Historical "jawboning"?
March 6, 2008 2:18 PM Subscribe
Can you think of any examples of "jawboning" from history?
A phenomenon in American politics is that of "jawboning"-- whereby politicians or regulators engage in strong rhetoric or issue "policy statements" with the end of getting businesses and people to behavior a certain way "voluntarily"-- either through pure moral suasion or through the threat of explicit regulation. This is sometimes known as "regulation by raised eyebrow."
I am wondering if any historians among you can think of interesting examples of this kind of behavior from history-- be it statements by one of Napolean's ministers, or a Roman emperor. Statements by people or groups that actually *could carry out explicit regulations are best (a legislator might not be able to get any votes, and so his words can be safely ignored).
I know this one is a long shot, but I've found Ask MeFi to be one of the best sources for these kinds of recherché questions.
A phenomenon in American politics is that of "jawboning"-- whereby politicians or regulators engage in strong rhetoric or issue "policy statements" with the end of getting businesses and people to behavior a certain way "voluntarily"-- either through pure moral suasion or through the threat of explicit regulation. This is sometimes known as "regulation by raised eyebrow."
I am wondering if any historians among you can think of interesting examples of this kind of behavior from history-- be it statements by one of Napolean's ministers, or a Roman emperor. Statements by people or groups that actually *could carry out explicit regulations are best (a legislator might not be able to get any votes, and so his words can be safely ignored).
I know this one is a long shot, but I've found Ask MeFi to be one of the best sources for these kinds of recherché questions.
I'm inclined to suspect that the further east you look, the more you'll see of it. Not because the Mysterious Orient™ is all perfectly Daoist and free of coercion or anything, but there is more value placed on reading between the lines there than in the West.
posted by eritain at 7:09 PM on March 6, 2008
posted by eritain at 7:09 PM on March 6, 2008
Parents Music Resource Center?
"As a method of combating this alleged problem, the PMRC suggested a voluntary move by the RIAA and the music industry to develop "guidelines and/or a rating system" similar to the MPAA film rating system. Additional suggestions from the PMRC that appeared in an article in the Washington Post included: printing warnings and lyrics on album covers, forcing record stores to put albums with explicit covers under the counters, pressuring television stations not to broadcast explicit songs or videos, "reassess[ing]" the contracts of musicians who performed violently or sexually in concert, and creating a panel to set industry standards. This article led to the removal of rock music and magazines from American stores including Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney, Sears, and Fred Meyer."
posted by iviken at 6:41 AM on March 7, 2008
"As a method of combating this alleged problem, the PMRC suggested a voluntary move by the RIAA and the music industry to develop "guidelines and/or a rating system" similar to the MPAA film rating system. Additional suggestions from the PMRC that appeared in an article in the Washington Post included: printing warnings and lyrics on album covers, forcing record stores to put albums with explicit covers under the counters, pressuring television stations not to broadcast explicit songs or videos, "reassess[ing]" the contracts of musicians who performed violently or sexually in concert, and creating a panel to set industry standards. This article led to the removal of rock music and magazines from American stores including Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney, Sears, and Fred Meyer."
posted by iviken at 6:41 AM on March 7, 2008
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John Howard, Prime Minister of Australia, 6 December 2001.
Some background
posted by mattoxic at 3:11 PM on March 6, 2008