Colonial apologies and the problem of the transgressor speaking

Can state apologies help reconciliation between former coloniser and colonised? Much of the literature on political apologies is optimistic regarding their potential to aid reconciliation. Even critical work frequently dispraises particular case studies, while maintaining a normative commitment to apology. Building on a growing postcolonial literature on the subject, this article contributes a more fundamental critique of colonial apology. It argues that its inherent structure entails a format that accords the politician of the transgressor state an elevated speaking position. This results in the ritual being predisposed to problematic representations of the colonised and sanitised narratives of the transgression. The argument is situated within Edward Said’s considerations on representation in the colonial process.     

外交调研中的人物调研

本文对人物调研的重要性进行了系统阐述。从“搜集调研对象人物自己的文章、著作、言论”等六大类别归纳了人物调研的方法。尤其是结合外交工作的需要和外交工作的内在规律,详细地论述了包括“政治思想和政策主张”、“政策的实行、效果和未来动向”在内的人物调研的4个重点方面和其他次要方面,并概述了对人物调研对象的工作建议。     

Who Fought the Algerian War? Political Identity and Conflict in French-Ruled Algeria

Why did settlers, natives, and metropolitan agents fight each other as “French” and “Algerian” during the famously brutal Algerian War of the 1950s? While scholars identify key factors in launching and escalating the war, they take for granted that it was fought between “the French” and “the Algerians” when evidence shows that those terms were also a source of struggle among the parties involved in the war. Drawing on insights from the fields of colonial studies and collective action, along with archival sources, the article explains why this particular set of terms framed the war, in other words, why the categories “French” and “Algerian” predominated in the political discourse, and why they were so opposed to each other. It contends that punctuated political conflicts among state authorities and social-movement organizations in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, rather than indigenous cultural or social structural factors, played a key role in constructing this identity framework. The article concludes by challenging our basic definitions of the war and the prevailing theories about its course and outcomes.     

论社会主义政治文明

社会主义政治文明是顺应全球化文明大趋势的现实选择,是人类现代文明发展的必然结果,是社会主义整体文明进程的重要组成部分。社会主义政治文明的实质是实现包括政治制度(政治权力)、政治意识在内的政治资源的合理配置和使用。社会主义政治文明建设的关键环节是加强执政党自身的政治文明建设,要害是发展党内民主,注重制度建党。     

The Australian constitutional referendum of 1999: evaluating explanations of republican voting

The Constitutional Referendum of November 1999 saw Australians reject a republic and vote to retain the British Monarch as Australian Head of State. Multivariate analyses of data from the Australian Constitutional Referendum Survey were employed to examine the impact of social background, political and social movement leadership, political knowledge and political trust on the referendum vote. Younger, secular, highly educated and Labor partisans, and those who evaluated republican political and social movement leaders positively, were more likely to vote for constitutional change. Republican voting was stronger also, among those more trusting of politicians. The Yes vote was associated positively with higher cognitive skills and greater voter knowledge of political and constitutional issues, highlighting the salience of political education processes for the outcome of referenda.     

Responsibility and National Memory: Israel and the Palestinian Refugee Problem

How are Israelis to incorporate the Palestinian refugee problem in their national memory? Scholarly historical accounts of the 1948 period can play an important role in this regard. Benny Morris's account allows them to take responsibility while maintaining the integrity of their national identity. Shabtai Teveth's account allows them to avoid responsibility, but at the cost of ignoring mountains of evidence. Nur Masalha's account in contrast, burdens them with a responsibility that jeopardizes their national bond. It is reasonable to expect them to adopt the first and reject the second, but it is unreasonable to expect them to adopt the third, irrespective of its scholarly merits.     

全球化与文化冲突

全球化对社会生活产生着重要影响，导致了深刻的社会矛盾和化冲突，全球化引发的化冲突主要表现在三个方面：一元化与多元化的冲突，普遍主义与个别主义的冲突，化霸权与民族化的冲突。全球化的深化和发展必然进一步加剧化的这种冲突与对抗。所以，我们要以一种超越的视野来整合各方面的因素，重建化认同，促进化合同交流。     

The middle class in the Czech reforms: the interplay between policies and social stratification

Following the assumption that the middle class is important in the transition from communism to a democratic market society as its leading actor and guarantor of social integration, this paper presents evidence of the benefits it has gained from economic and social reforms. As these have turned out to be rather modest, it is likely that the middle class will be more reserved in its political support for a rigorous transformation. Special attention is given to the distribution and redistribution of income in which the middle seems to have been neglected, in comparison to the lowest and upper strata which have become better off. Evidence based on official statistics is complemented by a survey of attitudes which document both the still strong endorsement of the middle class with regard to the implemented changes and a certain split between the ‘old’ and ‘new’ component of this important social category.     

State Power and Penal Rhetoric: A Historical Analysis of the Prison System in Taiwan

The aim of this study is to present a construction of the history of the prison system in Taiwan in the context of the intertwined structures of penal discourses and the governmentality of the state. The prison system in Taiwan has been subject to different ruling political regimes, ranging from colonised, authoritarian to liberal-democratic systems between 1895 and the present. The history of imprisonment can be divided into six stages, each of which consists of distinct governmental strategies that shape prominent penal discourses. My purpose was to uncover the exercising power of governmentality, further shaping, guiding and affecting the penal discourses via rationalities and technologies upon which prison administration depends.