Political imperatives and military preparations: New insights into why South Africa’s 1998 intervention in Lesotho went awry

In September 1998 South African troops crossed into Lesotho to restore stability to the small mountain kingdom that had been roiled by protests for months. Operation Boleas encountered heavy resistance – in the ensuing chaos dozens died and the towns of Maseru, Mohale’s Hoek and Mafeteng were damaged. Media and scholarly commentary on the intervention was scathing, but in the rush to judge there has been insufficient effort to chronicle and clarify. This article uses declassified archival records and interviews with policy makers to provide a more exhaustive explanation of how the Mandela Administration decided on the deployment of troops into Lesotho. It focuses on the difficulty South African officials had in aligning their political objectives with the military exigencies of the rapidly changing crisis. This re-examination of the Lesotho intervention rectifies historical inaccuracies while also identifying potential problems that policy makers should be conscious of when considering future peace missions.     

Labor strategies and agribusiness counterstrike during the Bracero Era: the peculiar case of the National Farm Labor Union, 1946–1952

This article investigates the responses of the political establishment and the agro-industry to the militant actions of the National Farm Labor Union (NFLU) from 1946 until 1952. It confirms the well-known hypothesis that the maintenance of the bracero program affected the efforts to form agricultural unions in California, but it also underlines strategies and the roles played by the agro-industry, California Farm Placement Service and other federal instances of government in the weakening of agricultural unionization. It argues that the agricultural unions’ weakness in California throughout this period can be attributed to the needs of the food-processing industry and the latter’s special relationship with the political establishment. I demonstrate that while the failure to consolidate agricultural unions in California during the postwar years, is not attributable to the strategies adopted by the NFLU per se, it is closely related to a lack of support from the major political players and to the privileged relationship they built up with Mexican officials. The influence of some public servants, political representatives and agribusiness lobbyists has been crucial for the continuation of the bracero program and has also obstructed the NFLU to organize efficiently strikes and boycotts.     

Is there a new institutional response to the crimes of Communism? National memory agencies in post-Communist countries: the Polish case (1998–2014), with references to East Germany

Post-Communist Europe has not chosen to imitate the Truth and Justice or Truth and Reconciliation Commissions set up on several other continents. The notion of reconciliation with the Communist regime is not of much interest to certain political parties, many of which are rooted in the protest against the compromises that were part of the negotiated revolutions. The model admired by post-Communist countries was the one conceived by the Germans. Almost all the countries founded specific institutions – institutes – for managing memory, with archives located in these institutes. Some have archives that date from before World War II to 1990; they handle both totalitarianisms. What is feared is that through the game of partisan appointments, these institutes will become little more than instruments in less than honest hands for use in political contests. This is especially likely given that the Polish Institute of National Memory (IPN) employees perform several functions: classification, prosecution, and evaluating individual applicants to certain administrative positions. The specialized literature usually explains the trials and tribulations of Poland’s IPN in terms of the personalities of its different directors and the period in which each occupied that post. In this paper, we have verified this hypothesis.     

All spending is not equal: European Union public spending,policy feedback and citizens’ support for the EU

While public support is central to the problem‐solving capacity of the European Union, we know little about when and why the EU can increase its citizens’ support through spending. Extensive research finds that citizens living in countries that are net beneficiaries of the EU budget are more supportive of the EU, assuming that citizens care equally about all forms of spending. It is argued in this article, however, that the amount of spending is only part of the story. Understanding the effects of spending on support requires a consideration of how transfers are spent. Drawing on policy feedback theories in comparative politics, it is shown that support for the EU is a function of the fit between the spending area and economic need in individuals’ immediate living context. Results from a statistical analysis of EU spending on human capital, infrastructure, agriculture, energy and environmental protection in 127 EU regions over the period 2001–2011 corroborate this argument. As the EU and other international organisations become increasingly publicly contested, the organisations themselves may increasingly try to shore up public support through spending, but they will only be successful under specific conditions.     

国家共同体应对公共卫生突发事件的精神生命力量

新冠肺炎是一场突如其来的公共卫生突发事件.这一公共危机事件应该被纳入到国家共同体建设的政治哲学范畴当中加以研究.马克思的历史唯物主义原理为审视国家共同体应对公共卫生突发事件提供了政治哲学原理.马克思的“类本质”思想是国家共同体应对公共卫生突发事件的理论基础.当公共卫生突发事件对国家共同体安全构成威胁的时候,就变成了公共...     

政府治理体系优化的逻辑与路径:基于复杂性管理的分析

国家治理现代化的重要标志是将制度优势转化为治理效能,而政府治理体系和治理能力现代化是国家治理现代化的关键环节和核心任务。国家治理的复杂性要求政府治理体系所展现的功能与外在复杂性相适应:一方面,政府治理体系优化要根据"递归结构"实现体系纵向结构的科学定责、合理赋权,使每一层级的政府责任契合于国家治理的客观要求;另一方面,要实现横向结构中不同主体的功能协同、资源整合,使政府在处理跨地域、跨领域问题上能够有效地集中其他治理主体的力量,实现公共治理的"整体功能大于部分之和"。     

大国干部调配:中国省级党委常委的来源

地方领导干部的来源不仅能够反映其本人的政治职业特征,也能够反映上级党委及政府选人用人的基本特征。以时下350名省级党委常委为观察对象,通过描述性统计分析发现:省级党委常委的来源类型包括本省选拔、外省调入和中央下派,且以前二者为主,后者为辅;不同来源类型的省级党委常委各自所担任的职务存在明显差异,外省调入和中央下派的常委大多担任更为重要的职务;不同来源类型的省级党委常委在不同地区所占的比例也存在差异,经济越发达或政府治理能力越高的地区,本省选拔的省级党委常委的平均比例也越高,反之,则外省调入的省级党委常委的平均比例越高;不同来源类型的省级党委常委的职务来源也并不相同。当前省级党委常委来源类型的整体分布与地域分布,显示了中央在搭建优势互补、更具政治整合性的省级党委常委领导班子上所做的努力。     

New approaches to North Korean politics after reunification: The search for a common Korean identity

Whilst most of the literature focusing on the Korean peninsula has concentrated on how to achieve unification through confidence-building measures, dialogues, negotiation and diplomacy, little attention has been paid to how a unified Korean identity, a core component of any potential reunification scheme could develop and be sustained. The paper addresses this gap by: (1) defining what national identity is, and how Korean identities have been formed, (2) outlining how both South and North Korea have understood and used the concept of national identity, (3) suggesting possible grounds on which the two Koreas could build a new, common national identity.     

International Organisations and the Production of Hegemonic Knowledge: how the World Bank and the oecd helped invent the Fragile State Concept

This article examines the role of the World Bank and the oecd in the emergence and circulation of the ‘fragile state’ concept. These organisations were critical to the early development of the concept and in the consolidation of a knowledge-based agenda set out by Western aid donors to justify international assistance to poor and conflict-ridden countries. Attention is focused on three normative processes affecting the production of transnational knowledge: normalisation, fragmentation and assimilation. ‘Normalisation’ is the process by which influential knowledge producers help to transform a rough concept into a widely accepted transnational norm based on expert knowledge, detailed definitions and statistical exercises. Once the concept has been appropriated by several international actors, it undergoes normative ‘fragmentation’ as it is subjected to various interpretations across time and space. ‘Assimilation’ is the process by which the overarching concept is renewed, enriched and gradually adapted through the incorporation of additional insights. The article argues that the World Bank and oecd have functioned as central knowledge hubs, facilitating the circulation of new and controversial ideas on fragile states and their integration into the prevailing policies of the most powerful aid donors. The two organisations have thus taken an active role in the consolidation and perpetuation of the aid donors’ policy doctrine, ultimately protecting it from major normative dissent.