保加利亚人的『面包情』

我在中国驻捷克大使馆工作期间,有一次在外交活动中,保加利亚大使向我说:"保加利亚人民对面包有特殊感情,他们一天都不能离开面包."我不以为然,心想:面包对其他国家的人民来说,是大众化食品,保加利亚的人民对吃面包有何不同?     

To love the republic: The patriotism of benevolence and its rhetorical obligation

Until the last century, most political philosophers considered patriotism to be a virtue, and an essential characteristic of the good state. From Cicero to Adam Smith, the active love of one's nation was also considered a duty, especially for public servants. They gave serious consideration to the necessary characteristics of a proper patriotism. But in modern times, serious questions have been raised about patriotism, because so many crimes have been committed in the name of one's nation. This has led scholars to distinguish between patriotism and its negative counterpart, nationalism. Our concern with the problem of nationalism has led us to neglect the positive benefits of patriotism. Using the United States as the example, this article argues that patriotism is a virtue, provided that it is the patriotism of benevolence: a patriotism based upon the love of others. Furthermore, it is also argued that patriots have a rhetorical obligation to persuade others to love the Republic. In an age where the affectionate ties among citizens are loosening, the importance of the patriotism of benevolence is even greater, as is the corresponding rhetorical obligation.     

Adding rooms onto a house we love: Central banking after the global financial crisis

This article examines the extent to which central bankers have been willing and able to rethink their beliefs about monetary policy in the wake of the global financial crisis. We show that despite the upheaval, the core pre‐crisis monetary policy paradigm remains relatively intact: central bankers believe that they should primarily pursue price stability through targeting a low inflation rate in a transparent manner, and that they need operational independence in order to achieve this goal. In a bid to address post‐crisis conditions and maintain their credibility, however, central bankers have also layered new elements onto this paradigmatic core. We document both the resilience of pre‐crisis beliefs and the process of layering using computer‐assisted text analysis and qualitative analysis of 13,586 speeches given between 1997 and 2017 by central bankers from around the world.     

Trends in Governance in Further Education

Abstract

The governance of further education colleges has two main phases since the passing of the Education Act 1944 – the period when further education colleges were under local authority control and the period from ‘vesting day’ on 1 April 1993 when colleges became incorporated and further education corporations were formed as charities. This review is primarily concerned with the landscape of college governance since 1 April 1993 and draws upon some of the very limited number of research studies into the practice of further education governance. The experience and contribution of the key governance players – chair of the corporation, governors, the principal, the senior staff, the clerk to the corporation – are discussed. Throughout the period since 1993, college governance has operated within a policy framework provided by government and, to a greater or lesser extent, the implementation of those policies by agencies of government. In simple terms, the pattern may seem to be creativity (in the early years), compliance (following some high profile college governance collapses), micro-management (through the Learning and Skills Council years) and now the most open, imaginative phase as the current government encourages the strong colleges to play a bigger part in local education provision. Perhaps now is the time when the experience of college governance to date is able to draw upon its considerable strengths and show what the accumulation of governance capital can achieve.