“Industrial Defence Against the Whole World”: Deakinite New Protection as Narrative of Global Modernity

As it evolved towards the New Protection program from 1906, Deakinite protectionism manifested as a historicised narrative of modernity: an attempt to impose a rationale of nation-building over the heterogeneous and unstable impact of new economic relations and technologies, and the tense dynamics of competition between nations. History was invoked by actors fashioning the nation-building task in post Federation Australia as they claimed to make decisive breaks with past practice, reflected in innovative government strategies and social reforms. The anxieties and opportunities stimulated by global industrial modernity defined New Protection policy, evident in the formation of political narrative and parliamentary legislation, and government intervention in the conduct of business enterprise and industrial relations. The objectives and contradictions of New Protection were clarified in the political narratives and policy interventions constructed to secure the future of the Sunshine Harvester enterprise and its workforce.     

Crown and parliament in Prussia 1848–1866∗

Summary

Max Weber and the Problem of Parliamentarism in Germany at the End of the First World War

At the end of the First World War Weber was concerned with the problem of the establishment of a new political system in Germany. For a short time he took part in the activities of the newly formed German Democratic Party, and he collaborated in the drawing up of the first constitutional proposal. His theoretical contribution is mainly to be found in his essay, ‘Deutschlands künftige Staatsform’.

First of all, Weber insisted on the importance of parliamentary institutions, because they promote the selection of qualified political leaders and they keep the bureaucracy under control. He also supported the theory of the separation of powers which ensures reciprocal controls on every side. He defended the right of enquiry and respect for minorities. He proposed a bicameral system, each chamber with different powers, and attached much importance to the role of the State President.

In the first constitutional project, Weber's views were taken very much into account, but their influence on the final drafting of the Weimar Constitution was much more limited.     

The Neglected Nation: The CSU and the Territorial Cleavage in Bavarian Party Politics

This article examines the continuing salience of the territorial cleavage in Bavarian party politics. It does so through an exploration of the Christian Social Union's (CSU) mobilisation of Bavarian identity as part of its political project, which has forced other parties in Bavaria to strengthen their territorial goals and identities. Parties have articulated different constructions of ‘Bavaria’ to rival the CSU's dominant nation-building project. However, they have been unable to portray themselves as ‘standing up for Bavarian interests’ due to the constraints of the state-wide parties to which they belong. As an exclusively Bavarian party, the CSU has no such constraints. Indeed, the CSU's core aim of strengthening Bavaria's position vis-à-vis the German federation may be viewed as akin to that of the Convergència i Unió in Catalonia, Spirit in Flanders or Plaid Cymru in Wales. Like these parties, the case of the CSU in Bavaria demonstrates that sub-state territorial mobilisation has as much to do with negotiating autonomy within the state as seceding from it. To that end, the CSU provides a valuable case of how a regionalist party operating within a multi-level political system has sought to influence the regional, state and European levels to obtain a comparative territorial advantage.     

A Study of Nation Building in Malaysia

Nation building is a major issue in the political agenda of many countries, a project made more arduous in countries fragmented along racial, linguistic, and religious lines. In an attempt to gain some understanding of the issue, this paper examines the trajectory of nation building in Malaysia. Basically, the Malaysia government uses the model of nation-state to create a sense of collective national identity in a multi-ethnic society. It is a top-down approach with the state playing a dominating role. The main political parties are communal parties, based on race or religion. Well-crafted programs of nation building have been not properly implemented. While the government has achieved impressive economic development, it is at the same time becoming more authoritarian and the country faces a range of disturbing social and political problems. Thanks to a growing educated middle class, urbanization, demographic change, globalization, and the spread of the Internet, mass-based civil movements and a multi-ethnic coalition of opposition parties have emerged with the potential of redressing the situation. The study suggests a framework for understanding the trajectory and dynamics of the nation-building project in Malaysia. The framework gives a list of historical forces that are likely to shape the course of nation building in the coming years.     

从文化共同体到后古典民族国家:德国民族国家演进浅析

长期封建割据造成德国民族国家的形成晚于英、法等传统西方国家。其建立民族国家的路径是先有民族,后有国家。德国民族国家是建立在由血缘、历史、语言、文化等要素构成的"文化共同体"的基础上,这一文化共同体同时也构成了德国民族认同的核心要素。受到历史和地缘政治因素的影响,德国民族国家的发展道路较为特殊,这也决定了其融入西方过程的曲折与漫长。20世纪90年代,两德重新统一后,德国与其他欧盟成员国一样进入后古典民族国家形态,将主权部分地让渡给超国家共同体。德国民族国家目前需要解决的是欧盟治理结构中的"新德国问题"。     

Singapore General Election 2015 and the Role of Citizenship Education

Abstract

This article explores the role of education, in particular citizenship education, in shaping the Singapore electorate. An understanding of the history of citizenship education helps to shed light on the contemporary political culture in Singapore. The extent to which democratic citizenship education has been taught in schools since 1958 is explored. Singapore’s citizenship education has consistently stressed the duties and responsibilities of citizenship, patriotism, national identity and moral values—with the goal of nation-building and legitimising the People’s Action Party state. This reflective historical piece on Singapore’s educational history adds a relatively unexplored facet to the discussions on the general election 2015 results as well as Singapore’s subsequent political development. The results of the 2015 general election in Singapore, seen in this light, are not so surprising, as they reflect the success of the state’s citizenship education in shaping the current political culture.     

Der andere „amerikanische“ Max Weber: Hans H. Gerths und C. Wright Mills’ <Emphasis Type="Italic">From Max Weber</Emphasis>, dessen deutsche Rezeption und das Konzept der „public sociology“

The reader From Max Weber, published by Hans H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills in 1946, has a strong international impact. Its ideas influenced Mills?s later work The sociological imagination in which he makes it clear that the “sociological imagination” can best be found in the works of classical social analysts like Max Weber. Michael Burawoy, who uses the term “public sociology”, based on Mills, therefore also calls Weber an early “public sociologist”. In addition to that he describes the volume by Gerth and Mills as the outstanding collection of Weber?s writings in which the authors offer an interpretation different from that of Talcott Parsons. In Germany Gerth?s and Mills?s book on Weber is almost completely unknown, although it is still mentioned in works by German sociologists published shortly after the Second World War. This is one reason why in Germany Burawoy?s concept of “public sociology” is seen in contrast to the views of Weber. First, the article shows the differences in the interpretation of Weber by Gerth and Mills and by Parsons. Than it describes the early German reception of From Max Weber and looks into the reasons why it was not of greater influence. It will be stressed that the importance of this book lies in the fact, that it can be used to legitimize “public sociology”.     

Obstructive or promoting? British views on German unification 1989/90

Six years after unification German public opinion still regards Britain as the ‘No‐saying’ nation which not only holds up further European integration but also never really wanted German unity to happen. This article argues that British attitudes to the process of German unification in 1989/90 were more diverse and generally more positive than an undue concentration on the views of Margaret Thatcher and her advisers may suggest. An analysis of Foreign Office policies and an examination of public and published opinion as well as of the debates in both Houses of Parliament reveal a constructive British stance on German unity and a substantial and real contribution of British diplomats to the Two‐plus‐Four process. Whereas the Foreign Office and Downing Street agreed on the major effects German unity would have on Britain's international standing, they differed about the way Britain should respond to the new challenges.     

Thai social movements and the anti-ADB campaign

This article examines the desacralisation of royal charisma in contemporary Thailand. Over the past few years an underground discourse has emerged among critics of royal ideology and supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra that directly confronts the power of the monarchy. The images, metaphors and linguistic devices used in the process are difficult to study because they rarely appear in public. This article focuses on an unprecedented demonstration of rage against the monarchy on September 19, 2010, when red-shirted demonstrators painted anti-royal graffiti on a construction hoarding at Ratchaprasong intersection in downtown Bangkok. In analysing the Thai political crisis as a battle of different charismatic groups, the article will present the September 19 event as the first open strike against the sacred charisma of the Thai monarchy. This charisma has hitherto been protected by royalists from all walks of life who were “working towards the monarchy.” With their attacks on the monarchy the red-shirts were challenging a legitimacy-conferring system which had benefited wide sections of the Bangkok populace in the past. At the same time, a competing charismatic movement has emerged around Thaksin, who himself has to take into account the charisma he conferred upon his followers.     

From Secessionist Conflict Toward a Functioning State: Processes of State- and Nation-Building in Transnistria

How have the Transnistrian authorities sought to consolidate de facto statehood in the absence of international recognition? Starting from the idea that the time factor will eventually transform secessionists into state-builders, this article traces how the processes of state- and nation-building promoted by the Transnistrian de facto authorities have evolved since the early 1990s. Drawing on official sources, interviews, journalism, and the political science literature, the domestic dimensions of state- and nation-building in de facto state conflicts are examined. These include fulfillment of basic requirements of state-building, development of economic viability, and nation-building processes that attempt to create a unifying identity.     

RETHINKING ASIAN MOBILITIES

ABSTRACT

Vietnam's economic reforms have generated much praise for the country's rapid “opening” of its markets, as if the Vietnamese nation had previously existed in a state of isolation, closed to broader global influences and exchanges. Such discourses overlook the importance of transnational circulations of people, goods, technologies, and expertise during the socialist era that were vital to Vietnam's postwar national reconstruction and continue to play a role in post-socialist economic transformation today. This article traces the socialist pathways of labor migration between Vietnam and the former Soviet Bloc (specifically, East Germany) in the 1980s, mobilities that are generally absent in studies of contemporary export labor industries. Based on multi-sited ethnographic and archival research, the author follows Vietnamese workers first to the East German factories where they labored as “contract workers,” and then through their subsequent return and reintegration into Vietnamese society after the collapse of the Soviet Union. These mobilities bespeak of an alternative history and formation of diasporic communities that are little acknowledged or addressed in literature on labor migrations, and yet are important to understanding emerging forms of stratification today in Vietnam. Moreover, an analysis of early non-capitalist experiences with overseas labor regimes in the 1980s provides insights into contemporary Vietnamese governance practices that promote—rather uncritically, similar to other “emerging countries” —export labor as a nation-building strategy to reduce endemic poverty and develop a late socialist country.     

Contesting multiculturalism: ethno-regionalism and contending forms of nationalism in late colonial Nigeria

Is multiculturalism the best way to deal with diversity in an emerging but divided (African) nation-state? Is multiculturalism antithetical to nation-building and mutual recognition of equal value among different ethnic-nationalities within African polities? These were some of the most fundamental questions that Nigeria’s ethno-regional political parties and their leaders confronted in the decolonisation period. Analysing different ethno-regional approaches to the challenges of political unity and nationalism in late colonial Nigeria, this article shows how the adoption of a federal system of government designed to encourage ‘interactive pluralism’ ended up promoting ‘fragmented pluralism’.     

The economic development of Vietnam,Laos, and Cambodia

The three states of Indochina are engaged in the most radical economic transformation of any of the nations in Southeast Asia. Of the three countries, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, with a population of 70 million, is the most important to the market economies of Asia and the West. Although their individual situations vary greatly, the systemic reforms of all three countries emphasize decentralization and privatization, and permit market forces considerable scope in determining economic activity. They remain several decades behind most of their counterparts in the rest of Southeast Asia with respect to the standards of living of their populations and the overall development of their economies. With the end of the Cold War, they have had to redirect their external political relationships and must contemplate internal political reforms occasioned by influences accompanying a new economic orientation. In Vietnam and Laos, the Communist party is in command of the society’s fundamental decisions; it is determined to retain political control. In Cambodia, pluralism and a form of democracy are mandated by the United Nations and by the new Cambodian constitution. Over the near term, full membership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be important to all three countries once their economies become compatible with the other ASEANs.     

Beyond Semi‐sovereignty: The new Germany in the new Europe

Semi‐sovereignty was identified by Peter Katzenstein as an external condition of West German Politics. Semi‐sovereignty persists as an internal condition of the new German state, but externally Germany is less semi‐sovereign as a result of the disappearance of external restrictions and its increasing economic and political power which is now allied to its greater freedom of manoeuvre in the security area. While less semi‐sovereign in objective terms than before unity, it is argued that the political elite in Germany will continue to be multilateralists and to eschew the adoption of a national interest discourse.     

The politics of literature: Writers,intellectuals and German unity

The relationship between politics and literature is beset by tensions and difficulties. The traditional dichotomy in Germany between ’Geist’ and ‘Macht’ has come to the fore again in debates about unity. The events of 1989/90 provoked a fierce controversy over the role of writers and intellectuals in both German states. This article chronicles the debate and seeks to place it in its socio‐political context: the alleged role of GDR writers as loyal supporters of their state, alleged complicity with the Stasi, and the supposed indifference of western writers to the German Question.     

Franz Josef Strauß ‐ lasting legacy or transitory phenomenon?

Franz Josef Strauβ died in October 1988, exactly two years before German unity. He was undoubtedly one of Germany's most dynamic and controversial post‐war politicians, who aroused very strong emotions in the electorate, ranging from great support to condemnation. During his political career Strauβ had tremendous power and influence. As the tenth anniversay of his death approaches, this article sets out to assess his contribution to both Bavarian and German politics. Did he represent a transitory phenomenon or did he leave behind a lasting legacy?     

Official Russian identity discourse in light of the annexation of Crimea: national or imperial?

Close examination and analysis of the Kremlin’s framing of Russia’s annexation of Crimea reveals that domestically it was presented in unprecedented national irredentist terminology, aiming at reunifying the Russian nation in one state. The Russian nation was largely described in ethno-lingual or ethno-cultural terms, while the Russian state was all but explicitly declared as a nation–state of ethnic Russians. The official identity discourse was marked by the recasting and unprecedentedly strong reassertion of boundaries between the Russian and Ukrainian nations, legitimizing Russian claims to Crimea. However, the changing references to the crisis in Eastern Ukraine illustrate how the Kremlin’s identity rhetoric is still mainly guided by considerations of political necessity, rather than dictated by some national or ideological vision. Significantly, the focus of the Russian official identity discourse shifted from the state to the nation. This marks a decisive departure from Putin’s earlier largely statist rhetoric in the 2000s, and a new stage of maturation and official acclamation of national ethnicization trends launched during his third presidential term. After years of sitting on the fence, the Kremlin reinvented itself as an active and initiating player in the nationalism field.     

The Political Rationale of Administrative Reforms: Parliamentary Support of Output Control in Switzerland

Sufficient political support is a sine qua non of comprehensive administrative reforms. However, while the pros and cons of administrative reform measures have been extensively discussed in theory and research, only little is known about the political process which determines whether or not administrative reforms are implemented at all. Against this background, the article aims at throwing light on the politicians' backgrounds and mindsets which account for their attitude towards administrative reforms. Referring to the theories of voting behaviour, socio-structural, socio-psychological, and rational choice factors by Swiss members of parliament are tested for their impact on the attitude towards new output control policies as part of wider administrative reforms. Findings help us understand the different fates of administrative reforms in the legislative process, and they make it possible to draw some essential conclusions for the design and implementation of future administrative reforms. In consequence of this, the article's findings are a significant contribution for the study of the political rationale of administrative reforms as well as the characteristics of political rationale in general.     

Von ethnischer zu republikanischer Integration

This article analyzes the political debate and the policy process leading up to the unusual outcome of the German Citizenship Law Reform in 1999 in comparative perspective. The reform provided a very liberal ius soli-introduction and at the same time kept a restrictive attitude toward dual citizenship. This somewhat contradictory outcome is essentially the result of a compromise between two opposing political camps holding quite different interpretations of the relationship between state and citizen, the function of citizenship law, and the integration of both immigrants and overall society. It is argued that the delay of citizenship law reform in Germany, at least during the last fifteen years, cannot be explained by means of an ethnic concept of nation, as many scholars have contended. Rather it is characterized by a persisting ideological conflict structure, which has been reinforced by institutional patterns of the political and legal system. The opposing views regarding the significance of citizenship are embedded within republicanism, stressing citizenship as activity on the one hand and citizenship as a right on the other hand. The two perspectives differ with respect to the functions of citizenship and the position of state and citizens within polities.     

Du système des bureaux au système des groupes et des commissions. Le règlement parlementaire italien de 1920 et la doctrine constitutionnelle*

An attempt to explore the scope of Italian parliamentary reforms in 1920 in the context of the transition from a traditional constitutional culture to a new model of political representation is presented. The workings of Parliament were ‘temporarily’ established in 1848, when a system of ‘bureaux’ was adopted which was to last until 1920. They were distributed among members by lot. Preliminary discussions took place in these ‘bureaux’, which then nominated a commission with the responsibility to present its work to the Assembly. This system related to the concept of representation according to which each deputy freely represented the entire nation. By contrast, the 1920 reforms proposed to organise this by means of commissions whose membership mirrored the proportional weighting of political groupings to which all deputies had to belong. This regulation complemented earlier electoral reforms which, following the introduction of male mass suffrage, favoured the presence on the political scene of modern parties. As a result of this new parliamentary regulation and in spite of resistance based on constitutional tradition, the political parties, now part of political life, moved to the heart of the institutional life of the state.