Neoconservatism,US–China conflict,and Australia's ‘great and powerful friends’ dilemma

Abstract

Following its time-honoured ‘great and powerful friends’ foreign policy tradition, Australia has been cultivating close ties simultaneously with the United States and China. Yet, as a rivalry between the two powers apparently looms large, Australia faces an acute dilemma. While the rise of China and the question of Taiwan are often cited as main causes of US–China discord, this article argues that the American neoconservative policy on China, underpinned by a belief in both military strength and moral clarity, is integral to this growing competition and is, by extension, partly responsible for the emergence of Australia's predicament. To avoid such a difficult choice, the article suggests that Australia should strive to curb the policy influence of neoconservatism both in the United States and at home by pursuing a more independent foreign policy, making clear its strategic postures on US–China relations, and helping establish a trilateral strategic forum between Australia, the United States, and China.     

民办高校学生党建工作探赜

民办高校学生党建工作是关系到能否全面贯彻党的教育方针,坚持社会主义办学方向,培养德智体美全面发展合格人才的根本性问题。民办高校学生的特殊性决定了学生党建工作的特殊性和难度。我们积极探索民办高校学生入党积极分子的培养、教育途径和模式,夯实学生党员发展基础,将学生党建工作与思想政治教育有机结合,促进了学生健康成长和全面发展。     

Marx’s rent theory revisited? Landed property,nature and value

Abstract

Drawing upon recent interpretation of Marx’s newly published papers, a debate published in the journal 40 years ago over Marx’s theory of rent is revisited, for reassessment as such and to consider its relevance for the analysis of contemporary issues.     

Contrarian investment philosophy in the American stock market: on investment advice and the crowd conundrum

Abstract

This paper contributes to the understanding of the role of crowds in the financial market by examining the historical origins and theoretical underpinnings of contrarian investment philosophy. Developed in non-scientific, practice-oriented ‘how to’ handbooks in 1920s and 1930s America, contrarian investment advice was aimed at so-called small investors rather than well-established market practitioners. Emerging out of late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century debates about public participation in the stock market, the contrarians expanded on a widely held (amongst financial writers) scepticism about the investment and speculation skills (or lack thereof) of the masses and adopted ideas from the theoretical discipline of crowd psychology, whereby they positioned the mass (i.e. the crowd) in opposition to the successful investor. I argue that despite its idiosyncrasies, the contrarians’ conception of the market based on crowd psychology points to a fundamental fragility of market participants, which still lingers on in recent debates about the wisdom of financial market crowds.     

Turkey’s tamed civil society: Containment and appropriation under a competitive authoritarian regime

ABSTRACT

Under the Justice and Development Party (AKP) rule, Turkey’s civil society has enlarged both in size and diversity of civic engagement. This development is puzzling since Turkey’s weak democratic credentials do not allow an enabling political and legal setting for civil society’s expansion. This study argues that the expansion can be explained through a particular dilemma of rulers in competitive-authoritarian (CA) regimes. The AKP is caught between the conflicting interests of appropriating and containing civil society. While the government needs to cherish civil society to sustain CA regime, it also needs to repress it, as civil society is the only arena where dissenting social forces can still carve pockets of resistance and challenge the dominant paradigms of the regime. Based on extensive fieldwork, this study discusses the patterns of containment and appropriation that have led to the steady expansion of civil society under pressure. The AKP’s dilemma has also rendered Turkey’s civil society ‘tamed’, namely politicized, disabled and segregated. The study broadens the understanding of relations between civil society and the state in CA regimes by offering essential insights into how these regimes are sustained, entrenched and also contested through and within civil society.     

《就业促进法》语境下的女大学生就业促进之思考——以龙岩学院为例

女大学生就业难是近几年我国高校普遍面临的社会问题,随着全国招生规模的扩大,这个问题越来越突出,日益受到社会的关注。经济因素、社会因素、教育因素和个体因素导致了女大学生的就业难题。为破解这一难题,政府、社会、学校和女大学生自身都必须付出努力,形成四位一体的促进女大学生平等就业的良好机制和氛围。     

Clarifying Consent: Primary Prevention of Sexual Assault on a College Campus

Although more universities are developing policies for students regarding consent for sexual behavior in response to the problem of sexual violence on campus, many students seem either unaware of these policies or what they mean for actual behavior. Policies are only as effective as peoples' understanding and use of them. The current study aimed to evaluate the utility of a prevention education program focused on teaching students about consent. Two hundred and twenty undergraduates, composing a control group, a shorter treatment group, and a longer one, participated in the study. The findings showed the greatest knowledge gain for participants in the longer treatment group that included a discussion of the policy and participation in an activity dealing with its implications. Implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Global and Urban Engagement to Promote Social Justice: Reflections of One’s Faith Tradition

The current study compared perceptions on self-report measures of university mission identity and social justice attitudes between general university students (151 women, 63 men; M age = 19.72, SD = 1.91) and campus ministry students (64 women, 24 men; M age = 19.85, SD = 1.71). Results demonstrated that campus ministry students scored significantly higher on each of four social justice and global/urban engagement subscales. Implications suggest that perceptions of university mission-identity are linked to social justice attitudes, yet campus ministry students compared to regular student samples may be linked to a stronger emphasis on social justice through campus activity.     

Voters should not be in prison! The rights of prisoners in a democracy

In Hirst v UK, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the UK must end its blanket ban on convicted prisoners voting. In this paper I argue that the court’s reasoning undermines collective political self-determination by assuming away the essential connection between political citizenship and civil liberty in a representative democracy. I outline a democratic theory of imprisonment and argue that the democratic citizenship of imprisoned offenders is suspended not by their disenfranchisement but by their imprisonment. While many aspects of the UK’s penal practice are inconsistent with democratic self-government, the voting ban is not one of them. I conclude by outlining the numerous rights that prisoners should enjoy in a democracy.