The Fourth Revolution: Reinventing the State and Democracy for the 21st Century

Historically, liberal democracy was born as a means to curb the power of kings and tyrants through mechanisms that would ensure accountability and consent of the governed. A system of checks and balances—two legislative chambers, executive and independent courts—were instituted to ensure power did not become too concentrated. Today's highly diverse, mass consumer societies, however, have presented another set of challenges. Power is so diffused governance is becoming ineffective. The short‐term mentality of voters and the lobbying of special interests undermine the ability of democracies to focus on the long‐term and the common interest. Because there are more checks than balances, gridlock has supplanted consensus. In this section, we compare Chinese and Western systems on their ability to deliver good governance. The editors of the Economist magazine put the debate in historical context.     

委内瑞拉查韦斯“21世纪社会主义”理论

查韦斯自1998年当选委内瑞拉总统以来,十分向往社会主义。从2005年2月起,查韦斯多次提出要用“21世纪社会主义”和“新社会主义”取代“资本主义”,并自称是社会主义者。他提出的建设“21世纪社会主义”的理论,如今已成为拉美地区社会主义运动的重要思潮之一,并产生了一定的影响。     

Terrorism and Beyond: a 21st Century Perspective

Abstract

This study examines trends in the incidence of international hostage‐barricade terrorism (HBT) since the late 1960s, the concurrent development of elite hostage rescue units (HRUs), and the relative effectiveness of American, Soviet, West European, Israeli, and other Third World responses—using dialogue or force—to HBT actions. Although HRUs have scored some dramatic rescues, three major hostage massacres in Third World countries in 1985–1986 and other bloody HBT incidents in 1988 demonstrated the high cost of using force prematurely and ineptly to resolve HBT crises. Focusing on these and other HRU failures, this study questions the American and Israeli “no‐ransom, no‐negotiation” policies in HBT situations and concludes that a more flexible approach of patiently “talking down” and “wearing down” the hostage‐takers through basic hostage‐negotiation techniques—even if only as a delaying tactic—is vital for maximizing the chances for rescuing hostages safely, whether through dialogue or force. Conversely, if authorities quickly resort to military action, hostages are far more likely to suffer casualties than to be rescued safely.     

进入21世纪的日本共产党

在即将进入 2 1世纪的 2 0 0 0年 1 1月 ,日本共产党召开了第 2 2次代表大会。以此次大会为标志 ,这个拥有 80年历史的政党正在力图实现自身的巨大转变。这种转变主要表现为 ,对党的性质进行了重新界定 ;作为党的最终奋斗目标的“共产主义社会”被“共同社会”所取代 ;“资本主义框架内的民主改革”成为实现“共同社会”的途径 ,“社会主义革命”从党章中消失 ;进一步明确了对社会主义的基本立场等。日本共产党决意开始这种世纪性大转变 ,既有其自身组织能力严重退化的原因 ,又有日本社会结构深刻变化以及冷战后世界社会主义运动的影响。     

马克思主义:西方与东方--20世纪马克思主义的演变及其21世纪的前景

20世纪马克思主义在东西方走上了不同的发展道路.东西方马克思主义在这一百年中产生了五次重大分歧,基本格局是东方的制度社会主义成为马克思主义发展的主流和中心.二者的百年争论集中在市场与民主两大主题上,分歧的根源在于双方历史阶段和文化背景的差异以及对马克思主义基本理论和20世纪实践关系的不同看法.马克思主义的两股潮流将在21世纪反对全球资本主义的斗争中重新合流,走向马克思主义发展的新阶段.     

Risk, Gender, and Development in the 21st Century

Globalization creates wealth but also financial crises. Although these systemic risks are generated by all participants in the world economy, their costs are disproportionately borne by the poor, especially women, who live in developing nations, with irrevocable damage to their capabilities. Since current reform proposals do not address inequities in the distribution of the costs of financial crises, we suggest changes in the design, implementation, content, and funding of policies that could provide security to women during crises. We argue that our suggestions will not succeed without women's participation in the debate on the reform of international financial architecture.     

The Changing Development Landscape in the First Decade of the 21st Century and its Implications for Development Studies

Abstract

The first decade of the 21st century has been characterised by complex and interrelated changes that have affected development. Development studies as a discipline has traditionally been concerned with the impact of colonisation and neocolonialism, and with neoliberal-related growth models. This paper argues that, since around the turn of the century, there has been a major shift in development, driven by a series of fundamental changes, including the relative failure of the neoliberal project in the 1980s and 1990s, which by the 2000s was partly replaced by a greater concern with addressing security issues with aid; the rise of China and other middle-income countries as large resource providers for development; and the rapid increase of remittance flows to lower and middle income countries. The paper looks at how both development studies and aid policy in Australia and elsewhere have been relatively slow to engage with this rapidly changing context. The big challenges for development studies will be: engaging with developing countries as development donors with different agendas for development; the decline of much of the current neoliberal paradigm; alternative sources of development finance; and the securitisation of Western aid.