Social Structure and the Typical Career of the Swiss Diplomatic Elite

This Research Note analyzes the origins, the social structure, the typical career and the patterns of promotion of the Swiss diplomatic elite. The results highlight the fact that the diplomatic elite has well‐differentiated career patterns which point to a high degree of professionalization. The average Swiss diplomat has spent two decades within the diplomatic service and more than 60 percent of his career on assignments abroad before having been appointed ambassador. But the typical career pattern of Switzerland's diplomatic elite seems to change partially. On the one hand, the percentage of lawyers within the elite has been constantly decreasing, and on the other the young ambassadors have been spending much more time in Bern than their older colleagues. These are some indications of a pluralization and differentiation of the diplomatic elite. In respect to the typical career of an ambassador, one has to emphasize the fact that most ambassadors start their careers on the foreign policy periphery before they are promoted to more prestigious posts and that they are until the very end of their careers subject to mandatory transfers which lead to a continuously high regional mobility.     

Monetisation of electoral politics and the challenge of political exclusion in Nigeria

This paper argues that money has become the deciding factor in Nigerian politics. It has served the purposes of consolidating elite rule as well as the political exclusion of the non-elite. A discernible ‘ritual of money politics’, has enabled the power elite to remain in power, and new comers to develop the elite character. This paper concludes that money politics is at the heart of the general crisis of democracy and governance in Nigeria, and unless this is mitigated, reforms aimed at bringing about good governance and curbing other anomalies in the political system may not produce the desired results.     

Elite-led development and Mexico’s independent coffee organisations in the wake of the rust epidemic

Abstract

Between 2012 and 2016 a virulent strain of coffee rust reduced Mexican yields by more than 50%, and it is still devastating production. The government has responded by replacing traditional arabica plants vulnerable to the pathogen with resistant, high-yielding varieties to recover the sector and encourage long-term adaptation to a disease that cannot be eradicated. However, this contribution will attempt to show that the intractable nature of the epidemic and the biological characteristics of resistant varieties threaten the survival of independent coffee organisations and their agroecological shade coffee systems. With little or no possibility of recovering production without the use of resistant plants, the alternative production and marketing models that these organisations have constructed over the past three decades face unprecedented challenges.     

Between Globalism and Localism,Italian Style

Survey and historical evidence reveal that Italians have emerged as the European masters of multiple loyalties, balancing relatively weak levels of state nationalism with strong affinities for sub-state, continental and global identities and institutions. These distinctive patterns can be traced to elite opinion leadership, the perceived material and psychological benefits derived from the European movement, and the legacy of the First Republic's party system.     

大众化的追求与精英化的倾向——马克思主义中国化研究中的意识形态问题

马克思主义中国化研究很难摆脱精英化的倾向。马克思主义的本性决定了马克思主义中国化研究必须坚持大众化的意识形态,把自身看成马克思主义的大众实践的一部分。马克思主义中国化研究者只有正确认识马克思主义中国化中精英化与大众化的关系,才能破解其大众化追求中的意识形态困境,坚持大众化的方向。     

间接民主、代议制与精英统治

直接民主与间接民主的问题是当代政治哲学的一个热点.文章回顾了围绕直接民主和代议制进行的争论,直接民主由于容易导致暴民政治而被视作洪水猛兽,代议制民主则把人民分为普通大众和精英,认为只有精英才能代表人民更好地治理国家.但把代议制民主简单理解为选择代议员的过程会不可避免地滑向寡头统治,只有多元主义民主才能避免寡头统治铁律,尽管这种民主内部存在着民主必需的同一性和多元主义需要的差异性这两种逻辑之间的张力.     

高等教育大众化背景下的警察教育必须坚持精英教育的道路

警察教育精英化是警察特殊职业的要求。在高等教育大众化背景下,警察教育特别是公安警察高等教育,必须坚持走精英教育的道路。应坚持择优录取入学,严格教育,严格训练,严格管理,采用严格的淘汰机制,最终将优秀的警务人才输送到各级公安机关,实现精英从警。     

浅析女性犯罪心理形成的社会历史因素

社会历史对女性犯罪心理有着重要的影响，历史上形成的男尊女思想、三从四德的观念以及封建贞节观是女性犯罪心理形成的社会历史根源。家庭教育和学校教育和社会传媒等多方面的共同努力，是消除社会历史上不良因素影响的有效途径。     

当代中国政治文化内部结构的分化与整合

深入剖析一国政治文化的内部结构及其相互关系对于了解该国政治体系的运作具有重要意义。当代中国政治文化在精英和大众层面都存在着社会主义意识形态、传统政治文化、民主政治文化三种类型的交织与分化,当代中国政治文化的整合与创新应以培育和发展出有中国特色的以权利、民主、法治为核心理念的社会主义公民文化为指向,政治社会化对于政治文化整合与更新尤为重要。     

Public Finance and Capital Investment: A National Perspective on Colonial Dahomey

How, when and to whom should a woman marry, what constitutes marriage and what rights has a woman to influence the selection of her spouse? These and other questions were subjects of intense contestation between young men and women and their parents, on one hand, and, on the other, between commoners and members of the traditional elite in the Western Igbo district of Igbuzo in Southern Nigeria during the early twentieth century. Disputes over marriage rites centred on the politics of isinmo or the shaving of a woman's head. Isinmo gave the “barber” exclusive and inalienable rights to the woman. Yet, in what amounted to reversal of tradition, women seeking to end or reduce parental and patriarchal control appropriated some the rituals of isinmo to contest its use and efficacy in the hands of its erstwhile beneficiaries.