Time for a New Paradigm? Past and Present Transitions in Economic Policy

This article seeks to place the UK's present economic ‘moment’ in historical context. Over the course of the decade since the 2007 financial crisis, it has increasingly been acknowledged that a cyclical crisis has become a structural crisis. The failure of most economists to predict the financial crash in the first place, and the inadequacy of economic policy in responding to its lasting effects, has led many to conclude that economics itself is in crisis. This article seeks to contribute to a better understanding of the present period of disjuncture. Drawing on theories of paradigm shift from both the physical and social sciences, we argue that the speed of change in UK economic policy is comparable to the two major historical transitions that ended with the post‐war consensus and neoliberalism. We conclude by offering some remarks on how and where the present change might take us.     

A nexus between labour movement and labour movement: the Knights of Labor and the financial side of global labour history

The rise of global and transnational labour history has revolutionised the study of working-class movements and individuals and the global forces that shaped them. Some of the more mundane considerations of these movements, however, have so far been neglected in this rapidly growing field. One of the most important of these considerations was money, or in other words the financial affairs of transnational movements such as trade unions and political parties. This article is a call to write the financial side of global labour history. It focuses on a global working-class movement that is itself often neglected in the historical literature, the Knights of Labor, and their outposts in Britain and Ireland. It examines the history of the British and Irish Knights through the prism of their financial history, so far as we can reconstruct it from the scanty sources that are available. This article argues that their financial ties with the United States and a series of embezzlement cases became major causes of their decline and, ultimately, their dissolution. Finally, this article draws conclusions from the financial misadventures of the British and Irish Knights of Labor that are relevant to the study of other international working-class movements and to the writing of global labour history in general.     

Social history, (Neo-)revisionism and mapping the 1930s Spanish left*

Revisionist historians and their Neo-Revisionist/conservative fellow travellers identify the Spanish left as the main cause of the civil war (1936–1939) that culminated in the establishment of the Franco dictatorship. Such claims are possible because these historians distort both the history of the left and the nature of social protest and mass mobilisation during these years. In part, the reliance of Neo-Revisionist/conservative historians on the methods of traditional political history – combined with their stubborn aversion to social history – makes it impossible for them to understand the left. This article argues that only through social history is it possible to comprehend the complex and shifting nature of protest dynamics in the 1930s. Indeed, many of the conflicts that played out in the political arena during these years were conditioned by structural economic problems and social tensions that resulted in diverse forms of radical contestation among the grassroots of leftist movements. Social, and indeed cultural history, are, therefore, central to any analysis of the myriad forms of these protest energies that flowed from the bottom up to shape the orientation of the leftist organisations.     

Wage labour and capitalism: a comparative and historical analysis of Eritrea and Kenya

Abstract

This paper seeks to explain the development of capitalism in Eritrea and Kenya from a labour history perspective. Indeed, the assumption in this research is that capitalism can only be explained by taking into consideration free wage labour as one of the sine qua non conditions for the existence of the capitalist mode of production. Therefore, the article looks at the paradigmatic socio-economic shifts: from unfree to free labour, from free to precarious labour and from unfree to precarious labour. These are the result of the complicated relationship that exists between capital and labour. The point of departure of the analysis is the Nieboer-Domar hypothesis on the structural origins of slavery, which despite severe criticism, it has been largely remained unchallenged until the present. In Eritrea, colonised by Italy, and Kenya, colonised by England, free wage labour fully developed between the nineteenth and twentieth century. This could be considered the era of the advent of capitalism, with the advent, for a fraction of the working population, of labour relations based on wages. The precarisation of life of free wage workers is also partially analysed in this article.     

Rethinking public policy in agriculture: lessons from history,distant and recent

This article reviews the histories of agricultural policy in 11 of today's developed countries between the late-nineteenth and the mid-twentieth century and in 10 developing and transition economies since the mid-twentieth century. After discussing the theoretical limitations of the prevailing orthodoxy, the article discusses the history of a wide range of agricultural policies concerning issues like land, knowledge (e.g., research, extension), credit, physical inputs (e.g., irrigation, transport, fertilizers, seeds), farm income stability (e.g., price stabilisation measures, insurances, trade protection), marketing, and processing. The article ends by discussing the policy lessons that may be learned from these historical experiences.     

连横《台湾通史》论析：基于学术史的考察

连横一生以搜集、记录、整理、保存、研究台湾历史和文化为职志,著述颇丰,尤以《台湾通史》名世。纵观《台湾通史》的出版史和相关研究的学术史,实与近代以来中国历史进程相契合,其独特的学术价值和现实意义也逐步彰显。20世纪90年代以来,海峡两岸的《台湾通史》研究均进入新的发展阶段,无论视角还是视野、方法还是理论,特别是在学术性或学理性上,都有显著的推进和拓展。     

试论中国共产党领导的多党合作制的历史必然性

以中国共产党为领导的多党合作的政党制度 ,是一种完全新型的社会主义政党制度。它的形成、发展和不断完善 ,伴随着中国共产党 80年的光辉历程。中国社会的历史和现实条件决定了中国共产党与民主党派合作具有历史的必然性 ,而共产党在多党合作制中居领导地位同样具有历史的必然性。     

反思与重构：我国国有资产出资人制度之检视

自我国国有资产出资人制度设立以来,在实践中,出资人缺位、错位、越位的现象层出不穷,当前,有必要对出资人制度进行全面的反思。笔者认为：我国国有资产的真正出资人（终极所有者）应是全体国民;国有资产监督管理机构应是出资人的代表人而非出资人;出资人的职责仅指按照有关的法律法规行使股东权利;国有资产的三层次运营模式并不能解决国有资产监督管理机构兼具的＂老板加婆婆＂的双重角色;未来我国可以遵循两条路径对国有资产出资人进行制度的重构。     

古代祭祀礼仪的法律规制与文化内涵

中国古代祭礼,历史悠久,内容宏富,颇具特色。其程序之复杂,仪节之细致,规矩之严格,场面之宏大,也堪称一绝。它位居“五礼”之首,是古代礼仪法的重要组成部分,受到历代统治者的高度重视。其秉承“神道设教”的宗旨,蕴含“天人合一”的观念,有浓厚的人文色彩和世俗化倾向,对中国传统文化产生了深刻影响。     

论我国历史上对性交易的法律管制

我国法律对性交易的打击虽非常严厉,但性交易却屡禁不止,并愈演愈烈.可见,我国现行的严禁主义存在问题.纵观我国历史大多数时期,性交易是合法的,并且性交易合法时期往往是社会环境比较宽松的时期,也往往是历史上的“盛世”之时.而性交易非法时期也往往是法律环境比较苛刻、社会控制比较严厉的时期.这样的时期里对性交易的管制往往就是严刑峻法,通过这样的管制也往往造成统治者不愿意看到的结果,并且最终都会放开对性交易的管制.