Anti-hierarchical activism in Hong Kong: the post-80s youth

In 2009, a political youth movement known as the Post-80s emerged in Hong Kong to protest against the construction of a high-speed railway. While local academics and government officials framed the motivations of these youth protesters using economic rationales, I argue here that the Post-80s are better understood as conveying their dissatisfaction towards existing political structures in the city. This profile sets out Post-80s criticisms of the entrenched hierarchical dynamics in Hong Kong political culture that has shaped interactions between the government, political parties and the wider population, and discusses how the Post-80s have responded to the representational imbalances imposed by these hierarchical practices in the local political sphere by advocating for a way of doing politics where individual voices (as opposed to the collective) are emphasized, and where horizontal structures are used. I conclude by exploring the repercussions of this critique on recent political discourses and protests observed in Hong Kong.     

The Holodomor law and national trauma construction in Ukraine

This article proposes to conceptualize the remembrance of the 1932–33 famine, known as the Holodomor, as cultural trauma construction in Ukraine. This entails the study of how the memory of this devastating historical event became the national collective symbol of suffering with which Ukrainians identify today. Based on Jeffrey Alexander’s concept of cultural trauma, the analysis focuses on the role of political elites and their claim-making regarding the meaning of the famine. Focusing specifically on the 2006 Holodomor law as the main claim of the Ukrainian policy-makers, the article investigates their definition of the historical event, their naming of victims and perpetrators, and their social mediation of famine representations. The article reveals how, through their definition of the Holodomor as genocide, the political elites promoted the understanding that Ukrainians experienced the years of 1932–33 differently from other Soviet nations. The Holodomor law should therefore be seen in the context of Ukrainian nation-building policy, which aims to forge a distinct Ukrainian collective identity.     

Global narratives of fatherhood. Fathering and masculinity on the Internet

There is currently an increasing amount of research on online fatherhood. In this article, we have used international blogs as our empirical data, in order to investigate and create an in-depth picture of fatherhood as it is expressed in various men’s stories about their everyday lives. Three distinct conceptions of fatherhood and masculinity emerge. The first of these positions could be described as a nostalgic position in relation to hegemonic masculinity. The second position is referred to here as complicity. This position indicates a changing landscape of fatherhood and family politics, moving towards gender-equal conditions. Thirdly, we have an inclusive position that reflects a gender-neutral position, and are understood less in terms of masculinity, heteronormativity and gender-divided responsibilities.     

Wiki-worthy: collective judgment of candidate notability

The use of socio-technical data to predict elections is a growing research area. We argue that election prediction research suffers from under-specified theoretical models that do not properly distinguish between ‘poll-like’ and ‘prediction market-like’ mechanisms understand findings. More specifically, we argue that, in systems with strong norms and reputational feedback mechanisms, individuals have market-like incentives to bias content creation toward candidates they expect will win. We provide evidence for the merits of this approach using the creation of Wikipedia pages for candidates in the 2010 US and UK national legislative elections. We find that Wikipedia editors are more likely to create Wikipedia pages for challengers who have a better chance of defeating their incumbent opponent and that the timing of these page creations coincides with periods when collective expectations for the candidate's success are relatively high.     

“Empowerment” as efficiency and participation: gender in responsible agricultural investment principles

Amidst global concern over the state of transnational large-scale agricultural investments, several efforts have been made to set global standards for “responsible agricultural investment.” While these efforts have received mixed reviews from the international community, very little attention has been paid to the gendered language of these principles. Through examining two separate sets of agricultural investment principles – one created by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Bank, and the other by the United Nations Committee on World Food Security – this article finds that, despite different processes and participants in the creation of these principles, they nonetheless share a language of “empowerment” targeted at women and marginalized groups. However, in contrast to early feminist discourses of empowerment, these principles instead perpetuate the notion that empowerment is to be found through efficiency, productivity and participation in land and labor markets. This article takes a critical look at this language of economic empowerment in each set of principles, and points to the dangers of equating efficiency, productivity and participation with feminist empowerment. By not acknowledging the broader gender dynamics of agricultural governance and markets, these discourses risk deepening existing inequalities rather than moving toward meaningful social change.     

Ethnic identity politics in Nepal: liberation from,or restoration of,elite interest?

The ethnic issue has dominated Nepal’s political landscapes since the birth of the Republic of Nepal in 2007. For decades, Nepal witnessed a series of peasant rebellions against the state and landed aristocrats. Ethnic peasants were at the forefront, demanding autonomy, dignity, and an end to state violence. Since the 1980s, however, the ‘ethnic question’ has become a development issue and the developmental idea of indigeneity has consolidated both ethnic elites and peasants. Recently, identity politics has become a dominant ideological force, rapidly unraveling the course of radical political developments in the country. Interestingly, this political movement emerged in a particular historical conjuncture where Nepali politics has been extensively shaped by the recent Maoist revolution and a long history of international development. This paper explores various aspects of ethnic peasantry and argues that the notions of indigeneity and identity politics have reinforced elite domination by depoliticizing ethnic peasant politics in Nepal.     

论政府效能监察体系的构建

中国在进行廉政建设的同时,也在进行政府效能监察工作。效能监察是监察机关为维护公共利益对监察对象存在的不尽职、不正确尽职、影响其他人尽职,乃至玩忽职守渎职失职等违法、违纪行为进行的监督检查活动。由于理论支撑滞后和相对经验不足,至今没有形成公众认可的、在较大范围适用的政府效能监察体系。本文依据调查资料,分析了构建当代政府效能监察体系的实践基础,揭示了政府效能监察体系的内容结构,预测了政府效能监察的发展趋势,提出了健全和完善效能监察体系的措施。     

世界银行的反腐败战略及其对中国的启示

自从1996年世界银行启动反腐败战略以来,经过多次调整,至今已形成了一个多渠道、全方位而更有针对性的反腐败战略框架。通过加强内部机制建设和管理、严格审查融资项目中的贪污贿赂、援助各个国家的反腐败活动、在国家援助战略中倡导反腐败、支持国际性反腐败合作等措施,世界银行在反腐斗争中发挥了卓越作用。总结世界银行反腐败的经验和特色,尝试提炼出可供中国借鉴的做法,具有十分重要的现实意义。     

政治哲学的三种类型

政治哲学依其承担的学术使命可以划分为三种基本类型:一种是哲学在政治研究领域的展开,被当作是政治学精华的浓缩;一种是在政治学中与所谓实证研究对立起来的规范研究,主要使命是阐述政治的本质或价值;一种以统一政治学研究中的价值理论与经验科学为目标。本文认为,政治哲学不仅要阐述政治生活的价值,还要承担起政治学的反思、批判职责,还要把政治认识和政治思维过程纳入自己的研究范围,关注政治学发展中提出的一切哲学问题。     

政治经济学批判:马克思主义哲学话语权的建构路径

政治经济学批判话语的缺失是当代中国马克思主义哲学“理论生产”中的一个根本性问题,它表明中国学界的“问题式”还处于传统哲学思辨的轨道上,没有真正地走向社会历史实践。无论是20世纪80年代初的人道主义大讨论,还是近来的现代性问题意识,都提出了政治经济学批判的现实要求。当前的马克思主义哲学与西方马克思主义、现代西方哲学的对话,也需要政治经济学批判为其提供一个历史与逻辑的前提。