Formen politischen Handelns der kleve‐märkischen Landstände 1640–1660

Summary

Affected by the political influences from America and France, Poland's constitution of 1791 revised the electoral ordinance for the gentry, modified the administration of the cities and gave them representation in the Seym, and finally instituted a hereditary monarchy with checks and balances between the branches of government. The opposition of domestic conservatives, aided by armed foreign intervention, secured the repeal of this constitution in 1793. The result was a national insurrection in 1794 the defeat of which led to the final partition of Poland. Napoleon's 1807 Prussian campaign led to the creation of the Duchy of Warsaw, whose constitution was based on French egalitarian ideas and whose civil law was the Code Napoleon. The constitution separated executive and legislative functions and placed constitutional matters in the hands of the executive. In 1815 the Poles secured from tsar Alexander I the establishment of a hereditary constitutional monarchy with an appointed senate, an elected Seym and an extensive Bill of Rights. The system eventually failed when tsar Nicholas I violated the constitution and public dissatisfaction with the conduct of his brother, Constantine, precipitated the revolution of 1830.     

How America mocked the ceasefire: Vietnam since the paris agreement

Abstract

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s human rights violations before and after 1949 have included torture, prison labor, repression of autonomous worker unions, suppression of ethnic collective rights, religious persecution, forced sterilization, and unethical medical violations of human organ transplants. These violations have been concretely documented by China scholars, Chinese dissident organizations, foreign governments, and international human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). While international attention often focuses on the violations of civil and political liberties (such as the unlawful detention of China's small, but increasingly vocal, dissident community), violations of economic, social, and cultural human rights have also been clearly documented. Such documentation explodes the myth, believed by Chinese and foreign observers alike, that China under communist rule has succeeded with economic and social rights while “lagging” behind in political and civil rights.     

Towards African Communication Science curricula: Challenges for higher education

Abstract

This article explores the integration of Africanism in curriculum content of Communication as a science on the level of higher education. Africanism is not treated as something to be added to curriculum content, but is regarded as an integral part of an institutional strategy of post-apartheid and post-merger transformation. This article is divided into two sections. The first focuses on strategic shifts that have to be considered when revisiting curricula content and the dilemma of linguistic pluralism. The second section deals with the operational processes that are necessary when revisiting curriculum content, by focusing specifically on the application of collaboration and assessment as mechanisms for planning and negotiating changes to curriculum content, plus the nature of key determinants of the interrelationships among academics, higher-education institutions and adult learners. The article concludes with critical questions which Communication curriculum designers and academics need to ask in their research and training endeavours to contribute to the national development goals and social reconstruction.     

Afrikaans as televisietaal in Suid-Afrika: 'n toekomsperspektief

ABSTRACT

This article deals with an investigation into the need for Afrikaans television programmes among Afrikaans viewers in the changing media environment in South Africa. Viewers' needs were researched by means of a case study among grade 10 learners in Pretoria. The uses and gratifications approach serves as the theoretical framework of the study and a number of variables affecting respondents' need with regard to Afrikaans television programmes are investigated. These variables are television driven (supply, content and structure of Afrikaans programmes), technology driven (new media technologies such as satellite television and the Internet) and viewer driven (socio-cultural, personal and demographic factors). The study finds a relation between these variables and the need for Afrikaans programmes among respondents. The supply, content and structure of Afrikaans programmes do not gratify respondents' needs. New media technologies broaden respondents' socio-cultural horizons, enabling them to watch, interpret, associate with, and enjoy English programmes comfortably. The changing socio-cultural and demographic environment is liberalising traditional Afrikaans views on television use and is exposing an increasing number of Afrikaans viewers to global television. Within this context the need for Afrikaans programmes is diminishing, placing a question mark over the future of Afrikaans as a television language.     

Positioning independent community media: Findings from a case study of six small South African newspapers

Abstract

This article brings defining aspects of ‘community media’ – as proposed by a group of media stakeholders – into dialogue with research findings from a study on small ‘independent media’. One significant difference between the two media sectors is that the former is usually understood as being driven by commune-style ownership and community control, and the latter by private ownership and profit-driven control. We argue that perceptions constructed by this difference potentially marginalise small independent media organisations. It may compromise their access to funding as well as obscure how, and how much, they contribute to their communities. We find that the six South African small independent newspapers in this research meet defining criteria for ‘community media’. Research findings on issues such as social responsibility, participatory democracy, media diversity and the generation of skills and wealth demonstrate how the principles and practices of the two media sectors overlap. So we propose ‘independent community media’ as a more inclusive and appropriate concept and term for small community-oriented publications, irrespective of their ownership profiles or relationship to profit. Independence is also examined – particularly how the newspapers balance editorial independence with outside control: this reveals inequitable practices currently threatening some newspapers’ survival and success.     

The Chinese Ideology: Reconciling the Politics with the Economics of Contemporary Reform

Political scientists and economists fundamentally disagree in their assessment of ideology in contemporary Chinese reform. Whereas the former emphasize its functional value legitimizing the overall course of reform, the latter warn of indoctrination and negative welfare effects. We argue that ideology is pervasive in China’s political economy of reform—past, present, and future. Moreover, a common assessment is both necessary and feasible. The presented case studies (loyalty signaling, message control, policy learning, and anti-corruption) underline the highly ambiguous role of ideology oscillating between alignment and adaptation. In the end, ideology can unite or divide Chinese society as well as increase or diminish economic efficiency.     

Religion and Euroscepticism: Direct,Indirect or No Effects?

Taking as starting points the (growing) political significance of religion and increasing scepticism towards European integration, this study sets out to investigate the impact of religious divides and religiosity on attitudes towards the EU, both on the micro and on the macro level. In addition to considering direct effects, it focuses on the mediated nature of relationships between religion and Euroscepticism through immigration attitudes and authoritarian value orientations. Drawing on data from the 2006 European Social Survey the authors find that individuals' religious attachments have only indirect relevance for explaining Euroscepticism when controlling for immigration attitudes and value orientations. Religious context, however, does contribute to explanatory models of Euroscepticism, with citizens of Protestant countries being more Eurosceptic than those in religiously mixed or in Catholic countries. The authors furthermore show that both authoritarianism and anti-immigration attitudes are to some degree influenced by individuals' denomination and level of religiosity and in turn predict Euroscepticism. Yet, even indirect effects of religion on Euroscepticism are small or appear to cancel each other out. The article concludes that religion on the micro level is largely irrelevant for explaining Euroscepticism, whereas it is an important macro-level explanatory variable.     

European integration from the agency theory perspective

European integration is a process in which national governments look for higher levels of integration and promote new requests for allocations from the supranational authority while the balance between the benefits and costs of the supranational collective action becomes increasingly favourable. This process may be analyzed as an agency problem where different national governments, acting as principals, try to lead a single agent—the supranational authority—to make a decision on the level of integration. In this paper, decisions on integration of equilibrium are studied as the result of a non co-operative two-stage game, where national governments outline their political support strategies in the first stage and the supranational authority decides the level of integration in the second stage. JEL Classification D72     

Why should trade between Central Asia and China continue to expand?

Trade volume between Central Asia and China has tripled since 2002. This study, which is based on Chinese sources, explains the reasons for this expansion in trade. Even if numerous obstacles remain, Government development policy in China’s western regions has induced trade growth between Xinjiang and Central Asia. Trade flows mainly consist of three blocks: economic activities of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, commerce conducted by traders of the coastal province of Zhejiang, based in Xinjiang, and petty trade notably between Kazakhstan and Xinjiang.     

The Question of Ottoman Ignorance before the Morea Rebellion of 1770: A Challenge to Widely Accepted Belief in the Light of New Ottoman Documents

Most early Ottoman and European sources take it for granted that the Ottoman Empire was either indifferent to or unaware of the Russian intrigues going on in the Morea and therefore did not take any measures against Russia prior to the insurrection of 1770. Recent writings on this uprising do not really add anything to the discussion, simply accepting the Ottoman ignorance suggested by early Ottoman and European scholars. In the light of newly discovered archival sources this article submits that blaming the entire bureaucracy for a total ignorance of Russian intrigues or denying any possibility that the Russians might appear in the Mediterranean Sea is simply without foundation. Our archival documents contradict any allegation claiming that all Ottoman statesmen who were in charge of the empire at the time were ignorant. Instead, these sources indicate that some of the Ottoman statesmen took necessary precautionary measures (both in the Morea and many other regions under Ottoman domination) long before the coming of the Russians, which can be seen as proof of their awareness.