Bureaucratization in a Changing Society: Administrative Reforms in Late Nineteenth Century Chile

During the 1880s, a significant number of Chilean administrative services were reformed following the characteristics of the Weberian bureaucracy. From the analysis of two cases of administrative reform (the so-called Prussianization of the Chilean Army and the creation of institutions in the field of public health), this article seeks to understand why bureaucracy gained ground in nineteenth century Chile. Specifically, the article discusses how social conditions led policy makers to choose bureaucracy as a model for administrative organization. Through this analysis, the article aims to contribute to the theoretical discussion on the causes of bureaucratization.     

Christians and Muslims in Nineteenth Century Liberia: From Ideological Antagonism to Practical Toleration

Liberia was established, among others, as a Christian nation that would spearhead the spreading of the gospel to the black continent. This endeavor had the potential to bring about a collision between the Liberian settlers and the other imported monotheistic religion that had already been proselytizing in large areas of West Africa for centuries, namely Islam. This article analyzes the process by which the harsh reality defeated the Christian enterprise, turning the initial ideological antagonism into practical cooperation. It also discusses the initiative to formalize the relations between the two religions within a political framework and the reason for its failure. Relying on available sources, the article traces the penetration first of Islam, and later, in the nineteenth century, of Christianity into Liberia, and analyzes the consequences of the encounter between these religions.     

对华友好的罗马尼亚国家自由党

罗马尼亚国家自由党原建于1864年,是一个有较长历史的党,二战结束后,一度停止活动.1990年1月恢复重建,现为自由党国际成员.主席为现任政府总理克林·特里恰努,现有党员16万人.     

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.     

The Transition from Education to Employment Abroad: The Experiences of Young People from Poland

This article examines the subject of the transition from education to the labour market among young people moving directly from education in Poland to first jobs abroad. With free labour mobility in the European Union (EU), there are now more options for transitions into adulthood, including working abroad. This study uses mainly qualitative empirical material with some contextual quantitative data to examine the characteristics of young people who opted for a first job abroad, how they made their transitions from education to the foreign labour market, and the impact of their first jobs abroad on their subsequent occupational paths after returning home.     

The Century of Biology

If the 20th Century was the century of physics, the 21st Century is the century of cybernetics, biology and ecology. Technological advance has both crossed new frontiers and discovered old limits. Nobel laureate Ilya Prigogine broke new ground with his understanding that nature, including its human component, seeks to establish order out of chaos by “self‐organizing,” not only according to pre‐determined laws, but through random creative choices as well that are responsible for the endless novelty and potentiality of being. The technologically‐armed purposive role of humans in the Anthropocentric Age thus takes on a new significance: “What we do today depends on our image of the future rather than the future depending on what we do today” as Prigogine puts it. “The equations of the future are written in our actions as well as in nature. Time becomes construction.” Nowhere is this truer than in the new science of genomics, which touches the soul, and in the effort to preserve the ecological balance that has enabled humanity to flourish within the narrow band of earth's livable climate. In this section we bring together leading thinkers, scientists and technologists of our age to address these issues of mankind's fate.     

Notes from an Intruder: Explorations in Political Macroanalysis

This paper traces the development of my theoretical and methodological approach to political sociology by referring to important intellectual influences and recounting the considerations that led me to choose particular research subjects. The term “intruder” emphasizes my discomfort with the separation of sociology and political science into distinct professions, as I ended up choosing political science as my academic profession but have always felt intellectually more at home in sociology.     

20世纪的法兰西玫瑰潮--法国社会党100周年札记

以"拳头和玫瑰"为标记的法国社会党于2005年4月22日和23日,在巴黎举行了盛大的纪念活动,庆祝法国社会党成立100周年。回眸20世纪的法国史,我们可以看到,法国社会党是法国和西欧社会主义运动的一支重要力量,其百年史是一部玫瑰潮在法兰西大地涌动的历史,是一部不断探索社会主义理论和实践的历史。     

The Effect of Armed Conflict on Education: Evidence from Iraq

This study examines to what extent armed conflict affects education accumulation and enrolment rates, and whether this effect differs by gender. It uses the 2007 Iraq Household Socio-Economic Survey data in conjunction with data on civilian deaths recorded by the Iraq Body Count database. Conflict exposure is measured by the number of deaths as a percentage of the population and number of conflict incidents. Results are robust to different identification strategies, dependent variables and conflict measures. The findings suggest an increase in conflict is associated with a decrease in education for both genders, though more pronounced for boys.     

The Impact of Microcredit on Child Education: Quasi-experimental Evidence from Rural China

Abstract

This article assesses causal effects of formal microcredit on children’s educational outcomes by using household panel data (2000 and 2004) in north-west rural China. The unobservables between borrowers and non-borrowers are controlled in static and dynamic regression-discontinuity designs. The static analysis reveals significant positive impact of microcredit on schooling years in 2000 only, and no influence on academic performance for either wave. The dynamic analysis shows progressive treatment effects on both longer schooling years and higher average scores. Formal microcredit improves education in the longer term compared to the short term, and hence may help relaxing the grip of educational poverty traps.     

"美国世纪"命题及其影响

美国作为一个大国崛起之后开始缓慢地走出了“孤立”状态,在20世纪期间的国际事务中发挥着越来越重要的作用,世界上发生的很多引人注目的大事,美国很少能够摆脱干系。本文从亨利·卢斯提出的“美国世纪”这个角度出发考察了美国借助其不断强大的政治、经济、军事和文化力量实现世界领袖地位的过程,分析了“美国世纪”这一命题提出的背景、主要内容及其产生的影响,特别强调了在“美国世纪”中文化在实现和维护美国的世界霸权中所扮演的重要角色。     

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.