tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/aristocracy-19467/articlesaristocracy – The Conversation2024-02-02T16:25:30Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2225282024-02-02T16:25:30Z2024-02-02T16:25:30ZDisney’s Cristóbal Balenciaga reveals the power, the politics and the drama of high fashion<p>Born in a small Basque fishing village on the northern coast of Spain at the end of the 19th century, <a href="https://www.cristobalbalenciagamuseoa.com/en/discover/cristobal-balenciaga/">Cristóbal Balenciaga</a> (1895-1972) went on to become one of the most innovative and influential fashion designers of the 20th century – and the king of fashion in Paris.</p>
<p>His dedication to the craft of dressmaking and tailoring was fostered by his seamstress mother and acknowledged by local Spanish aristocracy who recognised his talents. A marquesa’s patronage led to a tailoring apprenticeship in San Sebastián, where he opened his first dressmaking business in 1919 at the age of 24, and later an atelier in Madrid.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A dark-haired man in a smart suit." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573022/original/file-20240202-19-f6wn6x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573022/original/file-20240202-19-f6wn6x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573022/original/file-20240202-19-f6wn6x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573022/original/file-20240202-19-f6wn6x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573022/original/file-20240202-19-f6wn6x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573022/original/file-20240202-19-f6wn6x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573022/original/file-20240202-19-f6wn6x.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Cristóbal Balenciaga.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crist%C3%B3bal_Balenciaga#/media/File:Cristobal_Balenciaga.jpg">Louise Dahl-Wolfe, 1950 / WIkipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
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<p>His faultless fit and exceptional skills in cutting, assembling, constructing and sewing garments by hand would earn him a uniquely respected position within the high-fashion world of Paris, where he opened his <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199891573.001.0001/acref-9780199891573-e-4043#:%7E:text=maison%20noun,-Source%3A%20The%20Oxford&text=M16%20French.In%20France%20and,General%20Links%20for%20this%20Work">maison</a> in 1937.</p>
<p>Balenciaga’s life and work are currently being explored in a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2024/jan/19/cristobal-balenciaga-review-this-classy-drama-is-utterly-gorgeous">six-part Spanish biographical drama</a> on <a href="https://press.disney.co.uk/news/original-drama-series-crist%C3%B3bal-balenciaga-will-debut-january-19-exclusively-on-disney+-in-the-uk#:%7E:text=%22Crist%C3%B3bal%20Balenciaga%22%20begins%20as%20the,the%20Spanish%20elite%20and%20aristocracy.">Disney+</a>. The series details the story of the man who became known as “the master” of <a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/education/fashion-az/haute-couture">haute-couture</a> fashion for his innovative womenswear designs and distinctive use of textiles during his years in Paris, from 1937 to 1968.</p>
<p>The new Disney series stars Alberto San Juan as Balenciaga and is structured around the designer recalling the events of his life and career during a rare interview in 1971 with the Times’ fashion editor Prudence Glynn (Gemma Whelan).</p>
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<h2>Fashion for a post-war world</h2>
<p>We meet Balenciaga in 1937, a year after accepting the coveted elite status of “couturier”, conferred by the exacting standards of the <a href="https://www.fhcm.paris/en/our-history">Chambre Syndicale de la couture Parisienne</a>. Balenciaga’s tailoring and dressmaking skills, as well as his innovative designs, were crucial to the success and lasting impact of mid-20th century haute couture – a fact that is carefully portrayed in the series.</p>
<p>While artistic licence embellishes intimate and emotional moments in the series, it is broadly historically accurate, including the relationships and rivalries between fellow couturiers <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/coco-chanel-biography">Coco Channel</a> (Anouk Grinberg), <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/christian-dior">Christian Dior</a> (Patrice Thibaud) and the mentorship of <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/hubert-de-givenchy-biography">Hubert de Givenchy</a> (Adrien Dewitte). </p>
<p>In episode two – The Occupation – when Balenciaga’s nervous investor visits Chanel to ask if the designer can succeed in Parisian high fashion, her famous response is resounding: “Cristóbal is the only authentic couturier amongst us. The rest, we are simply just fashion designers.”</p>
<p>The series follows the turbulent political and economic times for fashion in the mid-20th century. Designers had to protect their reputations and creative integrity from invading armies and corporate spies. Meanwhile, artisanal couture traditions of fashion design had to contend with the rise and expansion of the mass manufacturing of <a href="https://www.masterclass.com/articles/ready-to-wear-fashion-guide">prêt-à-porter</a> (ready-to-wear) fashion.</p>
<p>An exciting element of Balenciaga’s influence within couture was his inspired use of Spanish traditional dress and Catholic vestments and regalia, which he incorporated into his collections.</p>
<p>During episodes one and two we watch him struggle to define his maison’s style until he revisits his historic art and costume books to seek inspiration. This engagement with the <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/memories-of-dress-9781350153813/">cultural memory of dress</a>, reveals there is authenticity, meaning and depth to his creations that emerge from his Spanish roots.</p>
<p>Christian Dior famously referred to Balenciaga as “the master of us all”, and the Spaniard was admired for his technical genius and innovation by fashion journalists, critics, clients, employees and his peers within haute-couture circles.</p>
<p>The emerging prêt-à-porter designers, many of whom he mentored, carried his design principles into their luxury mass-manufactured clothing lines, including Givenchy, <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/remembering-andre-courreges">André Courrèges</a> and <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/emanuel-ungaro-biography">Emanuel Ungaro</a>. </p>
<h2>Industry and passion</h2>
<p>This is a series written, directed and art-directed by those who respect the place of ideas, skill and innovation within the practice of making designed objects. Balenciaga’s magic is grounded in driven, tireless dedication to an art form. Everywhere we see hands, tools, textiles manipulated, cut, folded, sewn, adjusted, and eventually formed on a body ready to be seen and, ultimately, sold.</p>
<p>This is an exceptional aspect of this series, and a joy to see. In the final episode – I am Balenciaga – the Spaniard grapples with the future of couture and his maison against a booming background of prêt-à-porter. He realises one of his options is to retire and pass on the reins to a trusted collaborator. However, he states: “It wasn’t just a business, it was part of me, like an extension of my body. How can a body survive without a brain?”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572950/original/file-20240201-25-lvdvbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Woman wearing a black suit with flared bell sleeves and knee-length skirt sitting on a plinth with her right hand raised and pressed against the wall" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572950/original/file-20240201-25-lvdvbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572950/original/file-20240201-25-lvdvbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572950/original/file-20240201-25-lvdvbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572950/original/file-20240201-25-lvdvbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572950/original/file-20240201-25-lvdvbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572950/original/file-20240201-25-lvdvbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572950/original/file-20240201-25-lvdvbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=695&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Cristóbal Balenciaga vintage suit, 1951.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/51248231@N04/4711015713">Bianca Lee / flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Another interesting aspect of the series is the growing power of the media to influence the pace of change within fashion markets. An important character throughout the series is <a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a92/bazaar-140-0507/">Carmel Snow</a> (Gabrielle Lazure), the fashion chief of the American edition of the highly influential lifestyle magazine <a href="https://www.harpersbazaar.com/">Harper’s Bazaar</a>. Snow had the power to make or break the fortunes of even the greatest of couturiers for, without magazine exposure, there would be no customer interest, nor orders. </p>
<p>Interestingly, episode four – Replicas – shows the start of the debate for the current systems of <a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/article/article/history-of-paris-fashion-week">biannual fashion weeks</a>, in order to limit press access to regular intimate couture shows at maisons for fear of copies and counterfeits emerging.</p>
<p>This series is highly recommended and stands as an important piece of dramatised fashion history. As what we wear is a facet of our identity, fashion is at the heart of both everyday and extraordinary events. This series is testament that designing, making and promoting dress will always involve passion and drama.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elizabeth Kealy-Morris does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The new drama provides a fascinating insight into the competitive world of mid-century haute couture via the man considered ‘the master’ of high fashion.Elizabeth Kealy-Morris, Senior Lecturer in Dress and Belonging, Manchester Fashion Institute, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1808022022-04-18T13:04:59Z2022-04-18T13:04:59ZSouth Africa’s constitutional democracy debate: echoes of an inglorious past<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457492/original/file-20220411-26-t4fybo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A whites-only beach during apartheid in South Africa. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Jonathan C. Katzenellenbogen/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Some prominent politicians from South Africa’s governing African National Congress (<a href="https://www.anc1912.org.za/">ANC</a>) recently questioned the role of the courts in the constitution. In January, tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu insulted the judges as <a href="https://theconversation.com/rule-of-law-in-south-africa-protects-even-those-who-scorn-it-175533">“colonised”</a> for enforcing the constitution, which she blamed for continued black deprivation 28 years into democracy.</p>
<p>Later, Sihle Zikalala, the premier of KwaZulu-Natal province, called for a return to <a href="https://www.news24.com/witness/news/kzn/kzn-premier-calls-for-review-of-sas-constitutional-democracy-20220322">parliamentary democracy</a>. He accused the (“unelected”) judiciary of frustrating government’s transformation agenda. They both sit on the ANC’s national executive committee, its highest decision-making body between national elective conferences. </p>
<p>They may well be <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2022-01-20-ramaphosa-vs-sisulu-conflict-deepens-as-minister-denies-agreeing-to-apologise-for-article-attacking-judges/">testing the waters</a> ahead of the next elective conference <a href="https://www.sabcnews.com/all-eyes-will-be-on-anc-elective-conference-in-december-as-the-party-strives-to-renew-itself/">in December</a>. But, nothing excuses the short-sighted irresponsibility of such utterances, and the ghastly consequences that may ensue.
If South Africa is tempted by these options, it will be discarding centuries of struggle aimed at establishing a democratic system in which public power is regulated by law.</p>
<p>Since the origins of communal life, the regulation of public power has challenged humanity. Power has developed from the brute force of the strongest bully in a clan, to the patriarchal dominance of traditional leadership, to the authoritarian dictates of monarchs and autocrats. Divine and secular monopolies of untrammelled authority have been overthrown.</p>
<p>The inexorable trend has been to secure a degree of monitoring and regulation of the exercise of public power.</p>
<p>Of critical significance has been the establishment of popular representation in national governments. A landmark is found in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Glorious-Revolution">‘Glorious Revolution’ of the late 1600s</a>. It established parliamentary dominance over the monarch in Britain. Another is the emphatic elimination of the French aristocracy about a century later. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/French-Revolution">French Revolution</a> was accompanied by a <a href="https://constitutionnet.org/sites/default/files/declaration_of_the_rights_of_man_1789.pdf">“declaration of the rights of man and the citizen”</a>. The <a href="https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/bill-of-rights-transcript">American Bill of Rights</a> developed gradually through a series of constitutional amendments from the 1800s.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/glossary/parliamentary-sovereignty/">‘Parliamentary sovereignty’</a> in Britain was counter-balanced by the rights-infused concept of the <a href="https://files.libertyfund.org/files/1714/0125_Bk.pdf">rule of law </a>. Decolonisation in Africa and Asia used models of governance based on universal suffrage, and a protected core of inalienable rights.</p>
<h2>Regulating public power</h2>
<p>Perhaps the most far-reaching revolution has been the most recent shift to participatory democracy after the fall of the Soviet empire <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/the-collapse-of-the-Soviet-Union">in the 1990s</a>. This coincided with the last gasps of racist hegemony with the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/namibia-gains-independence">independence of Namibia</a> and the <a href="https://www.gov.za/FreedomDay2022">formal freedom of South Africa</a>.</p>
<p>These interconnected events led to a rash of constitution-making throughout central and <a href="https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1539&context=gjicl">eastern Europe </a>, and African members of the <a href="https://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries">Commonwealth</a>. There were fundamental elements common to all their constitutions. These were: </p>
<ul>
<li>universal suffrage; </li>
<li>the protection of civil and political rights; </li>
<li>a measure of the separation of powers to balance the authority of the legislature, executive, and judiciary; and </li>
<li>the designation of the courts as final arbiters of the limits of the constitutional authority of government.</li>
</ul>
<p>This shift was a huge stride towards the responsible and accountable exercise of public power. It allowed the most vulnerable in society to feel a degree of protection. It opened the space for public benefit organisations to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-countrys-constitutional-court-can-consolidate-and-deepen-democracy-54184">use the law to seek social justice</a>. This is particularly vital given that almost all states today have heterogeneous populations. They are made up of diverse ethnic, religious, cultural and other groupings, with unequal bargaining power.</p>
<h2>Debating democracy</h2>
<p>A constitution is only as good as the measure of effective protection it gives to those who differ, even radically, from the policies of the government.</p>
<p>Naturally there were many obstacles in implementing and enforcing such schemes. There have been both partial and almost complete reversions to the unjust patterns of the past. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13510347.2018.1485015">Hungary</a> and <a href="https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/explaining-eastern-europe-can-polands-backsliding-be-stopped/">Poland</a> are prominent examples in Europe. Populist autocracy has proven very tempting, particularly in those countries formerly part of the Soviet Union, led by Russia. </p>
<p>Paradoxically, the picture in <a href="https://www.commonwealthafrica.com/#:%7E:text=Commonwealth%20Africa%20Initiative%20has%20a,citizens%20from%20and%20within%20Africa">Commonwealth Africa</a> is slightly less depressing. This, despite obvious tensions and challenges in realising the grandiose ideals in the constitutions of southern Africa, which migrated northwards on the continent.</p>
<p>Until now, none of these shortcomings has seriously questioned the fundamental principles of participatory democracy. These principles lie at the heart of such political compacts. There have been instances of party politicians directing their ire at the courts, <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-judges-in-south-africa-under-threat-or-do-they-complain-too-much-45459">accusing the judiciary of exceeding its authority</a>. But, the constitutional fundamentals have remained generally intact.</p>
<p>Have the intemperate and destructive comments of <a href="https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2022-01-12-judge-zondo-hauls-lindiwe-sisulu-over-the-coals-for-unwarranted-attack-on-african-judiciary/">Sisulu</a> and <a href="https://www.news24.com/witness/news/kzn/expert-says-zikalalas-supreme-parliament-idea-wont-work-20220325">Zikalala</a> shifted the ground?</p>
<p>In particular, the call for a return to parliamentary sovereignty marks an irrational and dangerous retrogression. Parliamentary sovereignty authorises the majority to make laws unrestrained by legal limitations. This was the system imposed on South Africa by Britain <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/union-south-africa-1910">in 1910</a>. Then the electorate represented only about 20% of the <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-elections-south-africa">male population</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/glossary/parliamentary-sovereignty/">Parliamentary sovereignty</a> in the hands of this minority allowed the rampant development of <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/history-apartheid-south-africa">apartheid</a> policies, laws and executive action. They decimated the rights of black South Africans. </p>
<p>Their damaging effects linger still. The blatant racism diminished the dignity of all South Africans. The scale of its horror prompted President Nelson Mandela’s <a href="https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/read-nelson-mandelas-inauguration-speech-president-sa">inaugural comments that</a>: “Never, never, and never again” would the country go down the route of injustice and evil, whether approved by a majority or not.</p>
<p>The constitution was <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/The_Soul_of_a_Nation.html?id=oricAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y">painstakingly negotiated</a>, with hard bargaining over a four-year period. There were no clear winners, but grudging agreement by every delegation on basic rules of engagement. Critically, these included the supremacy of the constitution and the rule of law. They upheld the protection of human dignity, equality, and freedoms, non-racialism, non-sexism, and universal adult suffrage to ensure multi-party democratic governance. These are the <a href="https://www.justice.gov.za/legislation/constitution/saconstitution-web-eng.pdf">founding values of the country’s constitutional democracy</a>. Without this framework, chaotic social and economic destruction would have been the legacy.</p>
<h2>The imperative of judicial review</h2>
<p>From these values flow the necessity of an entrenched bill of rights and the courts’ authority to review all acts of public power against the constitution. The judiciary has <a href="http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZACC/2002/16.html">performed this task admirably </a>, often requiring government to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-countrys-constitutional-court-can-consolidate-and-deepen-democracy-54184">tackle socio-economic injustices</a>. In no instance has it inhibited lawful actions which seek to change the wicked patterns of the past. Nor has it strayed onto parliament’s or the executive’s terrain.</p>
<p>The abject failure to achieve meaningful change lies overwhelmingly with a <a href="https://theconversation.com/state-capture-in-south-africa-how-the-rot-set-in-and-how-the-project-was-rumbled-176481">corrupt </a> and ineffective executive, not with the courts.</p>
<p>Sisulu, Zikalala and those who rally to their cause should ask themselves how they would respond if</p>
<ul>
<li><p>their mortal enemies achieved a parliamentary majority, by electoral or other means;</p></li>
<li><p>they had no basic rights to protect their dignity, equality, freedom of association, of expression, of movement and to vote;</p></li>
<li><p>the agents of the parliamentary majority locked them up without trial. If they took their property, denied their children access to school, prevented them from swimming at a beach or attending a soccer match, all on arbitrary grounds.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Without the law interpreted and enforced by the courts, their only resort would be to physical force. Of course they must be assuming they would be the representatives of the parliamentary majority. Given the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59166081">decline in ANC support</a>, this is a far-fetched idea. But even if they were in such a powerful position, how would they deal with those who opposed their policies and laws?</p>
<p>Those who peddle such dangerous ideas should be countered at every opportunity by reminders of what was done in the name of a legislative majority under apartheid, and elsewhere.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180802/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hugh Corder has in the past received funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa. He is affiliated with the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution and Freedom under Law. </span></em></p>Peddlers of dangerous ideas regarding the constitution should be reminded of what was done in the name of a legislative majority under apartheid.Hugh Corder, Professor Emeritus of Public Law, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/977432018-06-05T12:16:56Z2018-06-05T12:16:56ZWhy the British monarchy is running out of noble names for its sons and daughters<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221721/original/file-20180605-119888-mxuf8l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">EPA-EFE/Ciro Fusco</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Prince Harry’s <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/20/duke-duchess-sussex-meghan-markle-prince-harrys-new-titles-explained/">new title</a>, Duke of Sussex, prompted predictable reactions. Whimsical pieces appeared about <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-43953622">his new duchy, the home of Brighton Pier</a>, and about the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-44180674">previous holder’s marriage difficulties</a>.</p>
<p>Not much attention was otherwise paid to the title, apart from a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/19/harry-and-meghan-to-be-duke-and-duchess-of-sussex">slightly more thoughtful article</a> in The Guardian. But royal dukedoms are chosen carefully – and the choice is worth a closer look for what it reveals about both history and tradition.</p>
<p>There are a limited number of royal titles available and many of them are already held by various members of the royal family, including Harry’s grandfather, father, brother and a variety of more distant relatives. So Sussex was one of the last available titles that could have been awarded without controversy. </p>
<p>The first task of a royal dukedom is to be appropriate for a monarch’s son or grandson. It needs to be exclusive, unlike “ordinary” dukedoms, which could be created for anyone – and it <a href="https://www.debretts.com/expertise/essential-guide-to-the-peerage/ranks-and-privileges-of-the-peerage/">ranks far above</a> mere marquesses, earls, viscounts and barons, in that order. Sussex is suitably prestigious: the only holder of the title was an exalted one – <a href="http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/hanover_27.html">Prince Augustus Frederick</a> (1773-1843), a son of George III. </p>
<p>A dukedom also needs to be insulated from unfortunate historical or political associations. Augustus was perhaps the least offensive of George III’s sons: whatever his marital difficulties, savoured by today’s media, he was sensitive and liberal, contrasting sharply with his unpopular brothers, an unimpressive brood who included <a href="http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/hanover_4.htm">George IV</a> and <a href="http://www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/hanover_26.html">Prince Ernest</a>. Sussex was an ideal title: available, appropriate and safe.</p>
<p>What is more, the choice was very limited, because royal dukedoms are running out fast (though not because of longevity, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/19/harry-and-meghan-to-be-duke-and-duchess-of-sussex">The Guardian suggested</a>). A small group of titles has traditionally been used by monarchs. George V’s surviving sons provide a good set of examples: after the Prince of Wales, in turn they got York, Gloucester and Kent. York usually goes to the monarch’s second son, and under normal circumstances Harry might have received it, but of course Prince Andrew has York already. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221724/original/file-20180605-119863-1fljogd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221724/original/file-20180605-119863-1fljogd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221724/original/file-20180605-119863-1fljogd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221724/original/file-20180605-119863-1fljogd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=481&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221724/original/file-20180605-119863-1fljogd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221724/original/file-20180605-119863-1fljogd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221724/original/file-20180605-119863-1fljogd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Duke of Duchess of Windsor, pictured with Adolf Hitler in 1937, were the last people to hold that title.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The sons of those earlier princes have inherited Gloucester and Kent; the dukedoms are thus unavailable and, with plentiful heirs, will remain so. Prince William has Cambridge, another safe choice, associated only with dull 19th-century soldiers, an uncle and a cousin of Queen Victoria. The Duchy of Cornwall is tied to the title of Prince of Wales, and Lancaster to the Crown. Another royal dukedom, Edinburgh, is promised to Prince Edward. In the interim Edward took the more junior earldom of Wessex – and <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/edward-to-be-next-duke-of-edinburgh-mhbwb0f2m0p">he has a son who will inherit</a>.</p>
<h2>Disreputable dukes</h2>
<p>The remaining options are all compromised. History casts a long shadow over the dukedoms of Connaught, Cumberland, Windsor, Albany and Clarence, previously held by monarchs’ sons and brothers. Connaught would be impossible now, given its location <a href="http://www.libraryireland.com/Pedigrees1/ancient-kingdom-connaught.php">in the Irish Republic</a>. Cumberland is forever associated with George II’s second son, Prince William Augustus (1721-1765), the <a href="https://cullodenbattlefield.wordpress.com/2015/10/29/duke-of-cumberland/">“Butcher” of Culloden</a>, who oversaw the deaths of thousands of Scottish rebels in 1745. Windsor’s sole duke was the former <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/edward_viii_king.shtml">King Edward VIII (1894-1972)</a> – whose abdication and suspected fascist sympathies make that title toxic.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221723/original/file-20180605-119863-18l24ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221723/original/file-20180605-119863-18l24ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221723/original/file-20180605-119863-18l24ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221723/original/file-20180605-119863-18l24ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=328&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221723/original/file-20180605-119863-18l24ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221723/original/file-20180605-119863-18l24ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221723/original/file-20180605-119863-18l24ez.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=412&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Battle of Culloden Moor: one of the reasons there is no Duke of Cumberland these days.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Morier (c.1705?-1770)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the subject of fascism, Albany is problematic too: the last holder of that title, <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1481224/Royal-rebel-lost-his-title-for-fighting-against-Britain-in-the-First-World-War.html">Prince Charles Edward (1884-1954) was a Nazi</a>. A grandson of Queen Victoria, who had also made him Duke of Saxe-Coburg, he found himself on the German side in World War I, lost his title in 1919 and moved into the welcoming arms of Hitler. </p>
<p>Clarence is less controversial, but even that has the association with Richard III’s brother, George (1449-1478), best known for his depiction by Shakespeare, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Plantagenet-duke-of-Clarence">drowning in a butt of Malmsey wine</a>; and with Edward VII’s son, <a href="https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/401534/prince-albert-victor-of-wales-1864-1892">Prince Albert Victor (1864-1892)</a>, whose name has been linked with various controversies, and – however implausibly – proposed as a suspect in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/shortcuts/2014/sep/08/jack-the-ripper-five-unlikely-suspects-other-than-aaron-kosminski">search for Jack the Ripper</a>.</p>
<h2>Modernising the monarchy</h2>
<p>Royal dukedoms will therefore present some challenges. Only Cambridge will be available again in the foreseeable future, when William becomes Prince of Wales. Eventually York will be too – dukedoms pass via the male line and Prince Andrew has no sons – but Prince Louis might be waiting a long time for it. A future King Charles III or King William V – as they presumably will be one day – could of course invent new titles, but the whole royal superstructure relies on tradition and precedent. Windsor aside, it has been generations since an entirely new royal dukedom was created.</p>
<p>And there is another looming problem which may prove more difficult to resolve. In the 21st century, why should daughters not inherit their fathers’ titles, or receive their own? Princess Charlotte will <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-32073399">one day be second in line to the throne</a>, but the alternative of “Princess Royal” might well be seen as rather patronising 30 years from now. </p>
<p>Royalty has also relied for its survival on modernising tweaks – and its dukedoms might require exactly that treatment. Very little about the royal family is accidental, and when you see the title Duke of Sussex, it is no casual nod to seaside fun, but a carefully crafted symbol, rooted in history.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97743/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoffrey Hicks does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Duke and Duchess of Sussex were among the few ‘safe’ titles they could give Harry and Meghan.Geoffrey Hicks, Senior Lecturer, School of History, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/647322016-10-07T03:23:07Z2016-10-07T03:23:07ZWhat’s in a name? How a democracy becomes an aristocracy<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137671/original/image-20160914-4936-3n5ngf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">What do you call a democracy that depends on the exclusion of whole groups from political participation?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigration#/media/File:20101009_Arrested_refugees_immigrants_in_Fylakio_detention_center_Thrace_Evros_Greece_restored.jpg">Gaia/Wikipedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This article is part of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/democracy-futures">Democracy Futures</a> series, a <a href="http://sydneydemocracynetwork.org/democracy-futures/">joint global initiative</a> with the <a href="http://sydneydemocracynetwork.org/">Sydney Democracy Network</a>. The project aims to stimulate fresh thinking about the many challenges facing democracies in the 21st century.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Is there something about the deep logic of democracy that destines it to succeed in the world? Democracy, the form of politics that includes everyone as equals – does it perhaps suit human nature better than the alternatives? After all, surely any person who is excluded from the decision-making in a society will be more liable to rise up against it.</p>
<p>From ancient thinkers like Seneca to contemporary thinkers like Francis Fukuyama, we can see some version of this line of thought. Seneca thought that tyrannies could never last long; Fukuyama famously argued that liberal democracy is the end of history. </p>
<p>I want to focus instead on the person credited with giving the most direct and uncompromising statement of this thought: Benedict de Spinoza.</p>
<p>For centuries, “democracy” was a term of abuse, understood as a dangerous form of mob rule. Spinoza was one of the first in the history of modern political thought to celebrate democracy.</p>
<p>Living in the 17th-century Dutch Republic, amid political turmoil in his own country, and witnessing the disorders across the channel in England, Spinoza was intensely interested in the concrete, material basis for peace.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137673/original/image-20160914-4942-2vblac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137673/original/image-20160914-4942-2vblac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137673/original/image-20160914-4942-2vblac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137673/original/image-20160914-4942-2vblac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=697&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137673/original/image-20160914-4942-2vblac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=876&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137673/original/image-20160914-4942-2vblac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=876&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/137673/original/image-20160914-4942-2vblac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=876&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spinoza was the one of the first to celebrate democracy as a material basis for peace.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikipedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>He argues that monarchies are flawed political orders because they fail to harness the power of the people. Out of a well-founded fear of being overthrown, they oppress their subjects. The subjects, hating their king, have no loyalty and obey only out of fear. </p>
<p>Also, even the most virtuous king will have difficulty making wise and constant decisions that everyone can respect and uphold. A monarchy can only improve itself by approximating a democracy: instituting a representative assembly to which the king must defer. </p>
<p>But surely an even more direct way to harness the power of the people is not to have a king at all and to simply organise society as a democracy. </p>
<p>Democracies directly engage their citizens’ loyalty by politically involving them. Having diverse voices in their collective decision-making then allows better decisions to be made.</p>
<h2>Managing inclusion and exclusion</h2>
<p>Thus, Spinoza celebrates democracy and criticises monarchy. On this basis, he is hailed as a democrat and the originator of a radical, materialist conception of democracy, grounded in the power of the people. </p>
<p>But we should be careful here. Between monarchy as rule of the one and democracy as rule of the many, there is an intermediate option: aristocracy, or rule of the few.</p>
<p>Spinoza’s view of aristocracy should give pause to radical democrats. He does not see a historical movement towards democracy, nor does he see the superiority of democracy as written into human nature. </p>
<p>To be sure, politically including everyone, as in a democracy, can harness the power of the people. But Spinoza’s analysis of the commoners within an aristocracy shows the power of the people can equally be harnessed by political exclusion, so long as the depoliticised acquiescence of those excluded commoners is secured.</p>
<h2>Everyone’s equal except new arrivals</h2>
<p>Spinoza remarks that people generally conceive of themselves as equals and therefore resist political inequality. However, he also tells us a historical story of how this self-conception might be disrupted.</p>
<p>Suppose a population settles in a new place. Nobody wants to be subordinated to anyone else, so they view themselves as equals and organise themselves as a democracy. </p>
<p>Later, immigrants arrive. The locals, <a href="https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/spinoza/benedict/political/chapter8.html">Spinoza writes</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… think it unfair that foreigners who come to join them should have equal rights in a state which they have won for themselves by their toil and at cost of their blood.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Do the immigrants object? No, says Spinoza:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Nor do the foreigners themselves make any objection to this, having come to settle there not with view to being rulers but to promote their private interests, and they are quite happy provided they are granted freedom to transact their own business in security.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The regime is transformed into an aristocracy, with the immigrants as the commoners excluded from political participation.</p>
<p>The crucial thing to note is that the power of the commoners is harnessed to the aristocracy. They comply with the laws of the country and contribute to its flourishing, not because they are politically included, but because they are content with their private economic freedoms. In other words, their depoliticised acquiescence is secured.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e-r9E5n5FnM?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Most immigrants to the US want nothing more than a shot at the American Dream.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>An unequal order can be stable</h2>
<p>Spinoza believes that an unequal political order can be stable. This is because a well-organised aristocracy will have a robust collective decision-making process in its political assembly (thus not being fickle like the rule of a king) and procedures to ensure that, despite their political inequality, the commoners have legal equality and do not suffer abuse.</p>
<p>This example shows that the desire and demand for political equality is not a human universal. Rather, it can be quelled or extinguished under certain circumstances, such as when it is balanced against other desires and expectations. </p>
<p>Spinoza’s story fairly transparently reflects his understanding of the history of Venice. In Spinoza’s time, many writers viewed the aristocratic Venetian republic as the exemplar of good, peaceful and harmonious political order.</p>
<p>So Spinoza may well make a striking new move in the history of political thought by defending the idea of a good democratic regime. But he does not radically reject the common sense of political thought in his period. To the contrary, he provides a theoretical frame for understanding the real possibility of good aristocratic regimes. </p>
<p>The lesson is not that all aristocracies will be as good as Venice. A poorly organised aristocracy will face rebellion from its disgruntled commoners. </p>
<p>But if the material contentment and basic dignity of the commoners are upheld and their expectations carefully managed, an aristocracy can harness the power of the people just as well as a democracy.</p>
<h2>Democracy can be hollowed out</h2>
<p>Despite the prevalence of democracy today, the phenomenon of depoliticised acquiescence should not be unfamiliar to contemporary eyes. </p>
<p>For example, the United States is formally democratic. Nonetheless, it features two significant forms of political exclusion: migrant populations (legal and illegal) excluded from franchise; and a large proportion of the eligible voting population who (are encouraged to) <a href="http://www.beacon.org/Why-Americans-Still-Dont-Vote-P107.aspx">self-exclude</a> by not voting.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HcnoV_S9258?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">From voter ID laws to literacy tests such as this one from 1964, the right to vote in the US remains threatened.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These excluded groups are mostly depoliticised: they are not politically involved, do not seek to make political claim on a larger share of the benefits of social co-operation, and do not mount a serious challenge to the broad stability of the political order or to popular compliance with its laws and institutions. </p>
<p>The predictable result is that they face persistently unequal outcomes in wealth, health and other indicators.</p>
<p>Bringing my Spinozist frame to bear on this phenomenon, we can view immigrants and non-voters as latter-day commoners, whose behaviour reflects their depoliticised acquiescence. When their disadvantage becomes extreme, then they may become politicised and rebellious. Yet so long as this does not happen and they remain depoliticised, their unequal consideration in public policy is unchallenged.</p>
<p>The idea that human nature has some special affinity with democracy as a regime of political inclusion is too rosy. We need to recognise that human nature can equally be channelled into an exclusive kind of democracy. </p>
<p>Contemporary democracy contains within itself impulses towards inclusion, but also impulses towards exclusion. Aristocratic democracy (to use a historical term which sounds strange to contemporary ears) is a real possibility. If we are not attentive, it can insidiously empty out the substantive promise of democratic rule by the people.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64732/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandra Leonie Field does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Democracy today contains within itself impulses towards both inclusion and exclusion. Spinoza’s thinking on aristocracy should alert us to how democratic rule by the people can be hollowed out.Sandra Leonie Field, Assistant Professor of Humanities (Philosophy), Yale-NUS CollegeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/517342016-02-03T01:35:58Z2016-02-03T01:35:58ZAdventures on the lawn: sex, death, democracy and rebellion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105993/original/image-20151215-23198-1w94xt5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C900%2C600&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">To lawn or not to lawn, that is the question</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/sniecikowski/8974675852">sniecikowski</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the long, languid, lounging days of summer envelop us, thoughts often turn to the lawn for relief. The lawn has long epitomised the cool retreat from the heat of the day and rejection of the workaday grind, experienced best through bare-footed or flat-backed engagement.</p>
<p>The word itself, which is derived from the 16th Century Old French <em>laund</em> meaning “glade”, both invokes and invites us into a cool and restful state. In contemporary terms, the lawn is treated as a benign but inseparable complement to the garden.</p>
<p>But, as the sweltering sun continues to bake the ground, we can’t avoid questions of how we should think about, interact with, and treat our lawns. And, as it turns out, these questions are far from trivial.</p>
<h2>A short history</h2>
<p>Lancelot “Capability” Brown was an 18th century landscape gardener, known as the “improver”. Inspired by idyllic 16th and 17th century European landscape paintings, Brown accommodated the English nobility in transforming vast swathes of English countryside into immense sweeps of lawn, punctuated by clumps of trees and “antique” follies. The lawn provided the stage for the country house and the illusion of a boundless estate.</p>
<p>Such efforts improved the prospect of the landholder by distancing him from the meanness of everyday village life. They were further supported by social and governmental policies of exclusion.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105980/original/image-20151215-23179-c195yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105980/original/image-20151215-23179-c195yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105980/original/image-20151215-23179-c195yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105980/original/image-20151215-23179-c195yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105980/original/image-20151215-23179-c195yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105980/original/image-20151215-23179-c195yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105980/original/image-20151215-23179-c195yy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Many English manors, such as 17th century Dyrham Park, were adorned with great swathes of lawn.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/75487768@N04/7178283045">75487768@N04/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Through the 18th century, the lawned English public park became a stage for the democratic mingling of classes. It also served as a driver of the “improvement” of working class health and manners – a process not ironically referred to as “civilising”.</p>
<p>Across the Atlantic, New York’s Central Park was designed based on these ideals, and the unfenced and undifferentiated front lawn of the suburbs became the symbol of American democracy and egalitarianism.</p>
<h2>Lawn: nature under culture’s boot</h2>
<p>In his book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Second-Nature-A-Gardeners-Education/dp/0802140114">Second Nature</a>, Michael Pollan refers to the “egalitarian conceit” of the American lawn as a puritanical expression of the ideal of shared neighbourly spaces and social progress. But for Pollan “however democratic a lawn may be with respect to one’s neighbours, with respect to nature it is authoritarian” - the lawn is “nature under culture’s boot.”</p>
<p>The often monocultural (ie one species of grass) nature of lawns, which embodies the lush cool retreat for most of us, represents for Pollan “nature purged of sex and death”. Lawn species are never allowed to set seed. Instead, to maintain the vivid and enticing swathe of turf, they have been mowed by a variety of methods across the ages from grazing beasts and the laborious hand scythe, to animal and human mechanised machines.</p>
<p>This is not to argue for the wholesale abolition of lawn. As Emma Marris points out in her book, <a href="http://emmamarris.com/?page_id=17">Rambunctious Garden</a>, we tend to be blinded by the “pervasive and [often] unquestioned assumption that the wild is always better than the tame” - but why should this necessarily be so?</p>
<p>Instead, we raise the question of how we might approach the lawn differently. It is a call for a quiet rebellion against the orthodoxy of the lawn – the seeking out of other opportunities in the cultivation of lawns that can offer a greater sense of adventure.</p>
<h2>Treating our lawns better</h2>
<p>Lawns are typically composed of grass species that can grow as high as a metre with the potential to produce exquisite seed heads complementing many garden styles. Yet, under our boots — through mowing, irrigation, and fertilising — these seed heads and the reproductive cycles associated with them are routinely denied. Variations of all three cultivation practices can bring about positive change.</p>
<p>Lawn depends on both water and nutrients to grow. Somewhat counter-intuitively, constant close mowing also stimulates grass to grow faster, creating the need for more watering and hence greater levels of fertilising. </p>
<p>Raising the blade height on the mower slows down the rate of growth of lawn resulting in a need for less mowing, watering, and fertilising. It also allows the potential for some grass species to set seed.</p>
<p>Of course, this also leads to lawn with a slightly more unkempt or shaggy appearance. If this is a step too far down the path of adventure, lawns can be selectively and seductively mown in relation to timing, season, or function.</p>
<p>“Corduroy” mowing involves summer mowing in long strips to create lanes. The mowed lanes offer great running tracks for kids while the un-mown turf flows, flowers, seeds, and dies off to a rustling autumn hue – a wilderness of sex and death with space for adventure.</p>
<p>At the end of each autumn a couple of mows over the lawn starts the process all over again. In similar ways, these lanes can provide navigation around larger gardens by simply mowing pathways through the turf across the spring and summer seasons.</p>
<p>Similarly, we can be strategic about the way we irrigate and fertilise our lawn. Edges and boundaries can be created by the careful distribution of fertilisers and the application of water. We might choose to create and maintain a lush area with high watering, fertiliser application, and constant close mowing, whilst we encourage other adjacent areas to be freer and reflect seasonal changes more closely.</p>
<p>Augmenting and over-planting the lawn with a range of complementary species is also a great opportunity to explore lawn beyond the usual green swathe. Cornflowers, dwarf gladioli, native grasses, and a range of free flowering annuals and perennials are perfect for the challenges of exploring the possibilities in the lawn - creating a curious space between the garden, the meadow, and the lawn.</p>
<p>This is why contemporary Parisian park lawns often appear shaggy and a little unkempt - the democratic meadow par excellence.</p>
<p>The benefits of reduced lawn mowing include cost, time, and energy, while staggered mowing engages with nature’s cycles of sex and death to add a slice of adventure to any existing landscape — a simple act of rebellion. If only life was so easy in a similar manner, what joy!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51734/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As summer rolls on once again you’re despairing at a brown lawn. Perhaps you should embrace a shabbier backyard.Jock Gilbert, Lecturer in Landscape Architecture, RMIT UniversityMichael Howard, Lecturer in Landscape Architecture, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/461002015-08-14T08:07:55Z2015-08-14T08:07:55ZNobility may be up in arms, but Scotland’s land reforms look fairly tame<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91783/original/image-20150813-21428-1evrfi8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Man the ramparts! Could Inveraray Castle be heading into commoner hands?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/oregon_expat/14858467088/in/photolist-oCZwB3-2hVdKC-dbvN82-tXSTAi-8zVPaK-v6unyH-puffwK-2ZWDNH-2ZVLhF-311gi3-2ZVwia-3111Yb-pJDqe7-pLJWzp-pJDpxN-2ZWxq4-2ZWucV-2ZWuJK-31265C-2ZWxXT-314jLo-2ZVubz-3122mE-2ZYMoa-2ZWytt-3118XG-3123SY-2ZVtGx-314mn5-eWLauX-8etAj7-6yk4wG-6yk4hb-bAXVb-8fGfAr-ibN58N-qBvn2w-58jL23-qBzdYc-3tCK6c-2ZWwja-2ZWvN2-8oAigX-8oAioz-fGrsea-e9qkbE-e9qjZh-6yfWsK-6yk2T1-6yk3Hf">CL DeLancey</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Duke of Argyll’s castle is under attack, according to a <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/7aadf626-35df-11e5-bdbb-35e55cbae175.html">newspaper headline</a> in reference to the Scottish government’s land reform bill. While the duke has a touch more land than the rest of us, his fears sound pretty ominous. Does the proposed legislation authorise a siege of Inveraray Castle, metaphorical or otherwise? Or in a country where a reported 50% of the private land <a href="http://www.ckdgalbraith.co.uk/blog/right-buy-land-further-sustainable-development">is owned by</a> fewer than 500 people and entities, are a few of the landed gentry getting their britches in a twist?</p>
<p>Scotland never had its French Revolution, with the transfer of property to the commoners <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1250UYLBqvkC&pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq=french+revolution+property+transfer&source=bl&ots=fQk2VDEnIR&sig=jPd5YZ9F7bhEroeGbA8qrenNf9Y&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CEQQ6AEwCGoVChMIl9fZ2_GlxwIVSTsaCh2Aug1Z#v=onepage&q=french%20revolution%20property%20transfer&f=false">that followed</a>. Nor has it seen the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rho_WPTIx2gC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=ireland+free+state+land+reforms&source=bl&ots=xkxDJe-DCA&sig=rUipTpX9RG9Z0p64j5xr5WkbcNA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDIQ6AEwA2oVChMI582c5PKlxwIVBdkaCh35tglV#v=onepage&q=ireland%20free%20state%20land%20reforms&f=false">active reorganisation of land</a> away from wealthy British landowners of 20th-century Ireland. Where England had its <a href="http://www.celdf.org/article.php?id=638">enclosure movement</a>, redesignating commonly owned land to the landowning classes in the 18th and 19th centuries, Scotland had its infamous <a href="http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/scotlandshistory/jacobitesenlightenmentclearances/clearances/">Highland clearances</a> in the same period: occupants were driven away by landlords seeking better income from sheep farming. </p>
<p>The Scottish setting, coupled with long-established rules of inheritance that have allowed land to pass from generation to generation without subdivision, has made for a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/10/scotland-land-rights">fairly concentrated</a> pattern of landownership compared to, say, Norway. That is not to say Scotland should adopt a system like these other countries, but it does encourage reflection. Paul Wheelhouse, the former Scottish environment minister, is on record <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10552030/SNP-ministers-warn-lairds-about-need-for-radical-redistribution-of-Scottish-land.html">as saying</a>, “I wouldn’t design a system where you ended up with such a concentration of wealth and ownership in such a small group”.</p>
<h2>The proposed reforms</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/Bills/90675.aspx">Land Reform (Scotland) Bill</a> begins by providing for a “land rights and responsibilities statement” and a new Scottish Land Commission to ensure fairness over land ownership and use. Although symbolic and potentially important for future regulation of land, neither change will affect the law much. So what is it that might threaten a landowner’s entrenched fortification? </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91792/original/image-20150813-21401-gs20f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91792/original/image-20150813-21401-gs20f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/91792/original/image-20150813-21401-gs20f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91792/original/image-20150813-21401-gs20f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91792/original/image-20150813-21401-gs20f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91792/original/image-20150813-21401-gs20f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91792/original/image-20150813-21401-gs20f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/91792/original/image-20150813-21401-gs20f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Is this land your land?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ell-r-brown/18411222454/in/photolist-u3WjZU-dDJR5Z-awmE6A-78dJ4J-789K7V-dDQfey-uHnfeC-i9ryoi-8Gf1pZ-az1BjZ-eD7ikQ-ba31xi-8BtNyw-4xeGSU-dVTaXS-pd5TMe-789MZK-kyY7T6-7PJf28-7Ejavh-i9rqF3-i9rP7e-8Gf19Z-eQ6hCg-fyqwxH-i9s9b6-4VHP12-raUfZi-97PhW2-7h9uyJ-8jiEVb-9UNSJk-beeCBP-a8GVXC-51Kyta-4VNhUG-4VN9Gq-4VHR9x-4VHNi8-9Rhjeq-eX2d2h-8BtMuo-9Reqhk-54jQxM-6ZTt9K-81EVvs-6pcqBS-7iYWNk-5b7bF-cKwM23">Elliott Brown</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One possibility might be the new tenant farming commissioner, who will have powers to ensure agricultural landlords behave, while overseeing new rules that will make it easier for some tenants to transfer or bequeath their tenancies. Sometimes tenants will even be entitled to acquire their rented land, though only when a landlord behaves particularly badly. Those who fulfil contractual obligations to the letter will have nothing to fear.</p>
<p>Another proposal is a right to find who controls the entities that own land, with possible civil penalties for non-compliance. There are also proposals to increase regulation of deer management and for abolishing the domestic rates-relief that sporting estates have enjoyed since 1994. </p>
<h2>Attack or damp squib?</h2>
<p>Most headline-grabbing of all might be a proposed new right for communities to acquire land for the purposes of sustainable development. This would operate where there is not a willing seller. At first glance, anything that involves compulsory transfer appears drastic, but this right is far from automatic. </p>
<p>Scottish ministers will only sanction a transfer if various tests are met. The transfer must further sustainable development; be in the public interest; significantly benefit the community; and be the only practicable way of achieving that benefit. Even then the landowner can expect market value, so we are not quite in the realms of confiscation. </p>
<p>It is particularly interesting to consider what the bill omits. It will improve some rights of agricultural tenants, but there is nothing resembling an absolute right to buy out a landlord. Neither is there any right of acquisition where land is not currently occupied by an agricultural tenant or near a community. This confines the reforms to reinforcing the rights of those already on the ground. </p>
<p>The government-appointed Land Reform Review Group <a href="http://www.gov.scot/About/Review/land-reform">recommended</a> that land ownership be restricted to natural persons and EU-registered entities (full disclosure: I used to advise the group). The fact that this has been ignored means that the right to request ownership information may not create any more transparency with owners incorporated in a jurisdiction with lesser disclosure requirements than the UK and EU – many tax havens, for instance.</p>
<p>There were legitimate concerns that the recommendation could have affected investment, but recent reports <a href="http://www.sundaypost.com/news-views/scotland/from-caithness-to-the-caribbean-the-murky-origins-of-scotland-s-landowners-1.892854">north</a> and <a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a421beac-3ce7-11e5-8613-07d16aad2152.html?siteedition=uk">south</a> of the border highlight just how much of an issue transparency of ownership can be. Another proposal of the review group, that there should be an upper cap on the amount of land one person can own, also makes no appearance in the bill.</p>
<p>On the whole, though, the Scottish reforms seem committed to modestly addressing the country’s concentrated land ownership. While <a href="https://theconversation.com/radical-land-reforms-in-scotland-are-nothing-of-the-sort-42285">I predicted</a> that the bill would not quite be the stuff of the French Revolution, the new proposals make some changes to the current rules against vested interests. </p>
<p>And remember it is still only a bill at this stage. There is still time for the Scottish government to listen to feedback from its call for evidence, and subsequent analysis from its committees and parliament as a whole. As with all land reform measures, these ones will ultimately be judged by the effect they have on the landscape itself. Only then will we know whether landowners like the Duke of Argyll have been right to raise the alarm.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46100/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adviser to the Scottish-government-appointed Land Reform Review Group June 2013-May 2014. Solicitor and member of the Law Society of Scotland, non-practising Solicitor in England & Wales. Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.</span></em></p>The landed gentry don’t like the reforms that are in the offing. But that doesn’t mean there’s anything radical about them.Malcolm Combe, Lecturer in Law, University of AberdeenLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.