Understanding Strategic Behavior： A Preliminary Analytical Framework

理解复杂的国家行为需要更为精细的战略行为研究。若要在研究上吐故纳新,应该突破当前的方法论瓶颈,充分利用多元的研究方法,探讨各变量之间的复杂相互作用,构建一个基本的分析框架。这首先需要将战略行为分为战略评估、战略决策、战略动员和战略执行四个阶段,然后需要厘清影响每个战略行为阶段的作用因素,并基本把握各种因素之间的相互作用。一个理解国家战略行为的初步框架将有助于推动战略行为研究的深入发展。     

Accurate Understanding of China’s Income,Consumption and Investment

Abstract

This study elaborates on the differences between resident disposable income in the flow of funds table and in the household survey; between household consumption in expenditure-based GDP and in the household survey; and between gross fixed capital formation in expenditure-based GDP and total fixed asset investment in the whole country as shown in investment statistics, from the point of view of their basic concepts and purposes, scope of specifications, data sources, calculation methods and data presentation. We show that the household survey somewhat underestimates household income and consumption, while investment statistics somewhat overestimate total investment in fixed assets. This does not, however, directly affect the accurate understanding of such major economic structures as the structure of the distribution of Chinese nationals’ disposable income among households, enterprises and government, the structure of final demand, etc.     

The senator’s tale: the development of Bremen’s bourgeoisie in the post-1945 era

Were members of the German bourgeoisie capable of forming the foundation for a new self-understanding of post-1945German society? Or did they prove to be unsuited as agents of Germany’s new beginning? This article seeks to answer these questions by focusing on historical developments in the early phase of the Federal Republic of Germany as reflected in the biography of one prominent representative of the German bourgeoisie. Theodor Spitta, who was born in 1873, was elected in 1911as a senator for life in the government of the Free Hanse City of Bremen. Spitta was an outstanding representative of a generation socialized under the last German Kaiser, a generation which perceived itself as part of a politically liberal Bremen bourgeoisie. He feared the gradual decline, indeed the disintegration of his class. None the less – or perhaps for that very reason – he committed himself to the goal of restoring a regionally specific form of bourgeois life in the city of Bremen. Although Spitta declared a ‘farewell to the bourgeoisie’ in his autobiographical texts, that did not prevent him from actively pursuing the revival of a unique urban-bourgeois ‘spirit’. This spirit was to serve as a tool in promoting Bremen’s central political goal in post-1945Germany: the preservation of the city-state’s unique status within Germany’s federal system.     

Professional Communities: The Foundation of Social Integrationin Today’s China

When the great sociologist Emile Durkheim analyzed the transformation of European society, he held that constant economic growth would lead to     

Culture: The Missing Variable in Understanding Social Policy?

This paper questions the intuitive assumption that twentieth-century public welfare states have reflected the wider culture in which they operate. It is argued that the postwar welfare state was a modernist project designed to change mass culture. As a result, social policy analysis has tended to ignore the wider culture as both a source and context for welfare. At the beginning of the twenty-first century new patterns of risk and postmodern cultural formations are supporting eclectic policy-making which is more in tune with cultural majorities. This signals the end of the systematic welfare state.     

The Hidden Logic of Japan’s Foreign Wars: 1592-1945

From 1592 to 1945, Japan conducted a series of military incursions in East Asia, including the invasion of Korea of 1592-1598, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 and the Japanese War of Aggression against China of the 1930s-1940s. The tone of this series of aggressive actions was set by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, was continued in the Meiji Restoration and magnified in the Showa era, crystallizing into a pervading pattern of thought and action hiding behind the facts. Those post-World War II views that propose to cut the connections among these wars launched by Japan do not conform to the way Japanese said and behaved in the past but merely endorse some contemporary Japanese academic opinions. Therefore, exploring the facts and hidden logic linking these wars and restoring the original attributes of each regional war may be of benefit to fundamental studies and realistic concerns about Eastern Asian issues.     

Australia’s national urban policy: The smart cities agenda in perspective

The Australian Government's attempts at national urban policy have been sporadic and inconsistent, under the constraints of constitutional, financial, ideological and political factors. This paper concerns the recent resurgence of national urban policy under the rubric of “smart cities” adopted by the Turnbull Government and carried on by the incumbent Morrison Government. It investigates how this round of smart cities agenda articulates with Australia's political tradition of national urban policy to seek continuity and change, through comparing historical policies, unpacking major smart cities programmes, identifying explanatory factors and critically commenting on its innovation and legacy. Drawing upon these analyses, this paper argues that understanding the smart cities agenda needs to move beyond the political, ideological “to-and-fro” pendulum to national urban policy observed in history. Rather, it resonates with a globalised policy norm established upon the city-based global integration and competition, driven by an imperative of transitioning to a knowledge economy and pursuing innovation capacity. It is too early to judge whether the smart cities agenda will bring changes to Australian cities in the way it wishes, since it involves long-term infrastructure investment and urban development projects. However, a comprehensive and consistent national urban policy to govern the Australian system of cities and towns has not been established yet.     

A perfect storm: Challenges encountered by family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease during natural disasters

ABSTRACT

Since Hurricane Katrina there has been a movement across the U.S. to examine best practice for disaster response within the aging population. However, little is known about the experience of natural disasters from the perspective of family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia (ADRD). In this exploratory, qualitative study, family caregivers (n=27) were interviewed about their experience with the historic 2015 South Carolina flood. By using thematic analysis, themes were identified to better understand what unique challenges caregivers of person with ADRD experienced. While many caregivers stated they had experienced a natural disaster previously, none had ever done so in their current caregiving role. The caregiving role affected their ability to prepare for the storm and influenced their decision-making regarding evacuation and utilization of recovery resources. Thus, caregivers were confronted by a “perfect storm” of circumstances and uncertainty. Family caregivers need to have actionable emergency plans for disasters that are specific to their role as caregivers of persons with ADRD. Study implications also suggest the role social work professionals can have in educating, advocating, evaluating, and coordinating support to assist caregivers of persons with ADRD as a potentially vulnerable and at-risk population during all phases of disaster.     

Calculating China’s Historical Economic Aggregate: A GDP-centered Overview*

Since the 1990s, thanks to the concerted efforts of domestic and international scholars, the research on China’s historical GDP that began in the 1930s has received widespread attention, and is becoming a widely discussed issue at the forefront of research on world economic history. At the same time, several scholars at home and abroad have also voiced a call for more theoretical and empirical reflection within this line of research. Diversification of methods, systematic reconstruction of historical data, and international comparisons represent three emerging trends in future research on this subject. By encouraging and leading these trends, Chinese scholars can assume a greater role in international research on economic history.     

The Legal System and Alzheimer’s Disease: Social Workers and Lawyers’ Perceptions and Experiences

The expected increase in the number of people living with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) worldwide will be accompanied by an increase in the number of cases involving persons with AD brought up to the courts. This study examined the perceptions and experiences of social workers and lawyers regarding these cases. Three focus groups including social workers and lawyers (n = 26) were conducted. Two main themes were raised by the participants: (a) the role of social workers and lawyers in court cases regarding AD, and (b) the need for improving legal encounters involving persons with AD. Similarities and differences were found in both professionals’ interpretations of these shared themes. Results of this study emphasize the need for increasing the knowledge and interprofessional training provided to social workers and lawyers involved in legal cases dealing with issues involving persons with Alzheimer’s disease.     

The Philosophical Dimension of Marx’s Economic Critique

In Marx’s critique of capitalism, the economic critique is closely related to the philosophical critique. Marx’s philosophical critique established the     

The sovereign crisis and Italy’s potential output

We evaluate the effects of the European sovereign crisis on Italian potential output (natural output, in the absence of nominal rigidities) by simulating a New Keynesian model. Our results are as follows. First, the 2011–2013 recession subtracted 1.6 percentage points from potential output growth and widened the output gap. Second, the 2013 reforms limited the reduction in output capacity to 1.4 points and enhanced long-run growth by 3. Third, once a balanced budget is achieved in the medium term, reductions in either labor or capital income taxes would boost potential output growth by 0.2 points per year.     

Marx’s Four Expositions of His Theory of Social Formation and Their Historico-philosophic Significance

通过对马克思有关社会形态演进的四次论说的考察, 证明他的社会形态理论的核 心内容在于既肯定各民族社会形态从低级向高级发展规律的共同性, 又肯定他们发展 道路的多样性。他在19世纪晚期提出现代化后进国家可能不经过资本主义而建立社会 主义社会的理论设想, 是马克思社会形态理论的重大发展。中国共产党人提出的社会 主义初级阶段理论和建设有中国特色的社会主义理论, 是马克思主义社会形态理论的 最新发展。

关键词: 社会形态演进规律 “人类学笔记” “历史学笔记” 历史哲学

An examination of Marx’s exposition of the evolution of social formations on four occasions shows that the core content of his social formation theory consists in its affirmation of both the universality of the law of the development of social formations from lower to higher stages in different nations and the diversity of their developmental paths. The theoretical assumptions he put forward in the late 19^th century about the possibility of late-developing modernizers being able to establish a socialist society without passing through the stage of capitalism represent a major development of his theory of social formations. The theory of the primary stage of socialism and the theory of building socialism with Chinese characteristics advanced by the Chinese Communists are the latest development of Marx’s theory of social formations.