Ideally, the essay seeks to highlight the fact that politics and pragmatism can be fully linked without considering the many fields where political studies and pragmatism converge. The essay discusses the relationship between pragmatism and democratic philosophy, as well as pragmatism's effect on the scientific study of politics. Additionally, the article extends issues concerning pragmatists with respect to global political theory and their capacity to hold public administration practice and theory in place. Furthermore, the article draws attention to the exciting potential for new scholarship at the nexus between politics and pragmatism as well as attention to pragmatism in policy sciences.
c) Basic Information
The article is a magazine and its publication began in 2000. The magazine has been edited several times since 2000 and the last volume was issued in 2005. This implies that the article has no longer been in business since 2005 because this particular article version marked its last publication. The article mainly discusses about the politics of pragmatism and targets students studying political sciences in college. Sam Agere's publication, Promoting Good Governance, can be directed to such audience because it offers similar perspective of practical approaches to challenges and affairs.
4. Article 2
a) Citation
Ralston, S. J. "Can Pragmatists be Constitutionalists? Dewey, Jefferson and the Experimental Constitution." SSRN Electronic Magazine, vol. 5, no. 3, 2009, pp. 3-33, doi:10.2139/ssrn.1322818.
b) Description of the article
The article attempts to determine whether pragmatists can be constitutionalists especially when it is the Deweyan pragmatists. Ralston mainly uses the Deweyan theory of action and inquiry in order to answer this question. In this regard, the article comes to a general conclusion that constitutional limits hampers the experimentalist efforts of Dewey's pragmatism. Therefore, the article presents three typical conceptions of constitutionalism which include organicism, traditionalism, and functionalism. Furthermore, the article attempts to determine whether political stability can be maintained amidst a tolerable level of political change when a principle document is modeled after these conceptions without affecting Dewey's experimentalism in the end.
c) Basic information
The article is a magazine and its publication began in 2004. The magazine has been edited several times since 2004 and the last volume was issued in 2009. Nevertheless, the article was accepted for publication in Contemporary Pragmatism, thereby implying that the article is still in business. The article mainly discusses the constitutionalism of pragmatists and generally targets government administrators and the society at large as the audience. Similarly, Sam Agere's publication, Promoting Good Governance, can be used for these audiences since it offers a similar perspective towards the management of public services.
5. Article 3
Ralston, S.J. "Obama's Pragmatism in International Affairs." Contemporary Pragmatism, vol. 8, no. 2, 2015, pp. 81-98, doi:10.1163/18758185-90000203.
b) Description of the article
The article makes an attempt to evaluate the actual or rather potential contributions of pragmatists to contemporary global relations practice and theory. In order to achieve this evaluation, Ralston determines whether there is any hope of developing a pragmatist theory of global relations. In this regard, Ralston internalizes the evaluation by making a consideration as to whether Barrack Obama handled issues associated with international affairs pragmatically, thereby posing the question as to whether Obama was a pragmatist. Ralston teases out the essential factors for a pragmatic theory of global relations by examining a series of Obama speeches to demonstrate how international diplomacy can influence the pragmatist theory of global relations.
c) Basic information
The article is a magazine, and its publication began in 2008. The magazine has been edited consistently since 2008, and the last volume was issued in 2015. Therefore, the article is no longer in publication, and it ceased being in business in 2015. The article mainly covers the theory of international relations and largely targets foreign policy practitioners and international relations scholar audience majoring in this subject area. To that end, Ivan's and Karen's publication on Essentials of International Relations can as well be used for this audience since it offers an in-depth discussion of practical approaches to global affairs.
6. How the three articles deepen understanding of Shane J. Ralston
Notably, the three articles give a broader perspective on Ralston's resurgence of interest in pragmatism by selectively exploring appropriate ideas and themes incorporated in the rich tradition of James, Peirce, and Dewey. Ralston is mainly concerned with the foreign policy practice and international relations theory to determine the implications that practical pragmatism has on them. Ralston (82) notes that a foreign policy relying on pragmatist theory is neither dangerous nor naive. On the other hand, Ralston (86) closely observes that Obama's international policy statements have increased the likelihood of a uniquely pragmatic approach to foreign relations. Evidently, Ralston believes that Dewey had a reformist pragmatism as opposed to radical pragmatism. He argues that Dewey mainly focused on ameliorating industrial capitalism rather than toppling it. Nonetheless, Ralston asserts that the openness to the likelihood of radical solutions is significant for pragmatism and as a result, it demands skepticism towards the status quo and elite consensus as well as the certainties of dogmatism and ideologues. Evidently, Ralston's reputation and ideology seem to be influenced by Dewey, James, and Peirce's philosophical theories of pragmatism. Towards that end, Ralston contends that an ideal invocation of pragmatism implies that people should accept the institutional forces that severely limit boldness and innovation and that they should stop rocking the boat and take heed of the wise men's counsel (Ralston 115). Additionally, Ralston acknowledges the fact that internalization of law is politics in another definition. Ralston (45) further argues that getting off politics from pragmatist ideologies is a hard thing to come by, and this, according to Dewey's arguments, may result in some serious radical implications. Henceforth, as a guide to practice, Ralston deeply emphasizes the benefits of unforced inquiry and suggests that this can only take shape in a society where there are no social and economic barriers to free engagement in deliberation and discussion. Therefore, such barriers need to be dismantled to achieve the benefits of untrammeled inquiry and free debate through pragmatic processes. Accordingly, understanding Ralston is different as opposed to his contemporaries since he is the only public intellectual to contend with the fact that judicial discretion can be constrained by statute and precedent in the case of legal pragmatist. Unlike his contemporaries, Ralston presupposes that appropriate actors have equal and free access to appropriate deliberative platforms. In other words, to be pragmatically meaningful, Ralston notes that pragmatists must challenge the economic and social barriers that subvert or distort efforts to remain committed to developing the most pragmatic and reasonable deliberations required to promote diplomacy in democracy. To that end, Ralston articulates and enables us to understand the consequences of constitutional and political pragmatism at length.
Work Cited
Ralston, J. S. “The continuum to Pragmatism.” Politics, vol. 6, no. 5, 2005, pp. 44-53, doi:10.1111/b.9781405116213.2005.00006.x.
Ralston, S. J. “Can Pragmatists be Constitutionalists? Dewey, Jefferson and the Experimental Constitution.” SSRN Electronic Magazine, vol. 5, no. 3, 2009, pp. 110-200, doi:10.2139/ssrn.1322818.
Ralston, S. J. “Obamas Pragmatism in International Affairs.” Contemporary Pragmatism, vol. 8, no. 2, 2011, pp. 81-98, doi:10.1163/18758185-90000203.
