Shaking off the neoliberal shackles: “democratic emergence” and the negotiation of democratic knowledge in the Middle East North Africa context

ABSTRACT

There is a general assumption in democracy promotion that liberal democracy is the panacea that will solve all political and economic problems faced by developing countries. Using the concept of “good society” as analytical prism, the analysis shows that while there is a rhetorical agreement as to what the “good society” entails, democracy promotion practices fail to allow for recipients’ inclusion in the negotiation and delivery of the “good society”. Contrasting US and Tunisian discourses on the “good society”, the article argues that democracy promotion practices are underpinned by neoliberal parameters borne out from a reliance on the transition paradigm, which in turn leave little room to democracy promotion recipients to formulate knowledge claims supporting the emergence of alternative conceptions of the “good society”. In contrast, the article opens up a reflective pathway to a negotiated democratic knowledge, which would reside in a paradigmatic change that consists in the abandonment of the transition paradigm in favour of a “democratic emergence” paradigm.     

简论以法治腐--学习邓小平反腐倡廉思想

邓小平反腐败思想的一个重要特点就是把治理腐败与民主法制建设紧密地结合起来,这不仅为我们指出了防治腐败的根本方法,也为我国政治现代化建设提供了一个整体思路.     

工业化中后期苏南地区产业升级的路径选择

在工业化的初始阶段,苏南地区主要依靠要素、投资驱动产业升级.进入21世纪以来,这种高投入、高消耗的产业升级路径,使其进一步发展面临巨大的挑战.借鉴日本和韩国等国相关的做法和经验,处于工业化中后期的苏南地区必须以科技创新引领产业升级.其基本路径是:加大科技人才的培养引进力度,突出企业科技创新的主体地位,努力营造科技创新的机制环境,积极推进国际技术的转移与合作,大力促进产业的企业区域集中,加快传统优势产业的高新技术改造.     

浅议邓小平的民主法治思想与人本发展观

崇尚法治,反对人治是邓小平法治思想的基础和核心,民主法治思想与人本发展观的完善是邓小平理论的结晶,它的立法、执法、守法等基本思路对维护社会主义市场经济的新秩序,具有广泛深远的意义。     

民主生活会上怎样才能"讲真话"

完善民主生活会制度,充分发挥其在发展党内民主、加强党内监督中的作用,是以党内和谐促进社会和谐的迫切需要。民主生活会上不讲真话风气的蔓延,严重影响了民主生活会的质量。因此,坚持“讲真话”的要求不能放松,保护“讲真话”的措施亟待强化,督促“讲真话”的力度必须加大,回应“讲真话”的整改务必到位。     

Democracy, rule of law and human rights protection under gradually developed constitutionalism

With the shifting of the economic pattern and the developing of administrative law, the modern constitutionalism of China has adopted a progressive development process. Over 20 years, the development of democracy, the rule of law and the human rights protection clearly illustrate this point. For the gradually developing constitutionalism, the theory of limited rational is a theoretical basis, the stability of society is a social basis, the changing economic system is a economic basis, and Confucianism is a cultural basis. Constitutionalism of China should continue to go in such an active, steady and gradual way. Wang Zhuojun, Professor and Director of Administrative Affairs of Soochow University (till now) and as a visiting scholar in the Department of Government & Politics, University of Maryland, USA (1996.1–1997.1), whose research focuses on culture, politics and science of law. So far, his publications are “The Political System in the Perspective of Culture”, “A History of Epistemology”, “A Study of the External Economy of China’s Universities”, and his translations include “Introduction to Culture and Anthropology”, “Challenge to Culture from Science and Technology”, etc. Moreover, He has presided several research projects sponsored by The Ministry of Science and Technology of China and the Education Department of Jiangsu Province, China.     

振兴东北的逻辑起点——区域制度创新

新制度经济学认为,造成区域经济发展差异的主要因素是制度,制度创新决定技术创新。东北的落后表现在经济上,反映在制度上。在振兴东北的思路上应当具有系统性与逻辑性。振兴东北的最大障碍是人与制度的关系,从社会层面来看是文化上的落后,缺乏创新精神;从社会管理层面来看是政府示范引导不力,自身改革滞后。更新社会观念,加快政府改革是摆脱制度束缚,振兴东北的逻辑起点。     

西方公共行政理论演变中的价值取向

厘清西方行政价值的两种基本取向,有利于我们从整体上更好地把握西方公共行政理论的本质,对于完善我国的行政价值体系具有重要借鉴意义。     

Democracy and the governing party (执政党): A theoretical perspective

The Fourth Plenum of the Communist Party of China held in September 2004 outlined a course of reform aimed at establishing the Party as a permanent governing party (zhizheng dang 执政党). This aim shares some of the values and procedures of legislative democracy, but is fundamentally different in structure. There are no existing cases of party-state democracy as envisioned in the governing party idea, so the theoretical question is asked, is party-state democracy possible? The paper considers the course of development and the limitations of the theory of legislative democracy and contrasts it to the course of Chinese political development. It then presents the essential elements of a democratic system, concluding with a discussion of the feasibility of party-state democracy.     

试论云南从新民主主义向社会主义的转变

云南从新民主主义向社会主义的转变是在特殊的历史环境中实现的,并表现出特有的矛盾构成与矛盾运动。