巴基斯坦：远景与现实，过去与未来

巴基斯坦作为一个独立的国家,它不仅仅代表着一个国家和政府,而且还是一种对当代政治中占统治地位的自由化与世俗化模式发起的挑战,它本身就构成了一种变革政治地图的努力。文章从巴基斯坦的现实分析了这个国家的过去与未来。     

Pakistan: the political economy of militarism

Ahmad Faruqui is an economist, who serves as a fellow with the American Institute of International Studies. He is the author of Rethinking the National Security of Pakistan. Julian Schofield is an assistant professor in political science at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. His research examines the effects of arms races, particularly in relation to South Asia.     

Law and Morality at War

Through a critical engagement with Jeremy Waldron’s work, as well as the work of other writers, I offer an account of the relative scope of the morality of war, the laws of war, and war crimes. I propose an instrumentalist account of the laws of war, according to which the laws of war should help soldiers conform to the morality of war. The instrumentalist account supports Waldron’s conclusion that the laws of war justifiably prohibit attacks on civilians even if it turns out that some civilians lack a moral right not to be killed. Importantly, the instrumentalist account also offers what Waldron thinks impossible: a non-consequentialist defense of the failure of the laws of war to prohibit the killing of nonthreatening combatants. Finally, I argue that new war crimes can be broader than the morality of war as well as established laws of war and that many of the arguments for defining war crimes more narrowly than either the morality of war or the laws of war are unconvincing. In all of these ways, I hope to carry forward Waldron’s project of exploring the relationship between law and morality in war.     

Political Brand Equity Model: The Integration of Political Brands in Voter Choice

The voters’ choices about political parties have many similarities with how they make their choices about commercial brands. Therefore, political parties are now constantly applying the concept and strategies of brand management to make the political product attractive, appealable, trustable, differentiable, a source of long-term relationships, and a decision-making driver. Furthermore, the political parties have to play an active role in the community's political socialization processes, which rely heavily on branding strategies. Because, the party equity is largely based on the community's social gregariousness that has profound effect on the electorates' propensity to participate in the politics. This study has deeply explored and broadened the concept of party equity analogous to commercial brand equity typology by developing a politics-specific brand equity model. This model demonstrates the integration of political brands in voter choice. Empirically, this model has been validated by collecting 550 valid responses from the constituency of District Gujrat, Pakistan. A careful analysis of these responses through structural equation modeling methodology has revealed that political parties vary according to the outcomes of their role in the political socialization process of the communities, loyalty, and voters’ attitude. Parties that have favorable role in the socialization process have strong party knowledge and thus have high party equity as compared to competing political parties, which have a weak position of party knowledge. Similarly, this study provides the roadmap and guidelines for the political parties to manage their party equity. Similarly, the model would be able to facilitate political parties in comparing different constituencies on the basis of their diversified social dynamics and political knowledge and in the development of a constituency-based manifesto, also termed “localized manifesto,” to further enhance their vote bank.     

The politics of petroleum pricing in Ghana: Institutions,power dynamics,and social networks

The study, drawing on the political settlement approach, examines how powers, institutions, networks, and interests influence the pricing of petroleum products in Ghana. Qualitative research approach was for the study, and purposive sampling was used to interview 24 respondents. The findings suggest the existence of power struggles among the key actors in the pricing of fuel. The findings revealed that the National Petroleum Authority, bulk distribution oil companies, oil marketing companies, International Monetary Fund, and energy policy think tanks influence result into policy. Actors influence fuel prices through taxes, policy guidelines, exchange rate, and legal actions. The study recommends that capacity of the key players should be built by the Government of Ghana so as to ensure healthy competition and stability in the pricing of petroleum products in Ghana. Political interference in the pricing of fuel should be limited so that the key players can operate successfully in the petroleum downstream.     

Corporate Identity and Solidarity Among the Railway Workers of Atbara, 1924-1946

This article examines the way in which railway employment and urban life have led to the development of a unique identity among the railway workers of Atbara, headquarters of the Sudan Railways. During the period covered by this article, Atbara's railway men formed the core of the Sudanese working class and inaugurated one of the best and most dynamic labor movements in Africa and the Middle East. As many scholars have noted, the development of labor activism, solidarity, and strong social bonds are among the most important characteristics of railway workers worldwide. This article argues that the development of these attributes were closely associated with the nature of railway employment, which involved intensive socialization and acculturation into the norms of the industry.