Back to the Future: Changing Repertoire in Contemporary Protests

This article opposes theoretical attempts to explain the Brazilian 2013 cycle of protests by fragmentation. It argues that the plurality of social actors engaged in those protests faced a field of contention deeply framed by autonomist practices, which allowed the aggregation of very different political views in an all-embracing political phenomenon. In addition, it suggests a broader change in the repertoire of contention that involves elements from the two historical periods discussed by Charles Tilly. Contemporary political contention gathers together the parochial and direct elements of the pre-social movements era with the broader and cosmopolitan elements of the social movements era.     

Anti-Apartheid Solidarity Networks and the Production of Come Back,Africa

In 1957, American filmmaker Lionel Rogosin arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, determined to make a film about apartheid. “Anti-apartheid Solidarity Networks and the Production of Come Back, Africa” discusses the film’s historical and cultural significance, and— a topic which deserves more attention— the film’s production. The article examines the interconnected and international nature of early anti-apartheid activism. International movements against apartheid may have been relatively small between 1957 and up until March of 1960, but Come Back Africa’s production shows that anti-apartheid activists and artists were becoming increasingly connected in a transnational web spanning the Atlantic with hubs in South Africa, Europe, and the United States. In the case of Come Back, Africa, relationships forged between Rogosin, black South African artists-activists (such as Lewis Nkosi, William “Bloke” Modisane, and Miriam Makeba) and white liberal anti-apartheid activists (including Father Trevor Huddleston, Reverend Michael Scott, and Mary Benson) proved mutually beneficial.     

“退向未来”:冷战后德国地缘政治思想刍议

冷战结束后,德国当代部分地缘政治学者从重新研读德国传统地缘政治学文献入手,力图求证德国地缘政治学与纳粹意识形态之间存在的根本不同,探讨德国传统地缘政治逻辑方法与概念命题的当代价值,并在此基础上提出了包括放弃融入西方政策、重回中部视角、重视东方战略等在内的政策建议。冷战后德国的地缘政治思想依然是德国传统地缘政治研究方法及其多文本表述的延续,它基本没有克服德国传统地缘政治思想存在的诸多缺陷,对德国外交政策制定的影响力亦是有限与隐性的。此外,德国当代地缘政治研究在精神上与冷战后德国及欧洲的新右翼政治势力联系较为紧密。     

Bringing Policy Communities Back In: The Case of Fire Service Cover

It is argued that the concept of a policy community has an enduring value in the analysis of public policy, especially if an emphasis is placed on the way in which ideas are excluded from debates. Historical analysis based on the National Archives using a political science conceptual framework can offer fresh perspectives. The concept is developed through a specification of the conditions that encourage policy community formation and survival. Policy inertia led to a policy that produced a higher rate of deaths from fire in the UK than in other developed countries, especially among the socially excluded. The policy community concept can be of value in the policy analysis tool-kit, especially if policy frames that have become embedded to the exclusion of alternatives are identified.     

普京重返克里姆林宫——是时候忘记俄罗斯现代化了吗?

尽管面对大规模的抗议示威活动以及竞选舞弊的指责,普京还是获得了2012年总统大选的胜利,踏上了重返克里姆林宫之路。本轮大选表现出两个在俄罗斯历史上从未出现的特征:第一,因特网在俄政治生活中发挥了越来越大的作用,尤其是社交媒体在示威活动组织方面表现出强大的动员能力;第二,普京在竞选过程中做出了高额的社会支出承诺,代表着2000年以来的保守性财政政策的终结,但是俄罗斯的财政收入极易受到国际油价波动的影响,在这种情况下过高的联邦预算支出将为俄罗斯未来的经济形势蒙上一层阴影。本轮竞选活动中发生的大规模群众示威活动表现了新兴中产阶级、知识分子以及商业精英为代表的部分民众的不满,并且对执政者的不满敢于公开表达了,普京未来需要努力与社会达成新的"契约"。国际油价的持续攀升可以保证普京实现其奢侈的开支承诺,但是油价不可能始终保持高位,收回增加退休金、提高教师和医生工资、军队重新装备等开支承诺,不仅会激起人民的反对更会引发利益集团强大的压力。如何保持预算平衡,促进俄罗斯经济稳定发展,普京将面临艰巨的考验。     

Bringing Realism Back In: Explaining China's Strategic Behavior in the Asia-Pacific

This article argues that offensive realism is applicable to explain China's strategic behavior. Contrary to constructivist and liberal arguments, ideational and domestic factors are not the primary causes of China's strategic behavior. Instead, structural and material factors such as anarchy and the distribution of relative power significantly shape how China behaves in the Asia-Pacific. Furthermore, they have a larger impact relative to non-material/unit-level variables on China's policymaking. Available evidence strongly indicates that China's strategic behavior is driven by power maximizing calculation. China's grand strategy, its maritime ambition as well as naval modernization, and rapid growth rate of military expenditure all confirm the hypotheses of offensive realism.     

Back to the forest: exploring forest transitions in Candelaria Loxicha, Mexico

Declining profitability of agriculture and/or higher prices of forest products and services typically drive an increase in forest cover. This article examines changes in forest cover in Candelaria Loxicha, Mexico. Forest cover increased in the area as a result of coffee cultivation in coffee forest-garden systems. Dependence on forest products and services, and not prices of forest products, drive the process in our study site. Low international coffee prices and high labor demand outside the community might pull farmers out of agriculture, but they do not completely abandon the lands. A diversification in income sources prevents land abandonment and contributes to maintaining rural populations and coffee forest gardens.     

Back to the Future, Again: Reagan, Bush, and Nader

Books reviewed in this article:
Kiron K. Skinner, Annelise Anderson and Martin Anderson, (eds.) Reagan, in his own hand: The writings of Ronald Reagan that Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America
Elizabeth Mitchell, W: Revenge of the Bush Dynasty
Molly Ivins and Lou Dubose, Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush
Nicholas Lemann, Sons: George W. Bush and Al Gore
Ralph Nader, Cutting Corporate Welfare     

Russo-Japanese Cooperation Imperative to bring Peace Treaty Negotiations Back on the Right Track

On the territorial issue between Japan and Russia, Sumio Edamura, former Japanese Ambassador in Moscow from 1990 to 1994, urges the negotiators to restore the spirit of trust and cooperation which once prevailed. To that end, he argues that it is imperative that both countries reconfirm their intention to continue to use the Tokyo Declaration of 1993 ‐ which contains clear guidelines for the resolution of this issue ‐ as the basis for the their future negotiations. The negotiators on both sides should have the courage to face up to the truth and be consistent without being swayed by the changing political pressures or the mood of the times.