Twentieth Century Benchmark Dates in International Relations: The Three World Wars in Historical Perspective *

This paper builds on the author’s earlier work on benchmark dates in International Relations. The Introduction summarises this work and explains how this paper extends the analysis from suggestions made, but not developed, in earlier publications. The second section looks in detail at 20 th century benchmark dates centred on the three world wars (First, Second and Cold). It argues that the changes clustered around the Second World War are both deeper and more extensive than those clustered around either the First World War or the Cold War. The third section uses these insights to open-up a macro-historical perspective on the 20 th century, demonstrating the ways in which choices in relation to both time and scale affect the construction of macro-historical perspectives. The fourth section demonstrates the advantages of a two-century perspective on the 20 th century. Here, and in the conclusion, we argue that the key issues that underpinned world politics in the 20 th century are best seen as the downstream consequences of the dynamics and challenges ushered in by the 19 th century “global transformation.”     

Between competition and centralization: the new infrastructures of European finance

Ongoing European financial market integration relies on the creation of harmonized and centralized market infrastructures: the little-known institutions and systems that settle financial transactions across borders. Since the constitutional conception of market integration within the EU entails creating ‘a level playing field’ for competition, a fundamental problem emerges of how to provide that centralization and harmonization without violating the core principles of an open market economy either through private monopolization or public privatization. The paper presents a socio-technological study of a recent major infrastructure initiative by the European Central Bank, called Target2 Securities (T2S). Embedding the analysis of the struggles and debates around the birth and development of T2S in an analysis of the structural problem of competition and centralization in European financial market integration, the paper suggests an alternative perspective to that of performativity currently dominating the research field.     

国际机制与和谐世界构建：基于亚太地区的视角

国际机制是和谐世界构建的重要路径,也是实现国家利益与世界利益和谐互动的基本手段。构建和谐亚太是推动和谐世界建设的切实步骤,积极参与和完善亚太地区有关合作机制,是保障中国与本地区其它国家共享和平与繁荣的重要条件。当前亚太地区的合作机制建设已取得较大进展,但也存在若干不足。未来中国与其他相关方仍需立足于地区实际,稳步推进本地区相关合作机制建设,通过和谐地区建构为中国的和平发展创造一个良好的周边环境和战略依托。     

世界城市与青年发展战略思考

随着全球化浪潮不断向纵深发展,世界城市建设步伐日趋加快。当前世界城市内涵不断丰富,呈现出与传统世界城市建设内涵不尽一致的特征和趋势。青年群体是当代世界城市建设的重要力量,青年发展在本质上与世界城市内涵具有内在一致性;青年问题与世界城市化问题存在同构现象;青年事务与世界城市变迁走向具有同塑化趋势。因此,为更好地促进青年积极贡献于世界城市建设,应该坚持科学发展观,指导当代青年工作和青年发展。     

A crisis of trust: history,politics, religion and the polio controversy in Northern Nigeria

ABSTRACT

In the middle of 2003, disagreement over the safety of the oral polio vaccine pitted ordinary citizens and community leaders in the predominantly Muslim north of Nigeria against the World Health Organization, the United Nations Children's Fund and Nigeria's federal authorities. During the crisis that ensued, five northern states (Niger, Bauchi, Kano, Zamfara and Kaduna) banned the use of the controversial vaccine on children in their respective domains. Underpinning Obadare's paper is the assumption that the immunization crisis is best understood after considering developments in the broader politico-religious contexts, both local and global. Thus, he locates the controversy as a whole against the background of the deepening interface between health and politics. He suggests that the crisis is best seen as emanating from a dearth of trust in social intercourse between ordinary citizens and the Nigerian state on the one hand, and between the same citizens and international health agencies and pharmaceutical companies on the other. The analysis of trust is historically embedded in order to illuminate the dynamics of relations among the identified actors.     

俄罗斯对世界石油体系的挑战及其局限

俄罗斯作为一个强势的油气生产大国,既有意愿也有一定的能力对当前世界石油体系的游戏规则提出挑战。但是经过近年来油价波动、金融和经济危机等变故的冲击,俄罗斯挑战能力的局限性充分暴露出来,挑战以全面收缩而暂告一段落。俄罗斯挑战乏力的根源在于自身权力的缺陷和外部因素的结构性制约。俄罗斯能否彻底改变石油体系的权力结构和规则具有很大的不确定性。     

哈贝马斯交往行动理论批判

现代性的危机在一定意义上可说是理性的危机,它表现为理性的分裂.哈贝马斯的交往行动理论旨在克服这一危机.由于他的最终目的是要证明世界的合理性,他不得不把交往行动理论先验化、形式化和理想化.如果哈贝马斯心目中理想的交往行动在这个世界上根本不存在,而只能是他的一种理论建构的话,那么他想证明的世界的合理性也只能存在于理论之中.     

Reviews

Books reviewed:
Sampson Vera Tudela, Colonial Angels: Narratives of Gender and Sprituality in Mexico
Archer, Wars of Independence in Spanish America
Bergad, Slavery and the Demographic and Economic History of Minas Gerais, Brazil, 1720–1888
McFarlane and Posado-Carbó, Independence and Revolution in Spanish America: Perspectives and Problems
Earle, Spain and the Independence of Colombia, 1800–1825
Zimmermann, Judicial Institutions in Nineteenth-Century Latin America
Nugent, Modernity at the Edge of Empire: State, Individual, and Nation in the Northern Peruvian Andes
Chowning, Wealth and Power in Provincial Mexico: Michoacán from the Late Colony ti the Revolution
Benjamin, La Revolució: Mexico's Great Revolution as Memory, Myth, and History
Spenser, The Impossible Triangle: Mexico, Soviet Russia, and the United States in the 1920s
Buve and Weisebron, Procesos de Integración en América Latina: Perspectivas y Experiencias Latinoamericanas y Europeas
Edelman, Peasants Against Globalisation: Rural Social Movements in Costa Rica
Pelupessy and Ruben, Agrarian Policies in Central America
Harvey, The Chiapas Rebellion: The Struggle for Land and Democracy
Hite, When the Romance Ended: Leaders of the Chilean Left
Aguirre and Buffington, Reconstructing Criminality in Latin America
Craske, Women and Politics in Latin America
Beverley, Subalternity and Representation: Arguments in Cultural Theory
Breiner, An Introduction to West Indian Poetry
Goslinga, Caribbean Literature: A Bibliography
San Román, Onetti and Others: Comparative Essays on a Major Figure in Latin American Literature     

当前中国外交战略特点及走向

本文通过比较具体地对当前中国外交战略的特点及发展走向作考察和分析,进一步厘清新形势下中国外交战略发展的前景,认为:坚持国家利益,参与国际制度,推进多边主义,建设和谐世界既是当前中国外交战略的主要特征,也将成为未来中国外交战略的基本导向.而这样的导向与"韬光养晦,有所作为"的邓小平外交思想,以及中国的全方位外交也是相互协调的.