Volunteering in the Arab World: Bringing Back People into Politics?

This article analyzes the concept of volunteering in the Arab world. The main argument is that the nature of the Arab world in addition to the historical development of civil society directly affected the philosophy of volunteering in the region. Since civic services were not framed nor included in the national agendas of the state, this had a direct negative effect on the development of the act. However, due to social, economic, and political factors, this trend is changing: As of 2000, organizations and societies started to understand the importance of volunteering and its link to the social and economic revival of societies; Arab states started to encourage the act by providing the right legal and political environment. However, these different policies are not building democratic societies nor encouraging civic engagement. The article concludes with recommendations for how to bring people back into civic and political society as well as suggestions for future research.     

基于国家安全的我国国际海运网络治理模式探讨

改革开放以来我国的海运取得了很大成就,但发展速度和结构仍落后于国家经济社会的快速发展,部分重点经济领域的运输保障能力比较脆弱,不利于国家经济社会安全,需要高度重视。本文认为,海运发展问题的深层原因与我国传统行政管理模式有着密切关系,需要在此基础上探索一种新的政府治理模式,形成合力加快我国海运的发展,提高保障国家安全运行的能力。     

论新桂系政权的民族同化政策

新桂系政权在民族区域治理上,实施改土归流,编组乡村甲,彻底改革少数民族地区的基层行政体系;在民族教育上,实施“特种教育”,大力推进少数民族基础教育;在民族风俗习惯上,实施“风俗改良”,强制少数民族移风易俗;在民族宗教信仰上,破除“迷信”,强迫少数民族放弃民族宗教信仰。这些政策的根本目的是实施民族同化、消弭阶级斗争,但也在一定程度上促进了少数民族地区社会文化事业的发展。     

法律语言确定性与法律文化的发展

语言是文化的载体,是民族精神的体现。英美法律语言和中国传统法律语言不同的发展特点源自于各自独特的思维方式和民族特性。因此,中国法制现代化的进程中,法律借鉴、移植必须使制度性的法律文化与观念性的法律文化同步发展,使法治精神通过民众的语言体现出来。     

社会思潮与我国国家意识形态安全

社会思潮是社会意识形态与社会心理相互转换的桥梁,在维护国家意识形态安全中发挥着“睛雨表”和调节器的作用。当前社会思潮日益多样化,且更加关注现实,行动性因素增多,现实影响力增强;各种社会思潮之间交锋日趋激烈,分化趋势加快,价值立场和政治态度日趋多变;社会思潮与主流意识形态之间关系愈加微妙。因此,要客观地看待社会思潮,深刻认识科学疏导社会思潮对维护社会政治稳定和国家意识形态安全的重大意义,积极探索用社会主义核心价值体系引领社会思潮的有效途径。     

Opposition Coordination in Singapore’s 2015 General Elections

Abstract

Recent political science scholarship suggests that when opposition political parties are able to coalesce into a united coalition against an authoritarian regime, they will perform better in authoritarian elections, and can more credibly bargain with the regime for liberalising reforms. Yet, most of this literature pays little attention to the variety of ways in which opposition parties cooperate with each other. Drawing on the literature on the bargaining model of war, the author sketches out a theoretical framework to explain how opposition parties coordinate to develop non-competition agreements. Such agreements entail opposition parties bargaining over which political party should contest or withdraw in which constituencies to ensure straight fights against the dominant authoritarian incumbent in each electoral district. The author then applies this framework to explain opposition coordination in Singapore’s 2015 general elections, focusing on the conflict between the Workers’ Party and the National Solidarity Party.     

Between anti-Westernization and Islamism: Turkey’s ‘Islamic’ vision in Cyprus?

This paper seeks to analyse the position of Cyprus within the geopolitical vision and broader worldview of the National Outlook Movement (Milli Görü? Hareketi) and especially of the National Salvation Party (MSP). The importance of this particular Party lies on the fact that it participated in the coalition government that made the decision to militarily intervene in the island in 1974. The paper’s principal focus is on the Islamic criticism of Turkey’s Westernization and the development of a comprehensive programme of Islamic transformation. Drawing from the above-mentioned axes, and from the context of the MSP’s geopolitical vision, Cyprus and the Cyprus problem, as well as their impact on the political stance of the MSP, are analysed.     

Ideas and Influence: Scholarship as a Harbinger of Counterterrorism Institutions,Policies, and Laws in the People's Republic of China

This article demonstrates how scholarship on terrorism in China has provided the intellectual backdrop against which China's leadership has developed the country's counterterrorism institutions, policies, and laws. Building on the linkages between scholarship and policy-making, the article suggests potential avenues for policy reform in China's current counterterrorism architecture.     

Modernist art in the service of Nazi culture: Baldur von Schirach and the Junge Kunst im Deutschen Reich exhibition

ABSTRACT

Maertz's essay offers a history of a modernist art exhibition that opened in Vienna's Künstlerhaus under the patronage of Baldur von Schirach, the Führer's personal representative in that city, the second largest in Nazi Germany. The significance of the 1943 Junge Kunst im Deutschen Reich (New Art in the German Reich) exhibition lies in its assertion of a modernist variant of ‘official’ National Socialist art that clashes with the orthodox aesthetic system typically associated with the Third Reich.     

The 2016 Scottish Parliament election: a nationalist minority,a Conservative comeback and a Labour collapse

This article examines the political context, campaign, election results and outcomes of the 2016 Scottish Parliament election. The Scottish National Party (SNP) secured its third electoral victory, yet failed to achieve a widely predicted majority. With just two MSPs short of a majority, the SNP has ruled out any formal coalition with the opposition and will instead govern as a minority administration. The composition of the parliament’s opposition also changed significantly. The Scottish Conservatives increased their share of the constituency and regional votes, and became, for the first time, the largest opposition party in the chamber. Scottish Labour suffered a severe electoral drubbing, losing 13 of its seats. The election was also important for the Scottish Liberal Democrats and Scottish Green Party. The latter increased its vote share and number of seats, leapfrogging the Lib Dems to become the fourth largest party in the chamber.