The Human Rights State: Justice Within and Beyond Sovereign Nations

The Human Rights State: Justice Within and Beyond Sovereign Nations. By Benjamin Gregg (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016). pp.viii + 283. US$59.95 (hb).     

俄罗斯国家定位:从帝国到面向欧亚的民族国家

冷战后的俄罗斯丧失了帝国但还没有形成清晰的国家定位。关于俄罗斯国家定位,从内部看是如何处理帝国后遗症与走向正常的民族国家之间的关系,从外部看是关于走向西方与面向欧亚之间的矛盾。在经历国内政治、经济的艰难转型以及对外的外交博弈,帝国之后的俄罗斯其国家定位必然是建设在面向欧亚基础上的正常的民族国家。     

从文化共同体到后古典民族国家:德国民族国家演进浅析

长期封建割据造成德国民族国家的形成晚于英、法等传统西方国家。其建立民族国家的路径是先有民族,后有国家。德国民族国家是建立在由血缘、历史、语言、文化等要素构成的"文化共同体"的基础上,这一文化共同体同时也构成了德国民族认同的核心要素。受到历史和地缘政治因素的影响,德国民族国家的发展道路较为特殊,这也决定了其融入西方过程的曲折与漫长。20世纪90年代,两德重新统一后,德国与其他欧盟成员国一样进入后古典民族国家形态,将主权部分地让渡给超国家共同体。德国民族国家目前需要解决的是欧盟治理结构中的"新德国问题"。     

State Developmentalism Without a Developmental State: The Public Foundations of the Free Market Miracle in Chile

If export orientation is a goal in a sustainable development strategy, this study argues that public interventions at the sectoral level in a variety of markets can produce economic reorientation that pursues international comparative advantage faster and at lower cost than free market forces can. Pervasive failures in information, credit, input, distribution, and insurance markets can render strictly market-based adjustment both slow and costly. Although Chile's export boom and high growth rates have been associated with its free market economic policies, this article, based on a comparison of the fruit, fish, and forestry sectors, contends that new forms of public intervention were crucial catalysts in shaping a sustained export response.     

The Australian Welfare State: Has Federalism Made a Difference?

This paper examines the historical development of the Australian welfare state with a view to identifying the role that Australia's federal constitutional arrangements have played in shaping that development. Theoretical paradigms have been unanimous in their prognoses: that federal states are likely to be slow in developing welfare state programmes and typically spend less on them than unitary states. But recently it has been argued that federal institutions may have a “ratchet effect” of slowing down the pace of change, irrespective of its direction. The purpose of this chronological account of significant stages in the development of the Australian welfare state is to use the unfolding of historical events — far too rich in nuance and detail to be captured in quantitative modelling — as a test‐bed for establishing whether, and, if so, to what extent, federalism has impacted on the trajectory of Australian welfare state development.     

"Never Hitherto Seen Outside of a Zoo or a Menagerie": The Language of Australian Politics

Since the early 1980s, "linguistic" and "cultural" influences have shaped the study of history and the broader social sciences worldwide. In Australia these influences have developed more slowly than in comparable countries such as Great Britain or the United States. Yet the colourful language and "culture wars" of Australian politics have long been key ingredients of political history's appeal in and outside of the academy. Many practitioners perceive that the so-called "turns" constitute a threat to the study of political history. This article contends that, on the contrary, they have enlivened historiographical concerns.     

The Impact of the European Union on Sub-National Mobilization in A Unitary State: The Case of Estonia

The discussion of multi-level governance and sub-national mobilization has become a critical case for those concerned with the political and institutional consequences of European integration. The evidence so far indicates that the EU impact on the empowerment of the sub-national level has not been as uniform within member states as the multi-level governance concept traditionally would assume. This article explores the Europeanization impact on sub-national mobilization in Estonia. The results of the study address the factors affecting the emergence of multi-level governance and provide a foundation for the analysis of the possible wider applicability of these manifestations to a wider set of countries with similar territorial and political structures.     

霸权的困境--"美国霸权治下的和平"与"新帝国"论的神话

"9·11"恐怖袭击事件的发生及其后续发展彰显了实力与国家安全之间的背离,国际多边主义与美国单边主义之间的对峙成了决定未来大国关系走向和国际体系发展的主要矛盾."美国霸权治下的和平"和"新帝国"论的倡导者主张美国应该通过追求超强实力实现国家安全和世界稳定,应该采取单边主义和先发制人战略实现并维持美国对世界的领导地位,应该通过追求国家绝对安全和相对收益为未来世界制定秩序.它忽视了实力上升并不必然带来安全相应增加的历史新现实,而演绎的只是一个现代神话.未来的世界和平,只能是"多边协调下的和平".     

Mapping the Labyrinth from Within: The Political Economy of Nicaraguan Youth Policy Concerning Violence

This article explores some of the methodological dimensions relating to the study of the two main Nicaraguan governmental organisations that deal with youth violence: the National Police and the Office of the Special Ombudsman for Children and Adolescents. It details how they were mapped institutionally and how their dysfunctions, contradictions and interactions were identified, including the ways in which the problem of political interference emerged and manifested itself through the coexistence of incongruent interest groups, discourses and practices in both organisations. The analytical process is explained and there is a detailed discussion of how the author obtained access to information.     

Introduction: The democratic consolidation of Lithuania's State Institutions

What has enabled the Finnic and Baltic slivers east of the Baltic Sea to survive in the midst of a Germanic-Slavic Northern Europe for the last 1000 years? Such an outcome was not foreordained – it is the result of a succession of lucky circumstances, on top of the strength of native cultures. Favorable factors include geopolitical location, worldwide main currents such as Protestantism and Romanticism, competition among would-be assimilators, and the unintentional positive impact of personalities extraneous to the Baltic area, such as Bishop Albert, Martin Luther and Peter the First. The latter occupy only a part of this overview, but as partly counter-intuitive examples they highlight the contradictory vagaries of the process of nation-building east of the Baltic Sea. While the focus is on Estonia and Latvia, some observations apply to Lithuania and Finland as well. Sustainability during the last 1000 years has implications for future national survival, but with marked reservations in a demographically imploding Europe. Nations without children have no future.