivision and currently the U.S. 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.
Occasionally a military formation rises quite unplanned to become an especially competent military unit. While raised, organized, equipped and using the same operational procedures as its peers a confluence of events, personalities and circumstances create traditions, reputations and an esprit de corps that reinforce each other to lift such units above those peers. Such formations include the original 51st Highland division and the original Desert rats.
In these two cases it can be argued that units with more modern weapons or units that just happen to be better than others are strictly speaking not elite units since they do not consist of individuals picked for especially high competence. However, sometimes the words "elite unit" are somewhat sloppily used to simply imply "unit that is better than other".
Historically many elite forces have been created and maintained as much for political reasons as for military ones. The leaders feel they need something more politically reliable than ordinary units and create elite units, hoping that the privileges, the extra political indoctrination that such elite forces are typically given and the pride in belonging to an elite will make them more loyal. The Waffen-SS is an atypical example of such a force evolving as it did into a war fighting force.
Typically since the days before the Praetorian Guards such forces have been used as a loyal and militarily competent counterweight to the nations other military forces, to protect the incumbent leadership from coups and putches. For example Saddam Hussein had the Iraqi Republican Guard to keep the normal military in check and the Iraqi Special Republican Guard to keep an eye on the Republican Guard. In Moscow the old Soviet Union used a trinity of elite formations, each carefully balanced with strengths and weaknesses compared to the others, to keep each other in check and to prevent the others from seizing power, MVD Internal Troops (lightly equipped, but experienced from internal security missions, with a reputation of ruthlessness and brutality), KGB Kremlin Guard Force (well trained, led and disciplined but lacking in supporting arms), and elite Red Army Guards units (best equipped, but reliant on conscripts). Such arrangements, though not to the same paranoid extremes shown by the Soviets, are common in non democratic regimes, especially those where the leadership's rise to power relied on military force.
The following descriptions of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps can be seen as typical of the formation, evolution and continued raison d'Êtres of such organisations.
...From the beginning of the new Islamic regime, the Pasdaran functioned as a corps of the faithful. Its role in national security evolved from securing the regime and eliminating opposition forces to becoming a branch of the military establishment...
.....the Pasdaran, whose independent military power acted as a check on any possible coup attempts by the armed forces..... Despite the need for military support, however, the revolutionary regime continued to exercise tight control over the armed forces and to regard them with some suspicion...
....the Pasdaran, under the guidance of such clerics as Lahuti and Hashemi-Rafsanjani, was also "to act as the eyes and ears of the Islamic Revolution" and "as a special task force of the Imam Khomeini to crush any counterrevolutionary activities within the government or any political usurper against the Islamic Government." Over the years the IRP's leadership used the Pasdaran to eliminate opposition figures and to enhance its own position. Using the Pasdaran as a springboard to more important positions, Pasdaran leaders could always obtain access to the Revolutionary Council and Khomeini. For example, President Khamenehi and Majlis speaker Hashemi-Rafsanjani were both former commanders of the Pasdaran.
Library of Congress Country Studies, Iran, Special and Irregular Armed Forces.
Such forces may become little more than social clubs for the societal elites and those seeking advancement through the political system, capable only of bullying unarmed civilians and intimidating the regular military, often failing militarily when tested, e.g. Iraq's Republican Guard. At their worst such forces become an established political caste selfishly guarding and promoting its own privileges and interests, to the point of becoming kingmakers. For example the Praetorians infamously auctioning off the Empire to the highest bidder, the Streltsy first supporting and then trying to depose Peter the Great, and the Janissaries deposing and installing Ottoman Emperors in the 18th Century.
For many years the British Army, together with the Church, was seen as the ideal career for the younger sons of the Aristocracy, those who would not inherit their fathers' titles or estates. Although now much diminished the practice has not totally disappeared, the slang term 'Rupert' being used to describe such blue-blooded, usually British public school educated, officers. Such practices are not unique to the British either geographically or historically.
The military has always been seen as a means by societal elites to acquire wealth, prestige and power, for example Julius Caesar. Even in modern democracies there are those who aspire to political power who see a few years in military service, preferably away from any actual fighting, as being essential to a political resume.
As a very practical form of displaying patriotism it has been at times "fashionable" for "gentlemen" to participate in the military, usually the militia, to fulfill societal expectations. It has been said that the title "Colonel" was the ultimate fashion accessory for a Southern gentleman.
Historical:
Modern:
Politically Elite Military:
Fictional:
In elite theory as developed by Marxist political scientists like Michael Parenti, all sufficiently large social groups will have some kind of elite group within them that actively participates in the group's political dynamics. When a group is arbitrarily excluded from the larger society, such as in the case of the racism that was widespread in the United States prior to the success of the American Civil Rights Movement, then elite members of the excluded group may form a counter-elite to fight for their group's interests (although they may be fighting for those interests only to the extent they mesh with the counter-elite's interests). Of course, the dominant elite can neutralize the counter-elite through the classic divide-and-conquer strategy of admitting key members of the counter-elite into the elite.
Elitism usually draws envy and resentment from the lower classes and the counter-elite. There are cases where elites arguably use this resentment of an elite to maintain their position. See Communism.
See also
|
This short section requires expansion. |
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite"
Categories: Articles with sections needing expansion | Social groups | French words and phrases
Communism is an ideology that seeks to establish a classless, stateless social organization based on common ownership of the means of production. It can be considered a branch of the broader socialist movement. Communism as a political goal is generally a conjectured form of future social organization, although Marxists have described early forms of human social organization as "primitive communism". Self-identified communists hold a variety of views, including Marxism Leninism, Trotskyism, council communism, Luxemburgism, anarchist communism, Christian communism, and various currents of left communism, which are generally the more widespread varieties. However, various offshoots of the Soviet (what critics call the "Stalinist", and supporters call Marxist-Leninist) and Maoist interpretations of Marxism comprise a particular branch of communism that has the distinction of having been the primary driving force for communism in world politics during most of the 20th century. The competing branch of Trotskyism has not had such a distinction.
Karl Marx held that society could not be transformed from the capitalist mode of production to the advanced communist mode of production all at once, but required a transitional period which Marx described as the revolutionary dictatorship of the proletariat, the first stage of communism. The communist society Marx envisioned emerging from capitalism has never been implemented, and it remains theoretical; Marx, in fact, commented very little on what communist society would actually look like. However, the term "Communism", especially when it is capitalized, is often used to refer to the political and economic regimes under communist parties that claimed to embody the dictatorship of the proletariat.
In the late 19th century, Marxist theories motivated socialist parties across Europe, although their policies later developed along the lines of "reforming" capitalism, rather than overthrowing it. One exception was the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. One branch of this party, commonly known as the Bolsheviks and headed by Vladimir Lenin, succeeded in taking control of the country after the toppling of the Provisional Government in the Russian Revolution of 1917. In 1918, this party changed its name to the Communist Party, thus establishing the contemporary distinction between communism and other trends of socialism.
After the success of the October Revolution in Russia, many socialist parties in other countries became communist parties, signaling varying degrees of allegiance to the new Communist Party of the Soviet Union. After World War II, communists consolidated power in Eastern Europe, and in 1949, the Communist Party of China (CPC) led by Mao Zedong established the People's Republic of China, which would later follow its own ideological path of communist development. Among the other countries in the Third World that adopted a pro-communist government at some point were Cuba, North Korea, North Vietnam, Laos, Angola, and Mozambique. By the early 1980s almost one-third of the world's population lived in Communist states.
Since the early 1970s, the term Eurocommunism was used to refer to the policies of reformist communist parties in western Europe, break with the tradition of uncritical and unconditional support of the Soviet Union. Such parties were politically active and electorally significant in Italy (PCI), France (PCF), and Spain (PCE).
There is a history of anti-communism in the United States, which manifested itself in the Sedition Act of 1918, the subsequent Palmer Raids, and the later period of McCarthyism.
With the decline of the communist governments in Eastern Europe from the late 1980s and the breakup of the Soviet Union on December 9, 1991, communism's influence has decreased dramatically in Europe. However, around a quarter of the world's population still lives in communist states, mostly in the People's Republic of China. There are also communist movements in Latin America and South Asia that have significant popular support.
25
Creativity (or creativeness) is a mental process involving the generation of new ideas or concepts, or new associations between existing ideas or concepts.
From a scientific point of view, the products of creative thought (sometimes referred to as divergent thought) are usually considered to have both originality and appropriateness. An alternative, more everyday conception of creativity is that it is simply the act of making something new.
Although intuitively a simple phenomenon, it is in fact quite complex. It has been studied from the perspectives of behavioural psychology, social psychology, psychometrics, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, philosophy, history, economics, design research, business, and management, among others. The studies have covered everyday creativity, exceptional creativity and even artificial creativity. Unlike many phenomena in science, there is no single, authoritative perspective or definition of creativity. Unlike many phenomena in psychology, there is no standardized measurement technique.
Creativity has been attributed variously to divine intervention, cognitive processes, the social environment, personality traits, and chance ("accident," "serendipity"). It has been associated with genius, mental illness and humour. Some say it is a trait we are born with; others say it can be taught with the application of simple techniques.
Although popularly associated with art and literature, it is also an essential part of innovation and invention and is important in professions such as business, economics, architecture, industrial design, science and engineering.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the ambiguity and multi-dimensional nature of creativity, entire industries have been spawned from the pursuit of creative ideas and the development of creativity techniques. This mysterious phenomenon, though undeniably important and constantly visible, seems to lie tantalizingly beyond the grasp of scientific investigation.
"Creativity, it has been said, consists largely of re-arranging what we know in order to find out what we do not know." George Kneller