“伙伴”意识与日本式民主主义

从日本人“伙伴”意识的角度分析了日本政治中的“派阀”、“世袭”和“学阀”现象，认为这三种现象都是日本的集团主义，特别是封建的宗派主义的表现。“派阀”是日本各个政党中普遍存在的现象，本文着重以自民党内的“派阀”为例，分析了它的现状和特点，也兼顾了民主党的派性并进行了分析；“世袭”也是日本政界普遍存在的“伙伴”意识的一种特殊反映，着重对其在选举中的作用和日本政界“世袭”的现状进行了分析；最后对以出身大学相同而结成的“学阀”现象进行了分析。无论是政党政治中的“派阀”现象，各政党内存在的“世袭”现象，还是日本社会广泛存在的“学阀”现象，都是日本文化中“伙伴”意识的反映。它本身并无优劣之分，在政治活动中以宗派主义的形式出现，却使小集团的利益高于政策的制定，甚至由此忽视了政治理念的实践。特别是它经常无视民意的结果，还反映了日本式民主主义的封建局限性。     

Liberal Democracy and the Politics of Criminal Justice in Australia

Liberal democratic states like Australia manage criminal justice issues in ways which reflect an inbuilt tension between liberal and democratic values. Liberal democracies are responsive both to liberal claims and to democratic claims. As a result, policy debates and strategies can oscillate between (on the one hand) liberal sensitivity to individual rights and opposition to enhanced state capacity and (on the other hand) democratically legitimised community norms and collective values. Four crime-related policy debates — about the creation and operation of the National Crime Authority, about strategies for combating drug-related crime, about gun control legislation and about identity systems to counter money laundering, tax evasion and public benefit fraud — illustrate the characteristic liberal democratic mode of politics in operation. The spectrum of policy responses to crime issues within liberal democratic political systems corresponds to an analogous spectrum within criminology which encompasses individualistic and structuralist conceptions of the nature and causes of crime.     

李文教授主编《东亚:宪政与民主》读后感

李文教授主编的《东亚:宪政与民主》(中国社会科学出版社2005年11月出版)是一部从东亚的立场和观点出发,力求客观地反映、科学地解释东亚政治发展本身提供的全新的现象和见识的著作。全书共收纳了由中国社科院、北京大学、中山大学、暨南大学等研究机构和高校的22名学者所撰写的22篇论文。这些文章围绕“东亚国家的政治现代化没有盲目照搬西方模式,而是在不断探索符合自身实际的发展道路”这一客观事实,就“东亚的政治制度发生了怎样的变化,东亚政治现代化形成了哪些的新经验和新模式,东亚政治变革本身具有哪些历史意义,东亚政治发展的前景…     

年号政治与日本右派民族主义的困境

日本的年号本来是从中国古代经典中选择词组构成,这是1000多年来的传统,但是这次"令和"年号却摒弃了中国古典文献,从日本古典文献中选择出来。这一变化背后是日本右派的民族主义活动,试图在这个问题上"去中国化",推行右倾民族主义政策。另外,此次年号的"去中国化",也是安倍与右派组织日本会议在修改宪法等问题上的政治交换。然而,对照右派曾极力主张年号法制化以维护日本传统来看,现在又通过推行年号"国书化"来改变传统,反映了在文化和政治上的困境。     

Hamas in Politics: Democracy,Religion, Violence

Ahmed Midhat Efendi, a nineteenth century Turkish author, maintained that it was necessary to establish customs duties and other barriers against foreign sellers in order to convince them to produce locally in the Ottoman Empire. This would be a way to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to a country in need of capital and technology. However, today, liberals around the world as well as in Turkey see a free trade environment as a prerequisite for FDI. This study tries to find out whether a relationship existed between free trade and FDI inflows in Turkey during a period when the Turkish foreign trade and financial markets were almost completely liberalized.     

日本家族政治的现状及成因分析

20世纪60年代后,家族政治开始在日本政坛出现,人们对日本家族政治开始关注起来。1955年自民党成立,之后的38年间日本政坛大致经历了4代家族政治人物。在现任议员中“世袭议员”占了40％,在发达国家中这个比例是最高的。日本家族政治的形式在归纳起来大致为3大类：一是随同父兄进入国会、二是长期的工作上形成的信任关系、三是门生与老师的关系,当然家族政治也是按照一定原则形成起来的,其形成是日本传统的家族制度,选举制度、派阀政治以及后援会的存在共同影响的结果。     

Reevaluating the Taiwanese Democracy Movement: A Comparative Analysis of Opposition Organizations under Japanese and KMT Rule

This article reevaluates the first phase of Taiwan's democratization process (1914-1986) by exploring the similarities and differences between oppositional political organizations under Japanese and Kuomintang (KMT) rule. Employing a parallel structure, the article compares two distinct periods of time, 1914-1937 and 1977-1986. Including the Japanese colonial era in the evaluation of Taiwan's democratization process makes it possible to examine long-overlooked issues in Taiwan's political development such as the question of continuity and disjuncture. The author argues that the Japanese colonial era should be recognized as the starting point of Taiwanese political activities and the era of KMT one-party rule that followed as a re-colonization of Taiwan (lasting from 1947 until the early 1980s). The author's analysis reveals that (1) Taiwanese political opposition during both eras originated within rather than outside repressive political frameworks and that moderate opposition organizations emerged as the best possible reaction given those circumstances; (2) domestic organizations had a greater impact on the Taiwanese polity and society than those in exile; and (3) peaceful approaches were an important alternative to revolutionary movements. The author recounts the story of Taiwan's democratization process (until 1986) through the careers of two long-neglected moderate political activists, Lin Xiantang (1881-1956) and Kang Ningxiang (1938-).     

New Conventions Required: Ideas to Re-invigorate Japanese Party Politics

Over the past 20 years, Japanese politics has changed significantly. There have been many improvements over the old LDP politics. At the same time, however, the rules of the game, which were predicated on the dominance of a single political party and on factional politics, have inevitably changed, and, in accordance with this situation, the conventions that prescribed the party-political order have fallen by the wayside. Given this situation, new conventions are now required that will make Japanese politics function. This article will discuss the most pressing topics: they are the appointment of the prime minister, the political cycle, bicameralism and party politics, intra-party governance, and the relationship between ministers and bureaucrats. These rules will not derive from new laws or institutions, but will be based on new conventions agreed to by the political parties. Political parties are to be the key actors in creating the new conventions, which should provide the rules of the game for Japanese politics.     

International Tobacco Politics and the Question of Social Movements in the Middle East: A Comparative Analysis of Ottoman and Iranian Cases

A proliferation of scholarly works offering a variety of modernization experiences facilitated an understanding of social protests in non-western settings. Focusing on the initial stages of modern social movements in Iran and the Ottoman Empire, this study makes a comparative analysis of the tobacco protests at the turn of the twentieth century. The social protests against foreign tobacco monopolies are regarded as a key moment for the emergence of modern social movements in these countries. Scrutinizing the negotiation strategies, social value systems and political structures of these countries, it is suggested that these tobacco protests played a catalytic role in the process of capitalist incorporation and adaptation to the accompanying value systems of modernism and liberal democracy.     

Personal Politics and Being British: Political Rhetoric,Democracy and their Consequences in Colonial New South Wales

This paper argues that although our understanding of politics in colonial New South Wales in the period after 1856 has increased in recent times there is little appreciation of the political rhetoric employed to justify those politics. It contends that the key to understanding that rhetoric is an appreciation that politics was not understood in terms of institutional design but focused rather on the quality of political leaders. In particular, as exemplified by the case of Henry Parkes, it involved being British and being able to work British institutions. This emphasis on personal politics, rather than institutional matters such as the creation of checks and balances, helped to shape the nature of democratic institutions in Australia. In particular it encouraged a form of democracy that concentrated power. The refusal of members of the Legislative Council to oppose the Influx of Chinese Restriction Bill is an early indication of the consequences of that form of democracy.     

Strengthening the Legitimacy of Representative Democracy: Public Participation,Bipartisan Floor Bills and Plenary Deliberations in the Japanese Diet

It is argued that parliamentary legislation in Japan has become the almost exclusive playing field of the bureaucracy, who acts on behalf of the executive, and party councils. Moreover bureaucrats bypass the legislative Diet process by making rules themselves. This is problematic because it is the lawmakers who are directly held accountable by voters for the enacted legislation risking to be eventually voted out of office. It is suggested that under the given circumstances of strict party discipline, drafting of bills by the bureaucracy and endorsement by party councils, the formal majority rule alone is not sufficient to justify legislative outcomes. The legitimacy factor is introduced to verify in how far individual lawmakers are enabled to initiate and draft floor bills by themselves, discuss bill contents in plenary deliberations and get the public opinion involved. The article attempts to demonstrate that bipartisan floor bills reflect the quest for parliamentary legitimacy and equality among lawmakers across party boundaries. It is suggested that the more legislators participate in drafting and discussing a bill the more legitimate the outcome becomes. The paper screens to this effect several bipartisan bills submitted to the Diet of Japan. Bills such as the NPO law, the law to ratify the Rome Statute for the accession to the ICC, the law to prevent suicide and the law to implement internet filters to protect children are the result of cooperation among lawmakers trying to constrain the interference of the executive or of the powerful bureaucracy. The participation of non-parliamentary agents taking an active part in the legislative process has enhanced the dynamics of representative democracy as well. In the decades of radical ideological confrontation in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s the majority rule risked to become an instrument of coercion. The opposition was compelled to resort to anti-parliamentary obstructionist tactics to derail majority legislation that was rammed through parliament without sufficient plenary deliberation and without taking into account the concerns or viewpoints of the minority. Obstructionism decreased with the LDP co-optation of opposition parties to government responsibility in the 1990s. Opposition for the sake of opposition (communists, DPJ until 2006) and governing for the sake of governing (SDPJ, Komei) have not been honored by the voters. After 2007 the DPJ started to refocus its policies more on ideological differentiation and managed to beat the LDP in the 2009 elections. Recently the work of the Diet has been increasingly put under the scrutiny of international NGOs and legislatures abroad. The unresolved controversial comfort women issue suggests that omission to pass appropriate and timely reconciliatory legislation can cause a serious loss of parliamentary institutional esteem and respect.     

Realpolitik Versus Principled Politics: Nitobe,Shidehara, Shirasu and the Hollowing out of the Japanese Peace Constitution

It is argued that the current debate surrounding the revision of article 9 of the Japanese peace constitution has shifted from a debate on non-violent ideals and principles rooted in the pacifism of Shidehara, spiritual father of article 9, to a more pragmatic logic of military action and Realpolitik which lacks intellectual depth, foresight and historical awareness. The article questions the inherent logic that tries to give a purpose to the military and gain international reputation by reinterpreting article 9 indiscriminately. Since 2004, the overseas dispatch of SDF forces into the Iraq combat zone has split the nation more than ever and a national consensus on what article 9 should stand for is further threatened by Government attempts to extend the application of article 9 to military activities outside Japan under the banner of collective defense. Ahead of the 2009 general election for the Lower House opposition and ruling parties have apparently agreed that time has come to review the text of article 9 for the first time after the war based on the premises of Realpolitik. Article 9 in its current wording still represents a very cherished core principle to the nation as a whole despite the military buildup and despite the tacit acceptance of the SDF and of the right to limited self-defense. The current popular mood against collective self-defense, against the overseas deployment of SDF, against the unequitable US-Japan Security Treaty and against nuclear weapons- termed “negative pacifism”- differs from the voluntarist security policies in the election platforms of the LDP and DPJ. Ordinary citizens in and outside Japan have challenged the political elite by teaming up to preach the peaceful spirit of article 9 to the world. It is asserted that the intended revision of article 9 has caused lasting changes in civic political grass-root culture.