Making sense of European anti-semitism

In the last five years Europe experienced a dramatic increase in anti-Semitic incidents. Discourse once reputed unacceptable is now routinely voiced in mainstream circles, the press, and the corridors of power. This article sets out to explain the nature of this phenomenon, the reasons for its recurrence, and its severity.     

The sense and the nonsense of school effectiveness

Hanushek misinterprets the data on which he bases his conclusion and draws inappropriate policy implications from them. The goals of a school system affect how its resources are used. Educational goals are highly diverse. Accordingly, the measures of output used in Hanushek's studies are inappropriate. To develop more effective measures, the nature of the teaching and learning process must be much better understood. Fortunately, a solid beginning has already been made among specialists in education on that critical task; but more work is needed.     

对大学生理性爱国的思考

青年大学生具有满腔的爱国主义热情,真正的爱国主义热情需要有理性的表达方式,我们应积极引导大学生在社会实践和人生道路上树立科学理性的爱国主义精神。     

夏洛克性格及其象征意义初探

本文摘引了国外学者对于《威尼斯商人》中夏洛克这一角色多重性格的研究,并探讨了莎士比亚描写夏洛克的目的是否为宣传反犹太主义。笔者认为,实际上莎翁意在使观众反思犹太民族在历史上遭遇的不公平,并对他们生存状况表示怜悯。     

Europe and the Common

Significant attention has been given to the necessary conditions for a viable and legitimate European polity. Drawing on traditions in political philosophy, a central strand of this debate has concerned what must be common to a set of people such that they may be ruled through the same institutions, with various types of collective bond proposed as possible bases for political community. The argument of this article is that many such approaches, which conceive a bond in terms of shared interests, cultural attributes or shared values and principles, are liable either to underplay or to overplay how much the citizens of a polity must have in common, tending either to empty public life of the pursuit of shared ends or conversely to downgrade the importance of adversarialism. Both may be seen as depoliticising moves. The article goes on to explore how a more explicitly political bond, based on the appraisal of political problems, might be conceived for a European polity.     

States and Common Pool Resources

The neo-institutionalist theory on the management of common pool resources by states in terms of international regimes is based on dubious assumptions about states as players. If one starts from alternative assumptions about interaction between asymmetrical players and the advantages of opportunistic behaviour, then it is easier to account for the collective action difficulties in a regime such as the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), which handles the environmental problems in the Baltic Sea region.     

和谐企业与企业共同价值观

和谐企业建设是和谐社会建设的重要组成部分。在论述和谐企业的概念及特征的基础上,阐述了企业共同价值观的内涵,分析了共同价值观在和谐企业建设中的作用,研究了共同价值观的形成途径,包括教育培养、环境熏陶、典型示范和行为规范。     

Common law environmentalism

The necessity to control environmental externalities is almost invariably given as justification for command-and-control regulation and other forms of state intervention in related markets. When even mentioned, common law remedies that protected environmental rights for centuries are quickly dismissed as either being unworkable or ineffective. A review of the common law experience indicates that the rule of law can be effective in protecting environmental rights. Indeed, it is quite possible that common law was too effective, which led to special interest demand for statute law. The rule of politics may be more attractive to rent seekers than the rule of law and markets.     

Common Sense 2.0

Common Sense 2.0 outlines a public philosophy of America that challenges both the Democratic and Republican parties. Appeals to voters who are not extremists but who cannot be regarded as moderates. Leverages the concept of uncertainty by drawing on the thought and practices of John Dewey and Abraham Lincoln. Addresses topics of ideology, attitude, citizenship and public policy. Independent thinking that could influence either major party or a Third Party. Inspired in part by Thomas Paine.     

Optimal Central Banker Contracts and Common Agency

This paper considers the contracting approach to centralbanking in a simple common agency model. We suggest thatcentral banker contracts that do not consider the possibilityof more than one principal existing are incomplete contracts.Such incomplete contracts can be a poor form ofmonetary policy delegation under common agency. We develop amodel with two principals – society (government) and ageneric interest group, whose objective conflicts withsociety’s ex ante preferences by incorporating an inflationarybias. We determine when the government-offered orinterest-group-offered contract dominates the central banker’sdecision. The results largely depend on whether theinterest-group-offered contract is written in terms of outputor inflation.     

Introduction: making sense of Korean discourses and the East Asian regional order

This opening article presents rationales for the Special Section which analyses South Korea's debates and discourses on crucial issues related to East Asian regional politics. The article opens with a consideration of why attention is drawn to South Korea and particularly to its discourses. Expanding upon constructivist theoretical insights, this article shows how they matter in foreign policy-making and state behaviour. In addition, the article clarifies the scope of analysis of this Special Section. While recognising that many different actors and issues shape the regional order in East Asia to varying degrees, we hold that the most direct impact on changes and/or continuity in that order comes from state actors in the realm of security (or the security–economy nexus). The article ends on a cautiously optimistic note: although the perspectives and discourses analysed in this Special Section are not exhaustive, the analysis can serve as a useful reference point for discussion that seeks to advance our understandings of how South Korea is likely to behave toward its neighbours and what the future of the East Asian regional order will look like.