Action,Technology, and the Homogenisation of Place: Why Climate Change is Antithetical to Political Action

According to Hannah Arendt, the concept of ‘political action’ is a fundamental component of the human condition because it encapsulates how the uniqueness of each human being intersects to create unpredictable political initiatives and effects. Recently, despite being one of the most daunting political challenges ever faced by humanity, there has been a noted collective action failure, or inaction, concerning the global threat of anthropogenic climate change. Why? This article seeks to explain this political inaction in a new way: by examining the metaphysical role that technology plays in disclosing the climate as a thinkable and global object. After applying the philosophy of Martin Heidegger to the complex mathematical general circulation models (GCMs) used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), this article details how the metaphysics underlying GCMs manifests the perceivable world by ‘enframing’ it, or by implicitly representing subjects, objects, and Nature itself, as a predictable, calculable, and orderable relation of static forces. When this metaphysical and mathematical uniformity constructs the climate as a calculable object that is globalised through the IPCC, it is ultimately found to be contradictory to the distinctness and unpredictability necessary for distinct human action to occur. Paradoxically, therefore, political action is argued to be metaphysically antithetical to the technologically enframed science, politics, and discourse, of global climate change itself. The importance of distinct and plural human places, when filtered through GCMs, becomes subsumed by the climate as a homogenous, calculative, and politically inactive, global object.     

Partners,Institutions and International Currencies: The International Political Foundations for the Rise of the Renminbi

The use of an international currency is not just a natural market phenomenon; it relies heavily on international political foundations. The historical lessons of the four major international currencies—the pound, dollar, euro and yen—show that a strong partner network and a favorable international institutional environment are the two major political foundations for the formation of a stable international currency. The rise of the renminbi, as a late starter looking to become a major international currency, depends not only on the requisite economic conditions but on governmental diplomacy aimed at attracting more monetary cooperation partners and creating international institutions that support its worldwide use. This strategy reinforces the political foundations for the rise of the renminbi. Building a network of partners supporting the renminbi as an international currency and creating a system of international monetary institutions are the real tests of the issuing country’s political leadership. This political leadership capacity has three dimensions: public trust founded on reputation building; a centripetal force driven by provision of benefits; and coercive force applied through sanctions. Comparatively speaking, the renminbi is still in the early stage of its ascent, so the development of its political infrastructure should concentrate mainly on gaining public trust through reputation-building and employing centripetal force involving provision of benefits.     

公民教育：现代思想政治教育的新思路

在现代化进程中,随着公民教育的产生与思想政治教育的转型,加强公民教育成为社会主义民主政治建设的一项基础工程,是现代政治民主化和现代思想政治教育发展的内在必然,也是科学发展观的根本要求。公民教育契合了现代思想政治教育的核心价值,是现代思想政治教育理念创新、内容拓展、功能优化的新思路。     

Social Psychology,Consumer Culture and Neoliberal Political Economy

Consumer culture and neoliberal political economy are often viewed by social psychologists as topics reserved for anthropologists, economists, political scientists and sociologists. This paper takes an alternative view arguing that social psychology needs to better understand these two intertwined institutions as they can both challenge and provide a number of important insights into social psychological theories of self‐identity and their related concepts. These include personality traits, self‐esteem, social comparisons, self‐enhancement, impression management, self‐regulation and social identity. To illustrate, we examine how elements of consumer culture and neoliberal political economy intersect with social psychological concepts of self‐identity through three main topics: ‘the commodification of self‐identity’, ‘social categories, culture and power relations’ and the ‘governing of self‐regulating consumers’. In conclusion, we recommend a decommodified approach to research with the aim of producing social psychological knowledge that avoids becoming enmeshed with consumer culture and neoliberalism.     

后危机时代美国政治民主异化的主要表现

经过了全球金融危机的强烈冲击，世界经济开始缓慢复苏，随之进入后危机时代。但在经历了危机的冲击之后，美国政治民主却走到了难以为继的地步，开始出现明显的异化，表现为金钱与选票的夹击使社会变革举步维艰；恶性竞争的政党政治使社会族群对立撕裂；过度的自由和权利使社会凝聚度大大降低；意识形态的对抗使政治民主难以进步。通过分析将给中国的民主建设一些有益的启示与思考。     

Brexit: Be Careful What You Wish For?

In this paper, I focus on the British future from Brexit. The institutional form this will take is not yet fixed. However, one can consider likely outcomes based on dominant economic frameworks. From this perspective, it seems unlikely that Brexit will address the actual grievances that resulted in Brexit. These transcend European Union membership.     

充分发挥大众传媒思想政治教育功能的对策研究

本文归纳总结了切实发挥大众传媒思想政治教育功能应遵循的基本原则,深入分析当前我国发挥大众传媒思想政治教育功能的现状、存在的主要问题以及导致这些问题的原因,并进而深入挖掘隐藏在这些问题背后的深层次制约因素,提出了如何充分发挥大众传媒思想政治教育功能的对策性意见。     

从农村基层民主制度运行成本看当前农民政治冷漠的根本原因

我国农村基层民主近年来在广度和深度上都得到了较大发展。但是,在这种发展的表象背后,却隐藏着农民政治冷漠的客观真象。对此,既有的"复合因果论"具有一定解释力,但也有值得补遗之处。农村基层民主制度运行成本与运行绩效的不对称、农民个体承担的基层民主制度运行成本过高才是导致当前农民政治冷漠的根本原因。     

中国—东盟政治合作机制研究

本文根据中国—东盟区域合作发展的政治合作机制的概念及呈现的多维特性,运用政治合作的目标分解和构成要素,对政治合作机制进行综合的结构分析。通过利益泛化(低度)、制度分化(中度)和价值固化(深度)生成的三个阶段性使命目标(和睦共享、和平共处与和谐共荣)合作过程的剖析,对中国—东盟政治合作机制建设的结构性问题进行探讨,以此助推区域政治合作机制的改进和优化。     

高校思想政治教育网络教育手段的理性分析

网络技术运用于高校思想政治教育,不仅丰富了思想政治教育的途径和方式,而且也有效地拓展了思想政治教育的空间。但是由于思想观念、技术水平的差异性,网络为思想政治教育提供的手段并没有得到充分地开发利用。因此,大胆实施改革创新,不断完善网络教育手段和方式,是促使思想政治教育功能得以最大程度发挥的重要基础。