民主化内生力量视阈下的网络群体性事件探析

迄今为止,民主是人类追求政治文明和现代化进程中最好的制度选择,是中国特色社会主义制度建设的根基。网络群体性事件直接显示出我国网络民主的发展,对中国的民主化的发展有其双重作用。网络群体事件频发的原因是错综复杂的,民主化内生力量的发展不容忽视,民主本身也是一种自身发展中不断纠正和趋于完善的机制。因此,在应对网络群体性事件过程中,要坚持有经有权的网络民主发展理念,形成危机常态化的网络民主善治措施,建立长效的政府与网民信任合作对话机制,提高公民的民主意识和民主能力。     

全球海洋治理与构建海洋命运共同体

当前世界海洋战略形势正发生深刻变革,海洋地缘战略竞争不断加剧,海洋"公地悲剧"日益严峻,在此形势下,中国提出构建海洋命运共同体的倡议。构建海洋命运共同体的内涵十分丰富,主要包括构建海洋安全共同体、海洋发展共同体和海洋责任共同体三方面要旨。构建海洋命运共同体,既是世界海洋文明发展的时代要求,也为解决当前全球海洋治理难题提供了中国方案。然而,构建海洋命运共同体在现实中面临国际认知赤字、海洋二元秩序障碍、海洋地缘战略争夺阻力等严峻挑战。为此,中国应着力完善构建海洋命运共同体的知识话语体系,推动海洋命运共同体的多边主义制度化建设,打造多元参与的协同治理格局。     

Civil society participation in global governance: Insights from climate politics

A rather unique feature of global climate negotiations is that most governments allow representatives of civil society organisations to be part of their national delegation. It remains unclear, however, why states grant such access in the first place. While there are likely to be benefits from formally including civil society, there are also substantial costs stemming from constraints on sovereignty. In light of this tradeoff, this article argues for a ‘contagion’ effect that explains this phenomenon besides domestic determinants. In particular, states, which are more central to the broader network of global governance, are more likely to be informed of and influenced by other states' actions and policies toward civil society. In turn, more central governments are likely to include civil society actors if other governments do so as well. This argument is tested with data on the participation of civil society organisations in national delegations to global climate negotiations between 1995 and 2005. To further uncover the underlying mechanisms, the article also provides an analysis of survey data collected at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations in Durban in 2011.     

al Qaeda and Global Governance: When Ideology Clashes With Political Expediency

In recent years, statements by al Qaeda leaders have included references to topics often associated with global-governance proponents’ critique of the state. This article examines the organization's attitude toward symbols of global governance, giving particular attention to its view of the United Nations as the foundation for global governance, and to the manner in which al Qaeda approaches the central questions of environmental threats and human rights. The organization is seeking to insert itself into the discourse of global governance and use it in an instrumental manner; it focuses on anti-Western narrative and seeks to expose the existing order as designed by Western powers, particularly the United States, for self-serving reasons. However, the article argues, notwithstanding al Qaeda's reputation for sophistication in manipulating public opinion, the organization's references to global governance underscore the limitations its rigid ideology imposes on its messaging efforts. Even though adopting the global governance discourse is in line with the group's effort to improve its image, al Qaeda's extremist ideology limits its ability to take full advantage of the benefits this discourse offers.     

Millenarian groups and law enforcement agencies: The lessons of Waco

Why do violent movements participate in elections? To answer this question, we examine Hamas's formation of the Reform and Change Party and its iconic victory in the 2006 elections to the Palestinian Legislative Council. We argue that Hamas's formation of this party was a logical step, following nearly two decades of participation in local and municipal elections. Hamas's need to attract resources from external donors, who make funding decisions based on civilian support for the movement, best explains why Hamas decided to participate in local elections in the early 1990s, taking Hamas on a path that eventually led to its 2006 legislative victory. Hamas's foray into elections was consistent with its dual strategy of directing violence against Israel and building Palestinian support through welfare services. We demonstrate that changes in political opportunities (Fatah's decline and the increase in Hamas's popularity), institutional incentives (lax electoral laws and the holding of municipal elections), and the rise of moderate voices within Hamas explain the timing of its entry into legislative elections. Finally, we discuss Hamas's electoral victory, the need for cooperation between Fatah and Hamas, and the role played by international actors as significant factors influencing prospects for peace and democratization in the region.     

The securitization of democracy: Freedom House ratings of Russia

This article explores the claims of Russian officials that US assessments of economic and political developments in Russia, particularly those of Freedom House (FH), are excessively critical and often used to justify global dominance. To assess the validity of such claims, three different influences are considered: culture, power, and special interests. The article finds that all three, each with roots in the cold war, play a role in shaping assessments of Russia and help to explain why FH's analysis of Russia is more critical than the analysis of other organizations. The politics of special interests is found to be particularly influential and reflects the interests of US national security policies and priorities. Such priorities are also linked to a politics of memory derived from the cold war, which often influences perceptions of Russia as a threat rather than as a potential partner.     

The Pivot to Asia,Air-Sea Battle and contested commons in the Asia Pacific region

Abstract

The Pivot towards the Asia Pacific has been a key component of the grand strategy of the Obama administration. Militarily, the main challenge is represented by the Chinese capacity to erode the American ‘command of the commons’.

The United States have been developing a new operational concept, labelled ‘Air-Sea Battle’ (ASB) aimed at maintaining the capacity to project military power even if adversaries are able to deploy a sophisticated anti-access area denial strategy.

The implementation of ASB is likely induce Beijing to respond with a further acceleration of the process ofmodernisation of its armed forces.     

Democratization,regional integration,and human rights: the case of the ASEAN intergovernmental commission on human rights

Abstract

In the post‐Cold War era, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has attempted to maintain and enhance its institutional status in the Asia‐Pacific by increasing its membership and range of activities. ASEAN has tried to assume significant responsibilities for regional security and economic relations through initiatives like the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and by demanding a major role in the Asia‐Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. This paper critically evaluates ASEAN's attempts at institutional expansion. It argues that ASEAN lacks the political, economic and military resources necessary to play the dominant role that it envisions for itself within the Asia‐Pacific. Its attempts to increase its diplomatic weight by increasing its membership actually have the potential to undermine ASEAN's unity as well as its standing in the world community. The East Asian economic crisis is largely exacerbating ASEAN's inherent weaknesses. If ASEAN is to remain relevant in the twenty‐first century its members need to modify their expectations of the level of international influence that ASEAN can afford them. They must also use ASEAN to directly address issues of dispute between member states. There is little evidence that ASEAN's members are prepared to reform the organization in this way. Therefore, ASEAN is likely to lose its pre‐eminent regional status to other institutions, and may even fade into irrelevance, in the next century.     

The deferred promise of radical cure: pharmaceutical conjugations of malaria in the global health era

Abstract

This paper explores the changing political economy of malaria drug discovery by tracing the career over the last four decades of a single molecule, tafenoquine. First identified as a promising antimalarial by the US Army in the 1970s, tafenoquine has recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the radical cure of vivax malaria – the first product to receive marketing authorization for this indication in more than 65 years. The new drug is the result of a collaboration between the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline and the not-for-profit organization Medicines for Malaria Venture, with the financial support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The successful development of tafenoquine, the paper argues, signals an important transition within the global health era: from the chemotherapeutic humanitarianism that characterized pharmaceutical efforts against malaria in the early 2000s, towards a period of drug discovery driven by the promise of global disease eradication. The paper uses the example of tafenoquine to advance a more general argument about the multiple and evolving pharmaceutical conjugations of malaria – the articulation of competing visions of the disease around the capabilities (and limitations) of particular molecules.