The Toxic Politics of Bangladesh: A Bipolar Competitive Neopatrimonial State?

In order to understand the structural dimensions of the problems concerning democratic governance in Bangladesh, this article seeks to explicate whether or not Bangladesh is a neopatrimonial state. This article examines contemporary Bangladesh politics with a particular focus on the notion of neopatrimonialism and with special reference to the personalization of state power. The concept of neopatrimonialism has great utility in explaining leadership behaviour in a dysfunctional democracy such as Bangladesh, where personalized exchanges, exploitation of bureaucratic and state mechanisms and political scandals are common. I argue that Bangladesh is a special variant of the neopatrimonial state, which I suggest to be bipolar neopatrimonialism. I contend that since independence, successive governments and political leaders always attempt to monopolize state power in various ways. The patron-client society of Bangladesh helps political leaders to personalize the state power they possess. To monopolize state power, the political elites of Bangladesh create networks and alliances, relying on exchanges to meet their objectives. In this regard, state elites use elements of the state and political system to mediate these exchanges.     

军事对抗与两岸军事安全互信机制未来前景

本文在阐述军事对抗与军事安全互信机制辩证关系的基础上,提出一种有益于建立军事安全互信机制、创造台海永久和平的新型军事安全战略。这种新型军事安全战略的基本特征是：把维护两岸关系和平发展作为根本目标,既关注如何赢得战争,也关注如何通过战争赢得和平,还关注如何防止已经建立起来的和平转化为新的战争。以此为标准检视台海各方军事安全战略可以看到：中国大陆军事安全战略实现了战略与政略的高度结合,为军事服从政治、服务两岸关系和平发展提供了无限可能;台湾、美国坚持“只经不政”、“和而不解”,使其“和平愿望”难以贯彻到军事安全战略层面,是阻碍两岸军事安全互信机制建立的根本原因。     

从政治营销的视角看台湾民主：以民进党的实力消长为例

20世纪90年代以来,台湾社会的民主化发展取得了相当重要的成就,两次政党轮替已经使台湾民主逐步走向成熟。但是,台湾民主的发展仍然存在诸多问题,台湾民主的“异化”现象更是备受关注。在台湾民主日益成熟且相对稳定的情况下,深入理解台湾民主“异化”的原因,对于全面认识台湾民主政治,促进两岸关系的和平发展,具有重要的理论意义和实践价值。本文运用政治营销的相关概念,以民进党的实力消长为例,尝试探讨台湾民主“异化”的原因,并从新的视角解析和理解台湾民主问题。     

Can we satisfactorily gauge the socio-political trends of our own age? Mark Bevir’s views on governance and changing democracy

Assessing the socio-political trends as they unfold is an art, and it needs to be approached from various angles. Bevir’s anti-foundationalist approach hinges upon the belief (not fact) that governance and networks have replaced government and hierarchies. His analysis is constructed around several strawmen (expert civil servants, street-level bureaucrats, judges, Keynesians, social welfare officials, and the wicked, modernist social sciences) rather than based in careful and balanced empirical evidence. To ‘cherry-pick’ some non-representative cases in support of an ideological perspective is academically unsatisfying.     

Party identity change in post-communist politics: the cases of the successor parties in Hungary, Poland and Russia

In recent years much has been written on the communist successor parties. Although much of the existent work focuses on the electoral performance of these parties or has described, in great detail, the development of single parties, this paper evaluates the utility of theories of party identity change in application to the successor parties. As an initial exploration we investigate the successor parties' programs before and after the initial competitive parliamentary elections in Hungary (in 1990), Poland (in 1991) and Russia (in 1993) to determine the extent to which poor electoral performance in initial competitive elections compelled the successor parties to alter their political identities.     

从“太阳花学运”看台湾民主

台湾自视为民主化的“灯塔”,但“太阳花学运”暴露出台湾民主存在诸多问题,引发广泛争议。争议中的共识是台湾民主出了问题,但也存在分歧,即究竟该对近三十年来的台湾民主化持什么态度,肯定、否定,抑或其他？分歧的产生与民主质量理论运用到台湾民主研究有关,民主质量的概念特性导致不同学者对其内涵的理解有所不同。有将其理解为狭义的“民主”的质量,包括竞争性选举、政党轮替等;也有将其理解为中义的“民主政治”的质量,包括法治、宪政、分权、人权等其他政治范畴;还有将其理解为广义的“民主政体”的质量,包括政治绩效、经济绩效、社会绩效等政治、经济和社会范畴。通过民主质量理论可知,台湾基本实现了巩固的民主,但尚未实现优质的民主。     

Global Capitalism and the Transformation of State Socialism

The article outlines the footprint of international economic interests under state socialism, and considers in more detail the economic integration of the postcommunist countries into the world system in the post-1989 period of the building of capitalism. The focus of the article is on the extent of economic globalization of countries and their economic corporations. It is contended that the globalization of capitalist companies and the direct role of global economic forces had little importance under state socialism. Since 1989, policy in the former state socialist countries has been geared to “joining” the world system, optimistically its core. Important differences have developed between the postsocialist states with respect to economic penetration and exposure to the world market. The outcomes have not fulfilled the expectations of early advocates of transformation and entry to the world economy. Although the new member states of the European Union have entered the world economy as formal members of the “core,” they are not economically equal to the dominant “old” members of the EU. In all the postcommunist countries, there is an absence of large scale global companies, of comparable levels of innovation, research and development. Russia is a resources rich country, a “hybrid” social formation containing elements of state economic control, national capitalism, and global capitalism. I conclude that the semi periphery is not a transient category in the world economy; it has potential for persistence and renewal.