Inheritance taxes in Australia: a matter of indifference,not taboo

The failure of the Henry Tax Review to fuel public debate around inheritance taxes in Australia leads some commentators to suggest that inheritance taxes are taboo in Australia. This article uses Beckert's historical analysis of inheritance law in the United States, Germany and France to assess this claim from a comparative perspective. It argues that the discursive field around inheritance taxes in Australia aligns most closely with that in the United States, but that there are substantial differences nonetheless. Whereas in the United States inheritance taxes are a touchstone for competing visions of liberal society, in Australia liberal ideals are heavily moderated by diverse pragmatic considerations. The upshot is a long tradition of bipartisanship and relative indifference around inheritance taxes, making it difficult to promote public debate as proposed by the Henry Review. At the same time, the fiscal challenges identified by the Henry Review—arising especially from the ageing of the population—means that we should not exaggerate the obstacles to their reinstatement.     

流行音乐与自由主义

流行音乐是现代文化的重要组成部分,是音乐和大众文化相结合的产物。从美学角度来看,流行音乐的独特性源自于其审美特征的综合性,呈现出比较复杂的形态。流行音乐家个人艺术理念的自由追求与社会的整体发展是在社会运动中不断求得相对平衡的过程。不同人群文化理念、音乐风格与表达方式存在的一致性而构成的相似的共同体不是偶然的聚合,作为一种文化现象,它的产生、发展和转变很大程度地受到了自由主义思潮的影响,而且是接受人数最多最广泛的,特别是在新的历史时期,在社会主义商品经济发展中,由于流行音乐本身特点的缘故,流行歌曲则更加紧密地与时代的潮流保持同步。     

国家干预主义与经济自由主义的消长

西方经济学理论从20世纪30年代中期起得到不断发展,并且衍生出许多具体的流派。国家干预主义和经济自由主义是当代西方经济学的两大主流学派,二者此消彼长,相互吸收和融合。通过对当代经济学主要流派的观点梳理,并分别选取了两大主义“水土不服”以及克林顿政府的“第三条路”的案例加以分析,以此作为我国经济发展的借鉴。     

论米塞斯的市场至上自由主义

通过文献对米塞斯这一近代自由主义理论发展史上的一位不可或缺的人物进行评析。认为市场是人类社会有史以来最具生产力的分工合作模式,自由主义即为维护市场而构建的一种政治原则。米塞斯开创了市场自由主义一脉,与自由主义理论的另一大模式———个人自由主义交相辉映,推进了对自由主义理论的深入认识。     

当代西方关于“公共”的三种政治哲学的辩难与共识

当代西方活跃着三种关于公共的政治哲学,就是自由主义、共和主义与新左理论的公共的政治哲学。在三者之间,存在着连贯性的相互批评:共和主义批评自由主义的公共理论的自由观、自我观和程序观,新左理论批评自由主义的中立观,而自由主义则辩护性地捍卫自己的自由观、个人论和国家观。三者之间的思想表象是对立的。深入分析可见,它们之间是具有底线共识的:关于公共具有论述主题的一致性,关于公共维护具有共同的制度基准,关于公共主张的辩难具有共同的敌手。因此,三种公共的政治哲学都是维护现代性政治的理论体系。     

RE-MAPPING THE PUBLIC

This paper traces the changing political/cultural formations of publicness in Britain, and how these intersect with emerging strategies for governing the social. It draws on three sets of discursive oppositions or elisions – those of public/community; community/bureaucracy; and public/social – to trace successive struggles over the fortunes of a public institution that, I argue, stands as an icon of the public sphere – the public library service. The account illuminates how notions of publics and publicness have been made and remade, expanded and residualized, by state professionals in Britain over the last 50 years as they struggled with the incursions of ‘new’ publics as well as seeking to mediate the impact of the Thatcher years and Blair governments. But rather than reading the decline of the public library service in Britain as just another example of neo-liberal governance, the paper argues for an approach that pays attention to the specificity of institutional histories and to the organizational and occupational forces that produce and mediate cultural change.     

《观察》周刊与储安平自由主义新闻思想评析

作为中国第二代自由主义思想的代表,储安平在1946年9月创办的《观察》周刊是中国现代报刊史上自由主义报刊的典范《。观察》秉承"民主、进步、自由、理性"的宗旨,体现了储安平的自由主义思想,堪称"自由主义知识分子的重镇"。但长期以来,受意识形态的影响,新闻思想史上鲜见对储安平及其主办的《观察》周刊的研究,少有的研究也缺乏正确的评价。本文从《观察》周刊入手,对储安平的自由主义新闻思想进行了评析,充分肯定了储安平追求自由主义的新闻理想和实践活动,也试图指出其自由主义思想的局限性。     

Feminism in the Grips of a Pincer Attack—Traditionalism, liberalism, and globalism

Abstract:  The dichotomy of individualism versus collectivism is one of the pivots around which political ideologies in postwar Japanese society can be broken down. Many people had thought that what postwar Japan needed was the development of modern individuals who represented a departure from feudalistic thinking. Against the backdrop of uncertainties related to employment and life in general engendered by a prolonged economic stagnation and globalism, Japanese society in the twenty-first century is being pounded by a tempest of neoliberalism and neoconservatism. In the midst of this storm, ideas advocating social policies that promote gender equality are being dismantled by both of these forces. This is because the power of traditionalism as a force for asserting a revisionist ideology in modern Japanese society primarily constitutes the power of neoconservatism, which embraces neoliberalism with a view to revitalizing the free economy through the elimination of social welfare and the intensification of free competition. In order to establish formidable economic competitiveness, neoliberalism and neoconservatism (neoliberalism = neoconservatism) reject domestic systems geared towards labor protection (deregulation) and extol familism and nationalism as means to bringing social unrest under control through the mobilization of the labor force (traditionalism). However, the habitual way of thinking that places traditionalism and liberalism in a dichotomous pivot remains ingrained within us even now. Because globalization reinforces social mobility, these two positions will continue to gain strength even as they conflict with each other. With feminism in the grips of a pincer attack, the movement will struggle to maintain its breath.     

自由主义思潮在中国失败的民族心理原因

20世纪30-40年代,一些信仰自由主义的知识分子在中国掀起颇具声势的自由主义运动,但到40年代末期,自由主义运动就失败了,其失败的原因在民族心理方面表现为当时在中国占统治地位的求同斥异、狭隘平等、重情轻法等因素。     

伏尔泰对英国政治哲学的传播

伏尔泰推崇牛顿与洛克的学说以及英国的政治制度,其整个政治哲学的基础来源于牛顿与洛克的自然神论与经验主义认识论。伏尔泰是洛克政治哲学的积极传播者,认为自由的价值高于平等,人最根本的权利是财产权。伏尔泰更是英国资产阶级革命所确立的政治制度与政治哲学的积极传播者,其目的是为了反对法国封建专制,含有倡导财产权利、自由的价值理念等明显的政治意图。之后的法国启蒙思想家不断地锻造着从英国输入的启蒙思想武器,创立了注重平等的法国特色自由主义政治哲学。