The Untameable Logic of Sacrifice

Abstract

Paolo Diego Bubbio's Sacrifice in the Post-Kantian Tradition offers a valuable and insightful discussion of the place of sacrifice plays in nineteenth century European philosophy, setting the stage for its emergence as a central theme in subsequent continental thought. Bubbio offers a strong case for the claim that the foundational move of the post-Kantian tradition is a fundamentally kenotic one. Bubbio is also critical of certain excesses in the way sacrifice is discussed in more recent work. However, the case of Kierkegaard in particular suggests kenosis is not so easily kept within the comfortable boundaries Bubbio prescribes for it: its excesses may be an integral part, rather than a hyperbolic distortion, of the logic of sacrifice.     

加强责任区刑警队规范化建设的思考

责任区刑警队是公安机关一线战斗实体,是侦查破案的专业队伍。铁路公安机关以“三基一化”建设为契机,贯彻“警力下沉、充实基层”的精神,进一步深化刑侦体制改革。加强责任区刑警队建设,健全完善管理体制,打牢刑侦工作基础,努力提升综合素质,充分发挥职能作用,全力推进刑侦工作专业化、规范化建设,把铁路公安机关刑侦工作推上一个新的台阶。     

村社区干部贪腐现象及其预防对策——以M市城乡结合部为例

我国城市化进程中出现了大量的城乡结合部地带,受特殊的历史、社会、经济等因素影响,这一区域矛盾非常复杂,治理难度较大。尤其是在土地征迁、经合社10%留用地项目建设、"三资"管理等方面频频发生的基层干部贪腐现象,不仅直接损害了村民(社区居民)的利益,而且严重影响了党群关系和政治信任,成为城乡结合部稳定和发展的一大障碍。预防村(社区)基层干部的腐败,一要强化村(社区)务公开,对"三资"管理实行"钱账双代理"制度;二要加强村民(社区居民)的监督权、罢免权,让群众积极参与到村级(社区)公共事务管理当中来;三要规范程序标准,营造公开透明拆迁环境;四要加大查处力度,发挥惩戒威慑功能。     

Survival of the Ministers: On Ministerial Durability in Postwar Norway

The field of ministerial durability, showing why some ministers are dismissed and others not, has increased in size over the last decade. Specifically, linking ministerial performance through resignation calls with durability has been applied to both majoritarian and semi‐presidential systems, whereas this link is less explored in consensual electoral systems. Thus, this study explores the relationship between ministerial performance and durability in postwar Norway, drawing on the principal‐agent theory for parliamentary democracies and the accountability link between party leaders and ministers. The main finding is that there are many similarities to other studies’ ministerial durability and performance. By measuring performance in resignation calls coming through the media, it is found that ministerial durability is decreased when performance is low: the more resignation calls a minister gets, the more likely the minister is to be removed by the party leader. Consequently, it is argued that ministers generally are held accountable by their party leaders whenever they are perceived to perform badly. Even though it is argued in the article that studies on ministerial durability and performance would benefit from alternative performance measures, the analysis shows that resignation calls give a good indication of how party leaders hold ministers accountable.     

皖江城市带承接产业转移示范区研究——基于宣城市打造承接产业转移示范先行区的实证分析

本文在认真研究国内外产业转移理论及长三角产业转移趋势的基础上,分析影响宣城承接产业选择的因素。实证分析证明,宣城示范区与长三角存在产业发展层次的互补,可以探索打破行政区划和利益协调机制,构建多层次、宽领域、合作与竞争的区域经济合作新机制。     

Beyond the Limits of Nature: A Social-ecological Perspective on Degrowth as a Political Ideology

This article offers a critical analysis of the ideological position of degrowth from the perspective of social ecology. It agrees with Giorgios Kallis' call to abolish the growth imperative that capitalism embodies today, but it also presents a critique of the conceptual underpinnings of this notion. More precisely, I argue that degrowth as an ideological platform reproduces a binary conception of society and nature, an oppositional mentality which is a key concept to hierarchical epistemology. Degrowth as a political agenda is thus prone to appropriation to authoritarian ends. In order to temper this tendency and help degrowth as a tool of analysis reach its liberatory potential, I advocate its consideration alongside a social-ecological position.     

廉政文化建设与社会政治生态优化

一个良好的社会政治生态是国家长治久安的保障,也是民族复兴的基础。当前与腐败现象伴生的腐败文化在很多领域有滋生蔓延之势,其所具有的"扩散蔓延效应"、"群体压力效应"、"癌变效应"对社会政治生态产生了恶劣影响。廉政文化建设是社会主义先进文化的重要组成部分,从政治文化、社会文化、职业文化、社会舆论四个层面开展廉政文化建设,有针对性地遏制腐败,铲除腐败文化产生的社会土壤,能有效地促进社会政治生态的优化,从而为实现中华民族的伟大复兴奠定坚实的基础。     

Fiction and reality of mobility in Africa

This article draws on rich ethnographies and ethnographic fiction depicting mobile Africans and their relationships to the places and people they encounter to argue that mobility is more appropriately studied as an emotional, relational and social phenomenon as reflected in the complexities, contradictions and messiness of the everyday realities of encounters informed by physical and social mobility. The current dominant approach to studying and relating to mobile Africans is problematic. Nationals, citizens and locals in communities targeted by African mobility are instinctively expected to close ranks and fight off the influx of barbarians who do not quite belong and must be ‘exorcised’ so that ‘insiders’ do not lose out to this particular breed of ‘strangers’, ‘outsiders’ or ‘demons’, perceived to bode little but inconvenience and savagery. If and when allowed in, emphasis is on the needs, priorities and convenience of their reluctant hosts, who tend to go for the wealthy, the highly professionally skilled, the culturally bleached and Hottentot Venuses of the academy, even at the risk of accusations of capital flight and brain drain. The article demonstrates how to marry ethnography and fiction to study African mobility not only as a ‘collection of logical bones and flesh’ but also as ‘emotional beings’. It calls for conceptual flexibility and ethnographic empirical substantiation, and challenges social scientists to look beyond academic sources for ethnographies and accounts of how a deep, flexible and nuanced understanding of mobility and interconnections in Africa play out in different communities, states and regions of a world permanently on the move.     

NGOization and de-NGOization of Public Action in Nepal: The Role of Organizational Culture in Civil Society Politicality

Abstract

This article explores the relation between organizational culture and the politicality of civil society organizations, or rather their social construction as political. It is based on a case study of a network (NW) of human rights NGOs in Nepal during the last few years of a Maoist insurgency and the period of autocratic rule by ex-king Gyanendra, and its immediate aftermath. Through detailed ethnographic material, this article highlights the central role of the NW's organizational culture in allowing it to act in ways that were recognized as political. Specifically, it shows how a process of ‘de-NGOization’ of everyday practices and values enabled NW to become a credible actor for political change during a crucial period of Nepal's history. This article contributes to the ethnography of civil society, urges that more attention be paid to the relation of civil society to the political domain, and suggests ways forward in researching this topic.     

Representative Democracy as a Necessary Condition for the Survival of a Federal Constitution

It does not follow from the supposition that the union is beneficialthat its terms would go unchallenged by its members. The argumentin this article suggests that federal stability (robustness)requires for itself a well-functioning democratic process, whichsatisfies a fairly restrictive condition. A necessary conditionfor the resiliency of the federal regime is a representativedemocracy; furthermore, it is the representative democracy inwhich rewards to the representatives are only in part vestedin their parochial constituencies, while in the other part comeform other sources, e.g., from an oversized at-large coalition.The requirement to the democratic process is, of course, onlya necessary, not a sufficient condition for the federal success.Yet, we argue in this essay that only the states with well-developed(properly institutionalized) democratic electoral competitionhave a chance to form a resilient federal union and sustaintheir federal constitutional arrangements not just in form,but in their political practice as well.     

Insurances as a Method of Reducing the Financial Consequences of Environmental Disasters

On the market of industrial customers in the European Union （EU） as well in Poland have not yet been disseminated information related to environmental threats. The purpose of this study is seeking understanding and analyzing the functioning of business insurance as a method of financing the effects of environmental disasters, potential environmental threats, the costs of restoring the polluted environment to its original form. The design of the article was subordinated to the thesis according to which business insurance can be a method of financing the risk of environmental damages and prevention for protecting against the effects of these disasters. According to the subject of discussion it used： elemental analysis--if the object of study requires the distribution of the elements without looking for mutual dependence between them; casual analysis--when there was a need of looking for the cause-effect relationships between the elements of the object of the study.     

Semiotics of pride and profit: interrogating commodification in indigenous handicraft production

This study investigates the shifting terrain of pride, profit and power relations in minority language communities under contemporary globalisation. While “pride” associates linguistic-cultural heritage with identity and preservation, “profit” views these as sources of economic gain. In contemporary late capitalism, “pride” seems to be increasingly giving way to “profit”. Arguing that this transformation needs to be interrogated in terms of complexity and that a detailed, multilayered semiotic analysis can open a privileged window for such an inquiry, this study combines critical multimodal discourse analysis and an ethnographic approach to analyse processes of semiotic commodification in handicraft production in the indigenous minority language community of the Sámi in northern Lapland. The investigation focuses on the activities of an innovative Sámi artist and entrepreneur, and within these a range of paper notebooks, which are, although designed by the Sámi artist and sold in her handicraft shop in Lapland, produced by women living at the border of Thailand and Laos. The investigation illuminates two critical shifts: how the move towards profit can open up space to contest the ownership of pride within an ethnic community. Second, how this move makes way for new, globalised modes of production of ‘indigenous handicrafts’ and creates global vectors of power, engaged in both empowerment and exploitation, in the production of both pride and profit. The study thereby contributes to the understanding of the increasingly complex power relations and the ambivalence and multiple effects of practices constituting the apparent shift from “pride” to “profit”.     

The poetics of race in 1890s Ireland: an ethnography of the Aran Islands

By the end of the nineteenth century the Aran Islands off the west coast of Ireland had become sites of both cultural and scientific attention. Ashley examines how an ethnographical survey of the islands, based on the scientific claims of craniometry and anthropometry, engaged with and was influenced by the romantic traditions of writing about Aran. He suggests ways in which the work of the ethnographers, Haddon and Browne, should be seen as a development of the poetics of the islands, and placed alongside the literary work of Samuel Ferguson or J. M. Synge, rather than in opposition to them.     

Democratic Survival, Peace, and War in the International System

Post-World War II Western foreign policies are often based on the claim that the spread of democracy will result in global peace. Our understanding of how this propagation can bring about peace is limited, and we have little reason to believe that the causal arrow points only in one direction. We tackle these issues by modeling the linkages between states' regime types, interstate conflict, and the strength of the democratic community relative to the autocratic community. Analysis of our model suggests initial increases in the strength of the democratic community increase the level of conflict in a system. Beyond a threshold of democratic strength, however, conflict wanes as the democratic community waxes. Our model also suggests that the survival rate of democracies increases as the material strength of the democratic community increases and decreases as systemic conflict rises. Empirical analyses offer support for the survival propositions.     

Community Narratives of Disaster Risk and Resilience: Implications for Government Policy

The paper explores how subjective risk perception intersects with government disaster management policy that is premised on an objective approach to risk assessment and mitigation. It finds that the presumption of objective risk management underpinning government policy is fundamentally at odds with community risk perceptions. This paper applies the techniques of ethnographic study to explore how communities understand and frame risk narratives. Using qualitative methods, the paper constructs the risk narratives of residents of Rocklea, Brisbane, following their experience with the 2011 Brisbane Flood. These risk narratives are considered in light of the Australian National Strategy for Disaster Resilience and recommendations are accordingly made for government disaster management policy.     

Beyond birds: Biopower and birdwatching in the world of Audubon

ABSTRACT

This paper surveys the nascent experiments in political ecology underway in predominantly Kurdish areas of south-eastern Turkey, known as Bakûr, and Rojava (northern Syria). The Kurdish freedom movement is attempting to consolidate a social revolution with ecology at its heart in a most unpromising context, given its ongoing struggle against Islamic State and regional embargoes. This greening of its ideology can be significantly attributed to the influence of American social ecologist Murray Bookchin, an inspiration for Kurdish attempts to implement democratic confederalism, which comprises principles of direct democracy, gender equality and ecological well-being in a needs-based economy. The Mesopotamian Ecology Movement has emerged from activist campaigns opposing dam construction, climate change and deforestation in the region, to inform ecology councils tasked with formulating policies that reflect this philosophical paradigm shift. The essay considers the prospects for the ecological initiatives in Turkish and Syrian Kurdistan. It argues that, confronted by formidable challenges, expansion of the democratic confederal model beyond the heartlands of Bakûr and Rojava, and international solidarity, are preconditions for their endurance.     

开发区与行政区融合发展的制度逻辑与实践过程——以武汉经济技术开发区(汉南区)为例

开发区与行政区融合发展是开发区进行"二次创业"的重要选择.运用制度分析框架解释这一现象,并试图呈现武汉经济技术开发区(汉南区)融合发展的实践过程.开发区与行政区融合发展过程中地方政府的行为体现了宏观制度环境和中观制度安排的相互嵌套和相互作用.制度环境重大变迁对开发区与行政区融合发展提出了客观要求,纵向属地发包和横向竞争给地方政府提供了强大激励,行政区划的刚性约束使融合发展成为降低交易成本的理性选择.武汉开发区与汉南区融合发展的实践体现了行政关系、空间关系和产业关系的多维尺度重构.两区融合发展取得了显著成效,但仍面临着融合发展法律依据模糊、两区治理理念差异显著等诸多困境,需要通过多种措施实现综合发展绩效最大化.     

Leader Survival,Revolutions, and the Nature of Government Finance

Leaders face multiple threats to their political survival. In addition to surviving the threats to tenure from within the existing political systems, which is modeled using Bueno de Mesquita and colleagues' (2003) selectorate theory, leaders risk being deposed through revolutions and coups. To ameliorate the threat of revolution, leaders can either increase public goods provisions to buy off potential revolutionaries or contract the provision of those public goods, such as freedom of assembly, transparency, and free press, which enable revolutionaries to coordinate. Which response a leader chooses depends upon existing institutions and the structure of government finances. These factors also affect the likelihood and direction of institutional change. Tests of leader survival indicate that revolutionary threats increase the likelihood of deposition for nondemocratic leaders. Leaders with access to resources such as foreign aid or natural resource rents are best equipped to survive these threats and avoid the occurrence of these threats in the first place.     

Squatting for Survival: Precarious Housing in a Declining U.S. City

Despite severely depressed property markets, housing in declining U.S. cities can be surprisingly unaffordable for poor residents. Yet the characteristics of decline, such as abundant vacant property and constrained economic/political conditions, also provide opportunity for squatting. This article explores survival squatting—illegal occupation of property as a means for procuring suitable housing by marginalized residents. Drawing on a 4.5-year ethnography in Detroit, I examine the mechanisms by which people strategically choose squatting as a method of sheltering in the context of local conditions, and the experiences and conditions of this practice. I situate these empirical findings within a broader discussion comparing squatting and other forms of housing that have received considerable attention by researchers (e.g., shelter use, sleeping rough, doubling up). Squatting is particularly risky and unstable, and often very hidden. Substandard housing conditions prevail, and substance abuse is common. Squatting may have negative implications for child welfare, but may also provide measures of independence, self-determination, and comfort for illegal occupiers. There is a critical need for further research in this area, both to inform comprehensive housing policies and to anticipate how squatters’ well-being is impacted by other urban initiatives, such as blight demolition.     

Capitalism,Socialism and the Challenge of Degrowth: Introduction to the Symposium

This is an overview of a symposium on degrowth centred on Giorgos Kallis’ call for a socialism without growth, which insists on the need to be mindful of throughputs and the ecological consequences of any socialist project. Summarising and critically evaluating the various positions expressed by all the symposium participants, we find that Kallis’ ideas can be promising in drawing closer different Green Left perspectives, including ecosocialist, ecofeminist, and eco-Marxist. This complementarity is possible provided that degrowth proponents clearly align themselves politically on the side of the broad anti-capitalist Left and that the critiques expressed by the other symposium participants-especially with respect to Indigenous Peoples’ worldviews and practices and the dynamics that subtend the capitalist mode of production—become essential to degrowth platforms. We find already enough overlap among the diverse leftist positions represented in this Symposium for, at a minimum, continuing dialogue and, hopefully, politically beneficial mutual transformation and unification.