Medical Practice in Early Colonial Spanish America: A Prospectus

This paper outlines the current state of research on medical practice in early colonial Spanish America. It argues that medical practice in Spain was more diverse than generally supposed, and that this complicated the exchange that occurred between Native American, African and European medical traditions in the Americas. Control of medical practice in Spanish America was exercised not through the establishment of state institutions, but through the close working of the state and the Church that on the one hand promoted medical care as a charitable activity and on the other sought to suppress practices that were incompatible with Catholic beliefs. However, due to the shortage of trained medical practitioners, the authorities were relatively tolerant of alternative medical practices and this enabled a process of exchange and fusion. The paper illustrates these processes with respect to medical practice in Cartagena de Indias in the early seventeenth century. It concludes with suggestions of avenues for future research.     

邓小平武警部队建设思想初探

以邓小平为核心的党的第二代领导集体结合武警部队建设的具体实际,提出了强化人民民主专政的机构;政治建军;从严治军等一系列理论原则、方针政策和具体内容,这些关于武警部队建设规律的理性认识和光辉思想,在促进和谐社会进程的今天仍有着十分重大的理论和现实意义。     

Strategic voting and effective representation thresholds: Evidence from three Spanish general elections

The extent of strategic voting in the Spanish general elections of 2000, 2004 and 2008 is estimated using a new measure of strategic incentives suitable for proportional representation systems that avoids some of the problems associated with lagged variables. Strategic behaviour increased from 12 to 33 per cent of the electoral base of the United Left Party, the major victim of strategic defection. This estimate is a conservative one as elite mobilisation is controlled for in the constituencies, which is unusual in the literature on strategic voting that uses regression‐based methods.     

伪造、盗窃、买卖武装部队专用标志罪的探讨

近些年来,伪造、盗窃、买卖武装部队专用标志的情况不断增多,严重扰乱了社会管理秩序,损害了军队形象和声誉,妨害了部队战备、训练等工作的正常进行。《中华人民共和国刑法修正案（七）》将伪造、盗窃、买卖武装部队专用标志罪正式入刑,这是我国刑事立法的重要完善,也是维护国防利益的重要举措。本文在界定了伪造、盗窃、买卖武装部队专用标志罪概念的基础上,简要梳理了此类犯罪的立法沿革、概况,按照刑法理论分别从犯罪主体、犯罪主观方面、犯罪客体和犯罪客观方面对本罪的犯罪构成要件进行了论述,探讨了此罪与非罪、此罪与彼罪的政策界限,并对处罚进行了简要分析。     

Questionnaire for Readers of China Today's English Edition

正Thank you for reading China Today’s English edition.Your feedback will help us better satisfy your needs.Please mail this questionnaire to English Department,No.24 Baiwanzhuang Street,Xicheng District,Beijing,100037.Or you can email it to chinatoday@aliyun.com,or fax it to 010-68328338.Those who give us feedback will receive two free copies of any edition of China Today(Chinese,English,French,Spanish and Arabic),which may be sent to any address in China’s main land.Thank you very much for fi lling out the questionnaire.     

Vietnam: a case of military obsolescence in developing countries

ABSTRACT

Military obsolescence affects the capability of all militaries as it relates to serviceability and performance when countering potential opponents, and more specifically in the case of developing countries lacking strong indigenous defence industries. The gradual nature of this military concern has not been studied systematically, in contrast to military modernisation. This paper presents a synthetic framework composed of several indicators to examine military obsolescence. Vietnam has been selected for the application of the framework for its large number of Cold War legacies and the strategic pressure from China. Hanoi's ageing assets would undermine its position vis-à-vis Beijing, and its defence investment policies face the dilemma of choosing to spend more on naval and aerial power, or ameliorating its army which is technologically lacking compared to its Chinese counterpart.     

War Hypotheses: Drug Trafficking,Sovereignty and the Armed Forces in Mexico

This essay analyses how Mexican presidents have interpreted the concepts of drug trafficking and national security and how these particular connotations have redefined national sovereignty and the specific role of the armed forces in protecting this sovereignty. A qualitative technique of discourse analysis is used to examine public speeches by Zedillo (1994–2000), Fox (2000–2006) and Calderón (2006–2012). The conclusions suggest that drug trafficking and US omnipresence are the two main issues that shaped Mexico's national security threats during this period, with qualitatively distinct trajectories.     

The rise and fall of “respectable” Spanish liberalism, 1808–1923: an explanatory framework

Abstract

The article focuses on the reasons behind both the consolidation of what I have termed “respectable” liberalism between the 1830s and the 1840s and its subsequent decline and fall between 1900 and 1923. In understanding both processes I study the links established between “respectable” liberals and propertied elites, the monarchy, and the Church. In the first phase these links served to consolidate the liberal polity. However, they also meant that many tenets of liberal ideology were compromised. Free elections were undermined by the operation of caciquismo, monarchs established a powerful position, and despite the Church hierarchy working with liberalism, the doctrine espoused by much of the Church was still shaped by the Counter-Reformation. Hence, “respectable” liberalism failed to achieve a popular social base. And the liberal order was increasingly denigrated as part of the corrupt “oligarchy” that ruled Spain. Worse still, between 1916 and 1923 the Church, monarch, and the propertied elite increasingly abandoned the liberal Monarchist Restoration. Hence when General Primo de Rivera launched his coup the rug was pulled from under the liberals’ feet and there was no one to cushion the fall.     

The Guatemalan National Revolutionary unit: the long collapse

ABSTRACT

The Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unit (URNG) fought one of the longest and bloodiest civil wars in recent Latin American history. In 1996, the URNG and the Government of Guatemala signed a Firm and Lasting Agreement ending the country’s civil war and initiating the URNG’s post-war life as a political party. After finishing third in its initial electoral competition, the URNG has since been unable to capture more than 4% of the vote, on its own or in coalition, leaving it a minor political party. What explains the poor electoral performance of the URNG as a political party? Based upon fieldwork, elite interviews, and analysis of electoral data, I argue that the URNG’s minor party performance was caused by both organizational and institutional factors.     

"此是东井冈会师天下壮"——略谈东固斗争的历史意义

东固斗争,在红军游击战争和苏维埃运动初期颇具特色,它是赣西南红军游击战争和苏维埃运动的发祥地。它承接了赣西南武装斗争中心地区的使命,在农村建立秘密根据地发展红军,点燃了赣西南红军游击战争和苏维埃运动的星星之火;它在探索中国革命正确道路的斗争中,创造了独具特色的"游击秘密割据",成为"工农武装割据"初级阶段最佳的开展形式;它以"李文林式"的斗争与"朱毛式"的斗争相呼应,坚持与发展了赣西南红军游击战争和苏维埃运动,促进了红三军和赣西南苏区的建立。