Visiting The Future: Australian (Fellow-) Travellers in Soviet Russia

A significant number of Australian testimonies still awaiting systematic and comprehensive study bear witness to the Soviet journeys of many key figures of the Left and help to define and characterise the successive phases of the encounter between 'progressive' Australia and the USSR. The article provides a chronological survey and detailed analysis of the most significant of these accounts from the early 1920s to the late 1960s, including Katharine Susannah Prichard's he Real Russia , Frank Hardy's Journey to the Future and Manning Clark's Meeting Soviet Man . Contextualising these accounts with reference to the contemporary situation in both countries, the paper considers the impact of these perceptions of Russia on Australian political and cultural life.     

从苏维埃人到新俄罗斯人--俄罗斯转型期间的人文思想沉积

近十年来,在俄罗斯的社会转型中,出现了一个从苏维埃人到新俄罗斯人的悄然变化的过程.现今的俄罗斯人生活在一个已经没有了苏维埃外形的时代,可内心仍未摆脱苏维埃人文思想的影响,当前牵制和掣肘俄罗斯社会发展的一个关键因素便是这沉积不去的苏维埃人文思想.     

Lost in Historiography: An Essay on the Reasons for the Absence of a History of Limited Government in the Early Modern Ottoman Empire

This article tackles the question of why an attempt to uncover an indigenous history of limited government in the early modern Ottoman Empire has not been undertaken in twentieth-century Turkish historiography despite the obvious existence of several constituents for such a history, such as the political power and prestige of jurists (ulema), the political role of the janissary corps, and the many depositions and other revolts that they staged in cooperation with the jurists, which, in practice, limited the political authority of the sultan. The answer suggested by the article focuses on the political concerns of the early republic, the socio-economic concerns of the Muslim democrats currently in power, and the theoretical concerns of contemporary western historians who have been influenced by Edward Said's critique of Orientalism.     

Modeling Soviet Modernization: An Economy in Transition

This paper uses a macroeconomic model to evaluate prospects for Soviet economic growth to the year 2000. Because of the considerable uncertainty regarding the ultimate success of Gorbachev's modernization program and reform package, and because of the long time frame of the projection, a single “most likely” forecast cannot be made. Instead, three scenarios were constructed to reflect different degrees of success for Gorbachev's initiatives. The results of these simulations provide insights into what is possible and illustrate the dynamics involved when an economy administered by central planners for nearly 70 years attempts to change its method of operation. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: 027, 124, 211.     

苏联解体后的俄罗斯社会民主主义思潮和政党

苏联解体后,社会民主主义思潮在俄罗斯相当流行,先后成立了十多个社会民主主义政党。但是,这些政党大多数存在时间较短,内部派别林立,组织涣散,多次发生分裂。2001年戈尔巴乔夫发起成立的统一的俄罗斯社会民主党在俄国政治舞台上没有发挥多大作用,目前出现新一轮改组。在作为“政权党”的“统一俄罗斯”党内,形成了社会民主主义“左翼”与自由主义“右翼”并存的局面。俄国社会民主主义政党与欧洲其他国家的社会民主党相比既有共同之点,也有很大差别。随着俄罗斯经济社会转型的进展,社会民主主义思潮在俄国的影响有进一步扩大的趋势。但是,俄罗斯社会民主党本身的前景未可乐观。     

俄罗斯重评斯大林和苏联历史的社会思潮分析

苏联剧变时,俄罗斯曾幻想能迅速融入欧洲文明,跨入发达国家行列,但是,近20年来,俄罗斯却历经曲折。面对发展道路的实践结果与期望值之间的巨大反差,俄罗斯社会开始反思过去,理性审视曾经否定的苏联历史。考察剧变前后不同时期俄罗斯各界对斯大林、对苏联历史两种截然不同的评价,探寻俄罗斯重评苏联时代的背后动因,可以看出,俄罗斯对斯大林及苏联历史的评价已经发生了根本性变化,重评斯大林及苏联历史已经成为一种民族意识乃至国家行为。充分认识俄罗斯重评斯大林、重评苏联历史的客观必然性,理性对待俄罗斯重评苏联历史的社会思潮,对于把握俄罗斯的未来具有重要的意义。     

美国菲律宾裔移民的历史考察

本文通过对美国菲律宾裔移民的移民历史、社会经济调整、文化适应、种族认同等问题进行考察,揭示美国 重要的亚裔群体之一——菲律宾裔移民的生活状况。     

欧盟国家对俄罗斯投资浅析

欧盟是俄罗斯最大的外资来源地。欧盟国家对俄投资基本上反映了俄罗斯外资运行的主要方向及特点。由于存在投资总量小,投资结构、投资领域和投资地域分布不平衡等问题,使得欧盟国家对俄投资难以对俄罗斯的经济顺利转轨产生明显的推动作用。今后欧盟对俄罗斯的投资能否继续保持增长既取决于俄罗斯经济的复苏及国内投资环境的改善,也取决于东扩后欧盟内部整合的结果。     

未经"改造"的"转型"--西方学术界关于后苏联时期俄罗斯经济转型的研究

俄罗斯的转型进程已经持续了十多年了,事实上仍在继续之中.惟其如此,要把握转型进程今后的发展趋势与动向,就更有必要对过去十余年间转型进程的演变及其中引出的问题有深入的了解.本文的要旨,即在于对这一期间西方学术界关于俄罗斯经济转型问题的研究成果作一大略的介绍,并在此基础上对西方学者的有关看法提出批判性的评述.     

Determinants of Happiness in Japan and the Netherlands: Macro and Micro Analysis and Comparison

It is often said that the Japanese happiness is lower than that of Europeans. However, sufficient discussion has yet to take place with consideration of differences in social forms as a background factor. In this study, therefore, by leveraging comparative international surveys, we empirically study and compare the factors that affect happiness in Japan and in the Netherlands, a country which has a higher happiness level than other European countries, from both macro (country level) and micro (individual level) perspectives.

This paper focuses on life evaluation as happiness. It was confirmed through the results of our macro analysis that social support (i.e., having relatives or friends you can count on to help you when you are in trouble) is the factor that significantly improves the level of life evaluation both in Japan and the Netherlands compared to other countries. In addition, change of the logarithmic value of GDP per capita in Japan is negative and statistically significant, which coincides with the Easterlin Paradox claim that more income does not bring greater happiness. On the other hand, we were unable to confirm the Easterlin Paradox in the Netherlands, in which change of the logarithmic value of GDP per capita is positive, though not statistically significant. Furthermore, our longitudinal data analysis in this paper also revealed that healthy life expectancy and generosity are insignificant, although their significance has been claimed in earlier studies (e.g. Helliwell et al, 2017).

Although our macro analysis found social support is important both for Japanese and Dutch happiness on average, the results of our micro analysis have revealed different views and structure of society; the Netherlands is a welfare society in which the public sector and the citizens support each other, and Japan is a welfare society which is based on support provided by community including families and the local area. In other words, the Netherlands showed greater trust on others in general (general trust) than Japan, and Japan showed greater trust on families (family trust) than the Netherlands, a factor that had an influence on happiness levels of individuals in the respective countries. That is, while the Netherlands’ vision of a welfare society is based on “individuals and the public,” under which the independent citizens take the initiative in supporting each other, Japan’s vision of welfare society is based on “community,” under which families have a duty to support each other. In Japan, where freedom of choice is more limited than in the Netherlands, people who have more freedom of choice were found to be happier.

In order to improve happiness in both countries, we need to strengthen social support based on their respectively unique visions of welfare society rather than resorting to income-boosting economic policies. In doing so, the key for Japan would be whether or not the system can be reformed in such a way as to allow freedom of choice to individuals.