Bernard Crick: citizenship and democracy in the United Kingdom

Bernard Crick's contribution to citizenship studies can be regarded as part of the tradition so ably represented by T.H. Marshall. I want to argue in this brief article on Crick that on the one hand he is part of the ‘golden age’ of political philosophy that has flourished in the English-speaking world over the last two or three decades, but on the other his work also shows the limitations of that tradition, at least from the perspective of comparative and historical studies in political sociology. His work was unquestionably ‘local’ in its focus on the subject of Scottish independence and the viability of the British Isles under the governance of a multi-national state.     

Politics Against Science: Reflections on the Study of Chinese Politics in Contemporary China

As a preliminary investigation and an intellectual reflection of the state of the field of Chinese domestic political study conducted in the Chinese language in mainland China, this paper deals with a threefold task. It first assesses the state of the field of the study of Chinese politics in mainland China, and argues that this scholarship is underdeveloped in comparison with the study of home-country politics in some other countries. It then clarifies the often blurring boundaries in contemporary China between the political science study of Chinese politics on one hand and other categories of political writings on the other, and maintains that the political penetration from the Party-state has been the major factor that hinders the intellectual development of the study of Chinese politics as a branch of political science. The paper, thirdly, suggests the so-called “open-minded independence of scholarship” with the emphases on academic autonomy and institutionalized professionalism as what the most needed for developing the study of Chinese politics in the Sinophonic world.     

对教育思想创新的思考

要培养新世纪所需要的人才,就要在教育思想上创新。要树立正确全面的教育价值观,树立现代人才观,克服重学术轻技术的观念,树立正确的教学质量观。     

Freedom,Peace and Politics: Crick and Northern Ireland

Intimately throughout the 1970s, and in a more detached way for the rest of his life, Bernard Crick thought seriously about the politics of Northern Ireland. Though he produced no systematic study of the Northern Ireland Question, and though at first glance Northern Ireland appeared to be unpropitious territory for the author of In Defence of Politics, his reflections illuminated a deep concern with the relationship between politics, freedom and peace. This article argues that Crick's writing on the subject constitutes a sustained appeal for a ‘realism of pragmatic potential’ in contrast to that despairing ‘realism of impossible certainty’ which, he felt, frustrated hopes for political progress.     

Epistemological Limits of the State: Reflections on Popper's Open Society

The ethical theory of Popper's Open Society threatens, against his wishes, to lapse into a form of relativism. This consequence is avoided if a closer parallel than Popper himself allows for is drawn between hs ethical theory and his epistemology. This produces a fallibilistic ethical intuitionism, in which the judgements of the individual are subject to criticism by the judgements of others. From this, however, an epistemological rationale is provided for the autonomy of the individual and moral limits are drawn to the sphere of legitimate action by the state.     

Governance: The Collision of Politics and Cooperation

Three newly established public agencies built regional rail projects in Los Angeles County from 1978 to 2002. The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority were experiments in regional governance. Conventional understanding of these agencies only partially explains their successes and failures. One path to improved understanding is to combine research on the politics of designing new public agencies with research on cooperation in collective action problems. What emerges is an untold story of American politics: the evolution of mechanisms that promote cooperation. Four findings emerge: (1) conflict is inevitable; (2) public agencies can succeed despite the problems of politics; (3) successful regional solutions are intensely local; and (4) cooperation emerges from supply-side mechanisms that create new resources rather than reallocate existing resources. The limits of politics are neither random nor predestined—neither is the governance solution.     

Edward Banfield on the Promise of Politics and the Limits of Federalism

Edward Banfield is generally considered to be a conservative,but this assumption is problematic. This essay examines hisviews on federalism and local politics in an attempt to betterunderstand his orientation. While he holds views on federalismand localism that are not liberal, by post-Second World WarAmerican standards, his lack of interest in constitutional rules,acceptance of national expansion, and lack of enthusiasm aboutlocal government put him at odds with mainstream conservatism.Ultimately, Banfield's suggestion that politics (local and national)can improve the character of human beings places him outsideboth conservatism and liberalism, and within an older tradition.     

The Politics of Studying Politics: Political Science Since the 1960s

The field of political science has undergone significant change since the 1960s. The major shift was toward far greater quantification in the scholarly analyses. That movement sparked enduring controversies. These include disputes pitting scientific detachment against political relevance; specialization against accessibility; and quantitative against qualitative analysis. This article traces the contours of these controversies and offers some reflections on the discipline’s possible future.     

Bread-and-Butter Agreement and High Politics Disagreement Some Reflections on the Contextual Impact on Agricultural Interests in EC Policy-Making*

In public policy literature a classical argument is that the scope and content of decisions shape both the structure of the policy-making process and the configuration of actors involved. Recent studies have strongly emphasized that the patterns of segmentation and specialization found in national policy-making are also found in EC policy-making. Against this background, the present article discusses the conditions and impact of agricultural interests in EC policy-making in light of the economic crisis of recent years and the increasing budgetary problems faced by the EC. The article illustrates, especially with reference to the Danish case, the special importance of the national interest organization-government relationship for the strategies pursued by national agricultural interest organizations in influencing EC/CAP policy-making. Furthermore, the article indicates how policy-making concerning the CAP has become more complicated as a consequence of the general economic crisis and recent sharp fall in farmers' incomes. National governments are the central actors in the Community policy-making process, and their impulse to promote exclusive national interests in the Community policy-making process has increased. In addition, agriculture has been integrated in the overall Community ‘crisis’ policy, and this development has weakened the segmentation in relation to the CAP. However, because of the general problems of the EC, the national agricultural organizations of the various member states have a growing interest in emphasizing joint activities and mutual agreement with regard to fundamental agricultural issues on Community level. This may affect the role of COPA leaving it primarily as a coordinator and mediator among the various national agricultural organizations, because pressures are more likely to succeed at the national level than at the EC level. This is where ‘bread-and-butter’ agreement really counts in the future. The alternative is that COPA will lose its credibility in EC policy-making.     

Reflections on Politics and Academia: An Interview with Michael Parenti

Michael Parenti, the author of more than twenty books on a wide variety of topics, has taught political science and social science at several universities. He is a founder of the Caucus for a New Political Science. In recent years he has been devoted to writing and public speaking, lecturing across the United States, Canada, and elsewhere. He received his PhD in political science from Yale University. He currently lives in Berkeley, California. The following interview was conducted in early February 2012.1 ¹ Michael Parenti would like to thank Carl Boggs for his efforts in putting this interview together. He considers it a privilege to be interviewed by someone of Carl's caliber.      

对社会科学研究方法的认识

科学的要义在于思维方式,思维方式决定了科学研究的路径和方法,也决定了科学的表现形式.现代科学是从认识论框架中成长起来的,或者说,现代哲学中的认识论为科学提供了分析性思维方式.康德是认识论哲学的集大成者.然而,在康德的同时代,还存在着一种不同于康德“批判哲学”的观念学.这种观念学包含着或者说试图建构起一种相似性思维,其中,也包含着发展出一种不同于现代科学方法的方法论体系的可能性.在工业社会的发展历程中,观念学没有引起人们的重视,因而,建立在相似性思维基础上的方法论体系没有成长起来.然而,在后工业化进程中,科学认识对象的高度复杂性和高度不确定性,决定了我们需要通过相似性思维的建构去确立一种不同于现代科学研究方法的新的方法论体系.     

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.     

Reframing Democracy: Governance, Civic Agency, and Politics

Developments in public affairs that stress governance— not simply government—hold possibilities for reframing democracy. Governance intimates a paradigm shift in the meaning of democracy and civic agency—that is, who is to address public problems and promote the general welfare? The shift involves a move from citizens as simply voters, volunteers, and consumers to citizens as problem solvers and cocreators of public goods; from public leaders, such as public affairs professionals and politicians, as providers of services and solutions to partners, educators, and organizers of citizen action; and from democracy as elections to democratic society. Such a shift has the potential to address public problems that cannot be solved without governments, but that governments alone cannot solve, and to cultivate an appreciation for the commonwealth. Effecting this shift requires politicizing governance in nonpartisan, democratizing ways and deepening the civic, horizontal, pluralist, and productive dimensions of politics.     

Food for Thought: Reflections on a Counter-hegemonic Food-related Intervention in a South African University

Currently the Academy operates primarily as a space that helps to create and cement neoliberal hegemony in the Gramscian sense. However, since hegemony is never complete, universities are a site of struggle and the opportunity exists to engage in a “war of position” within them. This must necessarily involve allowing space for counter-hegemonic discourses to emerge through critical reflection on “common sense” discourses, as well as the deliberate inclusion of counter-hegemonic thinking and theory from below. This article reflects on an attempt to do this in a South African university, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in relation to the issue of food. The Food Festival was an attempt to subvert interlocking hegemonic discourses, including that of food security, by “reading the world” (à la Freire) in order to understand the actual nature of existing food systems as inherently oppressive, and “inserting” the concept of food sovereignty as developed by the global peasants’ movement La Via Campesina. After considering the counter-hegemonic intentions of the Festival, the article reflects on its uneven success.     

网络政治参与影响地方政府治理的路径和限度

网络政治参与在中国发展迅速,它从三个方面影响着地方政府治理:激发地方政府的问题意识,影响地方政府治理中的议程设置;促进公共政策的执行,影响地方政府治理中的公共政策制定;增强对干部权力的监督,影响地方政府治理中的干部行为。但是,在网络政治参与中的数字鸿沟、群体极化和地方政府面临的双重压力、官员的自利性与有限理性,也削弱网络政治参与对地方政府治理的影响程度。