Impermanent Apologies: on the Dynamics of Timing and Public Knowledge in Political Apology

Political apologies are commonly imagined as gestures of finality and closure: capstone moments that summate public knowledge. One manifestation of these assumptions is the position that apologies should be timed to come only after appropriate investigation into the wrongdoing has been completed. This article takes a different view, for two reasons. First, even apologies that seem based on robust knowledge can come to seem incomplete or inadequate in the light of subsequent learning and knowledge. Second, because apologies are complexly embedded in longer-term processes of activism and response, they can contribute to their own unravelling by encouraging further consideration and inquiry. We develop these arguments by considering two Canadian cases that illustrate these dynamics: apologies that addressed, respectively, the wartime internment of Japanese Canadians and the policy of forcing Indigenous children to attend residential schools.     

The Transparency Paradox: Why Transparency Alone will not Improve Campaign Regulations

The role of new sources of data has become of increasing interest to those involved in political campaigning and a legislative focus of policy makers and regulators. Utilising Karl-Heinz Nassmacher’s ‘magic quadrangle’ of ‘accounting, practicality, sanctions and transparency’ and a case study of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 this article unpicks how successful the ‘guiding philosophy’ of transparency was in delivering increased citizen confidence in the democratic process. I ultimately argue that at the heart of all discussions about what regulation in this area should look like, an uncomfortable paradox has to be accepted: that transparency may well help to quell actual instances of malfeasance and the misuse of data, but may at the same time increase citizen distrust in democratic processes. Any regulation should consider the ways in which transparency might be implemented such that it better supports the stated legislative aims.     

The World on the Box: International Issues in News and Factual Programmes

A report on factual international programmes shown on UK TV in 2003 reveals that the total of hours broadcast is similar that of previous years. However, there has been a drop in the number of programmes on developing countries, and the definition of 'factual international' covers a misleadingly wide range - including game shows and travel programmes. The amount of developing country coverage on terrestrial TV is the lowest since the measurement began in 1989. Many serious programmes on developing countries are now shown exclusively on the new BBC digital channels. It appears that ITV is no longer fulfilling its public service remit to broadcast programmes covering 'matters of international significance and interest'. The proportion of foreign coverage in television news increased in 2003 across all bulletins, as a result of the Iraq war.     

'It Wasn't Us and We Didn't Benefit': The Discourse of Opposition to an Apology by Britain for Its Role in the Slave Trade

2007 was the bicentennary of the abolition of slave trading in British ships. It was marked by renewed calls for an apology for Britain's role in the slave trade. Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed his regret for the trade but did not issue an apology.This article examines the discourse of popular opposition to an apology, as articulated in newspapers and on websites, and offers a commentary and critique on the positions adopted.'     

The Ethical Irrationality of the World: Weber and Hindu Ethics

Abstract

This paper argues that Weber ought to be read as a comparative ethicist who brings his German intellectual inheritance, especially Schopenauer and Nietzsche, to a dialogue with ethical traditions in India and China. It shows that Weber not only had a supple understanding of the tensions within Hindu ethics, his own account of value often closely corresponds to Hindu axiology and was enriched by an encounter with it.     

The Day the World Changed: A Pomo Primer

This paper begins with a famous comment by Virginia Wolfe about the world changing ??on or about December, 1910?? when, she argued, modernist thought became dominant and changed human relations. My paper suggests that postmodernism begins in the Sixties, offers a definition of postmodernism taken from the French scholar, Jean-Francois Lyotard, and contrasts modernism with postmodernism. It offers an analysis of Disneyland as a postmodern entertainment and concludes with a discussion of whether postmodernism is now passé and has been succeeded by something else??namely post-postmodernism.     

当前世界范围内反全球化运动的基本特征

反全球化与全球化一起将是21世纪长期并存的重要内容.本文总结当前世界范围内反全球化运动的原因、主体、活动状况与分布、影响及趋势等,对其基本特点加以概括,以便进一步了解反全球化运动,推进其健康发展.     

The Confidence Game: Roping in a Globalized World

This is the last in a series of five articles focusing on how Bernard Madoff’s confidence game (con game) worked. It examines the international money collecting activities by ropers for Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities (BLMIS). Before globalization, Madoff’s con game brought him millions of dollars; after globalization, it began bringing him billions, making him remarkably successful until his run of luck was brought to a sudden halt by the worldwide economic downturn.     

The Creeping Politicisation of the World Bank: The Case of Corruption

This paper looks at the increasing politicisation of the World Bank through its work on corruption. Historically, the Bank's Articles of Agreement, which forbid it from involving itself in the politics of its recipient countries, have excluded work on corruption. In the 1990s, internal and external demands grew for the Bank to address the problem of corruption, despite earlier reticence. Much research done over the past decade, often commissioned by the Bank or done in-house, has worked to turn corruption into an economic and social issue, rather than a political one, in order to conduct anti-corruption work while evading accusations that it is violating this non-political mandate. Now this pretence is gradually slipping away and the Bank is becoming overtly political, despite its Articles and a lack of international consensus that this is the direction in which it should be heading.