Au Retour a Gramsci: Reflections on Civil Society,Political Society and the State in South Asia

Abstract

This article critically analyses Partha Chatterjee’s recent concepts of civil society and political society, showing that their binary character is derived from a culturalist conflation of capitalism with modernity. In turn, modernity becomes equated with a naturalised liberal democratic state, precluding any appreciation of how resistance can and does shape the character of the state. Second, it compares Chatterjee’s categories of civil and political society to those of Gramsci, arguing that a return to classical Gramscian categories, along with an appreciation of the impact of colonialism on state forms, can provide studies of resistance with a richer and more elegant understanding of social change from below in contemporary India.     

Rethinking Subaltern Resistance

Abstract

This special issue seeks to rethink “resistance” as a critical social science concept in the light of a range of critiques since the 1980s. The five articles in this issue draw their empirical materials from contemporary India, but their arguments have significant implications for those working on other parts of Asia and the world. The articles acknowledge the inherent ambiguities and ambivalences of subaltern resistance in the face of hegemonic social formations, yet, shorn of exoticising and homogenising tendencies, resistance can be reconceptualised as the negotiation rather than negation of social power. Such a reconceptualisation is useful to study a wide range of contentious politics from foot-dragging through protests to social revolutions under a single analytic umbrella. Resistance, in this sense, ought to be recognised as a vital part of a critical realist ontology of society, which helps us understand and critique existing structures of social domination in order to pursue emancipatory possibilities via the generation of social scientific knowledge.     

Does Country-Level Social Disorganization Increase Terrorist Attacks?

This study examines the effects of a measure of country-level social disorganization on levels of terrorist attacks and fatalities in 101 countries from 1981 to 2010. We measure social disorganization as the presence of state instability: revolutionary and ethnic war, adverse regime change, and genocide. The classic social disorganization perspective posits that individuals experiencing these types of rapid social change will be freed from the institutional and informal restraints that bind them to society, and keep them conforming to social norms and laws. We examine the extent to which this reasoning applies to the number of terrorist attacks and fatalities from terrorist attacks occurring in countries. To control for the possibility that better functioning states are better able to prevent terrorist attacks, we include two measures of state capacity. We find that controlling for state capacity and a wide variety of other variables, social disorganization is consistently associated with increases in terrorist attacks and fatalities. We consider implications of the results for future research and policy.     

Large‐scale solidarity? Effects of welfare state institutions on the admission of forced migrants

The variation among countries when it comes to the admittance of forced migrants – refugees and asylum seekers – is substantial. This article explains part of this variation by developing and testing an institutional explanation to the admission of forced migrants; more precisely, it investigates the impact of domestic welfare state institutions on admission. Building on comparative welfare state research, it is hypothesised that comprehensive welfare state institutions will have a positive effect on the admission of forced migrants to a country. There are three features of comprehensive welfare state institutions that could steer policies towards forced migrants in a more open direction. First, these institutions have been shown to impact on the boundaries of social solidarity. Second, they enhance generalised trust. And third, they can impact on the citizens’ view of what the state should and can do in terms of protecting individuals. The argument is tested using a broad comparative dataset of patterns of forced migration, covering 17 OECD countries between 1980 and 2003. This analysis shows that comprehensive welfare state institutions have a significant positive effect on the admission of forced migrants, under control for a number of factors often highlighted in migration research.     

把集邮文化融入先进文化建设大潮

集邮以其广泛的群众基础和深厚的人文魅力,是构建先进文化的有机载体,把集邮文化融入我国先进文化建设大潮,具有重要的现实意义。     

立党为公执政为民--中国共产党执政规律和执政能力的本质要求

能否把握执政规律及其本质要求 ,关系执政党的执政基础和前途命运。可以从形成执政规律的最主要因素———执政主体、执政客体和政权及其关系的分析中 ,把握规律的最主要内容及其作用和要求。执政一般规律的最基本要求 ,就是执政主体的执政目的、执政方式等必须适应执政客体的状况及其要求 ,集中表现为适应人民大众的状况及其要求。这也就规定了执政者的执政目标指向和价值取向是为全社会、为人民大众 ,即“立党为公、执政为民”。这是人类社会执政活动一般规律的基本要求 ,又是共产党执政特殊规律的根本要求 ,也是共产党执政规律和执政能力在新世纪的特殊要求     

对地方法规与国家法律相抵触问题的探讨

地方法规与国家法律相抵触是立法的大忌。地方立法应以不同宪法、法律、行政法规相抵触为前提。     

国家侵权精神损害赔偿制度研究

运行至今14年的《国家赔偿法》,自2008年10月28日至11月30日修正案草案公开向社会征求意见以来,法学界的修订建议不断,多位专家表示,若不进行系统性修正,从长远看势必影响法律的尊严与长期适用性,其中一个重大缺陷就是对与物质损害赔偿制度相适应的精神损害赔偿制度的规定甚少,存在诸多缺漏。精神损害赔偿制度的建立和完善体现了社会的进步,人们自主意识的增强和现代法律对人权的关注和保障,是社会正义和效率的要求。     

反腐倡廉要更加注重制度建设

制度建设是反腐倡廉建设的重要组成部分，是从源头上预防腐败的重要保证。当前，健全完善反腐倡廉制度应从以下三个方面加大力度：一是从抓思想教育入手，增强反腐倡廉的自觉性；二是从完善监督机制入手，营造廉洁自律的“小环境”；三是从落实党风廉政责任制入手，自觉塑造廉洁勤政的领导干部形象。     

"一国两制"构想丰富了马克思主义法学

"一国两制"构想使香港、澳门成功地回归了祖国,由此产生了在一个中国的前提下,以社会主义制度为主体的两种制度并存的局面,并形成了以特别行政区基本法为基干的新的部门法体系.本文试从国家结构形式、国家政权、国家属性、国家法律体系等四个层面,论述"一国两制"构想创造性地发展了马克思主义法学理论.