I've finally been able to gain access to a laptop and internet access long enough to be able to make a post. Even though I have been lugging my books around with me whilst on the road I have been finding it difficult to post without owning a laptop. And as I'm in the process of switching to ADSL-2 (high speed broadband) at home I have no connection at home for two weeks.
Ive been reading some bits and pieces on Hannah Arendt. I am much taken by her conception of politics as theatre. In the theatre the artist is not making something but is displaying something before an audience. Unlike the artist the politician is not just displaying their skill, despite the importance of skill and judgement in politics.
Rather, political activity is self-revelatory. Those who come out into the bright light of the public realm to engage in public action cannot help revealing themselves as they try to prove themselves on the public stage.
Posted by Gary Sauer-Thompson at August 11, 2005 11:31 AM | TrackBacksorry folks.
I deleted your comments by mistake. Can you remember them?
If so can you repost them?
Posted by: Gary Sauer-Thompson on August 15, 2005 07:04 PMNot sure what exactly I said, but it was something to the effect of a recommendation that somebody interested in "politics as theater" take a look at the work of Murray Edelman, most particularly "Constructing the Political Spectacle."
--Brian
Brian
I remember that reference to Murray Edelman's Constructing the Political Spectacle.
It is an important approach to the way public policy works and supplements the focus on analysis and the "argumentative turn," problem definition, agenda-setting, and policy communities.
I'll try and find some reviews of the book. I've found this blurb:
"Everyday reporting of the political spectacle systematically reinforces the assumption that leaders are critical to the course of governmental action. News accounts highlight the talk and actions of leaders and of aspirants to leadership. They focus upon the election and appointment of high officials and upon policy differences and agreements. Interest groups and governmental agencies feed this kind of news to the media, reinforcing the premise that leadership is central to value allocation and well-being. Only rarely do the media, officials, or interest groups point to historical change in institutions or in material conditions as the explanation of controversial developments...They thrive upon heroes, villains, contests for votes, legislative and judicial victories and defeats, and especially upon the evocation of leaders with whom people can identify or whom they can blame for their discontents."
Hannah Arendt made a book sale courtesy of your post on this site. I came home with "The Human Condition" the other day.
Posted by: Cameron Riley on August 18, 2005 12:45 PMCameron,
that's good. I'm going to re-read that text soon.
Her understanding of politics as sharing a common world and as a performance does capture what takes place in Canberra or Washington politics.
Just as we can talk about the academic world so we can similarly talk about the political world. This enables us to break with the economistic conception of politics as a bunch of individuals motivated by self-interest.
It enables us to see that the public interest in politics involves the preserving and promoting a way of acting and the values embodied in it.
Posted by: Gary Sauer-Thompson on August 20, 2005 05:05 PM