Permanent precarity: capital and labour in the Central African copperbelt

Abstract

This article provides a new history of mine capital and labour in the ‘Central African Copperbelt’ – the cross-border mining region of the Zambian copperbelt and Haut Katanga in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It doing so, it seeks to overcome the limitations of earlier structurally minded analysis rooted in modernist notions regarding the transformative capacity of mining capital and a ‘new’ African working class. Building on post-structuralist challenges to such assumptions, the article demonstrates the precarity, unevenness and uncertainty of the actually existing copperbelt economy and society. The comparison of the two copperbelt regions enables consideration of differential outcomes as a way of rethinking apparent inevitabilities. Analysis of how ideas about these mining societies were generated and circulated helps explain how dominant ways of understanding copperbelt capital and labour relations became established and continue to inform nostalgia for a ‘golden age’ of mining-fuelled prosperity at odds with historical reality.     

Is There an Emerging Age Gap in US Politics?

There is evidence of a realignment among voters entering the electorate in recent years, with younger voters deviating from older voters in their ideological and partisan preferences. Younger voters today tend to be more liberal and more supportive of Democratic candidates than other age groups. Younger Americans are generally favor a more activist government, as demonstrated by their views on equality, the role of government, health care, and spending for public schools and child care. The leftward movement of younger Americans ideologically is also the result of the increasing political emphasis on cultural issues. Younger Americans as a group are less religious and less conservative on social issues than other age cohorts. They put less emphasis on traditional values and are more tolerant than other age groups on social issues such as gay rights. Older voters, on the other hand, tend to be more conservative on policy issues and less supportive of Democrats than they used to be. At the state level, the partisan polarization in the United States is even greater among younger Americans than it is for the nation as a whole. This suggests that if younger Americans follow other generations in keeping the same partisan voting patterns throughout their life, the blue states will become bluer and the red states redder.

加拿大高等教育的突出特色

加拿大各级政府在高等教育方面颇具战略眼光,对教育质量特别重视。加拿大高等院校具有鲜明的民主思想和强烈的人文关怀意识,其灵活的办学体制提高了教育效益,高度的学生自治培养了学生的创新能力。     

完善公安信访制度促进政治文明建设

公安信访工作是保障人民民主权利的重要形式,为促进改革开放、经济发展和社会稳定发挥了极为重要的作用.但是,随着我国民主政治的发展,公安信访工作运作体系暴露出了一些问题和薄弱环节.在新形势下,完善公安信访规范,进一步畅通信访渠道,对促进社会主义政治文明有着重要的意义.     

民主党派监督的现实考量

中国共产党与各民主党派之间的相互监督,是中国特色社会主义政治的一个重要特征,对于中国共产党的建设以及各民主党派的自身建设、促进社会和谐都有着极其重要的意义。在认识中国共产党的多党合作制度的基本方针以及民主党派监督在中国的特定性的同时,也要看到民主党派监督在一定程度上的虚位性,并严肃地对待这一客观存在的现实问题。     

颠覆型民主化:菲律宾民主转型的力学博弈及依靠力量

通过"二月政变"率先实现颠覆型民主化,是菲律宾政治和社会长期发展的产物.在转型的博弈过程中,菲律宾未能形成体制内改革派集团,体制和反体制势力间的势力平衡急速地倾向于后者,在野党缺乏动员大众并使政府让步的能力.军队的反叛和教会的介入是民主转型最重要的依靠力量,这使得菲律宾颠覆型民主化的实现成为可能.     

“新公共服务”的公共理性诉求

作为传统公共行政学的一种替代性研究路径,新公共管理摒弃了传统政治理论的观察视角,用市场理念和企业家精神来重塑行政理念和价值,在追求效率和生产力方面,新公共管理的理念和方案得到了不少的赞成和肯定,但它对于追求何种最终价值却鲜有兴趣.而以美国学者登哈特为代表的新公共服务理论高举公共行政价值追求的旗帜,将管理主义者边缘化了的公民权、社会责任、公共利益等价值量度重新置回行政话语的中心,而公共理性是实现以上公共行政价值观之基础,可以说,公共理性是新公共服务的一个重要理论诉求.     

More ‘Europe’, less Democracy? European integration does not erode satisfaction with democracy

The process of European integration, through institutions such as the European Union, the Eurozone, or Schengen, implies a shift in political decision-making away from the national governments and towards international institutions. This gradual shift in the balance of power, furthermore, is increasingly debated by citizens. As a result, European integration might lead to an erosion of satisfaction with democracy in European countries. By means of a longitudinal analysis of the determinants of satisfaction with democracy in European countries, we test this expectation. We find no indication that the shift in the balance of power, and the trend towards more European integration indeed have eroded satisfaction with the functioning of (national) democracy.     

Democracy and the limits of political realism

ABSTRACT

This article explores the recent resurgence of realism in the political sciences, questioning its relevance for democratic theory. Starting from a critical review of recent works in the field, the article calls into question the relevance of empirical investigations of political reality for normative theorizing, and contends that some of the normative conclusions advanced in this literature are not warranted. More precisely, the article questions the reliability of studies of political behavior and of political opinion as a sound basis on which to draw normative inferences about democratic legitimacy. It contends that the kind of epistemic realism their authors promote cannot deliver what it promises. The article concludes by proposing an alternative interpretation of the democratic principle as a practical postulate of political reason that reconciles empirical evidence about political behavior with the classical interpretation of democratic legitimacy.     

试论党员主体地位的理论源流和中国化

中国共产党的党员主体地位理论,是马克思主义政党学说中国化的成果。尊重党员主体地位,保障党员民主权利,是党建理论和实践上的一个重大突破和创新。