The Revolution and its Discontents: Grenadian Newspapers and Attempts to Shape Public Opinion during Political Transition

Abstract

What role did the newspaper play in attempting to influence public opinion in the early stages of the Grenada Revolution and what are the terms in which printed discourses on the revolution were conceptualised? The Grenada Revolution was a discursive political process where branding and narration were necessary elements in securing the revolution’s authority and legitimacy. This paper argues that Cuba functioned as a metonym through which the revolution was translated in Grenadian periodicals. Even before the coup of 13 March 1979 Grenadian media represented the New Jewel Movement—the revolutionary party—as Cuban-inspired and socialist. In order to examine how socialism in general, and the socialist character of the People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG) in particular, was narrated, a comparison is staged between two newspapers—the government-run Free West Indian and the privately owned The Torchlight. Competing discourses on Cuban communism are analysed for the ways in which they stood-in for the Grenadian people’s hopes, aspirations and anxieties in the midst of radical political change. Issues including race, gender equality, property ownership, freedom of religious practice and freedom of travel are examined in relation to capitalism and socialism, and the PRG’s efforts to maintain narrative authority of the revolution.     

Defining Civil War by Examining Post-Soviet Conflicts

Great many violent events happened during 1991–2005 in the 12 states that emerged after the collapse of the USSR but only a few civil wars are registered in the major datasets. That brings up a number of questions about the operational definitions of civil war that generally point in the direction of shifting the research attention from refining the quantitative parameters to grasping the essense of the phenomena in question. It is proposed that civil war partially overlaps with several other type of violent crisis: inter-state wars, civil unrest and revolutions, internal repression, military coups and mutinies, banditry and organized crime, and terrorism. These overlaps create six ‘gray zones’ where only very nuanced examination rather than application of rigid criteria could help in distinguishing civil wars from other crises. Therefore, data collection based on a single “robust” definition, which incorporates several verifiable parameters, is not necessarily the only path to scientific knowledge about civil wars.     

Something Must be Done-Military Intervention

In the late twentieth century, the United States' federal government responded to the threat of terrorism by passing a wide range of counterterrorist laws. The vigor that accompanied these initiatives echoed at a state level where, virtually unnoticed, states passed similar legislation. This article examines state measures in three areas: the funding of foreign terrorist organizations, the use or threatened use of weapons of mass destruction, and definitions of terrorist activity. While these statutes, as a legal matter, may not violate any specific federal provisions or constitutional prohibitions, they raise important questions about federal supremacy in foreign affairs and the constitutional protections afforded citizens. More significantly, as a policy concern, these provisions threaten America's ability to speak in one voice, introducing divisions into the domestic realm and diminishing the ability of the federal government to negotiate with foreign states and organizations. They also mask an appropriate role for the states in fighting terrorism. Both the policy implications and legal considerations suggest that such measures may ultimately undermine America's ability to counter the terrorist threat.     

The Interstate Sprawl System

The Interstate Sprawl System is an article about the role of automobile transportation in the culture and civilization of the USA. After demonstrating that all previous civilizations in history have gathered around trading ports, where land values rise as the proximity to the port increases, it analyses the changes wrought by the grid system of transportation brought on by the automobile in the USA, where land values remain fairly constant and no core trading centers can be found. These changes include the decimation of the old port cities as well as the urbanization of rural lands. The article concludes with an appeal to encourage inter-city rapid rail as the obvious antidote to the problem.

2050年政府治理的新图景:基于“时-空-技术”三维演化的视角

在“时-空-技术”三维视角下,政府治理面临着社会加速带来的时间压力、复杂性增长带来的空间压力及技术革新带来的创新压力。2050年政府治理将实现十大转型:治理理念转向以人为本、开放透明、包容共享和系统创新;治理目标转向人的幸福及对美好生活的向往;治理方向转向国家治理体系与治理能力现代化;治理动力转向质量驱动、创新驱动、价值驱动;治理路径转向共振、共景、共治;治理模式转向“人-机”融合;治理结构转向动态网络型灵活治理结构;治理机制转向超级合作型、包容创新型和快速反应型;治理职能转向核心职能;治理手段转向智能化、个性化、精准化等。     

准确把握伟大社会革命的深刻内涵

党的十九大以来,习近平总书记就伟大社会革命发表了一系列重要论述,为我们重新审视、理解和把握伟大社会革命的丰富内涵提供了新的视角,对纠正历史虚无主义等社会思潮关于中国革命的种种误解和错误观点具有重要意义。新时代所继续推进的伟大社会革命,是正义的进步的社会变革,是对社会矛盾运动规律的自觉遵循,是以共产主义为最终目标的社会运动,是“破”与“立”的有机统一,是追求真理的理性斗争。     

政党、国家与社会:整合视阈下中国共产党的政治建设逻辑探究

现代政治生活离不开三大力量—政党、国家与社会,政党作为整合的主体,是国家与社会的中介与桥梁,承担着利益综合、利益表达与政治社会化的重要职责。在我国,整合就是要发挥中国共产党总揽全局、协调各方的领导核心作用。党的政治建设是其对自身的根本性整合,决定着所有整合的方向和效果并具有完整的逻辑体系。正确认识、深入探究该体系,有利于把我们党锻造成为政治坚定、组织稳固、能力过硬的现代化执政党,从而以政党治理促进国家治理,以自我革命推动社会革命,在政党、国家与社会的良性互动中实现伟大斗争、伟大工程、伟大事业和伟大梦想的协调统一。     

对意义的追问与心理学研究——兼论“第二次认知革命”的原则和结果

现代西方心理学在经过了行为主义、认知主义的描写后,正在接受一种新的描述方式."第二次认知革命"有可能使心理学向心理学是有关个体或者群体中的积极人的研究这一传统的、常识性观念回归.认知革命明确了一个真理,心理学应该成为对意义的心理研究.然而,在方法论上传承了行为主义的认知心理学,片面地将"意义制造"理解为"信息加工",追求心灵——"自然之镜"——中的"心理表象".话语观念的导入,使得处在语用平台上心理学家认为,语境、社会-语言的约定以及社会交换的模式,是构成意义的唯一决定因素.在这三描述方式中,对意义的理解和建构发挥着关键的作用.话语在心理现象中占有中心地位.这使我们认为,心灵是个动态的观点,植根于历史、政治、文化、社会和人际的语境之中.     

论中国共产党文艺制度的起源

中国共产党文艺制度生成于与国民党争夺领导权的复杂政治斗争.1921至1929年,中国共产党在完成自身政党化的过程中逐渐确立了文艺在整个宣传工作中的地位,不仅通过政策制定和机构设立加强对文艺的组织和领导,而且将体现其政党意识的文艺思想有效地推进到社团、出版、传媒、文学教育和文学论争等现实层面.因此,中国共产党这一阶段文艺制度的建构成为1930年代的"左联"、1940年代的延安解放区以及新中国文艺制度的起源和原型.     

中国新民主主义革命刑法中的资格刑述评

中国新民主主义革命时期的刑事法规中的资格刑经历了萌芽、初创、形成和发展四个阶段。它对新中国刑法中的资格刑的创立和发展奠定了历史基础。