Moving Forward or Taking a Stand? Discourses Surrounding the Politics of Wisconsin High-speed Rail

The 2010 launch of a national high-speed rail (HSR) initiative became heavily politicized in some parts of the U.S. Research on HSR, however, has predominantly focused on quantitative variables at the national scale, while the fraught sub-national politics of HSR have been mostly overlooked. Using discourse theory, I explore the politics of Wisconsin HSR, arguing that HSR figured heavily in a larger state-based political struggle over conflicting spatial visions of how Wisconsin ‘ought’ to be. This research highlights the significance of spatiotemporally contingent meanings and the scale of analysis in politics of mobility research.     

Lifestyle Mobilities: A Politics of Lifestyle Rock Climbing

The conceptualization of ‘lifestyle mobilities’ has yet to fully account for the diversity within and across mobile communities in terms of leisure, travel, and identity. Lifestyle rock climbers, for example, maintain minimalist, hypermobile lifestyles in the full-time, non-professional pursuit of the sport. In an effort to interrogate lifestyle rock climbing within the broader conceptualization of lifestyle mobilities, this paper applies mesotheoretical ‘politics of mobility’ framework. It begins by tracing constellations of mobility and historical contexts within the rock climbing community more broadly. This is followed by an examination of the facets of a politics of mobility: motive force, speed, rhythm, route, experience, friction, turbulence, and remove, which together offer more nuanced understandings of the movement patterns and travel decisions of lifestyle climbing. However, to account for the community dynamics of lifestyle mobilities, there is a need to delve deeper and attend to the social relations that result from collective performances.     

Power and perceptions in participatory monitoring and evaluation

This paper examines the assumptions that commonly underpin the design of participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) within development programmes through the examination of a case study of a large rural development programme in Uganda. This case study reveals a mismatch between programme assumptions and participant perceptions, which stymied the implementation of PM&E. In this case, PM&E was based on the assumptions that programme and participant goals were compatible, participants were willing to volunteer and engage themselves for the greater good of their communities, and information sharing and communication was fairly free and open. However, farmers within the programme felt that the bureaucratic and accountability requirements of the programme were not their concern, and were acutely aware of power differences between farmers and programme officials, and between farmers of varying status. The key lesson to be drawn from this case is the need for a heightened awareness of power dynamics and political factors in the design of PM&E.     

伊拉克、黎巴嫩、巴勒斯坦政治结构比较研究

美国于2003年发动的伊拉克战争对中东地区政治制度产生了深刻影响,一些中东国家或政权的政治结构和政治力量对比因此出现了重大变化。其中,尤以伊拉克、黎巴嫩、巴勒斯坦的变化最为显著,它们按照政党制、议会制、选举制的模式各自进行了政治制度变革的尝试,并取得了一定进展,但总体尚不成熟。从西方引进的民主制度无疑改变了这些国家或政权的政治生活,有一定的积极作用,但不是治本良药,中东地区的问题需依靠地区自身来解决。     

浅谈约旦穆斯林兄弟会与政府的关系

长期以来,约旦穆斯林兄弟会与政府保持着良好的合作关系。穆斯林兄弟会不仅未受政府的压制,反而处于上升的态势。这有别于埃及和其他国家穆斯林兄弟会与政府之间纷繁多变的关系,这种合作关系在整个中东地区的伊斯兰运动中都是罕见的。鉴于此,本文拟就约旦穆兄会与政府的关系作一论述。     

政治、经学的衰变与西汉后期士人心态的走向

从汉昭帝刘弗陵即位 (前 86)到西汉末的约一个世纪 ,是西汉政治和经学发展的一个相对独立时期。就政局而言 ,外戚与中宦交替专权 ,君权旁落 ,政局多变。与汉武帝时期的皇权极盛、高度集权很不相同。就经学而言 ,重用儒士 ,广建学校 ,盛行以灾异论政 ,并出现了政治与儒学合一的现象。儒学和儒生的地位空前提高 ,这与汉武帝时期儒学仅用于“润饰吏事”、儒生往往被“俳优蓄之”也有极大差别。但是 ,经学地位的提高和空前发展并未给经学和儒生带来多少好运 ,诡谲多变的政局不仅使经学盛极而衰 ,也导致了士人的坎坷与分流。很多士人与政治渐渐疏离 ,尽管表现方式各有不同 ,但总体上呈现出一股道家思想回归的潮流     

新时期农民教育与农民政治行为的关系研究——基于教育政治学的视角

随着社会的发展、历史的进步和制度的变迁,教育与政治的关系也在发生相应的变化:教育不再是政治的依附体,教育不仅相对独立于政治,而且在推动社会进步中不断完善和优化政治。在我国,政治制度是以众多农民为基础的,农民教育是农村基层政治进步的前提。农民教育对农村基层政治的影响主要表现为对农民政治行为的优化,通过农民教育,农民的政治人格得到发展、参与能力得到提升、政治主体性得到培育。     

对抗与合作：孟子对君臣关系的新建构

孟子对君臣关系的新建构,一方面经由手足—腹心、犬马—国人、土芥—寇雠的论述,凸显了对抗的一面,土芥—寇雠之论又最让统治者胆战心惊;另一方面通过师、友、事的评析,显示了合作的一面,师友之论又最让士阶层心往神驰。既对抗又合作的复杂关联,现实地展开于士阶层参与政治的具体实践之中。孟子器重师道,强调智识分子以道尊于势的理想来应对势强于道的现实,从外王转向了内圣。这实质上是孟子的义仕派立场以及王道政治学遭遇现实困顿之后的必然转向。     

走向一种绿色意识形态

与价值观不同，意识形态既是规范性的又是描述性的，或者说，既是价值评估性的也是知识追求性的。事实与价值之间的关系，被传统地以“二分法”的方式加以构建，实际上二者是一种互补关系，但这也并不意味着对矛盾关系的否认。一种建立在摆脱教条主义的唯物主义基础上的绿色理论，更有利于开展一种行之有效的实践，而这或许是绿色运动可以从马克思主义那里继承的最为重要的遗产。如果生态主义要想成为一种有影响的意识形态，就必须发展一种“绿色实践观”，创建“理论-实践”的统一体，并借助包含着价值考量在内的“中介”来跨越二者之间的鸿沟。     

摩洛哥阿拉维君主制统治合法性分析

本文从历史与传统、现代与理性、宗教以及国王个人魅力等四个方面分析了1956年独立后摩洛哥阿拉维君主制统治合法性的基础和来源。作者指出，摩洛哥阿拉维君主制的统治反映了韦伯关于合法统治的三种类型，即合理型、传统型和魅力型，其中，传统型占主导地位并与伊斯兰教紧密相连。迄今，宗教神圣的合法性体现了阿拉维君主制所有统治合法性学说的本质，然而其神圣性也遭到了质疑和挑战。