From the outside lane: issues of ‘race’ in South African athletics in the twentieth century

In her introductory essay to this special issue on refugees and xeno­phobia--in which the articles focus primarily on asylum-seekers,2 mostly in the United Kingdom, but also in France and Ireland--guest editor Liza Schuster draws on the work of the contributors and on her own research in Britain, France, Germany and Italy to address the treatment of asylum-seekers by European states. European liberal democracies share a common commitment to granting asylum to those in need of protection, a commitment made legally binding by signing the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. They also share a commitment to principles of equality and non-discrimination. However, in recent years European states have embraced practices that permit discrimination against and unequal treatment of asylum-seekers, and recent British government proposals threaten the 1951 Convention itself. Schuster interrogates some of the underlying assumptions of asylum policies in the United Kingdom in particular, but also with reference to other European states, arguing that common-sense assertions of the ‘need for control’, which underlie the differential treatment of asylum-seekers in particular, are expressions of a racism at the heart of European states. She further argues that, at the border, racism intersects in a complex and shifting way with class and gender, creating a hierarchy of the excluded. Following a discussion of racism and these other modalities of exclusion, Schuster examines practices through which this racism is articulated.     

Anti-racism,racism and asylum-seekers in France

Anti-racist movements in France have been characterized by their strong political orientation and their tendency to be highly centralized. However, in the past decade the increasing salience of the position of ‘new immigrants’, a term that in France is used to include asylum-seekers, has been accompanied by a shift in the form and content of anti-racist mobilization. Support for asylum-seekers has been provided by a multiplicity of specialist national and local organizations developing modes of solidarity that are more akin to welfare, social work or humanitarian aid than the more directly and overtly political interventions common among French anti-racists. At the same time local committees have developed in places of high tension, but at some distance from the political limelight of Paris. Lloyd examines some of these developments in the context of the crisis of provision for asylum-seekers in France. After setting out some basic information about asylum, undocumented migrants and the law in France she examines the political debate about ‘the new immigrants’ and racism. Comparing the relatively successful sans papiers movement of the 1990s with the difficulties of organizing among and with more isolated, transient and socially deprived asylum-seekers, she discusses the way in which this new set of issues has challenged the main anti-racist organizations and given rise to new actors and alliances.     

全球化视域下中国政策转移的反思与建构

随着全球化进程逐步深入,政策议程已经越来越多地受到跨国经验的影响.各种团体、国际组织以及各类政策制定者越来越多地"转移"国际经验到本国的政治、经济与社会中,而处于这一进程中的我国政策制定必将更加不可避免地受到这一趋势的影响.因此,如何适应这一新形势的要求,研究政策转移的特点及规律,特别是探索一个符合中国国情的政策转移体系,以对当下我国政策过程实践有所启发和帮助,是我们亟待解决的新课题.文章以全球化为背景,通过对我国政策转移的回顾与反思,针对影响我国政策转移的主要障碍及其症结,尝试建构当前我国政策转移的框架体系及保障机制,以供我国政策转移实践之参考.     

‘A quite natural and moderate defensive feeling’? The 1945 Hampstead ‘anti-alien’ petition

In October 1945 an ‘anti-alien’ petition was launched in the London Borough of Hampstead that, under the pretext of securing homes for returning ex-servicemen, campaigned for the removal of the district's predominantly Jewish refugee population. By examining the nature of support and opposition to the petition Macklin's local case study provides further evidence to suggest that reactions to those who had fled Nazi terror remained complex. Those who did find sanctuary were characterized by the local press not as ‘deserving victims’, but as the cause of the problems created by their Nazi persecutors. A detailed examination of the rhetoric of the petition movement reveals how this defence of local amenities against ‘alien‘ encroachment can rightfully be defined as ‘antisemitic’. Following an analysis of the role of the local press, Macklin examines its impact on, and interaction with, local and central government policy regarding reconstruction and immigration, which continued to be dominated by the dogma that harmonious race relations necessitated the strict control of immigrants, regardless of the desperation of their plight. He concludes by examining the media's symbiotic relationship with extremist and fascist politics.     

The Hi-jacking of Global Society? An Essay

Abstract

Globalization is producing a global society of some sort. Three leading forms are on offer: Global Civil Society, Global Islam and Global America. This essay presents an analysis of globalization as a process, and then a discussion of each of the three possible forms, while recognizing that contingency prevails in history. With this said, the odds are against Global Islam succeeding. Rather, the most likely outcome seems to be the ‘hijacking’ of Global Civil Society by the US. The reasons for this are given, plus a glance at alternative possibilities.     

Meaning nothing but good: ethics,history and asylum-seeker phobia in Britain

The current hostility of the media, politicians, state and public against asylum-seekers in Britain is unprecedented in its intensity. Rarely in modern British history have those campaigning for refugee rights been so isolated, marginalized and silenced. Kushner explores how it has been possible to couch the campaign against asylum-seekers in a discourse of morality: the need to protect ‘our’ people and culture against the diseased and dangerous alien, as well as the distinction drawn between helping the genuine refugee and exposing the bogus asylum-seeker. History has been instrumentalized to prove, through alleged generosity in the past, the moral righteousness of Britain's treatment of refugees. He attempts to expose the dangers of misplaced ethics and distorted history. To begin the process of change, he argues, historians and moral philosophers, because of the abuse of their areas of expertise, must confront the issue of refugees as being central rather than peripheral to their concerns.     

动态均衡视角下的政策变迁规律研究

公共政策在其动态运行过程中,政策变迁是一个自然的过程环节。所谓政策变迁是指不同政策间的替代与转换过程①。这一过程是否遵循某种一般性规律,理论界对此一直缺乏必要的研究探讨。从动态均衡的视角看来,可以将政策变迁过程分为政策失衡、政策创新、政策均衡3个阶段。其中,政策失衡指的是愿意改变既定政策的政策参与者的集合力量,超过愿意维持既定政策的政策参与者的力量集合时的一种状态;而政策均衡则表示与之相反的一种状态。政策创新是指由旧政策到新政策的实质性转换过程。通过这3个环节,拟揭示出政策变迁过程中政策从原有均衡状态演变为失衡状态,再通过创新变革向新的均衡状态转变这一规律。     

Open Borders and the Right to Immigration

I do not argue for or against substantive immigration policies in this paper. Rather, my thesis concerns what kinds of reasons are morally salient in the construction of just immigration policies. I argue that philosophical proposals for regulating immigration should be evaluated according to the following methodological principle: The unit of analysis in terms of which principles for regulating immigration must be evaluated is the socially situated individual. I defend this principle indirectly by applying it to cosmopolitan principles for regulating immigration in order to demonstrate the moral inadequacy of theories of immigration that adopt an inappropriate unit of analysis. Failure to evaluate the moral adequacy of their own substantive proposals in terms of their effects on socially situated individuals leads some cosmopolitans to endorse substantive recommendations for regulating immigration (namely, open borders) that, I argue, disproportionately burden members of institutionally disadvantaged groups.

Look to Denmark or not? An experimental study of the Social Democrats’ strategic choices

Social Democratic parties struggle to maintain their strong electoral position, as political competition has shifted from the traditional left-right dimension to the cultural dimension. This has led to a debate on what would be the most viable electoral strategy for these parties in terms of adjusting their policies. Some propose a “New Left” policy platform that combines social investment and progressive cultural policies; others an “Old Left” policy platform that combines traditional redistribution policies and social-conservative cultural policies. We conducted a survey experiment to test the effects of these two platforms on support for the Norwegian Labour party. Our results show that the New Left platform is more popular among current Labour voters and voters from competing left-wing parties, and the two policy platforms are equally popular among the total electorate.     

Citizenship and immigrant anti-rumour strategies: a critical outlook from the Barcelona case

This article analyses the case of the Barcelona Anti-Rumour Network, an initiative promoted by the City Council and social organizations, in order to deal with the uncontrolled proliferation of rumours, prejudices and stereotypes about immigration. Rumours convey false information with the aim of exploiting the fears of citizens often disconcerted in the face of the changes brought about the arrival of a considerable number of foreign immigrants. The article analyses, through policy analysis and in-depth interviews, the role of communication in immigration policies and the concept of citizenship that exists behind this strategy. Such policies can run the risk of focusing too much on the denial of rumours rather than on the affirmation of rights, as this may question the eligibility of the immigrant population to obtain the status of citizenship.     

The Moralization of the Markets in Europe

Nothing effects modern society more than the decisions made in the market place, especially (but not only) the judgments of consumers. The designation of market relations in modern societies as the “moralization of the markets” represents a novel stage in the social evolution of markets. Market theories still widely in use today emerged in a society that no longer exists. Today, growing affluence, greater knowledge, and hi-speed communication among consumers builds into the marketplace notions of fairness, solidarity, environment, health, and political considerations imbued with a long-term perspective that can disrupt short-term pursuits of the best buy. Importantly, such social goals, individual apprehensions, and models of consumer conduct become inscribed in products and services offered in the marketplace, as well as in the rules and regulations that govern market relations.

The OECD and “The Rest”: Analyzing the Limits of Policy Transfer

Abstract

Prompted by the rise of the emerging economies and the growing importance of the G20, the OECD has formally announced its intention of establishing itself as a key actor in global policy coordination. As part of this ambition, it has embarked on cultivating closer relations with five G20 countries it designated as key partners through the so-called “Enhanced Engagement” programme: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa. This article mobilizes concepts from the policy transfer literature to explain why the OECD’s attempts to increasingly involve all five countries in its policy have fallen short of its original ambitions, and also why the transfer of its policy work has been uneven across policy and country issue.     

生存现状、话语演变和异质的声音——90年代以来的同性恋研究

90年代末以来,在酷儿全球化趋势下,中国同性恋从疾病、变态、政治上不正确的性关系转变成非病理化和非罪化的主体间人格关系。作为现代性后果的中国同性恋话语在20世纪经历了从包容-抑制-重新包容的演变过程。然而,当前的同性恋叙述存在话语垄断现象,主体自主性的话语、知识和声音被总体化的宏大叙事所压制,这种压制不仅来自异性恋社会,也来自同性恋社区本身。近20年的同性恋研究大致经历了从行为到身份、从本质论到建构论的转变。     

Citizenship Debates in the New Germany

Nowhere is the fear, guilt, and pain of Germany’s dreadful past more evident that in contemporary debates over immigration policy. This debate has pit successive Christian Democratic Union politicians, who define Germany in ethno-nationalist terms, against the German left, which seeks to replace the volkish national tradition with a post-national multicultural identity. Ethno-nationalists and multicultural post-nationalists speak powerful, but mutually exclusive, moral languages that galvanize large segments of the German public. At the national level, extremists rarely succeed in Germany’s immigration debates, and the legislation that prevails represents a chaotic mix of liberal and nationalist policies.

Examining the Link Between Issue Attitudes and News Source: The Case of Latinos and Immigration Reform

This paper explores whether an individual’s news source can explain their attitudes on immigration. We focus on the Spanish-speaking population in the U.S., since they have the option of accessing their news in English, Spanish or in both languages. Our audience influence hypothesis predicts that Spanish-language news will cover immigration in a more positive and informative manner than will English-language news. Thus, Latinos who use Spanish-language news may have a higher likelihood of possessing pro-immigrant sentiments than Latinos who only use English-language news. Content analysis of Spanish and English-language television news segments reveals variations in the tone and substance of these news outlets. Analysis of Latino survey respondents indicates that immigration attitudes vary by news source. Generational status also influences Latinos’ immigration attitudes, though its impact is not as great as one’s news source.

Be Careful How You Frame the Issues

Immigration is related to widening inequality and insecurity in the United States, but it is not the main cause of such changes and to focus on the host/immigrant conflict diverts attention from many different elite projects that have widened inequality. Moral arguments about immigration cannot just address outsiders who only want to get into nations, but must address the moral situation of people in the process of entry and especially of insider/outsiders, people already in. Over the long run, civic nationalism is a healthier model than exclusionary biological or cultural fundamentalist definitions of the national community.

Drastic Plastic and the Global Electronic Economy

This article considers the rise of cosmetic surgical culture against the backdrop of recent explanations that foreground celebrity culture and the consumer industries. By contrast to these mainstream accounts, the article contends that surgical culture has become increasingly interwoven with major institutional changes of the global electronic economy. Personal vulnerabilities in the workplace and wider new economy are explored in the context of people seeking to reinvent themselves and improve their life prospects through cosmetic surgery.

Immigration and Perceptions of the Political System in Britain

Recently published research contends that concern about immigration is weakening the British political system by creating distrust in the elites and institutions in this system. Some may challenge this finding because the public opinion data used to illustrate this relationship is limited to the period of the recent Labour government, raising the possibility that it was an artefact of that era and thus may no longer hold. Using the most recent round of the European Social Survey (2010–11), this paper investigates whether this finding holds in the present era. The findings indicate that under the current Conservative‐Liberal Democratic government, concern about immigration is still related to negative perceptions of the political system. This finding, along with those reported in previous research, points to potentially serious negative consequences for the functioning of the British political system, which are discussed in the concluding section of the paper.     

The Use of Rental Housing Assistance by Immigrants in the United States and New York City

Abstract

The large influx of immigrants to the United States and New York City from poorer countries has sparked considerable debate as to whether immigrants are becoming a “public charge” to American society. Most arguments have centered around immigrants’ use of cash assistance programs. This article compares immigrants’ receipt of rental housing assistance with that of native‐born Americans.

Bivariate analyses reveal that immigrants, as a group, are no more likely than native‐born households to use any form of rental housing assistance. Indeed, in most instances immigrants are less likely than native‐born households to receive assistance, with two exceptions: immigrants who have been in the United States since 1970 and immigrants from the former Soviet Union in New York City. Multivariate analyses reveal similar results, except that immigrants who have been in the United States since 1970 are no more likely than other immigrants to receive housing assistance when we control for other factors.