Unruly Practices: Gezi Protests and the Politics of Friendship

In 2013, Gezi Park housed perhaps the most significant democratic protest of the Turkish Republic’s history. The Gezi protests have drawn the attention of many democratic theorists since then. What is surprising about these theorists’ commentaries on Gezi is that in none of them is it possible to find an account of political practices that enabled actors with such different interests and worldviews to act in concert during this moment of popular action. This article argues that to attend fully to the unique features of events such as Gezi, we need to develop an alternative conceptualization of democratic action that brings to light such mediatory political practices. To develop that alternative, I turn to Aristotle and creatively appropriate his notion of “political friendship.” Interpreted as an ethico-political notion, which refers to a set of mediating practices, political friendship becomes a rich conceptual resource that lays bare the dynamics of democratic popular action.     

文莱:2016年回顾与2017年展望

2016年,文莱继续保持多年来的格局,政治社会稳定,人民生活富裕;由于受到国际油价低位徘徊的影响,导致经济没有完成年度计划,呈现了负增长;外交上,根据国家既定的对外政策尽力参与地区及世界上的外交活动.展望2017年,文莱仍然保持这种发展格局.     

The Greying Periphery—Ageing and Community Development in Rural Romania and Bulgaria

The impact of ageing on community well-being has been part of the policy discourse in the West, but it is a relatively new problem for the post-socialist countries in Eastern Europe. This study focuses on the patterns of ageing in rural Romania and Bulgaria, offering a holistic view of vulnerabilities, including persistent rural disadvantages, ageing in the countryside and the post-socialist transformation. Aggregate statistics and community case studies reveal the links between demographic processes and community development. This paper contributes to the country-specific analysis of the ageing European periphery in the context of social cohesion as a fundamental European goal.     

制度匮乏下亚欧合作的选择:议题、形式和方向

亚欧会议的制度匮乏源于成员中缺少强势主导国及其创设的国际机制。当前亚欧合作面临三大主要矛盾,即共同威胁上升、力量对比改变和新成员的加入。亚欧对跨区域合作的需求增加,同时合作的难度也在增大。亚欧合作需要在更新议题、调整合作的方式和方向等方面不懈探索以保持活力。为在制度短缺的前提下实现有效合作,亚欧仍适合遵循以开放和自愿为基础的弱机制模式,并需要依靠亚欧双方主导性力量加强多边协调,以务实的态度优先在低政治领域开展合作。     

An end to a rumour

Mardin, is a city in the southeastern part of Turkey where people from different cultures and religions have been living together peacefully for centuries. The province hosted many valuable historical constructions representing different civilizations. Kasimiye Medresse, one of the most important educational centers of its times, has a sacred value for people in Mardin. The reason is that the stain on the wall of Kasimiye Medresse is considered to be Sultan Kasim's blood. Our study aims to analyze if the stain in question is blood. Serological tests are performed by using "Kastle-Meyer" and "Luminol" reactives on the scrapped samples taken from stained and unstained parts of the wall. At the end of the analysis, the stain is turned out to be a dye made of herbal roots ending the rumour of centuries.     

Suicide Attempts and Self-Image Among Turkish Adolescents

The objective of this paper is to report on the role of self-image as an internal factor in suicide attempts of adolescents. Three groups of adolescents, suicide attempters (n = 33), nonsuicidal psychiatric outpatients (n = 50), and normal controls (n = 50), were administered Offer Self-Image Questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory, Symptom Check List-90-R, and a socio-demographic questionnaire. The factors discriminating suicidal adolescents from the other 2 groups were increased number of siblings, being the older children, and negativity in the familial aspect of the self-image. The self-image factor was specific for suicidal girls but not for boys. Disturbance in the development of the self-image, especially in its relationship with other family members is an important risk factor in attempted suicides by female adolescents. This brings up the importance of including the family in the treatment of suicidal adolescents. None of the factors evaluated in this study are significant in attempted suicides by males. This point needs further research.     

中国非传统安全问题的层次性与应对

由于在概念界定上存在争议,导致非传统安全所涉及的问题不断增多。本文提出,中国的非传统安全研究应以国家利益为基础,根据中国的国情及目前面临的非传统安全的特点,将其分为三个层次:第一层次是与传统安全密切相关的非传统安全议题,涉及的是国家主权和领土完整等关键利益;第二层次主要涉及社会安全问题,是国家的重要利益;第三层次涉及的是人的安全。针对不同层次的非传统安全议题,需要制定相应的战略与政策。对中国面临的非传统安全问题进行分层次研究,能够避免在面对非传统安全威胁时的盲目乐观或过度反应,明确不同层次的非传统安全议题在决策日程中的地位,从而更加合理地配置和使用资源,提高中国应对此类安全问题的能力。     

On restorative justice practiced in China

The victim-offender reconciliation (VOR), practiced by the basic public security, procuratorates and courts since the advent of 21^st century, is a new mode different from the mediation or conciliation in the procedure of civil litigation or of that accessory to the public prosecution in criminal proceeding. This mode connects the criminal justice with the mediation or private reconciliation by themselves. Thus, non-official settlement can influence the criminal justice and the decisions of authoritative agencies. It is beneficial to restore the victim’s interests, urge the offender to repent for his wrongdoings, compensate for the victim’s loss and restore the damaged social relationship. The VOR in China is the same in essence as the Western restorative justice, so it could be regarded as a Chinese mode of global restorative justice movement. Though the VOR mechanism works well, it still brings some matter in further consideration: (a) the legitimacy of VOR; (b) the conflict against the basic concept of crime; (c) the effect to the social reality.     

亚洲经济一体化——基于多国FTA战略角度

过去十年内,亚洲经济一体化取得了长足的发展,这一地区的主要经济体开始广泛地参与到区域经济一体化进程中。但是,由于历史纠葛、经济规模和发展水平差异,各方的区域经济一体化战略存在很大的差异。区域内外各方力量的博弈,更为亚洲经济一体化的未来发展增加了新的不确定性,也使得亚洲经济一体化开始逐渐偏离亚洲统一市场/大范围的区域FTA目标。唯有未来亚洲经济体经济实力格局发生变化,才可能从内部促成亚洲经济一体化回归其既定目标。