Awkward Talisman: War Memory,Reconciliation and Yasukuni

Yasukuni Shrine resonates with talismanic symbolism for both its critics and proponents and that is precisely why it is so controversial within Japan and between Japan and its neighbors. Controversy over Yasukuni is rooted in the broader historical debate about war memory, responsibility, and reconciliation. Competing narratives about this past send mixed signals to neighbors and prevent reconciliation. Despite Prime Minister Koizumi’s six visits, Yasukuni is an awkward talisman and many Japanese, including conservatives, oppose these visits. The Shrine’s image has been cast and no amount of artful repackaging will obscure its indelible links with Japan’s discredited Imperial ideology and the costs it exacted. The Yasukuni dilemma involves shifting the focal point of official war remembrance away from the Shrine to a secular war memorial where people and officials can pay respect to the war dead free from political agendas and historical baggage.

冷战时期美国对东南亚的文化外交

二战结束后,随着冷战的逐步展开,美国政府通过对文化外交行政主管机构的整合、国会的一系列立法,与苏联为首的社会主义阵营展开了"文化冷战".冷战时期,美国在东南亚开展的文化外交主要有三种表现形式,即以富布赖特项目为代表的教育交流外交、以图书馆建设和图书翻译及传播为特征的图书外交,以及文艺表演外交.美国在东南亚地区开展的文化外交活动促使该地区部分国家的国民(尤其是社会精英阶层)了解并接受了美国的思想文化和价值观念,培养了一批具有社会影响力的"亲美"人士,进而推动了美国在东南亚地区的文化渗透.另一方面,美国的文化外交在某些情况下也给东南亚国家的统治阶层带来了一些麻烦,同时也引起了企图延缓东南亚非殖民化、希望继续控制东南亚地区的英国、法国等老牌殖民地宗主国的反感.此外,美国文化外交的扩张主义本质,以及美国在该地区的政治、军事行动与其在文化外交项目中标榜的国家形象显著冲突,也使得美国文化外交影响力的发挥大打折扣.     

纽伦堡审判和东京审判的法律困惑之解读——以罪刑法定原则为视角

第二次世界大战结束后,随之而来的是纽伦堡审判和东京审判,即对战争罪犯和战争犯罪集团的审判。在当时的国际法背景下,两大审判面临着诸多法律困惑。文章以罪刑法定原则为视角,对纽伦堡审判和东京审判中的几个法律困惑进行解读。     

《孙子兵法》与我国反恐策略

在防范和打击针对我国的恐怖主义活动中,《孙子兵法》中的某些思想具有重要的指导和借鉴作用。我国应以“全胜”为目标,灵活运用孙子的谋略思想,制定出符合我国实际情况的反恐策略。在国内,加强和谐社会建设,努力消除恐怖主义活动可利用的不利因素,加强针对性的预防、打击措施和应急处置体系建设,努力将恐怖主义活动消灭在萌芽状态;在国际上,继续扩展和巩固国际反恐合作,尤其是中亚地区各国的国际反恐合作,壮大国际反恐阵营。     

我国贿赂犯罪罪名设置合理化问题研究

我国刑法分则第八章关于行贿、受贿犯罪的主体与对象特征规定较为混乱,影响了大众对这些犯罪的认知,笔者建议变更现有立法模式,将受贿犯罪与行贿犯罪分别予以整合形成公务受贿罪与公务行贿罪。罪名整合后不仅简化现有罪名体系,便于公众认知与学习,而且也为今后贿赂犯罪刑事立法的进一步完善做了铺垫。在此基础上,笔者对我国目前刑法关于受贿与行贿犯罪的立法规定进行整合和完善,形成关于公务受贿罪与公务行贿罪内容的具体设想。     

War,democratization, and generational cohort effects on participation in Japan

Studies show that both democratization and war mobilization boost levels of participation enduringly among members of the generational cohort that come of age around the time. But little is known about the relative effects of war mobilization and democratization on long-term participation rates among impressionable generations that experience both. We address this question by examining generational cohort effects by gender, drawing on newly available data on the case of Japan. Age-period-cohort analyses of the Survey on Japanese Value Orientations (1973–2013) show that the increase in lifelong participation rates of the “war generation” over prewar generations was much greater for men than for women, thus suggesting that the high rates of participation among members of this cohort are driven more by mobilization than by democratization. This finding yields significant implications for the analysis of democratic consolidation in different parts of the world.     

抗战时期共产党员的先进性表现及培育途径考察

抗日战争时期共产党员的先进性主要表现在:团结抗战,英勇善战,积极生产。这种先进性的培育途径包括:克服关门主义倾向,积极慎重地做好党员发展工作,特别是发展经过锻炼和考验的知识分子入党,为党员队伍保持先进性输入了新鲜健康的血液;适应形势任务,做好党员的思想教育工作,为保持共产党员先进性奠定了牢固的思想基础;针对党员队伍中的不良现象,进行作风整顿,为保持共产党员先进性注入了不竭动力。     

State crimes against democracy in the war on terror: applying the Nuremberg principles to the Bush–Cheney Administration

This article asks whether, in waging war in the Middle East, the Bush–Cheney Administration developed and executed a conspiracy comparable to the one for which Nazi leaders were tried, convicted, and executed at Nuremberg after World War II. To meet the Nuremberg standards, such a conspiracy must include efforts to subvert the constitutional order. Today, scholars refer to these actions as ‘state crimes against democracy’ (SCADs). After explicating the Nuremberg standards, the article applies them to the Bush–Cheney Administration's ‘war on terror’. The conclusion reached is that evidence of a SCAD-driven conspiracy is extensive and certainly adequate by the Nuremberg standards to warrant investigations and trials.     

Electoral Reforms and Peace Duration Following Negotiated Settlements

One of the most common features found within peace agreements is provisions that call for post-civil war elections. Unfortunately, the initial post-war elections often increase the risk of civil war recurrence. While past research has consistently confirmed this finding, it focuses only on one element of the democracy. Rather than focusing solely on elections, this article examines the laws surrounding the electoral process. Specifically, I examine how changes in electoral laws that are called for in peace agreements impacts the risk of renewed civil war. Building on research that examines the context of post-civil war elections, I argue that reforms to electoral laws that precede the initial post-war election substantially reduce the risks associated with that election. This proposition is supported with evidence from survival models of peace failures following the establishment of comprehensive peace agreements from 1989 to 2010, demonstrating that electoral reforms reduce the risk of civil war recurrence.     

Labour market attainment of Canadian women in 1921: influences of religious affiliation,ethnicity, and linguistic proficiency

The 1921 Canadian Census is exploited to examine the labour market attainment of Canadian women. Acknowledging the general context of Catholic and Protestant divide and the tensions between francophones and anglophones during the WWI, special attention is paid to the influences of religious affiliation, ethnicity, and linguistic proficiency. Working urban women, overwhelmingly unmarried, are found to earn between 68 and 29% less than their male counterparts, depending on occupation and religio-linguistic group. The gender earnings gap is found to be the largest among francophone Catholics. When the sample is restricted to unmarried urban women, francophone Catholic females are found at a large disadvantage compared with anglophone Catholic and Protestant females. Bilingual Catholic women, mostly of French Canadian ethnicity, were the second lowest earning group in Canada of 1921. Bilingual Protestant women, on the other hand, are found to have had the most favourable labour market outcomes. The cumulative weight of the results indicates that among religious affiliation, ethnicity, and linguistic proficiency, ethnicity had exercised the strongest influence on the labour market attainment of Canadian women at that time.