Headlong into the Polanyian Dilemma: The Impact of Middle-Class Moral Panic on the British Government's Response to the Sub-prime Crisis

This article focuses on the discursive construction in Britain of a middle-class moral panic occasioned by the distress caused to self-styled 'responsible mortgage borrowers' by falling house prices. In the context of the move towards asset-based welfare the sub-prime crisis manifested itself most obviously in the popular consciousness as a threat to housing market wealth. The Labour government used the political space opened up by the narrative of middle-class moral panic in order to protect banks' balance sheets from the consequences of their own failed investments in mortgage-backed securities. The ensuing arrangements immunised banks from the implications of market self-regulation in the first-phase response to the sub-prime crisis while simultaneously allowing them to continue to impose the experience of market self-regulation on their customers. An increasingly asymmetric approach to banking regulation has arisen analogous to that which Karl Polanyi associated with the contradictory co-existence of market and non-market forms.     

After servitude: bonded histories and the encumbrances of exchange in indigenizing Bolivia

Since 2006, Bolivia has undertaken a dramatic program of state reform aimed at overcoming the injustices of the nation’s colonial and neoliberal past. In the process, rural practices and sensibilities originating in the former hacienda system have assumed new importance, arising as volatile sites of state intervention and political critique. Like eighteenth-century Bourbon administrators, state reformers today express concern with agrarian patronage, which, they argue, facilitates continued land dispossession and reproduces a particularly servile Quechua-speaking peasantry. Yet, despite reform efforts, hacienda-based ties remain crucial to rural life, structuring acts of redistributive exchange and providing a relational medium by which former landlords attempt to make amends for past violence. By taking seriously the moral and political dimensions of post-hacienda patronage, this contribution challenges dominant frameworks of indigenous justice to foreground the reconciliatory possibilities of exchange relations rooted in a bonded past.     

Negotiating hybridity in highland Bolivia: indigenous moral economy and the expanding market for quinoa

Scholars often highlight the capacity for cooperation and reciprocity as one of the most outstanding features of Andean peasants, but also raise concerns that these traditional strategies necessarily wither and fade as Andean people and places are increasingly incorporated into capitalist markets and processes. This study examines how non-market cooperative and reciprocal economic practices are affected as rural Bolivians expand production to meet a growing international demand for the Andean pseudo-grain quinoa. Based on the grounded experiences of rural Bolivians who are negotiating the modernisation and martketisation of agricultural production for the first time, I find that increasing incorporation into global markets need not undermine the moral economy of rural people, and may in fact strengthen their commitment to reciprocal and cooperative strategies. In contrast to claims that the spread of modern markets and technologies will weaken and ultimately replace cooperative strategies, I argue that reciprocity practices are important components in the construction of a new, hybrid economic space. Within this space, where economic strategies are based on moral sentiments as well as market logic, reciprocity provides a socially and ecologically appropriate ‘toolkit’ with which rural people negotiate their uneven incorporation into global capitalistic processes.     

Corruption,Party Leaders,and Candidate Selection: Evidence from Italy

Research indicates that voters are not particularly effective at removing corrupt politicians from office, in part because voters make decisions on the basis of many competing factors. Party leaders are much more single-minded than voters and will choose to deselect implicated legislators if it means maintaining a positive party reputation and improving the odds of winning a legislative majority. We examine renominations to Italy’s legislature in two periods marked by corruption. We compare these renomination patterns with those from the prior legislature, when corruption lacked political salience. Our analysis shows that incumbent renominations are negatively associated with the number of press mentions that link the incumbent to corruption—but only when corruption is salient to the public. Our study highlights the importance of party leaders in forcing malfeasant legislators out of office—and reducing corruption—and redirects attention from voters to political elites as a critical channel in enforcing democratic accountability.     

Far from Home: Conservative Leadership Selection from Heath to Cameron

The Conservative Party is the oldest of the 'mainstream' British parties, but has only elected its leader since 1965. In this article, I explain the variety of methods used by the Party to select its leader and assess the impact of 'democratisation' over time. I begin by examining the informal 'system', known as the 'magic circle', which existed until 1965, and explain how and why it came to be abandoned. I then discuss the six elections between 1965 and 1997, when the Tory leader was chosen exclusively by the Party's MPs. Finally, I assess the impact of the 'Hague rules', according to which Party members have the final say, between their adoption in 1998 and the election of David Cameron in 2005.     

经济学角度解析官员道德风险问题

预防和杜绝官员道德风险问题,保证政府的高效廉洁,是一个持久的话题。本文从经济学的角度,利用政府和官员之间的委托—代理关系建立了一个期望效用模型,推导出引发政府官员道德风险的要素。在明确了腐败与额外收益、工资、腐败被发现后的收入、官员的任期、预期贴现率、被发现查处的概率等因素的关系后,提出了对腐败综合治理的对策。     

大众传媒对未成年人思想道德建设的影响及对策

随着现代科技的发展,大众传媒的影响深入到社会生活的各个层面,广泛而深刻地影响着人们精神价值的构建,给未成年人的成长环境带来深刻变化。做好未成年人思想道德建设工作必须从新的时代要求出发,重视大众传媒给未成年人成长带来的深刻影响,积极推进未成年人德育工作在理念、机制、方法和内容上的创新,营造有利于未成年人健康成长的良好环境,从而促进未成年人身心健康发展。     

关于以德治国的思考

德治是人类社会用道德控制和评价社会成员行为的一种手段。其主要实现形式有:榜样示范,道德礼仪,教化活动,制定乡规民约和宗族家法,舆论褒贬。德治与人治没有必然的联系,只有在民主的基础上的德治才是真正的德治。人民是“治国”的主体,要以德治国,就必须以德“育”民,提高人民的“治国”能力,概括为:克明俊德、以民为本、立身惟正、明道善策、举贤任能、教而后刑。官员是社会道德活动的主体之一,以德治国,必须重视以德育官,以增强理论功力、实践能力、人格魅力。建设有中国特色的社会主义,一定要以法治国,以德固基。     

论编辑人员的道德素养

编辑工作是一种特殊形式的脑力劳动,它要求编辑必须具有良好的道德修养,具备高尚的职业道德。编辑人员务必注意道德养成,强化职业道德意识,确立坚定不移的马克思主义的道德信仰,追求敬业奉献的道德价值,完善公正自律的道德人格,在自己的工作岗位上全心全意地为人民服务。     

美国大学德育的途径、方法及启示

美国大学德育的途径与方法,具有隐蔽性、渗透性、多样性、宗教性特点。给我们的有益启示是:注意运用渗透性、隐型式以及灵活多样的方法,推动我国大学德育方法向人性化和科学化发展。