A view from the policy community: a new strategic narrative for Europe?

ABSTRACT

Reflecting on the results presented in articles in this special issue, European leaders should take greater account of external perceptions in crafting the European Union's strategic narrative and guiding its actions. Failure to do so has impaired external policies like the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the European Neighbourhood Policy and Eastern Partnership. Leaders emerging from the Arab uprisings perceived the EU as complicit with their countries’ former anciens régimes and Russian leaders see EU support for democracy and the market economy in former Soviet states as duplicitous and instrusive. Awareness of such perceptions should be filtered into EU decision-making, without validating views that European officials and diplomats consider misleading.     

Articulating the threatened suffragette body: suffragette embroidered cloths worked in Holloway Prison, 1911–1912

ABSTRACT

In public archives there are a number of hand-embroidered cloths worked by suffragettes incarcerated in Holloway Prison between 1911 and 1912. Denied political status, some of the embroiderers used the hunger strike as a political tool and were forcibly fed. In this paper the embroideries are reframed as material and discursive evidence of suffragette prison experiences. The material narratives of the embroidered cloths are traced, drawing on a dialogue between critical theory, material object enquiry, practice as research and the work of contemporary textile practitioners. Embroidering by suffragettes is explored as an embodied and situated ‘thread act’ that materialised the making of networks, the need for protection of the body and mind, the powers and dangers of boundary crossing, and proto-political thinking.     

Defenders of Freedom or Perpetrators and Facilitators of Crimes? Beyond Progressive Retreatism in the Trump Era

ABSTRACT

Heavily influenced by broad definitions of crime developed by a few pioneering critical criminologists, the main objective of this article is to provide evidence showing that the current Trump administration is a regime that commits crimes of the powerful and facilitates some types of interpersonal violence in private places. Special attention is devoted to direct and in-direct state-perpetrated violent crimes against women.     

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.     

Adding to the Controversy? Civil Society’s Evaluation of the National Conference Dialogue in Yemen

ABSTRACT

This article assembles a picture of Yemen’s 2013–14 National Dialogue Conference (NDC) by collecting perspectives from local civil society organizations (CSOs), which are contrasted to the views of international commentators. Despite all efforts by internal parties as well as the international community, the dialogue failed to avert war, which broke out shortly after. Through interviews with 50 CSOs, we reconstructed the reasons for failure, as well as paying attention to the observed strengths of the dialogue. Half of the consulted organizations were directly involved in the NDC, either as an invited participant or in a brokerage role. The other half concerns outside observers. We identify aspects on which the opinion of the CSOs converge, but also highlight striking divergences depending on insider/outsider status. In contrast to the view espoused in the international literature, the CSOs overall feel that, in spite of all its procedural and substantive flaws, the NDC was a significant junction in the long road towards peace and stability and laid important groundwork for future dialogues.     

新时代提升党员干部政治能力问题研究--基于安徽省的调查与思考

政治能力是新时代党员干部第一位的能力。当前党员干部政治能力建设中还存在着政治敏锐性不高、政治定力不足、政治担当不够、政治执行力不强等问题,究其原因,既有主观方面的因素,也有客观方面的因素。因此,新时代提升党员干部政治能力,必须从加强党的长期执政能力建设出发,从党员干部个人和党组织主客观两个方面切入,既靠党员干部自身努力内外兼修提升政治能力,也要靠组织培养,充分发挥党组织政治功能。     

What do forensic analysts consider relevant to their decision making?

In response to research demonstrating that irrelevant contextual information can bias forensic science analyses, authorities have increasingly urged laboratories to limit analysts' access to irrelevant and potentially biasing information (Dror and Cole (2010) [3]; National Academy of Sciences (2009) [18]; President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (2016) [22]; UK Forensic Science Regulator (2015) [26]). However, a great challenge in implementing this reform is determining which information is task-relevant and which is task-irrelevant. In the current study, we surveyed 183 forensic analysts to examine what they consider relevant versus irrelevant in their forensic analyses. Results revealed that analysts generally do not regard information regarding the suspect or victim as essential to their analytic tasks. However, there was significant variability among analysts within and between disciplines. Findings suggest that forensic science disciplines need to agree on what they regard as task-relevant before context management procedures can be properly implemented. The lack of consensus about what is relevant information not only leaves room for biasing information, but also reveals foundational gaps in what analysts consider crucial in forensic decision making.     

略论刑法微课的设计与应用

在“互联网+”时代,线上与线下相结合的混合式教学的优势日益凸显。微课以微型教学视频为主要载体,作为一种情景化、支持多种学习方式的微型在线视频网络课程已成为混合式教学模式的“标配”。目前,刑法教学仍然停留在传统的讲授式教学阶段,教学方式单一,教与学的效率都不尽人意。微课具有学习方便、知识点集中、短时长、可视化等特点,对于克服当下刑法教学中存在的诸多不足具有很强的针对性。刑法微课实效的充分发挥源于对微课的正确认识、科学设计及合理应用。     

全面从严治党背景下的农村基层党组织建设——基于陕西省延安市索洛湾村的调研

加强农村基层党组织建设是坚持和加强党对农村工作全面领导的必然要求,是巩固基层政权的迫切需要,是巩固党在农村执政基础的应然选择。但是,部分农村基层党组织软弱涣散,党员结构不平衡,在党意识不强,农村干部本领恐慌,管理制度、监督机制不健全。需要通过选优配强带头人,提升党员队伍素质,增强服务效能,提升乡村治理能力,落实主体责任等路径,推动农村基层党组织全面进步、全面过硬,促进全面从严治在农村落地生根。     

疫情防控中的征用补偿:适用范围的思考

疫情防控过程中大量进行的政府征用面临着疫情过后补偿机制的落实任务。厘定征用补偿机制的适用范围成为首要课题。就规范框架所展开的征用补偿机制而言,需要排除"名为征用、实为征收"和"由征用转化而成的征收",并特殊处理国有资产的征用问题。在可能扩充的范围上,可以考虑"名为限制性措施、实为征用"和人力、服务等非有形物的征用。同时,征用导致特定主体的额外"特别牺牲",以及在平台经济模式下电商平台是否可能构成新的征用样态,也值得关注。