...AFRICAN PRINCE Justifying African State Leaders’ Decisions Through Machiavellian Realism Safir Jamal Copyright 2008 – All Rights Reserved THE AFRICAN PRINCE Safir Jamal Ambrose Bierce defined politics as “the conduct of public affairs for private advantage” (Jansson 468). When this nineteenth century American journalist expressed such a sardonic view about the art of governance, he alluded to the inseparability of politics and self-interest. This inseparability forms the foundation of classical realism, a prominent international relations theory that attests that human nature is self-serving, sinful and wicked. Such traits ultimately help to explain why all actors endeavour to satisfy their individual intentions (Sens 14). While principles of self-interest are central to the classical realist theory, it is the importance of power that has become widely synonymous with the realist perspective. Defined as the ability to make other actors do what they would not otherwise do, the pursuit of power is an instinctive desire of all individuals (Singer 81). One individual in particular, Niccolo Machiavelli, had arguably the most profound understanding in history of the importance of power (Kuper 1). In his acclaimed treatise The Prince, Machiavelli, a 15th century Florentine diplomat, advised state leaders – or princes – on effective approaches to statecraft. As an extension of classical realism, Machiavellian views have proven to be timeless and universal, as they have been identified...
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...Theatrical Realism Theatrical Realism is the attempt of playwrights to mirror reality on the stage. That is to say, these playwrights intend for the audience to see themselves on the stage without fanfare – a stripped-down form of theatrical arts. Realistic theatre does not possess the magical elements of theatre that preceded it, but this is the strength of realism. Anton Chekhov echoes this point, “I wanted to tell people honestly: ‘Look at yourselves. See how badly you live and how tiresome you are.’ The main thing is that people should understand this. When they do, they will surely create a new and better life for themselves”. Realistic playwrights stood on the shoulders of the giants of theatre who preceded them by continuing to look at their times and people, but shattered new earth by asking audiences to look in to themselves. Realism is theatre in which people move and talk in a similar manner to that of our everyday behavior. The style has been dominant for the last 120 years. It holds the idea of the stage as an environment, and not just an acting platform. Some of the ideas flourishing in realism’s formative years were Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species and Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto. Both of these works profoundly impacted the intelligentsia. They called into question the foundations on which the people of the world had built their truths. Marx, especially, can be seen as an important figure of the realistic movement as he sought to awaken the working...
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...During the 19th century, many Americans started to become irritated and annoyed of typical American stories cliché “all well ends well”. Many Americans at this time struggled with poverty and depression. Americans immigrants at this time were often taken advantage of and never achieved “the American dream”. Citizens became upset with these stories because it did not match up with their stories. All of these stories had happy ending where their stories did not. This is called realism where citizens wanted the truth in stories and not lies. Many writers use realism to speak for the American citizens. Jack London short story To Build a Fire displays that a slight mistake can cost you your life. A man told the protagonist not to travel the Yukon...
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...1 Compare the Realist movements in France and America. How were they different and how did these differences manifest themselves in the art of Gustave Courbet and Winslow Homer? The Realist movement was a stage in many countries such as France and America that brought awareness to things unseen and expressed a closer look to social classes without the idealization. In France Realist movement, Gustave Courbet was a painter that conveyed the rural area where he grew up which was made up of the lower class. In Courbet’s Burial at Ornans figure 25.1 he displays this social class through the clothes they’re wearing, bulbous nose and unkempt hair and the same can be said about figure 25.2 of The Stone Breakers, dressed in ragged clothes, dirty hands and the roughness of the labor. In contrast to Courbet’s work we can see the American Winslow Homer pieces. Homer mainly painted the middle class usually involved in leisure activities such as swimming, horseback riding or croquet. Although in a higher social class he still brought awareness on issues in those times, in figure 25.30 Snap the Whip we can see the painting of the kids playing, however, the game itself represents a union and how all the boy have to work together. Homer was in a way trying to put the view of the nation staggering under the disillusionment of the Civil War and showing the lost innocence that were quickly fading away. 2 Compare and contrast Manet’s Olympia (25.11) and Titian’s Venus of Urbino (17.35). During...
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...During the era of regional realism, many writers sought to expose Americans to the culture and issues of the South and late 1800s. In their writings, there is a clear distinction between three groups of people: white males, blacks, and women. These stories display a power struggle between these groups, in which the white males dominate society, leaving blacks and women voiceless and oppressed. Regional realist writers took it upon themselves to expose and discourage the oppression of blacks and women they witnessed, thus challenging readers to grapple with these important socially radical issues. Although presented in several different fashions, in many regional regionalist writings, blacks are portrayed as victims in society. One way this oppression is exposed is through the trickster. The role of the trickster was to represent...
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...Rebecka Poage Berbeich 1302 Part VI: Detailed Summary 1 Berkove, Lawrence L. "Fatal Self-Assertion in Kate Chopin's 'The Story of an Hour.'."American Literary Realism 32.2 (Winter 2000): 152-158. Rpt. inTwentieth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Janet Witalec. Vol. 127. Detroit: Gale, 2002. Literature Resource Center. Web. 26 Oct. 2013. Berkove explains how Mrs. Mallard is not suffering from the death of her husband, but a unusual amount of self assertion. The article shows how the text gives small and subtle hints showing that the character of Louise is mentally unstable, and that she is not sane Berkove recognizes that Louise “ has realized that self-assertion as the deepest element of her being”, and that she comes to this conclusion not from reflection but from her imagination. Louise begins to feel and recognize this as she is locked in her room fantasizing about her upcoming years that belong only to her. “ In truth, Louise is sick, emotionally as well as physically”, Berkove examines how the text tells reveals this by quoting directly from Chopin,showing how Louise changes in her voice, from objective to imaginative. When Louise talks of her joy she cannot tell is if it is “monstrous” or not. Berkove explains what Chopin in doing, “ is depicting Louise in the early stages of the delusion that is perturbing her precariously unstable health by aggravating her pathological heart condition”. Ultimately Louise is the cause of her own death, she over loads her weak ...
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...Realism is considered to be the dominant theory of International Relations because it explains the power struggle among states in the international system very well. From the realist point of view, the rule in this system is cruel, or we should say there is no rule in the operation of international relations because the only thing can be relied on is nations’ own power. Power is an important issue in realism. As Thucydides put it thousands years ago, “The strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must”. The power they discuss here is not absolute power but relative power. It’s a concept that should be compared with other states. The interesting thing is that nothing seems to have been changed now. The international environment, in which obligation and personal emotions are set aside and the interests and survival of the states become top priorities, remains cruel as it used to be. Therefore, realists claim that pursuing power for a state is not only to fulfill its ambition but to survive. The question is why do nations need power to survive? To begin with, in realists’ definition, the state is the main actor in the international system. Though it might be city-state, empire, kingdom or tribe that represented the state at times, the point is this basic unit represents the collective will of people. (Dunne) To quest the good life of its people, the state needs power to fulfill the goal. In addition, realists believe the states operate in an anarchic system, in which...
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...Running Head: ROMANTICISM AND REALISM Romanticism and Realism Western Governor’s University RWT Task 1 February 17, 2013 Romanticism and Realism 1. Romanticism was a period starting as early as the 1760s seen not only in the world of art but also in the literary and musical worlds as well. The movement originated during the French Revolution as a contention to the Enlightenment period that centered on science and logic. The movement ranged from widespread Europe to the United States. During this period of time the Industrial Revolution was beginning and people lived in uprising cities with deplorable conditions of terrible sanitation and poor health. Focusing on Romanticism in the realm of art, the initial paintings consisted of landscapes. The need for open space was a reaction to the closeness of people living together in the city. It was very common to find turmoil and storms taking over the canvas. A great summary of the origins Romanticism can be quoted from The Metropolitan Museum of Art as “In Romantic art, nature—with it’s uncontrollable power, unpredictability, and potential for cataclysmic extremes— offered an alternative to the ordered world of Enlightenment thought.” (Galitz, 2000) Artists of this time period would paint pictures that caused the viewers to feel emotion. There were no distinguished characteristics of how a painting was created. Creations during the art period were original from the artists themselves and had no set technical rules...
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...I-Introduction: The term "realism" was first used to formulate the philosophical doctrine that "universals exist outside of the mind" (Freyberg-Inan, 1). Yet, in political theory, "realism" represents a school of thought that analyzes the political process as it is or as it is disclosed by historical forces " ... that the able political practitioner takes into account ... and incorporates ... into his political conceptions and his political acts "(Ibid, 1-2). In the field of international relations, realism became the dominant analytical paradigm mostly after the start of the Second World War, when it displaced idealist doctrines, promising "to provide more accurate information, more powerful, and more relevant answers" to the roots or causes of peace and war (Brecher& Harvey, 54). At the same time, many features of the current realist paradigm can be traced back to the time of Thucydides, Niccolo Machiavelli and Thomas Hobbes. Among contemporary thinkers recognized as major writers and contributors to the realist tradition are Hans Morgenthau, Edward Carr and Kenneth Waltz (Freyberg-Inan, 8). What are then the basic tenets or common features of a realist thinker? Machiavelli would acknowledge that to be a realist one has to look at history as "a sequence of cause and effect whose course can be analysed and understood by intellectual effort, but not directed by imagination" (Carr, 64). Hobbes would persist in the same train of thought and insist that to be a realist thinker...
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...technique known as the "Stanislavsky method" or also known as method acting. Stanislavski was known as the “father” of contemporary acting and was born in 1863. We believe him to be the first drama practitioner. In his years of directing he looked at what humans did naturally in their everyday lives and turned it into something systematic for the stage. The drama he tried to create was realism so that the audience could relate to the piece. He tried to put everyday feelings and emotions into his performance because it came across as realistic. Stanislavski spoke to a French psychologist and he said that when his patients were ill they would think happy/sad thoughts and that would help them to get better over time. So he incorporated this piece of information into his work and created naturalism. Naturalism is a movement in European drama and theatre that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It refers to theatre that attempts to create an illusion of reality through a range of dramatic and theatrical strategies. Method acting is a technique used to show naturalism and realism in theatre, it’s often created by using emotional identification. Quotes by Constantin Stanislavski: 1. “The theatre is air and wine, which we must breathe in frequently and be intoxicated by.” 2. “The main factor in any form of creativeness is the life of a human spirit, that of the actor and his part, their joint feelings and subconscious creation.” 3. “The language of...
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...wealthy family but when he was about 8 years old his father went bankrupt and they had lost all their money. When Ibsen was growing up he never wanted to be a playwright, his dream job was to became a pharmacist but due to him failing his pharmacy exam he didn't pursue this career. After this he started to write poems and then he later on started to get into play righting. Ibsen had three main jobs, he was a playwright, a theatre director and a poet. He wrote it two main forms of acting which were Realism and naturalism and these two styles are very similar and try to make the play relatable and lifelike. Ibsen was a member of the modernist movement. And most of his plays were considered scandalous as they did not obey by the strict morals of family life during that period but Ibsen was very set on showing people the reality of life. ‘A doll’s House’ caused outrage and also sparked the feminist movement because it gave women a sense of hope .He is often known as ‘the Father of Realism’ because his plays explore and challenge the social norms of the time and were also highly realistic.He was knighted by the king of Sweden which almost kick started his career. He went from writing old, poetic folktales to writing realistic examinations of controversial social issues. * In Ibsen's career he had many influences such as William Shakespeare but a major influence on his life was his family. The characters in many of Ibsen's plays represented many of the attributes that his parents possessed...
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...Mearsheimer, the founder of offensive realism would agree with this argument, suggesting that states should not place themselves in high risk situations that could possibly hurt the order of the world system. A realist would argue that urging Australia and New Zealand to give up their sovereign lands to refugees is completely implausible, especially since the two states are not involved in any crimes against their own citizens. Since the two Oceanic states are far stronger than Kiribati, it would be entirely unwise to side with the latter. In the case of the CAR, a realist would again hesitate to intervene due to the complexity of the situation and its low chance of being resolved. Intervening into the affairs of a sovereign state has remained controversial as seen in Somalia, Kosovo...
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...lead into my ideals on international affairs today and the combination of those and the paradigms discussed. Lastly, I will discuss three important principle differences between realists and idealists and their approaches to international relations. PARADIGMS AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Paradigms and International Relations In our textbook, World Politics In The 21st Century, it defines Political Realism as a “philosophical position that assumes that human beings are imperfect and possess an innate desire for power”. (Duncan,Webster,Switky, p. 33) I do believe that it does not matter what it is you are asking to be defined, the definition is always going to depend on who you are asking. Every individual as a unique point of view which might just be a slightly different perspective than the man next to him. This assumption that all people are naturally going to behave badly many people have frowned upon and stated that this type of negative outlook is only going to 3 feed into the negative behavior that might be of question. Realists have often been said to have a more cynical view on life than an idealist. But when talking to a realist, they are going to explain to you that there is...
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...Realism in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Churchill’s Top Girls Nineteen-century Europe held rigid conventionalisms of class division, social order and gender roles. Society hid behind the mask of hypocrisy in an attempt to preserve bourgeoisie’s position of power. In that concern, conceptions of ‘liberty of the spirit’[1] and ‘liberty of thought and of the human condition’[2] came to question. Thus, Henrik Ibsen drew attention to the threat to ideas of freedom and public opinion by giving life to A Doll’s House (1879). He aimed to critique constraints of Victorian society rather than vindicating the rights of women. In that sense, in a speech given in his honour by the Norwegian Women’s Rights League on 26 May 1898 he stresses: ‘Whatever I have written has been without any conscious thought of making propaganda. […] To me it has seemed a problem of humanity in general.’[3] Ibsen clearly states he strove to expose the manipulation of individuals’ liberties as he worked for the human cause. In Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls (1982) the aim of the play is to reveal how the fulfilment of women’s self-realization needs in the personal and social spheres is achieved by compromising humanity and morality. In the end, what ‘The New Woman’ gets is disillusionment and loneliness as she finds herself in a predicament: mother or career woman, sensitive or hardened. In Top Girls what is represented is the price women pay to go up the corporate ladder in a male-dominant world. Thus, I will...
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...Suitable Realism Although realist artists attempt to convey a candid image of modern life, their tendencies to render a more relatable and aesthetically pleasing result exceeds their objective realities. In both Huysmans’ Against Nature and James’ The Real Thing, the protagonists seek a more evocative reality; one that transcends the boundaries of the objective and replaces the idea of what is natural with the more arousing powers of imagination. In James’ short story, using the real thing, defined by the true nature of Major and Mrs. Monarch, becomes irrelevant to his depiction as the figures rendered by the artist appear as uninhabited forms and in no way suggest the reality of their social stature. Instead, what in person appears artificial and inauthentic, two separate beings insignificant to the social realities of superiority in the eighteenth-century, embrace the dignified postures and mannerisms of high society to a higher degree than the Monarchs who in fact are the real thing. In Against Nature, Huysmans’ Des Esseintes escapes 19th century bourgeoisie society in a manufactured sanctuary, void of anything real or absolute. What is real outside of his retreat has no value, but his own reverie, contrived and artificial, creates a deeper and more emotional beauty. The characters of Charles Dickens, the women of Gustave Moreau, the artificial flowers, “fashioned by the hands of true artists,” encapsulate the essence of his imaginary reality. Transcending into Realist art...
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