The normalizing role of rationalist assumptions in the institutional embedding of neoliberalism

The political economy of Britain over the past three decades provides an interesting example of the consolidation, normalization and institutionalization of a new economic paradigm – neoliberalism. As such, it serves as a potentially instructive focus for debate both about the conditions under which economic paradigms are replaced and consolidated and the evolution of such paradigms through the process of institutionalization. In this paper I suggest that the institutionalization of this new economic paradigm has been associated with the shift from a normative to a normalized and necessitarian neoliberalism. I examine the role played by rationalist assumptions in this extended process of normalization-institutionalization. After presenting a stylized account of the evolution of British neoliberalism, I show how New Labour's monetary policy regime is the heir to the legacy of monetarism and its agenda of labour-market reform is the heir to Thatcherism's supply-side economics. I suggest that the time-inconsistency thesis and the business school globalization thesis have played an equivalent role, for New Labour, to that played for the new right by monetarism and supply-side economics in legitimating neoliberalism. In this way neoliberalism has been normalized. In the final sections of the paper I reflect on the implications of the normalized and necessitarian character of neoliberalism in Britain for its contestability and for democratic economic governance more broadly.     

Inspirational Cameos

Abstract

Utilizing a narrative approach emanating from a small research study, this paper presents inspirational cameos of ethnic minority women entrepreneurs. The focal point is Indian women entrepreneurs in New Zealand. The theoretical perspective of mixed embeddedness, where institutional structures and the entrepreneurs play out their stories in the complexity of the political, psychological, social, and economic arenas, forms the backdrop for this paper. By presenting inspirational cameos of ordinary women who have achieved entrepreneurial success against the saga of Indian immigration, this paper is in contrast to much of the prevailing literature which focuses on blocking and constraining factors in the life experiences of ethnic minority migrant women entrepreneurs. Such cameos can be positioned to serve as exemplars of and for ethnic minority migrant women, particularly in a world where many ethnic minority women and entrepreneurial educators are often unaware of ethnic minority role models.     

The Black European Women's Council: ‘thinking oneself into the New Europe’

With the continuous political shift to the right in many European countries, exclusivist constructions of the nation and concepts related to national identity – issues which are immersed in and often conflated with biology and culture – the necessity for mobilization and political activism among women, migrants, and minorities in Europe has become all the more acute and timely. Organized within the framework of the ‘European Year for Equal Opportunities 2007’ and initiated by Béatrice Achaleke, AFRA (International Centre for Black Women's Perspectives in Vienna, Austria, and co-organized by Helen Felter, Director of Tiye International (The Netherlands); the Black European Women's Congress (26–29 September 2007) culminated in the formation of the Black European Woman's Council (hereafter BEWC). Employing a mix of discourse analysis, social movement and intersectional theory, I address the issues of Black female subjectivity, political agency, and strategies in relation to the socio-political empowerment of Black women across Europe. Based on qualitative data, I argue that the cross-border network of the BEWC exhibits the potential to serve as a structured political force not only on local and national levels, but also within the sphere of the European Union; and to possibly assist Black European women activists with the task of ‘thinking themselves into the New Europe’.     

刍议非法证据排除规则——基于证据法学理论的思考

基于证据法与程序法的关系,审判阶段适用的非法证据排除规则区别于其他诉讼阶段国家专门机关排除非法证据的刑事司法行为.非法证据排除规则是以审判阶段为中心设定的证据法规则,检察机关审查证据的司法行为也将受到其制约.从证据法学的角度理解何谓“给审判案件的法官制定的游戏规则”,是检察机关正确认识非法证据排除规则对非法取证行为威慑作用的前提;同时对非法证据排除规则基本理论问题的理解,也为检察机关正确适用新刑事诉讼法的规定“排除非法证据”奠定了认识论基础.     

西方政策网络理论研究的最新进展及其评价

近年来西方政策网络理论研究出现了三个明显趋势:1、理论研究上从新制度主义的视角探讨政策网络为什么产生、为什么改变和为什么能够持续的深层理论问题;2、实践问题上重点探讨了政策网络的管理问题,包括政府间网络的管理问题;3、重视政策网络与政策执行效果关系研究.     

浅论新时期的专群工作

专门工作和群众路线一直是我国公安机关工作的根本路线,并在社会治安综合治理中发挥着重要作用。但随着市场经济体制的发展以及城市化进程的加快,旧的专群工作体制已不适应变化了的新情况,因此,建立符合时代特征的专群工作新机制就成为当前公安工作亟待解决的重要任务。     

论江泽民新安全观的辩证思维及实践问题

江泽民提出的新安全观 ,从背景看是对冷战思维的否定 ,从内容看是对传统安全观的发展 ,从结构看是辩证统一的有机整体 ,从实践看它不仅符合中国国家安全利益 ,也符合世界各国国家安全利益 ,反映了冷战后世界发展的大趋势。特别是在霸权主义有新的表现、恐怖主义危害上升、影响和平与发展的不确定因素在增加的情况下 ,江泽民新安全观越来越受到大多数国家的赞赏和欢迎。     

Maple Leaf Zeitgeist? Assessing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Policy Changes*

In the October 2015 elections, the charismatic Justin Trudeau led the Canadian Liberal Party to its first majority government in 15 years, overturning nearly a decade of conservative government. His premiership is generally considered to have begun well. This article examines Trudeau’s conduct of the election campaign, his choice of a young and diverse Cabinet, his courtship of the media and image making, and assesses changes in foreign and domestic policy. These have yet to prove substantive but Trudeau has signalled a reversal of Stephen Harper’s conservative policies and especially in regard to migration has tapped into images of ‘compassionate Canadians’. In foreign policy, this has been evidenced in relations with the United States and with a re-engagement with the Commonwealth especially in its soft power aspects. Trudeau’s green credentials and stance on Climate Change are a contrast to those of his predecessor but he has yet to confront the different environmental profiles and policies of the Canadian states. Canada’s Strategic Partnership with the European Community and the ratification of CETA are priorities and he has to come to terms with the implications of Brexit.     

The rise and fall of “Novorossiya”: examining support for a separatist geopolitical imaginary in southeast Ukraine

In the spring of 2014, some anti-Maidan protestors in southeast Ukraine, in alliance with activists from Russia, agitated for the creation of a large separatist entity on Ukrainian territory. These efforts sought to revive a historic region called Novorossiya (“New Russia”) on the northern shores of the Black Sea that was created by Russian imperial colonizers. In public remarks, Vladimir Putin cited Novorossiya as a historic and contemporary home of a two-part interest group, ethnic Russian and Russian-speaking Ukrainians, supposedly under threat in Ukraine. Anti-Maidan agitation in Ukraine gave way to outright secession in April 2014, as armed rebel groups established the Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhans’k People’s Republic on parts of the eponymous Ukrainian oblasts. Rebel leaders aspired to create a renewed Novorossiya that incorporated all of eastern and southern Ukraine from Kharkiv to Odesa oblasts. To examine the level of support for this secessionist imaginary in the targeted oblasts, our large scientific poll in December 2014 revealed the Novorossiya project had minority support, between 20 and 25% of the population. About half of the sample believed that the concept of Novorossiya was a “historical myth” and that its resuscitation and promotion was the result of “Russian political technologies.” Analysis of the responses by socio-demographic categories indicated that for ethnic Russians, residents of the oblasts of Kharkiv and Odesa, for older and poorer residents, and especially for those who retain a nostalgic positive opinion about the Soviet Union, the motivations and aims of the Novorossiya project had significant support.