Area Differences and Time Trends in Crime Reporting: Comparing New York with Other Metropolitan Areas

Police measures of crime are shaped by victims’ decisions to notify the police. To obtain a better understanding of US crime trends, this study uses the National Crime Victimization Survey to examine geographic differences and temporal trends in crime reporting in New York and other metropolitan areas for the period 1979-2004. We find that net of crime characteristics and survey methodology, the New York metropolitan area showed fewer increases in crime reporting than did other metropolitan areas. These divergent trends suggest that the real differences in the drop of nonlethal violence between New York and other areas may have been smaller than those indicated by police-based crime statistics. We also find that from the early 1990s to 2004, New York showed a sharp decrease in the likelihood of victims perceiving that “police wouldn’t help.” This trend suggests that police reforms in New York City have not resulted in more victims using police-related reasons to explain their nonreporting behavior. Instead, researchers need to develop a broader theoretical framework (not an exclusive focus on police actions) to understand how police- and nonpolice-related factors may explain the geographic variation in the trends of reporting observed in this study.     

Third time lucky? Establishing diplomatic relations between Russia and South Africa

Diplomatic relations between Russia and South Africa were established in 1992, before South Africa's transition to democracy was completed. This move was perceived as a betrayal by many in both countries and beyond. For many decades the Soviet Union supported the African National Congress in its fight against the apartheid regime. South Africa's National Party government, in its turn, presented the USSR as the main force behind the ‘total onslaught’ – an all-out war purportedly waged against South Africa by international communism. Yet it was with the National Party government that the Russians established diplomatic relations. This article looks into the reasons for this change of heart in Moscow and Pretoria, discusses the political forces behind the decision to establish diplomatic relations, and analyses the process that led to this event and the results of establishing diplomatic relations the way it happened and at the time it happened for both countries.     

新时代中小学民族团结教育的三个理论维度

民族团结是各族人民的生命线。中小学民族团结教育既是教育学意义上的知识传授,更是政治学意义上的共同体构建。文章基于民族政治学的理论视角,提出新时代中小学民族团结教育的三个理论维度:一是国家与社会关系层面的国民教育;二是自我与他者关系层面的启蒙教育;三是传统与现代关系层面的素质教育。由此出发,培育爱国主义的情结,播种多元一体的种子,提高适应变革的能力,民族团结教育才会是成功的。     

《虚假的事实》:印度民族自我的“寓言”

耶谢巴尔是印度现当代进步主义文学的代表作家,他的创作以现实主义的描绘,关注祖国和民族的前途与命运,表现出强烈的爱国主义精神和人道主义情怀。他创作于20世纪50年代的长篇小说《虚假的事实》,以印度独立前后纷繁复杂的社会现实为背景,通过生动的情节和艺术的形象体系,以文学虚构叙述,重新建构印度的"民族自我",是后殖民语境中印度民族自我的"寓言"。小说在印巴分治、教族冲突的民族灾难反思中,提出正视现实,清理殖民统治带来的文化后果,革除独立政府新权贵的种种弊政,经过历史风雨的洗礼后,建设一个进步繁荣、平等团结、理性奉献、自力更生、代表民众利益和愿望的新的民族自我。这个"民族自我"在小说主人公达拉与和布兰身上得到"寓言"式的体现,达拉的经历和命运是印度民族的象征性写照,她勤勉温雅、宽容仁慈、正直清廉的性格,是新的"民族自我"的人格化。小说的构思也艺术地体现了寻求"民族自我"的突出特点:在历史框架中虚构情节,民族知识分子聚会,本土风习描写,坚信民族光明前程的结局。小说在表现耶谢巴尔一贯的创作思想和艺术风格的同时,鲜明地体现了探讨"民族自我"的主题。     

国家公园法是否应当确认游憩功能

研究者对于正在制定的我国《国家公园法》是否应当确认游憩功能,尚有争议,这将直接影响该部法律的相关制度安排。否认立法应确认游憩功能的观点,具有保护环境的合理性,但未关注国家公园的全民共享性,未以发展的眼光看待保护理念与国际潮流的顺应,欠缺科学性。通过立法确认国家公园的游憩功能具备自然基础、现实基础和社会价值。国家公园游憩功能的法律确认与制度安排,以游憩功能的法律属性界定为核心,游憩不是自然权利及法定权利,也不是主观权利,只能是客观秩序,公众无法向国家提出诉求,游憩利益只有依托国家履行义务才能实现。我国《国家公园法》的相关制度安排,应以管理主体的职责配置为重心,充分保障游憩这一客观秩序的实现。     

State transformation goes nuclear: Chinese National Nuclear Companies’ expansion into Europe

Abstract

Most of the literature on state transformation focuses on China’s relations with African, Asian and Latin American countries and the National Oil Companies’ overseas expansion to show that China has become fragmented, decentralised and internationalised. This article contributes novel findings by focusing on China’s relations with Europe and the actions of China’s National Nuclear Companies (NNCs). It shows that NNCs, which have become relatively autonomous actors, often pursue their agendas of expansion into Europe without much coordination with, or even in contradiction to, other ministries’ agendas and interests, especially the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Instead of being orchestrated by the central government, their expansion reflects considerable disorganisation and sometimes undermines China’s official strategy. The article demonstrates this through case studies of NNCs’ involvement in the UK and Romania.     

How to stay populist? The Front National and the changing French party system

Abstract

The main aim of this contribution is to assess the relevance of the notion of ‘exclusionary populism’ for the characterisation of the Front National (FN) in France. Since its emergence in the 1970s, several categories or notions have been applied to this political party. Once considered as the resurgence of a traditional extreme right, it has since been classified as a case of a new European right-wing extremism, or as one of the neo-populist parties that obtained electoral successes in the 1990s. The recent evolution of the party has also been described as a sort of ‘normalisation’. Is therefore ‘exclusionary populism’ still a category that can grasp the evolution of the party, as well as its present position in the French party system? To answer this question, this article examines political discourses and various electoral platforms of the Front National to gather some empirical evidence. The argument is twofold: The Front National, despite its ‘dédiabolisation’ strategy, is still a classic populist party characterised by exclusionary populism and a sort of ‘catch-all populism’; its evolution is, however, dependent on the recent evolution of the French party system.     

从中国国情看马克思主义中国化的文化背景

马克思主义的中国化,意味着马克思主义必须有机地融入中国文化及其传统。因此,从中国国情的角度了解并把握中国文化的特质,对于深入阐释马克思主义中国化在学理上的可能性具有重要的前提意义。土地、农民、儒学,既是中国国情的特点,又塑造着中国传统文化本身。从明清之际的"西学中源"说,到晚近的"马克思主义中源"说,虽然是特定历史语境中的某种文化心态的反映,但也从某个侧面折射着马克思主义中国化的可能性。以毛泽东为代表的中国共产党人之所以能够创造性地实现马克思主义中国化,其重要原因之一就在于他们熟谙中国国情。由中国国情所塑造的中国文化背景,在自觉和无意识的双重意义上,决定了马克思主义中国化的可能性。     

国民革命时期的宋庆龄与妇女运动

宋庆龄在国民革命时期的妇女运动中扮演着重要的角色,是这一时期妇女运动的参与者、推动者,更是国共两党开展妇女运动的融合者。1925年孙中山逝世后,宋庆龄独立参政,利用自己特殊的地位和卓越的政治能力,为妇女运动的推进作出了贡献。正是因为有宋庆龄这样的杰出女性,才使得近代以来中国的女权运动主要由男性精英指导与推动的局限得以突破。她以女性领袖的身份激励妇女追求男女平等,实现妇女参政议政,将中国的妇女运动与国民革命的潮流融合,打破了原来孤立而有限的争取男女平等的运动。     

The changing political culture of the African National Congress

The early elite of the African National Congress (ANC) embraced values of moral improvement, individual responsibility and a sense of social consciousness. The ANC now governs South Africa, but with what appears to be a different set of principles. The current scourge of corruption, increasing state control, coupled with a general lack of service delivery point to behaviour of the ruling party which is inward-looking, self-seeking and self-preserving. Arguing that political culture and its accompanying values and attitudes is a prime motivator of behaviour, the paper seeks to understand the changing political culture of the dominant party. To understand the political culture of the ANC we use interviews with ANC parliamentarians and ANC supporters conducted in 2006–2007 and 2013 as well as an analysis of the ANC's Strategy and Tactics policy documents. We contend that the liberal values of the early elites were never fully embedded, but in their stead is a liberationist culture, where the state is normatively understood to be extensive and embodying the will of the people. We argue, that through the resulting centralized determination of the interests of the people, patronage networks, and diminishing of accountability, a system conducive to corruption and the pursuit of personal interest is created.