Feminism and Political History

Political historians traditionally privileged the political activities of men and masculine political institutions. This vision of political history was revised from the early 1970s, first by "women's history" and later due to the influence of the "gender turn". The latter encompassed a recognition that conceptions of masculinity and femininity contribute to the shaping of political power. Both developments challenged but ultimately reinvigorated political history. However, as this article will argue, political history and feminist history remain to an extent quarantined from one another, despite the radical potential for feminist scholarship to change the way politics is conceived.     

多边主义与东亚高政治合作

中国在国际关系中积极倡导多边主义,充分体现了中国外交与时俱进的精神和当代中国外交文化的先进性内涵.推动东亚政治合作是面向21世纪中国奉行多边主义外交战略的重要步骤,它事关东亚能否崛起为世界重要一极.中国在东亚的多边主义战略目标是构建一个和谐的东亚政治经济和安全环境.由于传统和历史的原因,东亚国家一直比较重视在"低政治"领域展开合作,但对"高政治"领域的合作却畏首畏尾,显得比较缓慢和迟钝.其实,东亚国家在战后初期就存在着大国主导"高政治"领域合作的空间.东亚虽然是世界主要的文明发祥地、战后各主要国家也先后实现了经济的起飞,但是政治上的作用却未能很好发挥出来.相反,东亚却成为霸权主义和强权政治轻易得手和随意操纵的地方,特别是由于政治合作意愿淡薄,直接导致了东亚大国政治上的分散化和政治问题的频繁发生,进而也威胁到经济社会发展领域,中日关系就是一个突出的例子.解决朝核问题的多边主义模式应该机制化,这是东亚"高政治"合作的重要起点,而中国应该成为该机制化过程中的主导力量.     

俄罗斯政治思想的新变化——2009年俄罗斯政治形势分析

2009年俄罗斯的政局保持稳定,但政治体系现代化的改革成效不大。金融危机成为影响俄罗斯政治形势的刺激性因素。梅德韦杰夫和普京在政治思想上的差异开始显现。这种差异主要体现在政治哲学观与历史观的不同上。思想观念的不同可能导致政治路线之争。由于普京依然居于权力中心,俄罗斯政局的发展不会完全按照梅德韦杰夫的路线发展。     

Patrolling the Boundaries of Politics: Collingwood, Political Analysis and Political Action

Debates over whether a certain thing is (or ought to be) construed as 'political' are frequent and frequently interminable. This article argues that approaches to the proper understanding, scope and application of political concepts should recognise that they are both normative and contestable and also that, because they are employed by both theorist and theorised, they can never be sharply defined. It is argued that many debates achieve no theoretical closure because the terms of discussion are confined by a certain understanding of concepts as empirical and classificatory. This article examines these issues by using the work of R.G. Collingwood to suggest that conceptual overlap is inevitable and also that the theoretical analysis of politics should distinguish between the empirical and the theoretical phase of the concept. Philosophically, politics is not a separate sphere of activity but a dimension of all activity, and the correct way to understand politics is to understand it as activity, not as substance. For certain empirical purposes we categorise some things as political and others as non-political, but in doing so we should be careful whether we are doing so philosophically, historically or through stipulative definition. This article does not seek to cover all ramifications of the debate or its later literature, but to suggest that Collingwood's approach has something to contribute to the analysis of political concepts.     

The Political Economy of Policy Volatility in Latin America

Why are some Latin American states plagued by persistent policy volatility while the policies of others remain relatively stable? This article explores the political economy of natural resource rents and policy volatility across Latin America. It argues that, all else equal, resource rents will create incentives for political leaders, which will result in repeated episodes of policy volatility. This effect, however, will depend on the structure of political institutions. Where political institutions fail to provide a forum for intertemporal exchange among political actors, natural resource rents will result in increased levels of policy volatility. Alternatively, where political institutions facilitate agreement among actors, resource rents will be conducive to policy stability. This argument is tested on a measure of policy volatility for 18 Latin American economies between 1993 and 2008. The statistical tests provide support for the argument.     

浅析美国力压人民币升值的性质与政治目标--兼论中国的对策

目前,国际社会对人民币汇率问题的关注已进入一个新的阶段,中美之间围绕人民币升值问题所进行的争论和较量已趋于白热化.本文认为,美国力压人民币升值行为在本质上是一个重大的政治问题,美国有明显的政治战略和利益追求.面对人民币升值的压力,中国应理智和妥善处理好各种关系,以求得国家利益的最大化.     

泰国政治权力结构调整的动力、路径与困境

基于对政治利益集团权力斗争的分析,本文认为,近年来泰国政局持续动荡的根源在于政治权力结构调整所面临的转型困境。20世纪90年代以来,泰国在全球化外部风险与国内城乡发展失衡的双重压力下,形成对国家发展道路的重新选择要求。经济利益结构的改革压力,形成对"碎片化"政治权力结构的调整动力。1997年东亚金融危机爆发,成为推动泰国政治权力结构调整的契机。既得利益集团倾向于保留"碎片化"格局的改良方案,但代表新资本集团的他信派系倾向于政治改革,要求建构由其主导的"层级式"政治权力结构。他信派系得益于新资本集团与农民群体的政治联合,在"政治权力结构—经济利益结构"大循环调整过程中占据优势;既得利益集团得益于国王权威的支持,在"政治权力结构—政治文化传统"小循环调整过程中掌握主动。双方在政治权力结构的调整过程中相互制衡,从而使得泰国的政治秩序迟迟未能重建。     

2008—2020年俄罗斯地方政治态势演变及其影响

2020年1月,普京宣布政治改革初步方案,俄罗斯政治将在联邦层面发生巨大变化。同年9月13日,在俄罗斯地方选举中“统俄党”大获全胜。普京的一系列政治操作——政府重组、宪法修正似乎已初见成效。实际上,俄罗斯政治在地方层面上已经发生许多变化。通过使用python语言自编程序从俄罗斯中央选举委员会的官方网站抓取相关数据,本文研究了从2008年至2020年的情况,发现普京及“统俄党”在地方政治中的支持度明显不如在联邦中央,自2018年以来其他党派赢得一些地方选举的趋势仍在延续甚至加强,但“统俄党”在地方的表现未直接影响到联邦层级。从政治、经济、民生角度解读俄罗斯地方与中央政治态势的显著差异十分重要。未来俄罗斯存在普京续任总统或“统俄党”顺利推出新人执行类似普京政策的可能,但也不能排除“统俄党”落选反对派上台的可能性。俄罗斯政局的下一个重要观察点是2021年第八届国家杜马选举。     

欧洲政治一体化的发展与前瞻

欧洲政治一体化经历了"欧洲政治合作"、"共同外交与安全政策"以及"共同安全与防务政策"三个发展阶段,使欧洲国家外交政策的合作越来越紧密。然而因各国外交利益的不同道致欧洲外交政策无法步调一致,因此影响了欧洲联盟对国际事务的影响力。《里斯本条约》改变了欧洲联盟传统的外交与安全体系,创造了一个"金三角、两系统"的新格局,亦即建构"新人事制度"、"新外交决策体系"与"新外交行政体系"等,使欧洲联盟外交与安全体系焕然一新。这种新格局下可能创造出来的外交能量,极可能增强欧盟的外交能力,使欧洲联盟成为更具影响力的全球角色,这项变革将大大增加欧洲联盟成为国际政治新强权的实力,未来欧盟亦将因此对国际体系发挥前所未有的影响力,以上发展值得深入研究与观察。     

Power and Conflict in the Swiss Political Elite: An Aggregation of Existing Network Analyses

Since Kriesi's (1980) pioneering work no study has attempted to provide an overall picture of power configuration among the Swiss political elite. To fill this gap we aggregate recent network analyses carried out in various policy domains. Based on meta-hypotheses regarding the likely effects of the contextual changes that have taken place during the last thirty years, we compare the structure of the Swiss political elite existing in the 1970s to that of the last decade with respect to reputational power, collaboration and conflict. Our results suggest that important transformations have indeed occurred. Thus, both political parties and some specific state bodies could increase their power, whereas most interest groups have lost some. While the internationalization of politics has overall had the expected effects with respect to the power structure and to conflict among political parties, it did not lead to the hypothesized, new conflict among interest groups.     

越南的人际信任价值观与国家政制

人际信任价值观被越来越多学者认为与国家政制有着密切的关系,特别是社会资本等理论,甚至认为人际信任与现代民主社会政制是正相关关系,是影响现代民主社会政制的重要变量之一。然而,现实的数据表明,虽然越南的国家政制民主指数并不高,但是,越南的人际信任价值观却非常高。为此,本文试图以越南为例,对人际信任价值观做出具体的分析,指出人际信任价值观不应该一概而论,其中的熟人信任和陌生人信任会对国家政制产生不同的影响,因而要对人际信任价值观与国家政制之间的关系做出更为细致的界定,才能提高理论的适用性。     

Youth Political Engagement in Egypt: From Abstention to Uprising

This study analyses the dynamics of youth political engagement in Egypt in the light of ‘dual motivation’ theory, which defines political engagement in terms of both citizens' interest in changing the outcome of elections and the prevalence of social capital conducive for political engagement. The first part of the article focuses on the dynamics of political mobilisation in general, prior to the uprising of 25 January 2011. The second part examines the political attitudes and levels of political participation of young people prior to the uprising. The study found that the youth believed in democratic values but did not participate politically. This is explained not by a lack of social capital but rather by an understanding of the dynamics of authoritarian rule and corruption, leading to a general abstention from civic and political engagement. Nevertheless, with the changing international circumstances, especially the Jasmine revolution in Tunisia, youth movements in Egypt have proved capable of framing the issue of regime change effectively, leading ultimately to contention on the streets and the toppling of Mubarak. Dual motivation theory, therefore, might not be applicable in authoritarian regimes but in democratising regimes both elements of the theory appear relevant.     

Gender Gaps in Civic and Political Participation in Latin America

This article examines whether there is gender segmentation in civic participation in Latin America, and whether such segmentation is related to gender differences in political participation. Confirming the findings of other studies, this analysis indicates that there is gender segmentation in civic associational activities, and that men are more involved than women in political activities, except for voting. Among those involved in civic activities, however, women attend meetings more often than men or about equally in all types of activities under consideration, except for sports and recreational pursuits. This highlights the need to differentiate between type and intensity of civic participation and provides empirical evidence that Latin American women have strong community ties through a variety of organizations. The regression analysis shows that civic engagement has a positive effect on political participation but that the magnitude of that effect varies by gender depending on the activity.     

非政府组织和印尼的政治改革

非政府组织经常被看作是充满活力的公民社会的基础。对于发展中国家的政治、社会发展来说,非政府组织至关重要。关于这一点,印尼这个东南亚地区的最大国家体会得相当深刻。本文将通过探讨苏哈托政府时期印尼非政府组织的生存发展,展示非政府组织在发展中国家政治发展中的杠杆作用。     

Political Institutions and Conservation Outcomes: Wildlife Policy in Zambia

“Messy” democratic political institutions might generate ineffective conservation policy watered down by competing interest groups and rival political parties. A hardcore environmentalist may believe that a pro‐conservation dictatorship would be the type government best able to meet her goals. Such an environmental fantasy became reality in Zambia under President (1972‐1991) Kenneth Kaunda. But despite his dictatorial powers, he did not have much success in curbing the poaching epidemic that swept through Zambia in the 1970s and 80s. The structure of the one‐party state, together with a fall in the price of Zambia's principal export (copper) and a concomitant increase in the value of many wildlife products, created an environment that generated incentives for politicians, bureaucrats, and citizens to disregard Kaunda. This analysis challenges conventional wisdom about the politics of one‐party states. It shows that even in the case of one‐party government, the structure of political institutions remains critical to the extent of a dictator's control.     

The foreign policy of the Zuma government: pursuing the ‘national interest’?

It was after much anticipation that members of the new Jacob Zuma foreign policy executive announced that, for the duration of their term, South Africa's foreign policy would be based on the doctrine of advancing ‘the national interest’, conceptualised simply as the ‘most vital needs’ of the country. However, almost two years since taking control of the levers of policy and political power, the South African government has yet to spell out in detail what constituted the national interest or how such interest would be pursued. In spite of this lacuna, senior members of the new foreign policy inner-elite continue to proclaim the national interest, and proceed to spell out grander foreign policy goals that they would pursue under the banner of a ‘new’ developmental agenda. These include consolidating the African agenda; deepening South–South cooperation; expanding South–North relations; strengthening foreign political and economic ties generally; and participating in a global system of governance. To date, this proclamation that the national interest will be the beam that will guide foreign policy has remained little more than a statement of intent and much conjecture. The challenge is to move beyond rhetoric and intentions and to define the national interest and to articulate a coherent foreign policy going forward. This will require concrete proposals on the basis of thorough-going domestic–foreign policy linkages.     

The transition in the political economy of South Korean development

This article analyzes the current transition in the political economy of South Korea in the context of political democratization and economic development. Because South Korea can be regarded as a case in which successful economic growth preceded political democratization, the article reviews the advantage and the disadvantage of late industrialization and its limitations. It discusses rising conflicts of interest among economic agents, labor disputes, and the erosion of international competitiveness. The article also reviews the sociopolitical reform program advanced by the new administration and its ramifications for the economic prospects. The article concludes that the Korean economy will continue to grow but not as fast as it had grown in the past and that the new political environment will play a critical role in determining the characteristics of capitalism in South Korea. The success of future economic development will depend on the stability of the political system and the national capacity to resolve conflict of interests.     

Religion and Political Tolerance in South Korea

This paper examines the relationship between individuals' religiosity and its impact on political tolerance in South Korea. Based on the results of survey data analysis, we find that there are inter-denominational as well as intra-denominational differences of religiosity that influence levels of political tolerance among South Koreans. In terms of the inter-denominational differences (the ethnoreligious thesis), we find that Buddhists tend to be more tolerant than Protestants, and Protestants tend to have the lowest level of political tolerance in South Korea. In terms of the intra-denominational differences (the culture wars thesis), religious traditionalists have a lower level of political tolerance than religious modernists in South Korea. This paper argues that there is a statistically significant relationship between individuals' religiosity and their level of political tolerance, and that a composite model (combining the ethno-religious model and the culture wars model) is the best way of investigating such a relationship in the Korean context.     

The Political Side of Consociationalism Reconsidered: Switzerland between a Polarized Parliament and Delicate Government Collegiality

This paper builds upon the concept of “coalescent elite behaviour” which is crucial in consociational theory, but contested regarding its actual conceptualization. Contrary to Lijphart's (1968) original assumption that elites are generally committed to an “overarching cooperation”, we hypothesize that institutional venues must be taken in account. Thus, the aim of this paper is twofold: Conceptually, we try to clarify the nature of “amicable agreement” regarding two core institutions (i.e. parliament, government), and regarding executive‐legislative relations. Empirically, we follow a two‐step empirical approach that combines a cross‐time comparison of the decision‐making process regarding the revision of the Swiss basic pension scheme (AHV) with a cross‐case assessment following Fischer's two‐dimensional typology. More generally, our findings serve to inductively refine the “political side” of consociationalism.