Classical Marxism and Maoism: A comparative study

The issue of the Marxist character of “Mao Zedong Thought” has never really been resolved. The present work is a comparative analysis of the classical Marxism of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and the ideology of Mao Zedong. The argument is made that whatever Marxism there was in Maoism was the “creatively developed Marxism” of V. I. Lenin—which allowed for socialist revolution in retrograde economic circumstances—something that had been specifically rejected by Marx and Engels. That led to the theoretical idiosyncrasies that characterized Maoism throughout its history, and ultimately resulted in the form rejected by Deng Xiaoping and post-Maoist China.     

Climate Change and Marx in the Twenty-First Century,Part II

This paper comes in two parts. Part I, published in the June 2018 issue of this journal, opened with an examination of the relationship between Marx’s characterization of the centrality of commodity production to capitalism as a system, its destructive results on Nature and the global scale of the climate crisis confronting the 21st century. Following a discussion of these issues, Part I moved on to critically examine three models of political economy: Hayekism, Keynesianism and State Socialism. Part II takes the argument further by critically examining a fourth model, Green Keynesianism, currently being manufactured in response to the crisis of climate change, in order to show the inability of all four models to resolve the existential threat posed to humanity in the 21st century and beyond. I then proceed to posit, as a thought experiment, a now-necessary fifth model of political economy, Green Socialism, along with the building blocks important to its evolution as a coherent system. The paper concludes with a brief mention of both the ends and means that demand serious consideration if Green Socialism is to be realized.     

The changing relationship between the state and the voluntary philanthropic sector: special reference to Singapore

There has been a significant proliferation of voluntary philanthropic organizations to deliver basic services in the current context of anti-welfare neoliberal policies pursued by the state. While there are numerous studies and publications on these voluntary organizations, the nature of their relationship with the state remains relatively under-researched. This article attempts to explore this issue in the case Singapore where, in the absence of an active welfare state, the voluntary philanthropic organizations—especially the Voluntary Welfare Organizations (VWOs)—have played a crucial role in serving citizens’ welfare needs. In evaluating the nature and determinants of this state-VWO relationship, the article examines some relevant theoretical models and applies them to the Singapore case.     

Predicting Revolt: Fragility Indexes and the Level of Violence and Instability in the Arab Spring

This article is one of the first to systematically assess the ability of state fragility measures to predict violent protests and adverse regime changes in countries. We focus on the Arab Spring as an example of a situation that such measures ought to predict. Through a variety of analyses, we find that none of the measures are predictive. We then create a simple model using the literature of protest and revolts to predict both the level of violence and the extent of regime change in the Arab Spring countries. This simpler model does a better job of predicting the level of involvement in the Arab Spring than any of the complex State Fragility Indexes. Thus, the goal of this article is not to explain the causes of the Arab Spring, but to add to the discussion of the predictive value of measures of instability.     

Building foundations for the comparative study of state and non-state terrorism

In this article, we argue that a comparative study of state and non-state terrorism that uses the minimal foundationalist definition of terrorism as its central analytical framework offers a unique and instructive approach for answering the question: “what is terrorism?” To date, most recent comparative case study analyses of terrorism focus on ideologies, political/governance models, structural/contextual enablers, practices, organisational structures, and/or the basis of issues such as trust, belonging, and membership. We uniquely contribute to the growing literature on comparative terrorism studies by comparing and contrasting state and non-state terrorism on the basis of strategic communication vis-à-vis the preparation, execution, and outcomes of political violence (the “terrorism attack cycle”), the instrumentalisation of victims, and fear management. We argue that state and non-state terrorism are co-constituting and co-enabling phenomena, possibly best conceptualised as two bounded and coiled strands of the political violence DNA.     

英国殖民初期缅甸掸邦土司制度下的茶叶贸易

英国殖民初期缅甸掸邦的茶叶贸易在殖民者＂分而治之＂政策的统治下,在当地土司头人和代理商的重税盘剥下艰难地向前发展,最终迫于各种压力,困扰茶商的税费问题得到解决。同时,茶叶生产和茶叶贸易也带动了掸邦山区社会经济的发展。     

Chinese Political Studies: Overview of the State of the Field

The range of questions of interest to scholars of Chinese politics has changed slowly over recent decades, but the depth of empirical probes to answer them has quickly improved. One reason is the rise of China-born and Chinese-American researchers. Another is greater access to local information in China after the start of reforms there. Future developments in this field are likely to enrich current American political science, which will require fresh methods for adequate study of the planet's most populous polity.     

国家赔偿审判亟待程序规范——人民法院应当成立国家赔偿审判庭

《国家赔偿法》在赔偿程序和机构设置上的规定存在严重缺陷。人民法院应当设立国家赔偿审判庭,适用诉讼程序解决国家赔偿案件,现在相关条件已经成熟。     

侦查讯问中犯罪嫌疑人陈述自愿的制度保障

犯罪嫌疑人陈述自愿的保障,是正当讯问制度的核心内容。目前侦查讯问与犯罪嫌疑人陈述自愿存在种种现实冲突,应通过赋予犯罪嫌疑人沉默权,律师在权。限制讯问结果的运用,录音、录像监控,增强相应机关的独立性,以及完善坦白从宽抗拒从严政策等,解决犯罪嫌疑人陈述自愿的制度保障问题。     

试论实现给付行政任务的公私协力行为

行政法中公私协力问题在德国、日本以及我国台湾地区等地都有相当大的发展和相当精深的研究。当前公私协力行为在我国大陆行政实践中也广泛存在,然而我国大陆行政法学者的关注却很不够,理论研究严重滞后于现实发展的需要。从实现给付行政的国家任务入手,可以从宏观上把握公私协力所处的时代背景和所秉持的行政法理念。公私协力中的行为形式选择既是重要的理论问题,也是实践中无法回避的问题。公私协力行为也对传统行政法学构成巨大的挑战,理应获得足够的重视。