Why the “Sacred” Is a Better Resource Than “Religion” for Understanding Terrorism

The popular media and many in academia often overstate the role that religion, and its supposedly unique qualities, has played in recent acts of terror. In this article, I argue that the notion of religious violence is unhelpful and that there is a more useful concept that we can utilize to draw out the values and ideas that play a role in the move to violence in both religious and secular groups. From a series of case studies on religious and non-religious groups, I have drawn out an alternative framework for investigating and learning from the role that beliefs play in motivations and justifications for terrorism. This framework uses the concept of non-negotiable (or “sacred”) beliefs. It is as applicable to secular as it is to religious groups, and can show us much more about how such beliefs can contribute to violence.     

Animal liberation,American anti-terrorist culture and Denis Hennelly’s Bold Native

Since its birth in the last quarter of the twentieth century, the animal liberation movement has attempted to expose the transnational, global character of speciecism and institutionalised forms of exploitation. Within the American panorama, however, the “war against terror” following 9/11 had such a profound effect on (radical) activism at a legal and legislative level that the movement found itself in the position of having to reassess their focus, leading to theoretical and aesthetic responses to anti-terrorist rhetoric. The aim of this article is (1) to examine the manner by which anti-terrorist rhetoric affected the movement and how the movement appropriated such rhetoric to reinvent their own discourse, and (2) analyse the audiovisual semiotics employed by Denis Hennelly in his 2010 film, Bold Native, so as to address how issues central to the movement’s current struggle and assimilation of concepts such as “terrorism” and “patriotism” translate at an aesthetic level.     

European Law Beyond ‘Ever Closer Union’ Repositioning the Concept,its Thrust and the ECJ's Comparative Methodology

The article investigates competing understandings of European law. It supports, against the prevailing EU‐centred understanding, an ecumenical concept that embraces EU law, supplementing international instruments, the European Convention on Human Rights and, importantly, various domestic laws enacting or responding to such transnational law, as well as European comparative law. To keep the concept in sync with European politics, it posits a new idea that binds the parts together: to provide for a European legal space rather than further European integration (the ever closer union). This idea can also serve as European law's functional equivalent to forming one legal order. European law thus conceived grasps the puzzling complex of interdependent legal orders, sets a common frame for corresponding reconstructions (European composite constructions, legal pluralism, network theories, federalism or intergovernmentalism) and allows forces with diverging outlooks to meet in one legal field, on one more neutral disciplinary platform. Within this framework, European comparative law finds a new mission as well as a sound legal basis.     

当代恐怖主义的特征与发展趋势

近年来,恐怖主义已成为影响世界稳定和地区安全的首要威胁与影响和平发展的巨大阻力,日益引起世界各国的高度重视.国际社会对其进行了联合打击,但其活动仍呈蔓延之势,表现出鲜明的政治性、组织性、非国家主体性、隐蔽性、突发性、宗教性等特征,并呈现出恐怖主义组织类型与恐怖手段多元化、组织形式网络化与分散化、恐怖主义活动国际化等发展趋势,必须予以密切关注,在此基础上做好相应的情报预警工作,努力把恐怖主义的危害降低到最低限度.     

警惕个体恐怖犯罪的泛滥

个体恐怖犯罪在我国的出现越来越多,危害越来越大,然而它与有组织的恐怖犯罪有明显的区别。引起个体恐怖犯罪的原因有很多,既包括对社会严重不满和对他人极端仇视等复杂原因,也包括了社会转型期各种复杂矛盾引起的问题。为了防范此类犯罪,我们要更多地了解个体恐怖犯罪的特点和危害,以便采取相应的措施来进行应对。     

男性研究对性别平等教育的意义

实现性别平等是男女双方共同的责任。父权制的性别文化对女性不公的同时也使男性受到了伤害。本文在探讨男性研究的兴起、定位与内涵以及性别平等教育相关概念的基础上,反思男性研究与性别平等教育的内在联系,指出男性研究视角在教育领域的介入,有利于推动性别平等教育的深入发展和开拓新的实践可能,如深化性别角色社会化研究,拓展性教育的多元文化取向,丰富与再现校园中的性别文化等。     

The Evolution of the Theoretical Foundations of Punctuated Equilibrium Theory in Public Policy

Punctuated equilibrium theory in public policy replicated from biological punctuated equilibrium theory has concluded that public policies alternate between stasis and punctuation. However, recent research on Pacific Northwest forest policy, U.S. state tobacco policy, and U.S federal auto efficiency policy have found no punctuations despite an attempt to do so. What is the efficacy of using biological punctuated equilibrium theory to also explain punctuated equilibrium in public policy? Significant differences exist between biological and public policy punctuated equilibrium theory including time frames for change, what constitutes outside disturbances of equilibrium, venues of punctuated equilibrium, levels of analysis for change, and patterns of change. Most policy research on punctuation has focused on the “tone” of media coverage related to change. Some recent studies concluding no punctuation occurred have focused on government action or inaction. Proving strong inference in scientific research requires a clear and viable syllogism linked to appropriate methodology. Both of these crucial elements are now in question in punctuated equilibrium research in public policy.     

Twenty years after 1989: moving on from transitology

This article sets within a qualitative framework part of the social sciences research that has been carried out on Central and Eastern Europe since 1989. This qualitative study relies upon quantitative data from journal monitoring carried out on a number of thematic journals on post-Communist Europe. What the article demonstrates is that political science research on post-Communist Europe has advanced from the stage of transitology to methodological approaches more deeply entrenched within the European whole. Sociological research, on the other hand, has recently started to position the East European regional inside the European or global more emphatically.