Daily identity practices: Belarus and potato eaters

Food cultivation, preparation and consumption are important references for shaping national identity. Food is a crystallization of the history of a national or ethnic group, of its traditions, mentality, and religious adherence and of very pragmatic material elements reflecting the way of life of the group, for instance, climatic conditions and socio-economic levels. All elements of the history of a group are transmitted and experienced in daily rituals relating to food. Food has strong symbolic, quasi-sacred associations in many cultures: for Slavic peoples bread is a very important symbol, and in Belarus potatoes are known as "the second bread".The role played by banal everyday identity rituals is very important in complex political contexts, where identity building processes aimed at the transformation of a community into a nation-state with common identification denominators are not endorsed by political elite. Belarus is an extremely difficult case from the point of view of identity building: a country without a history (Zaprudnik, 1993), without a nation (Marples, 1999), without an identity (Bekus, 2010). In the Belarusian context, food - especially food which is cheap, rustic and simple to cultivate, such as potatoes - is an important identity marker.     

Quality Reform in Malaysian Higher Education Governance: “Identity Formation” or “Knowledge Shopping”?

In line with its Vision 2020, Malaysia has been implementing a series of ‘quality’ reforms in its higher education sector (Sirat, 2010). For critics, these reforms are driven by an ideological shift from the idea that knowledge is a “public good” (Dzulkifli, 2011, p. 28). This study explores whether the use of ‘standards’ as governance forms would lead Malaysia towards “identity formation”, i.e. the creation of a culture-based knowledge society, or direct it towards “knowledge shopping”, i.e. the commodification of higher education. This article concludes that Malaysian higher education governance is more oriented towards “knowledge shopping” than “identity formation.”     

Islamism,secularism and post-Islamism: the Muslim world and the case of Bangladesh

This paper provides a historical overview of the emerging post-Islamist phenomenon in the Muslim world and discusses the scope for sustainable democratic politics in Bangladesh. In the process, a model is proposed that purports to exhibit a level of compatibility with the perceived political landscape in Bangladesh. The model adopts a version of the Hotelling–Downs principle of democracy and sets it within the ‘post-Islamist’ paradigm in such a way that, if it can be implemented, even if only partially, may lead to the sustained political stability of Bangladesh. The paper highlights illiberal and undemocratic practices of the two dominant Bangladeshi political parties as a major feature of the present status quo. These practices dominate Bangladeshi politics through the continuous attempts of their exponents to impose monopolistic views on the various symbols of national identity, despite the multi-racial, multi-religious nature of Bangladesh society. The paper concludes that a democratic system of politics, which accommodates aspects of secularism, language, Muslim identity and post-Islamist ‘Islamic ethical–moral–legal codes’, remains the feasible political discourse for forming and consolidating the country’s multi-racial, multi-religious national identity over the long run and its survival as a sovereign state.     

试论影响当前中日关系的文化与心理因素

在国际关系中,人们一般总是把政治、经济和军事作为国与国关系的首要考量因素,而把文化认同、民族心理等要素置于次要地位.但相对于前者的易变性、表层性,文化和心理要素更能在深层次上发挥潜在的影响作用.中日作为同属东亚文明圈的两个大国,两国关系的发展一波三折,令人困惑.究其原因,除却双方之间的现实利益冲突之外,在更深层次上,它与中日民族间的文化及心理认同的差异是分不开的.     

俄罗斯国家身份定位与认知视角下的俄美关系困境

苏联解体近二十年来,俄罗斯与美国的关系经历了几次较大的波动,而每次波动都伴随着俄罗斯对自己国家身份定位的变化.叶利钦时期的俄罗斯没能融入西方,普京与美国在反恐行动中的合作也没能使其成为西方的一部分.俄罗斯东西方身份定位的不断摇摆和对大国身份一味地过度追求,对其国家利益建构和对外战略选择产生了重大影响,并在一定程度上阻碍了俄美关系良性互动的形成.同时,美国对俄罗斯身份定位的认同与否,也影响着俄美关系.     

Identity orientation and stakeholder engagement—the corporatisation of elite schools

Identity orientation provides a means to understand the social motivations of organisational relationships and organisational policy and practices. This study uses identity orientation to understand the highly marketised context of independent ‘elite’ schools in Australia and how they relate to stakeholders to straddle their roles as social institutions that are increasingly required to operate in a corporate manner. Interviews with managers in quite new school roles such as marketing communication and business management were conducted in non‐government schools to understand the schools' external orientations, coveted internal member traits, and frames of reference. The study shows that, in contrast to existing literature on the rhetoric of schools as focusing on ‘the child’, there was a strong emphasis on individualistic orientations in schools that saw stakeholders in instrumental terms of resources and connections, saw teachers as providing an innovative and leading edge, and used other prestigious schools as their frame of reference. To a lesser extent, schools would also be interested in the relationships with families, teachers, and the community for their own means. There were very few instances where the identity orientation was contributing to society, instead, focusing on university and network outcomes for pupils. Using identity orientation provides a theoretical lens to connect organisational governance to stakeholder engagement by providing insights into an organisation's identity including practices and behaviours, in relation to others. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Populism in Taiwan: The Rise of a Populist-Democratic Culture in a Democratising Society

Taiwan's democratic transition has emerged alongside a rise of populism. Based on an analysis of post-electoral survey data, it is shown that populist resentments – embodied in such emotion-laden campaign issues as ethnic identity, national identity and a party's image of interest representation and clean politics – have been the most efficient vote-getting appeals in Taiwan's post-authoritarian electoral competition between two major political parties, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the nationalist Kuomintang (KMT). In Taiwan's democratic transition, mass demands for the ‘indigenisation’ of politics and the people's worry about an ever-increasing military threat from Mainland China have also popularised as well as polarised these populist appeals. As empirical data show, due to its position as the first Taiwanese party with a lion's share of populist advantages, the DPP was able to win the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. In sum, Taiwan's electoral politics in the past decade have given rise to a kind of ‘populist-democratic culture’, which inclines Taiwanese politicians to bring up populist issues rather than the rational policy debates of an electoral democracy.     

论身份关系协议对民法典合同编的参照适用

婚姻、收养、监护等有关身份关系的协议存在参照适用民法典合同编的空间。身份关系协议的性质是身份法律行为及相应身份权利义务关系所展现出的身份共同体特点,也是参照适用时对被引用法条限制或者修正变通的判断标准和解释依归。身份关系协议的性质具体包括鼓励缔结婚姻、维护夫妻等身份关系和谐安定、实现夫妻乃至家庭共同利益、养老育幼、未成年子女利益最大化等价值追求。应该区分不同类型的身份关系协议、区分同一类型身份关系协议中不同内容约款、区分身份关系协议的内部效力与外部效力,分别讨论参照适用的空间。不能脱离身份关系协议的整体来看待忠诚协议、离婚财产分割协议或者夫妻财产约定中的所谓赠与条款这个部分,身份关系协议原则上应该作为一个整体,且形成继续性民事法律关系。     

知识产权体系同一性理论的反思与构建

随着现代社会科技的发展,知识产权和知识产权以外的无形财产权的范围都在日益扩大,探究不同类型的知识产权统归于知识产权体系的逻辑关联便显得十分重要和紧迫。无论采用客体来源视角,还是采用客体形态视角,传统知识产权理论都没有对此进行充分阐述。知识产权体系同一性理论的构建回归客体非物质的逻辑起点,采用超越客体来源和客体形态的人的理性思维、意识活动视角,在知识产权类型化的基础上,构建由类型动态谱系和程度动态谱系组成的动态体系理论。     

试论数字化警务中居民身份识别与管理构想

数字化警务是指警察机关的社会行政管理和刑事执法活动借助计算机信息和数宇信息技术手段进行管理的警务方式方法。从社会管理和刑事执法的角度来讲,确认公民的个人身份及有关信息是非常重要的。在现代数字化警务工作中,必须把居民的身份识别与社会信息数字化管理有机地结合在一起。