Champions of the poor or “militant fighters for a better pay cheque”? Teacher unionism in Mexico and South Africa, 1979–2013

There are some fascinating historical parallels between Mexico’s giant teacher union, the Mexican National Education Union, and the South African Democratic Teachers Union. Although both teacher unions played an important role in challenging political oligarchies at certain points in their history, they became increasingly protectionist. Through their close affiliation to ruling parties, they were able to wield substantial political influence. In both of these cases, the unions played a controversial role in preventing central government surveillance and intervention in schools. Arguably, this often allowed not only for corruption in appointments and promotions, but also the protection of negligent teachers. There is some evidence to suggest that in protecting their sectional interests, both unions have frequently alienated parents and students at the community level. This paper addresses broader debates about the impact of powerful teacher unions on the quality of public schooling.     

The limits to global redistribution: Thinking like an egalitarian labour movement

Should global egalitarians based in a given country seek to redistribute all wealth equally amongst the world's people, recognising no priority for fellow citizens? This philosophical question is directly relevant to a pressing practical one: what is the appropriate stance for egalitarians to adopt in controversies around foreign aid and free trade? This paper explores how such matters might look to a labour movement situated in a better-off country but committed to global equality. There are several reasons offered why the latter would not seek an immediately equal share-out of its country's wealth among all the world's individuals. Yet the same considerations that support limiting global obligations also point to various limits to the limits, and imply redistributive generosity on the part of richer societies. A still more radical global redistribution becomes possible only with world economic governance, for which egalitarians should strive.     

论信息化时代下的虚拟社区警务建设

互联网和信息技术的迅猛发展,给公安机关对网络虚拟社会的管理带来了前所未有的挑战.为此,公安机关亟须变革思维,创新警务模式,构筑全面覆盖网络虚拟社会的虚拟社区警务,这不仅是维护社会和谐稳定的必然命题,更是公安机关顺应时代发展要求,推动公安机关社会管理创新、促进公安工作可持续性发展的重大举措之一.     

The primary runoff as a remnant of the old South

During the Jim Crow era, the American South developed a distinctive one-party political structure. One important feature of that structure was the primary runoff, which was adopted to require candidates to generate majority support in the nomination process and to stimulate competition within the Democratic Party (thus keeping the Republican Party irrelevant). In this piece, I argue that although the South has become a two-party region and the runoff has lived beyond its original purposes, it continues to do many of the things it was put into place to do. As in decades past, the runoff still has an impact on such things as candidate emergence, the competitiveness of primaries, and the ability for voters to reevaluate their choices.     

中美关系:来自美国方面的评估

葛莱仪女士的文章从美方的角度回顾了中美关系的进展和面临的挑战,反映了美学界对中美关系的部分看法,对研究中美关系问题具有参考作用。