The Aims and Methods of Liberal Education: Notes from a Nineteenth Century Pan-Africanist

Liberal education is in crisis as neoliberal logics continue to shape the purpose and practice of higher education. But despite invocations of its contemporary ‘global’ context, very few commentators engage the current crisis through the provocations of postcolonial studies. A key element of postcolonial critique draws attention to the ways in which the modern humanities and social sciences are colonially inflected traditions of knowledge production. Taking this critique as a point of departure, I aim to show that the critical response to the crisis prompted by the neoliberal agenda is inadequate in so far as there has been insufficient acknowledgement that modern liberal education wishes to suture and save a public culture that is racially exclusionary. To open up this space of inquiry, I focus on the thought and practice of Edward Blyden. Born in St Thomas, Danish West Indies, Blyden migrates to Liberia. A prolific writer and educator, Blyden delivers, in 1881, his inaugural address as President of Liberia College entitled ‘The Aims and Methods of a Liberal Education for Africans’. What lessons for the present crisis might we draw from a nineteenth century Pan-Africanist advocate of liberal education?     

From population control to 'reproductive rights': Ideological influences in population policy

This paper is a review of the interdisciplinary literature examining ideological influences which have helped to shape population control policy in recent decades. A powerful critique of what has become a top-down, ethnocentric approach towards a narrowly focused policy has emerged both from scholars within the Third World itself and from those in the more developed regions. Concerns with issues such as outside intervention in national sovereignty, ethical aspects associated with the implementation of fertility control programmes, the exclusion of Third World scholars from research programmes within their own countries, and the unwillingness of programmes to consider complex social and cultural dimensions of high fertility, are among those which this literature has raised. The role of professional demographers, as part of the population establishment network within the USA, in providing respectable justification for questionable policy intervention, is also examined.     

From War to Peace: The Nepalese Maoists's Strategic and Ideological Thinking

In February 1996, the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) initiated a bloody war to establish a Mao-style “people's republic.” A decade later, however, they signed a peace agreement with the government, joined the mainstream political parties in parliament and in an interim government, and participated in democratic elections. This article provides some insight into the Nepalese Maoists's strategic and ideological thinking. More specifically, this article shows the reason behind the party's change of tactics and goals and describes the process in which these changes materialized.     

From Witchcraft to Proposed Twenty-First Century Reforms: The Ongoing Saga of Training and Development in Canadian Government

[In the federal government of Canada] … up to ten or fifteen years ago, the use of the title personnel officer or training officer would have been sufficient to have one tried for witchcraft.1 Cloutier, S. 1972. “The personnel revolution: an interim report, 1965”. In The Biography of an Institution: The Civil Service Commission of Canada, 1908–1967 Edited by: Hodgetts, J.E., McCloskey, W., Whittaker, Reginald and Wilson, V. Seymour. 457 ppLondon and Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press.  [Google Scholar] a ^aNote: (a) In Canada the terms, “Civil Service” and “Public Service,” are used synonymously. (b) Values are defined in this article as enduring beliefs that influence the choices we make from available means and ends.

—Commissioner Sylvain Cloutier of the federal Civil Service Commission, June 19, 1965. (Comment attributed to CH Bland, Chairman of the Public Service Commission of Canada)     

From semi-presidentialism to parliamentarism: Regime change and presidential power in Moldova

This article examines Moldova's constitutional change in 2000 from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary regime and analyses what the Moldovan case tells us about the nature of executive power. One of the interesting issues that this case raises is whether our definition of regime really captures the locus of political power. While Moldova has evolved from a semi-presidential to a parliamentary regime, the president is more powerful under the current regime than previous presidents were in a semi-presidential regime. The consolidation of the president's party in the parliament explains the concentration of executive power more than constitutional prerogatives.     

Influence in Terrorist Networks: From Undirected to Directed Graphs

A methodology for converting terrorist networks from undirected graphs to simplified directed graphs (or digraphs), and mapping the flow of influence in them, is described. It is based on an “influence assumption”—that important persons with more links influence less important persons with fewer links. This methodology, which was previously used to analyze the structure of influence relationships in Communist-bloc countries and the international system, is illustrated by its application to two terrorist networks constructed after 9/11. In the second more complex network, the hierarchy sheds light on the leadership and likely terrorist cells embedded in the network. Refined data and alternative assumptions about influence could provide additional insights into the structure of terrorist networks.     

2011年的美中关系：从脆弱到实质性稳定

美中关系在经过2010年的跌宕起伏后,于2011年转向稳定并开始取得实质性改善,其明显标志就是胡锦涛年初对华盛顿的国事访问以及2011年5月第三轮美中战略与经济对话的举行。中美关系正在从＂不稳定＂或＂脆弱的稳定＂朝着＂实质性的稳定＂迈进。鉴于两国关系的客观复杂性、这种关系的全球性特征、两国不同的政治社会制度、两国的规模大得惊人的经济和军事力量以及相互重叠的国家安全利益,相互之间存在竞争是很自然的,但这并非一种冷战式的竞争。未来美中关系很可能仍将是一种合作和竞争的混合体,我们的使命就是要扩大合作范围并管理和减少竞争范围。     

From retrenchment to performance: civil service reform in Africa

Whether or not an unfettered market is the best solution to Africa's problems, the public service is both the subject and the object of reform. It is an arena of policy change and adjustment in economic management, as well as the locus of struggle over principles and patterns of administrative practice. Below we take empirical stock of the patterns and progress made in public service reform in Africa, a process characterized by cost containment and retrenchment. Then we examine what is entailed in a qualitatively different public service that well serves a liberal economy, concluding with observations on whether and how that might happen in Africa.