Disembodied politics: commitment and formal distance in Rancière*

Abstract

In light of the theme and concerns of the present collection of essays, we may ask whether ‘distance in general’, and ‘critical distance in particular’ (Fredric Jameson), has truly disappeared with postmodernity. Proposing an immediate and interruptive political engagement with local issues, Jacques Rancière’s articulation of political mobilisation does seem to confirm this claim. Upon further inspection, however, his emancipatory politics repeat the same mistake of valuing an abstract universal at the expense of a concrete particular, however paradoxical this may seem at first sight. The present article develops this thesis in three moments. On the first hand, it highlights Rancière’s notion of conflict as being institutive of politics. Secondly, it connects this ‘sensible’, and Rancière’s understanding of politics as being aesthetic, to Kant’s ‘Transcendental Aesthetics’. The French author sees in the leading section of the first Critique the grounding possibility of (I) freeing up time and space within the social realm; (II) the representation of a common political surface that can be reshaped; (III) political equality; (IV) emancipation. The last section shows how this recourse to the transcendental subject in Rancière’s politics follows and embraces a traditional position in the history of philosophy whereby identity is denigrated at the profit of a disembodied universalism.     

Adaptive designs for pivotal trials: discussion points from the PSI Adaptive Design Expert Group

The Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) is currently preparing a guideline on 'methodological issues in confirmatory clinical trials with flexible design and analysis plan'. PSI (Statisticians in the Pharmaceutical Industry) sponsored a meeting of pharmaceutical statisticians with an interest in the area to share experiences and identify potential opportunities for adaptive designs in late-phase clinical drug development. This article outlines the issues raised, resulting discussions and consensus views reached. Adaptive designs have potential utility in late-phase clinical development. Sample size re-estimation seems to be valuable and widely accepted, but should be made independent of the observed treatment effect where possible. Where unblinding is necessary, careful consideration needs to be given to preserving the integrity of the trial. An area where adaptive designs can be particularly beneficial is to allow dose selection in pivotal trials via adding/dropping treatment arms; for example, combining phase II and III of the drug development program. The more adaptations made during a late-phase clinical trial, the less likely that the clinical trial would be considered as a confirmatory trial. In all cases it would be advisable to consult with regulatory agencies at the protocol design stage. All involved should remain open to scientifically valid opportunities to improve drug development.     

Qui recrute et comment ? L’expertise économique des professionnels de l’insertion des jeunes

How do job placement specialists acquire knowledge of the markets, and do they put it to use? At deliberative committee meetings on the funding of youth integration projects, we observed the construction of a shared representation of the workings of local-level job markets. Integration professionals develop their economic expertise primarily from two sources to which they are professionally close: the young jobseekers themselves and the vocational training professionals. The unequal distribution of economic expertise is intensified by structural differences in the capacity to put it to use for each of the deliberative stakeholders.     

Frontline workers' competency in activation work

Frontline workers play a crucial role in implementing activation policies. Nevertheless, research on what competencies are required for activation work is limited. We explored activation competency based on a survey of 1,735 frontline workers in the Norwegian labour and welfare administration. Factor analysis revealed two distinct underlying dimensions in activation competency: market competency and user‐oriented competency. We found that the social workers in the study viewed themselves as having significantly less market competency and slightly more user‐oriented competency than non‐social workers have, but the differences were small. The results also indicate that these effects are partially mediated by attitudes towards conditionality. The results give reason to treat activation competencies as twofold and raise the question of whether social work education improves frontline workers' competency in activation work compared with frontline workers with other educational backgrounds.     

农业产业化与农业产业组织重构

分析了旧的农村集体经济组织失败的原因、小农经济与市场经济发展的矛盾和我国农村现存集体经济组织的根本缺陷,探讨了农业产业化的内涵和构建新型农业产业组织的基本原则,提出了产业组织内部缺陷影响组织行为、市场绩效和农业产业化的实质是解决市场经济下农村产业组织重构的观点     

Matière à spéculer : les produits laitiers saisis par l’écrit

This article seeks to describe the work of dairy products speculators. It reveals the effort, cognitive and material, that enables these actors to handle the widening of their range of action, but also the contraction in the timescale of that action, two dynamics characteristic of the financialization process currently underway in certain international agricultural markets. In contrast with certain works critical of finance, which report a decoupling of the “financial sphere” from the “real economy”, it reveals – through close attention to the graphic media employed – agents who are aware of the materiality of the products they manipulate, despite their growing distanciation, both cognitive and geographical, from the target of their activity.     

意象重构与诗歌翻译

从意象的体验性、建构性与文化性出发,首先探讨了意象的认知特性及文化特性。意象的建构基于人类的体验认知之上,而人类的认知又有着共同的物理、生理和心理基础,所以意象以及意象的建构能力为人类所共有,可以作为沟通不同语言和文化的桥梁。这解释了为什么在不同的文化中,意象都是诗歌的灵魂,同时也为诗歌的可译性提供了理论依据。诗歌翻译应该把意象对等当做最高准则,首先考虑意象的处理,并根据意象的文化特性作出适当的调整,尽量实现意象对等,以使不同语言和文化中的人们能够根据诗歌语言的线索重新建构诗歌意象,实现意象的再现。     

中国城乡就业矛盾及其化解

在我国经济发展过程中 ,失业和再就业事关改革、发展和社会稳定。面对当前我国大量农村剩余劳动力和居高不下的城镇失业、下岗职工的双重就业矛盾 ,化解我国城乡就业矛盾 ,要注重就业结构、经济结构和社会结构调整 ,积极推进农村小城镇建设 ,加大对民营经济发展的政策扶持 ,大力发展以信息产业为龙头的高科技产业和以知识为基础的服务行业 ,在培植新的经济增长极的同时创造新的就业增长极。     

治理时代西方国家的政府规制改革——兼论后规制政府的兴起

随着多元治理成为时代特征,政府规制作为一种治理模式和一种制度现实进入政治学者的研究视阈中。将治理理念与规制改革相结合成为后规制政府的重要特征。文章通过对政府规制的类型、政府规制改革的动因、内容及改革路径的分析,探讨治理时代后规制政府的模式,为中国政府规制改革提供借鉴。