走出二元对立的思维困境——阿克曼对美国宪法变革机制的检讨

阿克曼在区分宪法政治和常态政治的前提下,通过分析美国宪法史上的重要事件,根据二元民主的宪法理论指出:美国宪法政治时期的宪法变革经历了发出宪法改革的信号、提出宪法改革方案、决定宪法改革命运的程序、宪法改革方案的批准和宪法改革成果的巩固五个阶段。阿克曼关于宪法变革的历史学与社会学观点,不仅消解了法律形式主义和法律现实主义的对立,他还进一步以此为基础提出了"人民主权动议"和"活宪法"的宪法修正理论。阿克曼的宪法变革理论虽具现实性,但却有着不确定性的缺陷。因此,阿克曼所要解决的,恰恰是理性与经验之对立所造成的不确定性这一法律理论的永恒主题。     

Judith Scott’s What is Property?: an inquiry into principles of dependency,propriety, and self-possession of an “outsider” artist

The essay addresses the politics of biography in the interpretation and reception of “outsider artist” Judith Scott’s work. Drawing from feminism, disability studies, and Alexander Kluge and Oskar Negt’s History and Obstinacy (1981) and its political economy of labor power, the essay proposes a new method of analysis which would foreground Scott’s work as a mode of institutional critique. Kluge and Negt ask “Can capital say ‘I’?.” The essay argues that Scott’s work compels a concomitant questioning of this “I” and the very terms of biography, authorship, and ownership that undergird the myths – and the institutions – of the “outsider” and her “art.”     

The revitalisation of Buddhist peace activism in post-war Cambodia

This article examines the Buddhist peace movements in Cambodia, which are being revitalised after a long silence since the late 1990s. Specifically, it explains how Cambodian Buddhist monks develop and maintain their normative legitimacy and connection with civilian followers by focusing on their approaches to four types of resources: religious authority, cultural knowledge, social networks, and new communication technology. Through the analysis, the study aims to offer empirical examples of religious leaders’ strategies for promoting peace activism and to demonstrate an ideal type of locally owned peace-building promoted in post-conflict contexts, both of which are rarely available in the existing literature.     

Localized Islam(s): interpreting agents,competing narratives,and experiences of faith

This special issue investigates contemporary transformations of Islam in the post-Communist Balkans. We put forward the concept of localized Islam as an analytical lens that aptly captures the input of various interpreting agents, competing narratives, and choices of faith. By adopting an agent-based approach that is sensitive to relevant actors’ choices and the contexts where they operate, we explore how various groups negotiate and ultimately localize the grand Islamic tradition, depending on where they are situated along the hierarchy of power. Specifically, we outline three sets of actors and narratives related to revival of Islamic faith: (1) political elites, mainstream intellectuals, and religious hierarchies often unite in safeguarding a nation-centric understanding of religion, (2) foreign networks and missionaries make use of open channels of communication to propagate their specific interpretations and agendas, and (3) lay believers tend to choose among different offers and rally around the living dimension of religious practice. Contributions in this issue bring ample evidence of multiple actors’ strategies, related perspectives, and contingent choices of being a Muslim. Case studies include political debates on mosque construction in Athens; political narratives that underpin the construction of the museum of the father of Ataturk in Western Macedonia; politicians’ and imams’ competing interpretations of the Syrian war in Kosovo, Macedonia, and Albania; the emergence of practice communities that perform Muslim identity in Bulgaria; the particular codes of sharia dating in post-war Sarajevo; and veneration of saints among Muslim Roma in different urban areas in the Balkans.     

‘So that my soul may have time to grow’: Joy and Happiness in Elizabeth von Arnim’s The Solitary Summer

Abstract

This article discusses the Romantic and Transcendentalist roots of Elizabeth von Arnim’s joyful retreat from the world in The Solitary Summer (1899). By exploring how von Arnim incorporates themes and ideas from William Wordsworth and Henry David Thoreau, it situates von Arnim’s concepts of joy and happiness in the Aristotelian tradition of eudaemonia and shows how the practice of mindfulness turns Elizabeth’s garden into an ongoing project of self-cultivation.     

海岛居民生活质量的现状分析与对策研究——以浙江舟山为例

人口生活质量,是影响一个国家或城市经济社会发展的重要因素。通过对浙江海岛舟山的居民人口生活质量的现状研究,发现海岛舟山存在人口整体文化素质偏低、人才资源结构性矛盾比较突出、居民道德落后于经济社会发展要求、存在自信而又自卑的心理等问题。并就提高海岛舟山居民的人口生活质量从教育投入、人才引进、素质提高和意识培育四个层面提出具体对策。     

中国"反贫困"社会救助法律制度——农村最低生活保障制度实施的制度障碍分析

中国农村最低生活保障制度的建立是"反贫困"进程推进的必然结果,也是促进社会公平,构建和谐社会的必然要求.虽然我国早在20世纪90年代初期就开始了农村低保的试点工作,但各地农村低保制度在实施过程巾遇到了诸多障碍,很多地区的农村低保工作都处于基本停滞状态.我国各地地方政府应拓宽农村最低生活保障资金来源渠道,科学划定农村最低生活保障线,合理选择农村最低生活保障救助对象,不断完善本地区的相关制度,推进农村低保工作的顺利进行.     

Locating Humour in Indian Buddhist Monastic Law Codes: A Comparative Approach

It has been claimed that Indian Buddhism, as opposed to East Asian Chan/Zen traditions, was somehow against humour. In this paper I contend that humour is discernible in canonical Indian Buddhist texts, particularly in Indian Buddhist monastic law codes (Vinaya). I will attempt to establish that what we find in these texts sometimes is not only humourous but that it is intentionally so. I approach this topic by comparing different versions of the same narratives preserved in Indian Buddhist monastic law codes. This is a revised version of a paper presented at the XVth Congress of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, June 23-29, 2008. I wish to acknowledge financial assistance from the Arts Research Board, McMaster University.     

历史文化名县与最佳人文居住环境的构建

历史文化资源对于现代文明具有十分重大的意义。特别是稀有的历史人文资源,它是旅游景点的文脉和文化源头。富于文化内涵的建筑和人居环境,会大大增强城市的文化魅力。人文居住环境建设要承传和升华历史文化,展示民族风貌、追求文化品格。