The Disappearance of Political Cultures in Italy

Abstract

Following the collapse of the Italian party system in 1994, post-war Italian political cultures have all but exhausted themselves, if not disappeared completely. First, the Ulivo (Olive Tree) in 1996–1998, then, the Partito Democratico in 2007–2008, attempted without much conviction to formulate a new political culture combining several traditions and heritages. This article will explore how and why the PD failed in its attempts. It will also look at the status of other political cultures, especially the federalist and the liberal, supposedly relaunched by Berlusconi in 1994. It will conclude with some reflections on the appearance of personalist parties and leaders’ narratives and provide an assessment of the present situation with specific reference to the attempt by the PD leader, Matteo Renzi, to give birth to a so-called ‘Partito della Nazione’. Is there any future for new political cultures in the Italian political system? Will the Italian party system ever be revived?     

Frequency of Parental Violence Against Children in Chinese Families: Impact of Age and Gender

The present study examines the impact of child and parent gender on parental violence across age span of children and their parents in Hong Kong Chinese families. A randomly selected community sample of 1,019 households was surveyed. Results indicate that, in general, boys experience more frequent parental violence than girls and mothers engage in more violent behaviors against their children than fathers. Parental violence shows a curvilinear pattern with age of children, peaking at age 8 for boys and age 3 for girls. There is a pattern of declining frequency of parental violence as parental age increases across child gender. Fathers exhibit an inverted U pattern of violent behavior against their children, with a peak around age 31–40, while mothers have a steadily declining trend until age 46. Separate parental violence indices are constructed for boys and girls.     

关于合作共赢的认识和思考:基于新型国际关系理念

合作共赢是中国在国际关系问题上首倡的一个价值理念,对于构建新型国际关系和人类命运共同体、站在人类道义和历史进步的制高点、促进世界持久和平和普遍繁荣、推动人类社会文明发展、实现全球有效治理等具有非常重大和深远的意义。习近平总书记深入、系统、现实地推进了合作共赢理念的完善和发展,使之成为当今中国对外关系思想的重大新理念和显著特色之一。实现合作共赢的关键在于价值上求同存异,根本在于寻求各国利益交汇点,长远考虑在于提升全人类的现代文明素养。     

缅甸华人母语认同代际差异及成因

缅甸华人母语认同代际差异表现在语言选择、语言水平、语言学习时段及途径、语言规划、对下一代的语言期望等五方面,并各具特点。其形成原因主要有:不同年龄段华裔的生存背景不同,导致母语学习需求和动机不同;家庭和学校教育在各时代发挥的母语传承作用不同,进而形成的母语认同模式不同;不同时期国家语言政策的指挥效用也不同。研究华人母语认同状况,应探求母语认同模式,充分发挥家庭教育与学校教育的配合作用;客观看待语言认同带来的民族认同新变化,利用地缘优势,为缅甸国内稳定的华文教育政策营造良好周边环境。多元文化背景下,海外华人母语与居住国通用语是可以共存并和谐发展的。     

Debating rape jokes vs. rape culture: framing and counter-framing misogynistic comedy

ABSTRACT

Humor controversies can simultaneously reveal and obscure relations of power, as well as the rhetorical/political nature of jokes. US comedian Daniel Tosh ignited one such controversy in July 2012 when he directed a rape joke toward a female audience member during a live performance in Hollywood, CA. This paper consists of a two-part analysis of this humor controversy. First, we examine a televised debate following this incident, between a comedian and feminist, to map the dominant framing and counter-framing of rape jokes. We contend these positions are representative of two frames that repeatedly surface in response to controversial sexist humor: a dominant patriarchal frame and an oppositional feminist counter-frame. Second, we analyze the saliency of these two frames among college students to observe the way individual interpretations resonate with, challenge, and complicate those frames. In light of our findings, we argue the dominant framing/interpretation of rape jokes reinforce patriarchal and free-market ideologies, and deny real-world implications of misogynistic humor, particularly when comedians/audiences defend such jokes as harmless fun.     

Substate variations in political values in Canada

The article aims to make three methodological and substantive contributions to the literature on substate cleavages in political values. Considerable controversy characterizes this literature. The paper argues that this controversy is due to how indicators representing political values are chosen and constructed. The paper proposes to use factor analysis to select and construct indicators of political values. The analysis identifies five dimensions, which collectively account for 57% of Canadians’ political values. They include support for moral traditionalism, egalitarianism, pluralism, openness to immigration and personal responsibility. Second, the paper shows that there is only limited variation across provinces in political values. Third, the paper shows that this result holds when considering regional variations rather than provincial variations.     

二战后初期日本民间掳日劳工遗骨送还运动

战后初期,日本民间14个团体组成的中国战俘殉难者追悼执行委员会为督促日本政府尽快解决掳日劳工遗骨送还问题,积极开展劳工遗骨调查、追悼活动,并与政府进行交涉,促成了一批劳工遗骨的归国。日本政府相对于民间团体积极解决问题的态度,则呈现出"不承认""不作为""与政府无关"的敷衍态度。日本民间和平团体开展的掳日劳工遗骨送还运动推进了中日邦交正常化的进程。正是因为战后初期特殊的国际局势与中日关系,致使掳日劳工遗骨归还问题逐步演变为战争遗留问题。     

The changing political culture of the African National Congress

The early elite of the African National Congress (ANC) embraced values of moral improvement, individual responsibility and a sense of social consciousness. The ANC now governs South Africa, but with what appears to be a different set of principles. The current scourge of corruption, increasing state control, coupled with a general lack of service delivery point to behaviour of the ruling party which is inward-looking, self-seeking and self-preserving. Arguing that political culture and its accompanying values and attitudes is a prime motivator of behaviour, the paper seeks to understand the changing political culture of the dominant party. To understand the political culture of the ANC we use interviews with ANC parliamentarians and ANC supporters conducted in 2006–2007 and 2013 as well as an analysis of the ANC's Strategy and Tactics policy documents. We contend that the liberal values of the early elites were never fully embedded, but in their stead is a liberationist culture, where the state is normatively understood to be extensive and embodying the will of the people. We argue, that through the resulting centralized determination of the interests of the people, patronage networks, and diminishing of accountability, a system conducive to corruption and the pursuit of personal interest is created.     

Are America’s public mass shooters unique? A comparative analysis of offenders in the United States and other countries

Public mass shooters are often assumed to be an exceptionally American problem, but little is known about what proportion of global offenders attack in the United States, or how America’s offenders compare to those in other countries. The present study offers the first quantitative analysis of all known offenders from 1966 to 2012 who attacked anywhere on the globe and killed a minimum of four victims. The results suggest that public mass shooters in the United States are significantly more likely to arm themselves with multiple weapons and attack at school and workplace settings, while offenders from other countries are more likely to strike at military sites. These differences may be partially attributable to America’s national gun culture and its particular set of social strains.     

宋慈《洗冤集录》产生的历史文化条件——纪念宋慈诞辰830周年

本文从历史、文化、地理、法律、个人等角度出发讨论宋慈及《洗冤集录》产生的条件。我国法医检验早期发展是宋慈及《洗冤集录》产生的历史条件,朱熹理学影响是宋慈及《洗冤集录》产生的文化条件,南宋建阳政治文化发展是宋慈及《洗冤集录》产生的地理条件,完善的南宋检验制度是宋慈及《洗冤集录》产生的法律条件,宋慈在《洗冤集录》中把个别的具体事例进行全体性、系统性综合是个人努力和总结的结果。因此,南宋时期出现宋慈及其《洗冤集录》是中华文化的一部分,是历史必然和文化传承至一定阶段的产物,更是中华文化结晶和法医文化遗产。