Maxwell's Equations in a Uniformly Rotating Dielectric Medium and the Wilson-Wilson Experiment

This note offers a conceptually straightforward and efficient way to formulate and solve problems in the electromagnetics of moving media based on a representation of Maxwell's equations in terms of differential forms on spacetime together with junction conditions at moving interfaces. This framework is used to address a number of issues that have been discussed recently in this journal about the theoretical description underlying the interpretation of the Wilson-Wilson experiment.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure

Greece in crisis: austerity, populism and the politics of blame

Within the broader debate on the Greek crisis, the theory of ‘populist democracy’ postulates that populism is fundamental to the sustenance of the Greek political system and is at the heart of Greece's endemic domestic weaknesses. This article tests this assumption empirically through the use of a sophisticated framing analysis of speeches delivered by the leaders of the five parties in the Greek parliament in the period 2009–11. The findings confirm that populism: (a) is expressed through the narratives of political actors; (b) is observed across the party system; (c) is expressed in the forms of blame-shifting and exclusivity; and (d) differs depending on position in the party system. The article contributes to the debate by testing and building on the theory of democratic populism, providing a novel way of measuring and operationalizing populism and identifying a new typology that distinguishes between mainstream and fringe populism

Populism and nationalism in a comparative perspective: a scholarly exchange

The purpose of the Exchange feature is to publish discussions that engage, advance and initiate new debates in the study of nations and nationalism. This Exchange article is on the subject of ‘Populism and Nationalism’. Each contributor addresses the following four questions on the subject: (1) What is populism and what role does it play within the context of democratic politics? (2) Does populism cut across left-right lines? (3) What is the relationship between nationalism and populism? (4) Are contemporary populist movements across Europe and the West comparable? Our aim is to generate a thought- provoking conversation with regards to the rise of populism in Europe and the West

Rethinking the modern prince: partisanship and the democratic ethos

This article lays out and defends the role of political parties in cultivating a democratic ethos among citizens. It argues that citizens' commitment to the democratic idea of self-rule requires positive conviction of the worth of collective political agency, and suggests that this conviction draws on three main sources, characterised as normative, motivational and executive. The article shows theoretically why parties are able to cultivate all three sources in a way no other political actor can match, thus constituting a unique and indispensable mode of civic engagement. Moreover, it proposes that the widely noted shortcomings of parties in contemporary democracy leave this basic capacity unimpaired, indeed that certain important developments herald renewed opportunities

Hysteria in the squares: Approaching populism from a perspective of desire

This paper explores the productive potential in the psychoanalytic concept of hysteria in terms of the study of populism. A Lacanian framework is adopted to broaden our understanding of the (dis)identification structures at stake in a populist logic, stressing the constitutive role desire bears in relation to social meaning-making processes. Against a background of public discontent – the “square protests” – this paper exploits the emancipatory potential within the discourse of the hysteric as a crucial radical investment in the displacement of predominant socio-symbolic boundaries, leading to the production of social knowledge