Machiavelli’s Soderini and the problem of necessity

Drawing principally on a particular example discussed by Machiavelli, this article seeks to clarify the concept of necessity and assess the Machiavellian contentions that evil-doing is in politics often necessary and justified. The example indicates that claims of necessity are best construed as allegations that evil-doing is “indispensable.” The example also indicates that these allegations are often suspect because these typically reflect limited information and knowledge and often biases and rationalizations as well, although this is not stressed by Machiavelli. Instead, Machiavelli stresses the dangers and difficulties statesmen often confront when seeking to secure important political ends or avoid costly failures, dangers and difficulties which he believes are ultimately related to the nature of human beings and the character of political elites. With respect to the morality of evil-doing, Machiavelli is suggestive of different kinds and forms of justification. Five kinds are described, and all are found unsatisfactory.     

Ideology and America’s China Policy at the Time of the Founding of New China: A Reexamination of Acheson and the Question of Recognition

杜鲁门政府未能承认新中国的根本原因并非是国会和舆论的压力,而在于那个时期由反共主义和中美关系神话构成的独特的对华意识形态。正是这一意识形态使杜鲁门政府无论在信仰上还是在情感上都无法接受新中国,对新中国表现出异乎寻常的愤怒和远远超出其他国家的敌意。艾奇逊在这种意识形态的影响下,根本没有考虑承认新中国,他并非过去学者所认为的灵活的现实主义者,所谓的“失去的机会”说是建立在错误的前提和错误的逻辑之上的。     

An Analysis of the Determinants of the Changes in China’s Foreign Exchange Reserves’ Nominal and Real Rates of Return

We use decomposition and regression to examine the reasons for the changes in nominal and real rates of return of China’s foreign exchange reserves between 2002 and 2009. The results show that the US financial market risk premium is the most important determinant of changes in the nominal rate of return, while the US dollar exchange rate and the bulk commodity price are the two key determinants of changes in the real rate of return. From empirically based research, one may conclude that the loose monetary policy of the US Federal Reserve increases China’s foreign exchange reserves’ nominal rate of return but decreases the real rate of return and that the European debt crisis has an uncertain impact on China’s foreign exchange reserves’ nominal rate of return but may well raise the real rate of return.     

Localization of Marxism in China and the Construc-tion of China’s Modernity

现代性在中国的生成与建构,是与马克思主义中国化历史地联系在一起的;中国现代性的建构,也历史地确定了马克思主义中国化的起点、任务与方向。马克思主义中国化的理论任务就是要求确立以建设为核心的观念、以促进人与社会的全面发展为主旨的马克思主义理论话语系统,构造一套符合全球化时代要求、有利于中华民族复兴及长治久安、并具有自检与防御机制及能力的开放性的社会、政治与文化体系。     

The Role of the Supreme People’s Court and Its Evolution

China does not have the political system of separation of powers into legislative, executive and judicial divisions but puts into practice a different kind of system for separation of powers and checks and balance among public security, the procuratorate and the trial of cases (to which we may add judicial administration) within the judicial organs themselves. The federalist judicial system finds no place here; instead,     

Probability weighting and the ‘level’ and ‘spacing’ of outcomes: An experimental study over losses

The main goal of the experimental study described in this paper is to investigate the sensitivity of probability weighting to the payoff structure of the gambling situation—namely the level of consequences at stake and the spacing between them—in the loss domain. For that purpose, three kinds of gambles are introduced: two kinds of homogeneous gambles (involving either small or large losses), and heterogeneous gambles involving both large and small losses. The findings suggest that at least for moderate/high probability of loss do both ‘level’ and ‘spacing’ effects reach significance, with the impact of ‘spacing’ being both opposite to and stronger than the impact of ‘level’. As compared to small-loss gambles, large-loss gambles appear to enhance probabilistic optimism, while heterogeneous gambles tend to increase pessimism.

The Collective Transformation of Labor Relations and Improvement of the Government’s Labor Policy

China is currently undergoing a transition from individual to collective labor relations. The enactment of the Labor Contract Law marks the initial completion of adjustments to individual labor relations in terms of legal construction, as well as the starting point for the adjustment of collective labor relations. The construction and regulation of individual labor relations is not sufficient to resolve the conflict between labor and capital or to maintain industrial peace. In the shift toward collective labor relations there are two complementary forces and paths: the government-led top-down construction process, and the workers’ spontaneous bottom-up mobilization. The shift from disputes over rights to disputes over interests is an important characteristic of the transition toward collective labor relations. Chinese labor policy urgently needs to be reconstructed and refined. Its content should include the guiding role of labor relations theory and choice of adjustment models, sound collective labor law, recognition of the collective rights of workers, handling of the relationship of labor’s two forces, etc.     

Mechanisms of the Effect of Involuntary Retirement on Older Adults’ Self-Rated Health and Mental Health

This study examined mechanisms of the effect of involuntary retirement on self-rated health and mental health among adults aged 50 or older. Using two waves of the Health and Retirement Study (2006 and 2010), we selected a sample of 1,195 individuals working for pay at baseline who responded to a lifestyle questionnaire in both waves. Regression-based path analyses were conducted to test the mediating effects of financial control, positive and negative family relationships, and social integration on the relationship between involuntary retirement and self-rated health and mental health. Results of mediation analyses indicated that transition to involuntary retirement was directly negatively associated with subsequent self-rated health and indirectly negatively associated with mental health via perception of less financial control. Voluntary retirement was indirectly positively associated with both self-rated and mental health via perception of more financial control. No significant direct or indirect effects of retirement were found when retirement was measured with an aggregate measure without specifying its voluntariness. Findings emphasize the importance of specifying the voluntariness of retirement and recognizing the heterogeneity in the mechanisms of involuntary and voluntary retirement.     

Implications of the Financial Crisis for China’s Information Supervision and Curbing of Financial Corruption

美国次贷危机 (金融危机) 彰显了现有金融监管模式对于系统性风险的防范失 败。次贷危机的根源, 很大程度上可以归咎于金融信息披露严重失范滋生的金融腐 败。作为一种规制金融信息披露、通过透明度约束降低腐败的需求与供给的监管方 式, 信息监管对于遏制金融腐败具有重要作用。比较美国新的金融监管体制改革, 立 足中国实践, 重构金融监管体制, 可以以信息监管为中心, 进一步完善金融机构的信 息披露制度, 努力构建一个统合的金融信息平台, 建设有效的信息共享机制, 整合监 管资源, 形成金融反腐防腐的强大合力。

关键词: 信息监管 金融腐败 次贷危机

The US subprime crisis (financial crisis) highlights the failure of existing mechanisms of financial regulation to prevent systemic risk. Reflection shows that the fundamental causes of the subprime crisis are largely attributable to financial corruption arising from grave violations of financial information disclosure. Information supervision is an important check on financial corruption in that it serves as a means of regulating financial information disclosure and through transparency, reducing the demand for and supply of corruption. Drawing upon the recent reform of the US financial regulatory system and grounding ourselves on Chinese practice, we believe the reconstruction of the financial regulatory system should center on information supervision, with a focus on improving the system of information disclosure for financial bodies, building a unified financial information platform and an effective information-sharing mechanism, and integrating all supervisory resources into a unified and powerful force against financial corruption.     

‘We the People’ versus ‘We the Heads of States’: the debate on the democratic deficit of the European Union

The Eurozone crisis has rekindled the debate on the democratic deficit of the European Union (EU). In this paper, the debate is reconsidered by contrasting the modus vivendi of ‘We the People’ in the USA with the modus vivendi of ‘We the Heads of States’ in the EU. It is demonstrated that many of the solutions to the alleged democratic deficit focus on how more voice can be given to ‘We the People’ on the input side, but that this goes against the functional logic of the EU system, thereby undermining its ability to govern. Instead, we argue that more attention should be given to how to increase output legitimacy, and a number of proposals are put forward. Such a reshuffling of the analytical focus is the best way forward to escape the current impasse in the debate on how to ‘fix’ democracy in the EU.     

The “Great Leap Forward,” the People’s Communes and the Rupture of the Sino-Soviet Alliance

1957年莫斯科会议以后,中共对莫斯科在国际共运中的领导地位提出了挑战。毛泽东发动的“大跃进”名为“超英赶美”,实为赶超苏联,而大办人民公社则意在为整个社会主义阵营指出了一条通向共产主义的光明大道。对此,苏联一般干部及东欧国家表现出极大兴趣,而苏共领导人则一直保持沉默。克里姆林宫的这种暧昧和怀疑的态度激怒了毛泽东,特别是在庐山会议期间得知赫鲁晓夫公开发表言论,间接地否定了人民公社后,忍无可忍的毛泽东决定向一切怀疑和反对这两项“创举”的人宣战。这是导致中苏关系破裂的另一个重要导火索。     

A Study of the Relationships of Education and the White-collar Stratum

教育在阶级、阶层形成过程中发挥着重要作用。本文运用历史事件方法,着重讨论了在我国体制改革的不同时期,不同类型的教育文凭资格对人们流人中高级白领职业阶层产生的影响。文章认为,在改革过程中,进入中高级白领职业阶层的教育标准经历了由中等职业技术教育向高等职业技术教育再向正规高等教育逐步强化的过程。     

Private Information and the ‘Information Function’: A Survey of Possible Uses

Under certain conditions private information can be a source of trade. Arbitrage for instance can occur as a result of the existence of private information. In this paper we want to explicitly model information. To do so we define an ‘information function’. This information function is a mathematical object, also known as a so called ‘wave function’. We use the definition of wave function as it is used in quantum mechanics and we attempt to show the usefulness of this wave function in an economic context. We attempt to answer the following questions. How does the information function relate to private information? How can we use the information function to define the ‘quantity’ of information? How can we use the information function in arbitrage-based option pricing? How can the information function be used in the formulation of a so called Universal Brownian motion?     

The relevance of institutions and people’s preferences in the PSNP and IN-SCT programmes in Ethiopia

The effective implementation of social protection interventions is key for achieving positive change. The existing literature mainly focuses on issues related to programme design and impact, rather than the factors that influence the emergence, expansion and provision of these programmes. This article builds on the recent literature that indicates that the quality of institutions and people’s preferences play an important role in the implementation of social protection. It does so by using Ethiopia and its Productive Safety Net Programme – one of the largest social protection programmes in sub-Saharan Africa – as a case study, thereby contributing to debates on how to implement social protection more effectively, particularly in settings of widespread poverty and relatively low levels of institutional capacity. Based on primary qualitative data, the article finds that greater institutional quality at the local level is associated with the more effective provision of social protection. The ability of community members and social protection clients to voice preferences can lead to adaptations in implementation, although the extent to which this occurs is highly gendered.     

Lu Xun’s Ideological “Heresies”and the Tradition of Yue Culture

Before his death Lu Xun was sub-jected to every kind of taunt, abuse, cursesand attack, and even after his death he couldnot rest in peace: unintentional misunderstand-ings and deliberate distortions have followedone another without end. Lu Xun’s failureto be understood by others is rooted in hisideological “heresies.” These heresies arerelated to the progressiveness, rebelliousspirit and tenacity of the Yue culture, a localculture of the Chinese nation, and are morecorrelated spiritually…     

Establish and Maintain the Core Value of the Humanities and Social Sciences

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The Sociology of Practice and the Analysis of the Practical Process of Market Transition

“市场转型理论”有四个特点:第一,所关心的主要是正式组织和制度等结构性特征。第二,对于结构性特征的关注,主要是通过大规模问卷调查的方式进行的。第三,基本的理论视角是自上而下的。第四,布达佩斯学派所研究的市场转型国家,主要是东欧,特别是中欧的匈牙利。在这些社会中,市场转型伴随着政体的断裂。本文以对中国市场转型的经验性研究为基础,提出一种“对市场转型实践过程的分析”的研究路径。这种研究路径强调面对市场转型的具体实践过程,通过对市场转型中的过程、机制、技术和逻辑的关注,来实现对市场转型的新的理解。这种路径在方法上更加重视深度的个案研究,并通过将“日常生活”看作是“上”“下”两种力量互动的舞台,来综合“自上而下”和“自下而上”两种互相对立的视角。     

An Analysis of the Psychological Mechanism of Confucius’ Benevolence

讨论中国人的观念系统在很大程度上离不开儒家思想, 分析儒家思想要从孔子开 始。孔子因 “德命” 受挫而形成 “时命” 观, “时命” 观挑战了 “以德配天” 的思 想, 这需要更为本源的终极观来应对。孔子在内外心理框架的互动中, 反思体悟而形 成 “仁” 的终极观。在此理念的支配下, 向内修德凝道而 “内圣”, 向外践行 “仁 政” 而 “外王” , 内外并重以获得充沛丰盈的生命意义感。

关键词:仁 内圣外王 心理机制

The discussion of the conceptual system of the Chinese is, to a large extent, inseparable from Confucian thought, and its analysis should start from Confucius himself. He developed the idea of shiming (时命), or the mandate of the times, after the idea of deming (德命), or the mandate of virtue, encountered repeated setbacks. Shiming challenged the idea that “Heaven is aligned with the virtuous,” and coping with this challenge required an ultimate worldview of a more original nature. Confucius formed his ultimate world view of “benevolence” (ren 仁) through the interaction between his internal and external psychological framework and his reflections and realizations. Gripped by this idea, he cultivated inward virtue and adhered to the Way while outwardly practicing benevolence, with the goal of becoming “a sage within and a king without.” The balancing of the interior and the exterior was the key to enjoying a rich and meaningful life.     

On the Position and Role of Martino Martini in the History of Cultural Exchanges Between China and the West

MartinoMartini(1614-1661),knownbytheChinesenameWeiKuangguo,andwhostyledhimselfJiTai,wasbornatTrentoinItalyandbecameaJesuitin1632.HestudiedfirstattheCollegeofRomeandwasthenassignedtoareligiouspostinChina.HearrivedinZhejiangprovincein1643(the16thyearofthereignoftheMingChongzhenemperor),andpreachedChristianityinHangzhou,Lanxiandotherplaces.In1650,hewasappointedtheagentoftheChineseJesuitmissionandwenttoRometodefendtheChineserites.WhilehewasdrummingupsupportinEurope,hepublishedthreebooksi…