Gender Equality (And its Absence) in Singapore’s 2015 General Elections

Abstract

With the dust settled after Singapore’s 2015 parliamentary elections, the only aspect pundits and Singaporean politics watchers could agree on was that the People’s Action Party’s comeback from its performance at the 2011 elections, although not of Lazarus proportions, was most certainly unexpected. While the result of the 2015 elections has gone through several post-election analytical mills, what has been oddly absent in such analyses is a discussion of gender in Singaporean politics. This article considers the relationship between gender and Singaporean politics through the experience of the 2015 election and its results. It shows that while Singapore has moved some way towards assuaging the demands of liberal feminists for greater representation in the political sphere, much more has to be done in order for gender equality to be achieved. The article argues for the Group Representation Constituency method of electing parliamentarians to be adapted to ensure a greater number of female parliamentarians while a quota system may be required for cabinet to be truly representative of the female demographic of Singapore.     

Domesticating Ivoirité: Equating xenophobic nationalism and women’s marginalisation in Tanella Boni’s Matins de couvre-feu (2005)

Abstract

Tanella Boni, an author engaged with African women’s emancipation, has written cautionary essays since the 1990s decrying the xenophobic nature of government-sanctioned ivoirité in the Ivory Coast. Forced into exile owing to the subsequent strife (2000-2010), she wrote Matins de couvre-feu (2005), an allegorical novel in which the woman’s status as a second-class citizen is equated with that of a foreigner in a xenophobic state. This representation plays on the domestic / public space dichotomy, considered by feminist discourse to be a social barrier to women’s equal citizenship. Drawing on Boni’s own ‘feminist’ monograph, Que vivent les femmes d’Afrique? (2008), this article explores the internalisation of national politics (the public sphere) through the ‘domestication’ of an anonymous female narrator who is placed under house arrest. Thereafter an analysis of Kanga Ba, a character who is a victim of xenophobic nationalism, is used to substantiate the equation of the woman’s social and political marginalisation as being that of the foreigner. The argument concludes that Boni’s representational framework ultimately subverts the very notion of a public / domestic dichotomy through narrative strategies that illustrate the porous nature of both spaces, thus eliding the separation between private and national experiences.     

Después del consenso: el liberalismo en México (1990-2012)

This article explores the renewal of liberalism in Mexico over the last two decades. It argues that after the long period of one-party hegemonic rule, intellectuals have embraced many of liberalism’s tenets in public debates, such as economic and institutional reform, the defense of individual rights and freedom of expression, etc. It argues that the end of authoritarian rule made this renewal possible and attempts to account for key factors that unite intellectuals from very different ideological backgrounds.     

Thailand’s Deep State,Royal Power and the Constitutional Court (1997–2015)

ABSTRACT

This article challenges the network monarchy approach and advocates for the use of the concept of Deep State. The Deep State also has the monarchy as its keystone, but is far more institutionalised than the network monarchy accounts for. The institutionalised character of the anti-democratic alliance is best demonstrated by the recent use of courts to hamper the rise of electoral politics in a process called judicialisation of politics. This article uses exclusive material from the minutes of the 1997 and 2007 constitution-drafting assemblies to substantiate the claim that the Deep State used royalists’ attempts to make the Constitutional Court a surrogate king for purposes of its own self-interested hegemonic preservation.     

In Search of Native Dissidence: RT Kawa’s Mfecane Historiography in Ibali lamaMfengu (1929)

Abstract

This article situates RT Kawa’s Ibali lamaMfengu (1929) as a canonical text of South African historiography, and mfecane historiography in particular. In Ibali lamaMfengu, Kawa attempts to give an account of the origins of amaMfengu clans, who were Mfecane refugees, as well as their political situation, when they were incorporated into the Gcaleka kingdom of King Hintsa in the 1820s and 1830s. Kawa’s work is significant in clarifying key disputes on the origins of amaMfengu although is not comprehensive in detailing their early life amongst amaXhosa. Although a key text, its analysis was not only excluded, but rejected by ‘‘mainstream’’ South African historians in the 1980s and 1990s. This omission resulted in dominant scholarly versions of the Mfecane dismissing the validity of the interpretations and analyses of African writers, in effect, rendering Mfecane historiography a ‘‘white-only’’ debate. I demonstrate in this article that Kawa’s work is in fact, a valid and persuasive history of amaMfengu, and is largely accurate on the basis of their origins, their life under chief Hintsa, and the reasons for their exodus from amaXhosa, that led to their loyalty pledge to the British in 1835.     

瑞云(其它)

Nuee Propice,celebre courtisane tres renommee,de yu-hang etait douee d'unebeaute nulle autre pareille et excellait en tous les arts. Quand elle atteignitl'age de 14 ans, sa "mer(el)" qu'on appellait "Mere Cai" lui fit recevoirdes clients. Mais Nuee Propice mit une condition: "Puisque c'est mon premierpas dans Ia carriere, je ne dois pas le prendre a la legere. Quand je recevraiquelqu' un,c'est voes, mere, qui fixerez la somme d' argent, mais vous me laisserezchoisir moi-meme mes hotes."     

成功之路(节录)

成功之路（节录）德］海尔曼·施纳伯林伟中译译者按“成功之路”系原德国海姆股份公司（ＨｅｌｍＡＧ）的董事长海尔曼·施纳伯名誉教授和博士于１９９７年１１月１９日在上海锦江饭店所作的专题报告。它第一次向中国的听众披露了一个脚踏实地的实业家三十余年的奋斗历程...     

Legitimation of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party: Socialism,Chintanakan Mai (New Thinking) and Reform

ABSTRACT

To date, scholars of authoritarianism have paid much attention to the use of democratic institutions in dictatorships to mitigate threats from both internal and external ruling elites, to co-opt and divide opposition and to solve commitment problems among the ruling elite. However, there have been no in-depth studies of legitimacy in an authoritarian regime. In communist states, opposition and dissent are addressed not through co-optation but exclusion. By contrast, communist parties attach great value for their survival to obtaining legitimacy from the masses. This article argues that the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) has endeavoured to acquire legitimacy since the foundation of the regime through a dialogical configuration of economic reform and socialist ideology. Economic reform and ideological legitimisation always go together, interacting with each other: economic reform requires ideological modification, and ideology defines the framework of reform. In Laos, this paradoxical configuration is necessary for the LPRP to maintain legitimacy while concurrently pursuing an ideal of socialism and reality of economic reform. In making this argument, this article reassesses the nature and significance of chintanakan mai (new thinking), which was not a formal reform policy, as often assumed, but a temporary slogan for promoting economic reforms.     

论作家(摘译)

……他(指莫里亚克)有一天写道:小说家与他的创造物的关系有如上帝与他的创造物(注:即人类)的关系那样,而他所有的写作技巧的奇特之处,可以解释为他是以上帝的身分在对待他的人物的:上帝看得见内部和外部,灵魂深处和肉体,上帝同时看得见一切。同样,莫里亚克先生对于涉及他的小天地里的一切无所不知;他对于他的人物所作的安排都是不可置疑的;他解释他们,将他们分类,并无可挽回地给他们判决。如果有人问他:“您从哪儿     

韩国观光公社(KNTC)简介

２０世纪６０年代，随着韩国经济的飞速发展，人们生活水平的日益提高以及交通设施的改善，不仅使越来越多的韩国人开始把旅游作为生活的一项内容，而且韩国各级政府也逐渐认识到旅游业在国民经济中的地位。为适应形势的需要，１９６１年８月，韩国政府颁布（旅游业振兴法），并于１９６２年成立了韩国旅游的最高权威机构——韩国观光公社（ＫＮＴＧ）。 该社在社长以下，设理事会、监事、规划管理部、振兴部，国民观光部和地区开发部。规划管理部下设规划协调室、总务处、业务处、特别计划室；振兴部下设海外振兴处，海外宣传处、国际合作…     

马克思主义新论(续)

三、马克思主义与二十世纪现实二十世纪是真正的革命世纪:以电子技术、登月为主导的科技革命席卷全球;世界政治面目的变化则更大。俄国在本世纪初的社会政治革命把世界一分为二。二战胜利引发出一系列结果:极权制度崩溃、殖民地解放、世界旧格局被推翻、几乎整个人类加入了历史前进的运动。新问题是在当今全球历史进程中各种生产方式、活动形式(经济、政治、意识形态)共存     

越南佛教史略(上)——(起源至十三世纪)

导言 越南佛教的历史,远远超过探奇好异,它可以帮助人们了解越南人民宗教情绪的本质。 直到现在,还很少人作此研究。有一些作者的意见,并不能驱散包围着问题的阴影。编年史又存在着很大的缺点,很多重要的人物,仅仅给我们知道他们的名字而已。早期     

改版说明(编者的话)

《当代韩国》是在中韩建交一周年之际，由中国社会科学院韩国研究中心和韩国现代中国研究会共同策划，由社会科学文献出版社筹办，率先出版的两国民间学术文化交流和合作的定期出版物。其宗旨在于“不仅要帮助中国的读者了解韩国的过去，而且更重要的是向他们介绍当代韩国的新情况，研究新问题，以适应两国关系的新发展”。经过17年的发展，     

越南佛教史略(中)——(起源至十三世纪)

第二章 求法诸僧 依据莱维先生《未详之二种民族》及伯希和先生的《扶南考》,自245年至七世纪中,中印交往不绝,而以印度支那为交叉点。另一方面,伯希和先生在《交广印度两道考》,令我们信服地想到在八世纪前越南受佛教影响,不仅仅以中国为媒介,而且是直接受诸印度。由广州至印度,旅行家经由交趾陆路和南海水道。可以断言,这些僧人或     

日本研究报告(2018)

正主编/杨伯江副主编/吕耀东林昶《日本研究报告(2018)》属于"日本蓝皮书"系列,为中华日本学会、中国社会科学院日本研究所和社会科学文献出版社合作推出的日本研究年度报告,由中国社科院日本研究所研究人员联合南开大学、上海国际问题研究院等单位的专家学者共同完成。2018年度的日本蓝皮书对日本的政治、经济、对外关系、社会文化诸领域做了回顾与展望,特别是围绕第48届众议     

国家(法国大百科全书)

国家的定义多如繁星。这众多的定义主要取决于那些下定义的人。地理学家把国家和领土等同起来,社会学家混淆了统治者和被统治者之间的区别,历史学家把国家视为一个民族的概念,法学家把它总结为一个规范的体系(H·凯尔逊),而哲学家则把它称之为“一个本身有意识有道德的实体”