Soviet conspiracy theories and political culture in Ukraine: Understanding Viktor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions

Conspiracy theories in Ukraine draw on inherited Soviet political culture and political technology imported from Russia where such ideas had gained ascendancy under President Vladimir Putin. Eastern Ukrainian and Russian elites believed that the US was behind the 2000 Serbian Bulldozer, 2003 Georgian Rose and 2004 Orange democratic revolutions. The Kuchmagate crisis, impending succession crisis, 2004 presidential elections and Orange Revolution – all of which took up most of Leonid Kuchma’s second term in office – were the first significant domestic threats to Ukraine’s new, post-communist ruling elites and in response Ukraine’s elites revived Soviet style theories of conspiracies and ideological tirades against the US and Ukrainian nationalism. Opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko became the focal point against which the conspiracies and tirades were launched because his support base lay in ‘nationalist’ Western Ukraine and he has a Ukrainian-American spouse. The revival of Soviet style conspiracy theories has become important since Viktor Yanukovyc’s election as Ukrainian president in 2010 because this political culture permeates his administration, government and Party of Regions determining their worldview and influencing their domestic and foreign policies.     

Understanding contentious collective action by Chinese laid-off workers: The importance of regional political economy

Episodes of contentious collective action involving laid-off workers have erupted throughout China in recent years. With few exceptions, studies of Chinese laid-off workers’ contention have attempted to generalize from field research in very few⦓r even single⤜ocalities. This limitation has led to several debates that can frequently be addressed by examining differences in political economy among China’s industrial regions. Based on 19 months of fieldwork and over 100 in-depth interviews with workers, managers, and officials in nine Chinese cities, this article offers a systematic, sub-national comparative analysis of laid-off workers’ contention. The article also addresses broader issues in the analysis of social movements and contentious politics, a field that has too often failed to take such regional differences into account. William Hurst is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is completing a dissertation on the politics of China’s state-sector lay-offs. His previous publications include “Analysis in Limbo: Contemporary Chinese Politics Amid the Maturation of Reform” (with Lowell Dittmer;Issues & Studies, December 2002/March 2003), and China’s Contentious Pensioners” (with Kevin O’Brien;The China Quarterly, June 2002). This article benefited from the assistance of many Chinese friends and colleagues in Beijing, Benxi, Chongqing, Datong, Harbin, Luoyang, Shanghai, Shenyang, and Zhengzhou. Kiren Chaudhry, Calvin Chen, Ruth B. Collier, Kenneth Foster, Mark W. Frazier, Douglas Fuller, Mary E. Gallagher, thomas B. Gold, Kun-chin Lin, Chung-in Moon, Kevin O’Brien, Dorothy Solinger, Jaeyoun Won, as well as Judy Gruber and all the participants in her Spring 2003 seminar, and two anonymous reviewers offered extremely helpful comments. For their generous financial support during various stages of my research and writing, I wish to thank: the Fulbright Institute of International Education Program, the National Security Education Program, the Yanjing Institute at Harvard University, the University of Hawaii, Beijing University, the Lewis Mumford Center for Comparative Urban and Regional Research at SUNY-Albany, the University, of California Institute for Labor and Employment, as well as the Graduate Division, the Institute for International Studies, the Institute for East Asian Studies, and the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California-Berkeley.     

印共(马)在西孟加拉邦的执政实践

印共(马)在印度东部重镇西孟加拉邦三十多年的执政实践领导该邦走出了一条独具地方特色的发展道路,在农业和农村发展、地方工业化、社会和谐与稳定、民权保护等方面取得了明显成效.其地方执政也面临着诸多现实问题的挑战:工业化进程正遭受阻力,印共(马)坚持改革取向与保持其多元支持基础之间具有相悖性,左翼阵线内部存在分歧,应对反左势力的挑战.     

西方绿色政治理论及其影响

绿色政治是在20世纪60--70年代伴随着绿色经济、绿色文化、绿色思想、绿色产品、绿色文明而产生的一种新的政治运动.这一运动的理论成果表现为绿色政治理论.     

Shia political development in Iraq: the case of the Islamic Dawa Party

The invasion of Iraq and its subsequent occupation by US‐led forces has allowed the majority Shia population to assert itself politically. Much of the debate regarding its political development has focused on the role of the religious scholars, at the expense of other Shia political groups. The Dawa Party has the longest history of organised communal political activity in Iraq among the Shia and is the only main party headed by a non‐scholar. The persecution it suffered under Saddam Hussein and the sacrifices it made have earned it support among the Shia population, but its fractious nature and the other Shia political groupings will make it difficult for the party to regain its former influence amongst the Shia.     

Party penetration of society in Hong Kong: The role of mutual aid committees and political parties

Party penetration of society can be illuminated by the study of how political parties in Hong Kong have been infiltrating Mutual Aid Committees (MACs), which are housing organisations in private and public buildings. While “administrative absorption of politics” was viewed as a hallmark of Hong Kong under British rule during the 1970s, political penetration of local administration has emerged as the feature of the body politic since the 1990s. The colonial government's neglect of the MACs in the 1990s has been inherited by the post‐colonial administration since the transfer of Hong Kong's sovereignty in 1997. On the other hand, some MACs have penetrated political parties because they find that the government has swept them under the carpet and that parties can deliver various constituent services. This interpenetration of parties and MACs is an enduring feature of grassroots politics in Hong Kong today.     

俄罗斯政治版图的新变化——"公正俄罗斯"党

2006年10月28日,俄罗斯生活党、退休者党和祖国党三个中左翼党派分别举行非例行代表会议,一致决定合并组建新党,并将新党的名称确定为"公正俄罗斯:祖国·退休者·生活"(简称"公正俄罗斯"党).当天,"公正俄罗斯"党举行了成立大会,原俄罗斯生活党领导人谢尔盖·米罗诺夫以160票赞成,6票反对的结果当选为该党领导人.     

Party finance in Russia: Has the 2001 law ‘on political parties’ made a difference?

The 2001 law ‘On political parties’ instituted several substantive changes to party finance in Russia. This article examines these elements of the law on parties, which have so far received little attention, to ascertain the aims of this party-funding reform, the extent to which these aims have been realised, and what impact—if any—the financial terms of the law have had on party finance. The article draws on new sources, namely parties' annual financial accounts, to shed fresh light on party funding in Russia and on the presidential administration's attitude to party finance.     

深化战略互信 促进全面合作——在中欧政党高层论坛上的致辞

女士们、先生们、朋友们：晚上好!今晚有机会与大家欢聚一堂,感到十分高兴。首先,我要向来自欧洲地区性政党、欧洲议会党团和欧洲各国主要政党的领导人及驻华使节,表示热烈的欢迎和诚挚的谢意,感谢你们长期以来为促进中欧关系发展、增进中欧人民友谊作出的努力与贡献!     

Civilisational values and political economy beyond the West: the significance of Korean debates at the time of its economic opening

This paper analyses the prominence of civilisational values in Korean political economy debates in the late 19th and early 20th centuries concerning their country's dramatic opening to the world economy at the time. Korean supporters of economic opening saw this policy change as part of a wider embrace of Western civilisational values, while opponents argued that their country's longstanding economic autarchy upheld traditional Neo-Confucian civilisational values that had been imported from China. For international political economy (IPE) scholars interested in the historical relationship between civilisational values and political economy, the analysis shows how these values shaped understandings of international economic relations outside the West in quite distinctive ways. For IPE scholars interested in the diffusion of ideas, the analysis highlights different dynamics involved in the ‘localisation’ of ideas emanating from dominant powers. More generally, the study of this Korean history also contributes to the building of a more ‘inter-civilisational’ approach to IPE today.     

西方政党组织与政党认同的关系

政党组织与政党认同之间存在着一个互动的过程:政党组织是政党认同的制度性资源,拥有健全有效、组织严密、动员有力的组织既是政党组织制度化的结果,也是政党争取认同的有效手段;而政党认同也是政党组织发展的内在驱动力.从西方政党组织的嬗变折射出政党系统内外环境的变化,以及政党认同总体发展的曲线.     

西方国家政党政治与政党制度

政党的产生和发展是世界文明演进史上一个具有里程碑意义的事件.西方特别是西欧,是世界最早出现政党的地区,是世界政党制度的发源地.西方近代政党制度的产生,以及由此逐步形成的政党政治,使西方国家的上层建筑实现了革命性飞跃,对本国政治、经济、社会文化的发展产生深远的影响,也对世界大多数国家的政治演进带来了重要影响.