The limits of feminist political intervention in Singapore

This article uncovers the strongly ideological quality in Singapore's theory and practice of pragmatism. It also points to a strongly pragmatic quality in the ideological negotiations that play out within the dynamics of hegemony. In this complex relationship, the combination of ideological and pragmatic manoeuvring over the decades has resulted in the historic political dominance of the People's Action Party (PAP) government in partnership with global capital. But in an evolving, diversifying and globalising society, this manoeuvring has also engendered a number of mismatched expectations. It has also seen a greater sensitivity and attention to the inherent ideological contradictions and socio-economic inequalities that may erode what has been a relatively stable partnership between state and capital. This article argues that Singapore's one-party dominant state is the result of continuous ideological work that deploys the rhetoric of pragmatism to link the notion of Singapore's impressive success and future prospects to its ability to attract global capital. In turn, this relies on maintaining a stable political system dominated by an experienced, meritocratic and technocratic PAP government. While this Singaporean conventional wisdom has supported the political and economic interests of the state and global capital in a period of neo-liberal globalisation, its internal contradictions and external pressures have also begun to challenge its hegemonic pre-eminence.     

Missing the Point on Hard and Soft Power?

This article is a critique of two reports of parliamentary inquiries, into intervention and soft power, respectively. Neither report includes any discussion of Britain's involvement in and culpability for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite a more radical approach taken by the report on soft power, the article argues that the failure to address recent wars is symptomatic of a deeper and more dangerous inability to face up to profound and dangerous changes taking place in the world.     

What is language? A response to Philippe van Parijs

When we consider the issue of linguistic justice, we must define what we mean by language. Standardisation of languages is closely associated with the development of the nation state, and the de Saussurian conception of language as system is in concert with nationalism and its divisions. In the early twenty-first century, however, this view of the world as a mosaic of stable national monolingualisms is outdated. In a globalising world, much of the political, social and economic structure that is developing is transnational and patterns of contact, both real and virtual, have become extraordinarily complex. In the resulting communities of communication of this superdiverse world, much language practice is more function driven than in the recent past. New practices mean that we cannot consider questions of linguistic justice in this new world order using the linguistic toolkit of the old. The flows, exchanges and networks of globalisation present us with a new paradigm and we need to recalibrate concepts.     

The New Dynamic of Blockbuster Exhibitions: The Case of Brazilian Museums

Many European and North American museums have increasingly adapted to the new communication era. They have opened up a new cultural flux and attract millions of visitors each year. In Brazil, we have observed in recent years the acceptance of new temporary and international exhibits. What is the meaning of the new exhibiting strategies, since the most important and traditional national museums still face stagnation? Can they be considered as part of a process of democratisation and reflexivity or accused of capitulating to the consumer society? This article proposes to analyse the production, diffusion and reception of recent Brazilian exhibitions. This analysis will be carried out in relation to the hierarchy of norms, values and practices present in Brazilian society.     

El ser del varón y el diseño de políticas públicas e intervención social con perspectiva de género

The purpose of this work is to examine the design and management of social policies from a perspective of masculinities. Various sources are reviewed -cultural, academic, educational, technical methodological- in order to broaden the standpoints from which male participation and responsibility have been considered. Finally, the study offers a series of valid and formally assembled findings to support the design and management of public policies oriented to gender equity with and from males, as it is of chief importance to promote the development of different male alternative patterns in view of overcoming violence, inequality, intolerance, discrimination, and inequity by means of political, social, and educational options.     

New corporate agendas

Globalisation is changing the public affairs agenda for businesses operating in a more interdependent world. As the roles and responsibilities of government are being redefined, and the boundaries between business and government become less clear cut, today's business leaders are facing a daunting array of challenges. In the new age of corporate social responsibility, the needs of shareholders, consumers, employees, national as well as international regulators, watchdogs, NGOs and activist groups have to be satisfied. The number of variables that could affect the bottom line appears to be growing at an exponential rate; and losing the trust of stakeholders can be fatal. Business leaders should step up to the challenges that these developments are creating. They should be unapologetic about countering anti‐globalisation activists by demonstrating the real value that business can bring to the developing as well as the developed world. They should help to promote the virtues of greater transparency and accountability to their stakeholders. They should be actively engaged in fashioning new regulatory architecture that is pro‐competitive, one that makes trade possible. Business leaders should support efforts to develop better quality regulation of the increasing number of trans‐national issues that call for co‐ordinated, international responses. Ignoring or down‐playing these challenges carries a price: it plays into the hands of cyber cohorts and single issue groups, that are accountable to none but themselves, and leads to weaker public policy outcomes. Copyright © 2003 Henry Stewart Publications     

Technology, Criminology and Crime Science

Developments in technology have changed the environment of crime, which, in some of its new forms, poses a serious threat to society. At the same time the technologies of crime control are being transformed. If criminology is to respond adequately to this changed environment, it must make radical changes in its mission, its theories and its methodologies, the collective result of which would be to make the discipline more directly relevant to crime control and prevention. This would enhance the effectiveness of these activities and would also open up new and exciting career opportunities for criminologists. If criminology does not change, it will become eclipsed by crime science and will find it increasingly hard to survive – even in the protected environment of universities.     

Green citizenship and the political critique of injustice

Over recent decades, normative theories of green citizenship have drawn upon observations that a long-prevalent dualistic understanding of society, as completely subjecting nature, is being displaced by growing political and cultural support for a holistic view of society, as participating in nature. Differences between avowedly liberal and civic-republican interpretations of green citizenship notwithstanding, the normative theories share five key social critiques: (1) the need to challenge nature/culture dualism; (2) to dissolve the division between the public and private spheres; (3) to undermine state-territorialism; (4) to eschew social contractualism and (5) to ground justice in awareness of the finiteness and maldistribution of ecological space (ES). This article offers a sympathetic provocation to normative theories of green citizenship. Adopting a critical realist perspective, it describes the partial and problematic realisation of these critiques in the contemporary types of social and political participation, contents of the rights and duties and institutional arrangements of the ‘stakeholder’ citizenship that has become established within the neoliberal or weak eco-modernising, global competition state. This perspective is important because it offers new insights into the discursive framework that encompasses contemporary debates over justice and injustice. In particular, injustice from within the post-industrial ecostate appears to be a diffuse whole-of-society problem, the by-product of unsustainable development that lacks an identifiable class of perpetrators. This makes the progressive task of enunciating claims that injustice is present in some senses difficult, while conservative ideological positions are simplified.     

经济全球化与发达资本主义国家经济

本文从历史的发展和资本主义经济现实出发,阐述了经济全球化并不完全是由发达国家发动和倡导的一场运动,而是由科学技术进步和社会生产力发展推动的一种客观趋势.由于和资本主义相生相伴,经济全球化不可避免地带有资本主义性质,在经济全球化中,发达国家受益最多,但同样也面临一些冲击和挑战.各国只有不断地进行调整和变革,才能适应全球化的发展趋势.随着参与经济全球化国家类型的增多,经济全球化的发展趋势并不必然是资本主义化.