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"A Case of Democratic Contagion": Direct Democracy in the American West, 1890-1920

01 May 1997-Pacific Historical Review (University of California Press Journals)-Vol. 66, Iss: 2, pp 213-230
TL;DR: With the recent battle over Proposition 187 in California (an initiative to cut state services for illegal immigrants), direct democracy has once again claimed center stage on the American political scene.
Abstract: With the recent battle over Proposition 187 in California (an initiative to cut state services for illegal immigrants), direct democracy has once again claimed center stage on the American political scene. The instruments of direct democracy, in particular the power to create legislation via the popular initiative, have enjoyed increasing appeal since the 1970s when a California tax revolt culminated in 1978 with the
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Dissertation
02 Dec 2016
TL;DR: A travers la biographie intellectuelle d'un reformateur et redacteur en chef de Boston, Benjamin O. Flower (1858-1918), de la creation of son magazine, The Arena, en 1889 a sa mort, cette these explore les ambiguites du progressisme and ses "andranges combinaisons theoriques" as discussed by the authors, selon l'expression de l'historien Robert Wiebe.
Abstract: A travers la biographie intellectuelle d’un reformateur et redacteur en chef de Boston, Benjamin O. Flower (1858-1918), de la creation de son magazine, The Arena, en 1889 a sa mort, cette these explore les ambiguites du progressisme et ses « etranges combinaisons theoriques », selon l’expression de l’historien Robert Wiebe. Flower considerait la corruption, la pauvrete et la faillite morale de la societe americaine comme des maladies physiques et spirituelles : les idees heterodoxes de son temps (populisme, socialisme, experimentations sociales dans le reste du monde mais aussi medecines et spiritualites alternatives) illustraient l’esprit americain de liberte et se revelaient autant de remedes pour regenerer l’homme et la societe. Flower entendait faire de ses magazines une « arene » ou debattre librement pour provoquer un nouveau « Grand Reveil » et assurer le progres de l’humanite. La fin de sa vie voit Flower aux prises avec les ambivalences de sa lutte pour la liberte. Pendant les annees 1910, lors de sa croisade pour la « liberte medicale », il lutte contre la volonte de l’American Medical Association de controler les medecines alternatives et contre le projet du gouvernement federal d’etablir un ministere de la Sante. Sa defense de la liberte de la presse face a la censure de la poste le mene ensuite a travailler pendant la Grande Guerre pour un journal anticatholique, The Menace. Ces controverses sur le sens du progres et de la liberte permettent de comprendre les fractures culturelles qui divisent le reformisme et, a la faveur de l’erection d’un seul et vrai recit de la modernisation, la relegation de son progressisme antimonopolistique dans les marges de l’histoire.

86 citations

Dissertation
02 Dec 2016
TL;DR: A travers la biographie intellectuelle d'un reformateur and redacteur en chef de Boston, Benjamin O Flower (1858-1918), en 1889 a mort, explore les ambiguites du progressisme and ses "andranges combinaisons theoriques" as discussed by the authors, selon l'expression de l’historien Robert Wiebe Flower considerait the corruption, la pauvrete and the faillite morale of la societe americaine comme des maladies physiques and spirituelles.
Abstract: A travers la biographie intellectuelle d’un reformateur et redacteur en chef de Boston, Benjamin O Flower (1858-1918), de la creation de son magazine, The Arena, en 1889 a sa mort, cette these explore les ambiguites du progressisme et ses « etranges combinaisons theoriques », selon l’expression de l’historien Robert Wiebe Flower considerait la corruption, la pauvrete et la faillite morale de la societe americaine comme des maladies physiques et spirituelles : les idees heterodoxes de son temps (populisme, socialisme, experimentations sociales dans le reste du monde mais aussi medecines et spiritualites alternatives) illustraient l’esprit americain de liberte et se revelaient autant de remedes pour regenerer l’homme et la societe Flower entendait faire de ses magazines une « arene » ou debattre librement pour provoquer un nouveau « Grand Reveil » et assurer le progres de l’humanite La fin de sa vie voit Flower aux prises avec les ambivalences de sa lutte pour la liberte Pendant les annees 1910, lors de sa croisade pour la « liberte medicale », il lutte contre la volonte de l’American Medical Association de controler les medecines alternatives et contre le projet du gouvernement federal d’etablir un ministere de la Sante Sa defense de la liberte de la presse face a la censure de la poste le mene ensuite a travailler pendant la Grande Guerre pour un journal anticatholique, The Menace Ces controverses sur le sens du progres et de la liberte permettent de comprendre les fractures culturelles qui divisent le reformisme et, a la faveur de l’erection d’un seul et vrai recit de la modernisation, la relegation de son progressisme antimonopolistique dans les marges de l’histoire

86 citations

01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: In the early 1960s, the John Birch Society, a staunchly anticommunist organization founded in 1958 by retired businessman Robert H.W. Welch, became a hotbed of anti-communism in Southern California as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: OF DISSERTATION SAVE OUR REPUBLIC: BATTLING JOHN BIRCH IN CALIFORNIA’S CONSERVATIVE CRADLE Previous accounts of the development of the New American Right have demonstrated the popularity and resonance of the ideology in Southern California. However, these studies have not shown how contention surrounded conservatism’s ascendancy even in regions where it found eager disciples. “Save Our Republic” uses one conservative Southern California community as a vehicle to better understand the foundations of a wider movement and argues the growth of conservatism was not nearly as smooth as earlier studies have suggested. Santa Barbara, California, experienced a much more contentious introduction to the same conservative elements and exemplifies the larger ideological clash that occurred nationwide during the late 1950s and early 1960s between “establishment,” moderate Republicans and the party’s right flank. In California’s cradle of conservatism, the ideology’s birth was not an easy one. Santa Barbara should have provided a bonanza of support for the John Birch Society, a staunchly anticommunist organization founded in 1958 by retired businessman Robert H.W. Welch. Instead, its presence there in the early 1960s divided the city and inspired the sort of suspicion that ultimately hobbled the group’s reputation nationally. Rather than thriving in the city, the JBS impaled itself in a series of self-inflicted wounds that only worsened the effect these characterizations had on the group’s national reputation. Disseminated to a nationwide audience by local newspaper publisher Thomas M. Storke, who declared his intention to banish the organization from the city, the events that occurred in Santa Barbara throughout 1961 alerted other cities of the potential disruption the JBS could inspire in their communities. The JBS would forever bear the battle scars it earned in Santa Barbara. “Save Our Republic” argues the events in Santa Barbara exemplify the more pronounced political battle that was occurring throughout the nation in the 1960s as conservatives grappled to determine the bounds of their ideology. The threat from the right that caused so much handwringing in the halls of conservative power had an equally unsettling effect in the city’s parlors, churches, schoolhouses and newsrooms.

84 citations

References
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Book
01 Jan 1982
TL;DR: The state-building problem in American political development has been studied in this paper, with a focus on the early American state and its political development, including patching the army, the limits of reform in the party state, and the failure of administered capitalism.
Abstract: Preface Part I. The State-Building Problem in American Political Development: 1. The new state and American political development 2. The early American state Part II. State Building as Patchwork, 1877-1900: 3. Patching civil administration: the limits of reform in the party state 4. Patching the army: the limits of provincial virtue 5. Patching business regulation: the failure of administered capitalism Part III. State Building as Reconstitution, 1900-1920: 6. Reconstituting civil administration: economy, efficiency, and the repoliticization of American bureaucracy 7. Reconstituting the army: professionalism, nationalism, and the illusion of corporatism 8. Reconstituting business regulation: administrative justice, scientific management, and the triumph of the independent commission Epilogue Notes Selected bibliography Index.

1,058 citations

Book
01 Jan 1969
TL;DR: The authors describes the evolution of political thought from the Declaration of Independence to the ratification of the Constitution, and in the process greatly illuminates the origins of the present American political system.
Abstract: This volume describes the evolution of political thought from the Declaration of Independence to the ratification of the Constitution and in the process greatly illuminates the origins of the present American political system. In a new preface, he discusses the debate over republicanism that has developed since the book's original publication by UNC Press in 1969.

988 citations