Through a Glass Darkly: Afrocentrism,War, and World Politics

While the two dominant Eurocentric paradigms of world politics, realism and idealism, place greater emphasis on power and regime type, respectively, in their analyses of war, a recently promulgated Afrocentric paradigm of world politics suggests that cultural characteristics of states are significantly associated with the likelihood of interstate war. Drawing on these competing perspectives, I conduct a data analysis of the relationship between cultural homogeneity and interstate conflict in order to determine the extent to which Afrocentric theses on international conflict are borne out empirically. I find that cultural factors are significant correlates of interstate war as Afrocentrists suggest, although realist and idealist factors are more strongly associated with the likelihood of interstate war. In addition, the findings suggest that multiculturalism—especially ethnic diversity—is a more auspicious path for interstate peace.     

The business firm model of party organisation: Cases from Spain and Italy

Abstract. Discussion of new forms of party organisation have largely focused on the ways in which institutionalised parties have adapted to pressures towards 'catch–all' or 'electoral–professional' behaviour. This article examines the ways in which new parties respond to these pressures. A model of the 'party as business firm' is generated from rational choice assumptions and it is suggested that such a model can emerge when new party systems are created in advanced societies. Two cases of political parties which resemble the business firm model in important ways are analysed in order to gauge the consequences of this type of party organisation: UCD in Spain and Forza Italia in Italy. On the basis of this analysis it is argued that business firm parties are likely to be electorally unstable and politically incoherent, and also prone to serving particularistic interests.     

Collaborative Governance: Integrating Management,Politics, and Law

Scholars have engaged in an ongoing dialogue about the relationships among management, politics, and law in public administration. Collaborative governance presents new challenges to this dynamic. While scholars have made substantial contributions to our understanding of the design and practice of collaborative governance, others suggest that we lack theory for this emerging body of research. Law is often omitted as a variable. Scholarship generally does not explicitly include collaboration as a public value. This article addresses the dialogue on management, politics, and law with regard to collaborative governance. It provides an overview of the current legal framework for collaborative governance in the United States at the federal, state, and local levels of government and identifies gaps. The institutional analysis and development framework provides a body of theory that incorporates rules and law into research design. The article concludes that future research on collaborative governance should incorporate the legal framework as an important variable and collaboration as a public value.     

Toward a Feminist Counter-geopolitics: Gender,Space and Islamist Politics in Istanbul

Geopolitical reasoning privileges the global scale as the locus of spatialised power relations. For the past 20 years, Islam and Islamist politics have figured prominently in geopolitical discourses of international conflict. This paper puts forth a feminist counter-geopolitics that focuses on how Islamist political practices and discourses are written into everyday life and urban spaces. Approaching political activity as comprising both formal voting behaviour and informal associational activities, this study uses survey and focus group data (collected in Istanbul in 1998/99) to explore gender and Islamist politics at national and local scales. Exploring women's activities within both formal and informal urban political spaces, the study reveals some of the ways in which women participate in the daily production and contestation of Islamist politics in Istanbul.     

David Eden,Autonomy: Capitalism,Class and Politics

The urban street is a significant canvas within the material cartography of the nation-state's spatial frontier. Between March and May of 2010, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, also known as the “Red Shirts,” painted Bangkok red as one of the most cohesive assemblage of street protests in Thai political history. Each protestor donated ten cubic centimeters of blood to be poured at several sites, including the Government House of Thailand, the ruling Democrat Party headquarters, and the Prime Minister's residence. Other vials were used to paint murals along the walls of the Old City. The intensified aesthetic presence of Thailand's rural voting majority challenged a historic marginality in the Thai polity, and was one of many semiotic tactics that foreshadowed the violence of the eventual military intervention under the name “Operation Reclaim Space.” The city itself was projected as a wounded body, while the Red Shirts—as Thongchai Winichakul [“The ‘Germs’: The Reds' Infection of the Thai Political Body,” New Mandala, May 3, 2010, available online at < http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2010/05/03/thongchai-winichakul-on-the-red-germs/#more-9382>] so observed at the time—were heavily objectified as germs invading the sanitary walls of the city. This approach to protest in Bangkok treats the development of the contemporary polis as an urban physiology, simultaneously driven by an intensification of presence and the “good health” prerogatives of acceptable citizenship in the global city.     

Norwegian Politics of Abortion: Perspectives, Arguments, and Values

Grid-group cultural theory is applied to an empirical analysis of five debates on abortion in the Norwegian Parliament between 1992 and 1996. Policy arguments concerning selective abortion and abortion in general are compared. In the cultural–theoretical literature, restrictive policy arguments towards abortion have been connected to the hierarchical cultural bias, whereas permissive policy arguments have been associated with egalitarian and individualistic worldviews. The empirical analysis, however, shows that there are various different connections between abortion policy arguments and cultural biases. The possibly contradictory situation that arises when parties switch between cultural biases is discussed, and the article concludes that grid-group cultural theory proves useful in relating the various abortion policy arguments to broader worldviews that transcend this particular policy issue.     

Judicial Selection: Politics,Biases, and Constituency Demands

The determinants of recent U.S. districtcourt judges and appellate court judgesselection have been subject of much debate,but little systematic evidence has beenpresented to substantiate claims regardingdiscrimination against particular groups ofjudicial nominees, nor regarding the lengthof the appointment process. We study boththe length of the nominations process, andthe likelihood of confirmation andemphasize the role of Senatorial seniorityand agenda control in the confirmationsprocess. We find that Senators with agendacontrol have a positive effect on the speedand likelihood of confirmation and thatnominees from states with comparativelysenior Senators receive expedited treatmentrelative to other nominees. Althoughpolitics matter in the confirmationprocess, Senators are responsive to aperceived ``shortage'' of judges, since theyfill seats faster when a relatively largenumber of court seats are vacant. Nomineeswith higher personal qualifications arealso more likely to experience success inconfirmations. We found no evidence ofgender or race discrimination on the partof the Senate.     

历史阐释:政治、叙事与言辞结构

19世纪欧洲的历史意识面对一个问题是:历史研究的规范应当如何满足于对所论题材的理解,而不仅仅吁求对它们的解释。在阐释的阐释者与阐释者之间获得历史阐释权威性的竞争具有分享权力的政治意涵。它从特定群体之中获得合法性且在群体之上施行它的权威。历史阐释真理性就会因其政治权威诉求而受到贬低,但将政治权威视作历史阐释的工具并予以抑制或升华是能够产生实质意义的。后现代历史叙事学以为,唯物史观只有借助于辩证法的形式论证方面才有可能证成。它所牵涉到的关于历史实在的内容未被现实化之前,辩证法之叙事话语形式就是它的内容。若错失这种"形式的内容",就意味着唯物史观叙事能力或意义本身的缺失。后现代历史叙事学的要害是受制于历史解释的形式特征,但它也更易在20世纪的历史转折点上自行暴露出形式主义的虚妄。当形式主义被当作免遭非难地为所欲为的方法,这里成为时代错误的正是作为形式主义的方法。     

Afrikaner Nationalism, Electioneering and the Politics of a Volkstaat

The liberation of South Africa from the shackles of apartheid signifies the end of the last out-post of white domination in South Africa, and opened a new chapter on the search for a common South Africanism. The process of nation-building is haunted by relics of nationalist trends, one of which is Afrikaner nationalism. This article deals with certain aspects of Afrikaner nationalism which have continued into the post-apartheid era. It uses the division among Afrikaner nationalists to show the link between conservative Afrikaner nationalism, electioneering and the pursuit for a volkstaat (white homeland).     

Politics Lost, Politics Transformed, Politics Colonised? Theories of the Impact of Mass Media

In recent years, there has been a substantial increase in the literature on the relationship between politics and mass media, mainly in discrete topic areas such as the impact of mass media on electoral behaviour, the emergence of new forms of political communication, or media political economy. At the same time, this diverse literature has often focused on a single general issue, typically characterised in terms of the 'transformation' of politics. Despite this common theme, there has been relatively little attempt to connect and compare the different approaches. Looking at the theoretical differences in the new literature on politics and mass media reveals three perspectives – pluralist, constructivist, and structuralist. These approaches have too often tacitly co-existed, instead of more competitively striving to advance knowledge in the three main topic areas above.     

市场、商人、交易:商法的三个基础性概念

在商法基础理论的研究中,市场、商人和交易这三个基础性概念一直是被忽视的概念。市场是交易的场所,同时也是交易关系的综合。现代商法中的商人,更加强调商人的知识素质。商法中的交易则是以市场为依托、以资本增值为目的的自愿性权利转移。商法中的“商”就是市场中的交易,“交易”一词贯穿于市场、商人和商法之中,是商法的核心概念。     

Toward a Better Understanding of Politics: Linking Costs, Cultures, and Institutional Rules to Budgets

Books reviewed:
Aman Khan, Cost and Optimization in Government
Ronald F. King, Budgeting Entitlements: The Politics of Food Stamps
Steven G. Koven, Public Budgeting in the United States: The Cultural and Ideological Setting