Democratization as liberation: competing African perspectives on democracy

Do Africans tend to view democracy in more procedural or more substantive terms? This article argues that African endorsements of liberal and procedural understandings are not as pervasive as much of the literature on democratization suggests. Drawing upon Afrobarometer survey results as well as extensive fieldwork and interviews conducted over the past decade in South Africa, it demonstrates both the historical development and significance of these definitional understandings. By employing a substantive approach and thereby bringing questions of poverty and material inequality to the centre of the analysis, this article seeks to offer a perspective on democratization that helps to explain many of the challenges to the institutionalization of democratic regimes that procedural understandings fail to capture.     

African Liberation Movement Governments and Democracy

Using polyarchy as an analytical frame of reference in combination with other democracy performance evaluation methods, this article offers a longitudinal analysis interrogating the democratic credentials of African decolonization and second liberation movement governments. Characteristically, upon victory and rise to power, some liberation movement governments failed to implement the democratic values that kindled their struggle. One subsequent result of this anomaly is the emergence of ‘movement governments' caught between internal and external pressures to democratize and the movements' desire to maintain their grip on power and the control of the personnel and resources of government at any cost. The article attempts to explain these tendencies against the backdrop of structural factors both internal and external to the African state, culminating in democratic deficits in both decolonization and second liberation movement governments.     

The Space of Civil Society and the Practices of Resistance and Subordination

Abstract

We argue that the majority of civil society conceptualizations employ a narrow concept of the state and a narrow concept of civil society. The life history of a Brazilian woman demonstrates that as individuals travel through state institutions and civil society organizations (CSOs), they carry conflicting worldviews with them which bear on the practices of CSOs. With Gramsci we recognize civil society as a space where movements and the state struggle for hegemony; beyond him we conceptualize CSOs as contradictory, being simultaneously of and against the state, while the state is simultaneously outside and within them.     

论马克思主义哲学两重性的实践统一

马克思主义哲学两重性的实践统一,包含着相互联系的两层涵义.其一是指,马克思主义哲学两重性的全部内容,都是以实践为基础的,实践不仅是构成马克思主义哲学的来源,而且是检验这一哲学真理性的唯一标准及其价值性的确定者.因此,人们只有从实践的观点出发,才能把握马克思主义哲学的价值性和真理性,并且理解它们的内在统一性.其二是指,马克思主义哲学的全部内容,最后都必须返回到改变世界的现实实践活动之中,实现它的现实统一.     

当代中国妇女解放是一个历史的过程

妇女解放主要包括经济、政治和思想解放3个方面.由于受主客观条件的制约,妇女解放必然要经历一个长期的历史过程,为了加速实现妇女解放的过程,既需要妇女自身的努力,也需要创造一个良好的社会环境.     

联合国反恐全面公约中的武装部队问题

如何规范一国武装部队的行为是制定联合国反恐全面公约的最大难题之一。武装部队在武装冲突及执行公务中的活动，应否受该公约的管辖？各国在此问题上难以达成共识。分歧的主要原因在于各国在国家恐怖主义的概念以及全面公约与国际人道法的关系问题上看法不一。为使全面公约尽早得以通过，可以明确规定国家武装部队在武装冲突及执行公务中的活动以及民族解放部队的活动均免受全面公约的管辖。因为即使不适用全面公约来约束武装部队的行为，国际人道法和国际刑法等其他相关国际法规则也可对此种行为进行管制。     

川藏人民支援进军西藏

194 9年底 ,西南战役胜利结束 ,进军西藏已成为既定目标。西藏当局中亲帝国主义分子拒绝中共中央提出和平解放西藏的方案 ,以军事手段相对抗。根据国际国内形势 ,毛泽东作出了进军西藏的决策。根据中央的部署 ,西南局决定 18军进藏。 18军在甘孜、巴塘认真贯彻党的民族宗教政策 ,赢得了藏区人民的广泛爱戴和拥护 ,为解放西藏做出了重要贡献。     

马克思主义是在自我革命过程中发展的

马克思、恩格斯是彻底的革命者,他们不仅无情地批判资产阶级意识形态和各种机会主义观点,而且具有自我革命、自我批判精神,不断随着时代的变化、科学的进步、实践的发展克服自己理论的时代局限性和历史局限性,开拓自己理论发展的新境界,把自己的理论提到新的高度。以"从无产阶级同时解放全人类,到首先解放自己然后解放全人类""从劳动的价值到劳动力的价值"和"从认为东方不存在土地私有制到承认东方存在土地私有制"三次观点演进的过程发展为例,深入文献考证,可具体说明马克思、恩格斯是如何克服自己理论上的旧观点、旧概念、旧表达形式从而把自己的理论推向前进的。     

人类解放的道路选择及其实现——布洛赫的希望哲学思想探寻

德国哲学家布洛赫的人类解放思想纷繁复杂。在对人类解放实现方式的道路选择上,强调依靠人自身的力量来完成哲学的内在反思,试图通过人类内心的希望超越现存,实现人类解放;他既支持俄国社会主义实践,接受俄国社会主义实践的"政治信息",又深度改造传统马克思主义;他用自己创新的马克思主义思维方式,在辩证法中寻找希望,在希望中运用辩证法,卓有成效地开启了马克思主义的新的广阔视阈。     

The Intersection of Crime Seriousness,Discretion, and Race: A Test of the Liberation Hypothesis

Spohn and Cederblom’s interpretation of the liberation hypothesis asserts that with trivial crimes, judges are “liberated” to consider extra-legal attributes such as race when making sentencing decisions. The current study posits that this perspective may be too theoretically simplistic because it fails to distinguish between the concepts of discretion and uncertainty. In light of this argument, we examine the sentencing decisions of felony cases in the Florida circuit courts. Results indicate that blacks and Hispanics are more likely to be imprisoned than whites, and males more so than females. Contrary to expectations, this disparity increases with crime seriousness. Consistent with the imprisonment model, blacks and males receive longer sentences and the effect increases with case seriousness. We found no evidence that the effect of offender extra-legal attributes depends upon the characteristics of the judges handling the cases. Suggestions for future research and implications for the liberation hypothesis are discussed.