Spiritedness,Reason, and the Founding of Law and Order: John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Abstract

John Ford's 1962 classic Western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, analyzes the difficulties inherent in founding a new political order based on the rule of law. Some critics have concluded that the film mordantly portrays the closing of the frontier, the tragic loss of the rugged individualism it promoted (represented by Tom Doniphon), and the ascendance in its place of a fraudulent political class (represented by Ransom Stoddard), while exposing that even free societies are founded on crime. Yet, as others have argued, Doniphon also represents the spirited part of the Platonic tripartite soul, revealing spiritedness's ambiguous relation to justice: he refuses to fight unless personally threatened; perpetuates servitude, if not slavery; and shows no interest in promoting equality of women. Doniphon stands in opposition to the principles of the Declaration of Independence, pointedly recited at the film's chronological center, and his eclipse by Stoddard is not a tragic mistake. In addition, John Locke's state of nature teaching unlocks why Valance's death is not a crime that sullies the foundations of the society. Finally, the legend told as fact at the film's conclusion combines both men into a single entity, “the man who shot Liberty Valance,” thereby propagating a salutary lesson for future citizens: reason must combine with and rule over spiritedness if law and order are to prevail.     

Empire, Patriotism and the Working-Class Electorate: The 1900 General Election in the Battersea Constituency

The extent to which the Unionist victory in the 'khaki' general election of 1900 was the result of patriotic sentiment arising from the South African war has long been a source of controversy among historians. Battersea has been cited as an area that was largely unaffected by patriotic and imperial fervour during this period. This article examines the general election campaign in the Battersea constituency. The sitting MP, John Burns, was re-elected despite his opposition to the war, but the Conservatives achieved their highest percentage vote of that at any parliamentary election between 1885 and 1918. While the war was not the only issue raised during the campaign, it was the most prominent and clearly benefited the imperialist and pro-war Conservative candidate. In order to retain his seat Burns had to fight a far more dynamic local campaign than his opponent, and even then he won only narrowly. Although imperial sentiment was not quite enough to oust Burns from this otherwise safe seat, it was the main reason for the strong Conservative performance.     

传统法治文化对当前地方法治政府建设之启发

中国传统法治文化是中华几千年国家治理的智慧结晶,在不同历史时期具有不同的文化特点,也存在自诞生之初就无法克服的不足之处,如强调人治、维护宗法、重刑轻民等。但是,传统法治文化有很多值得我们吸收改进的有益之处,尤其在教民、治吏与息诉这三点上,对当前地方法治政府建设有着重要的借鉴意义。本文结合包括福建本地的一些法治实例,阐述传统法治文化的特点和不足,以"从严治吏"为重点,对如何更好的建设地方法治政府提出几点个人思考和建议。     

The Locke Essay: Achievement and Promise

Abstract

Strauss's essay on Locke is devoted to Locke's early lectures on the law of nature, a text unpublished when he initially wrote on Locke in Natural Right and History. One purpose of his essay was to show that the Locke text did not contradict the position on the law of nature that Strauss had earlier attributed to him. Strauss also used the essay as an opportunity to further his own reflections on traditional natural law doctrine.     

论改革开放以来法价值取向的历史流变与发展趋势

法价值是法学的基本命题,也是社会关注的焦点。中国自改革开放以来法价值取向随着时代的变化而有所侧重。我们可以认为：自党的十一届三中全会以来,中国法价值取向经历了从秩序到效率、法治与人权的历史流变,但其发展趋势必然朝着公平正义的方向发展。     

Oral History and the Gerald R. Ford White House: The Specter of Watergate

For the last sixty years, presidential libraries have providedand preserved critical source materials essential for the studyof the history of presidents of the United States. Oral historiesat those libraries have become an increasingly important partof their key archival collections, with one or two major exceptions.This article analyzes and compares official oral history collectionsat the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library with those of othertwentieth century presidents and seeks to explain why the oralhistories currently available for research there were so limiteduntil Mr. Ford's death in 2006. The reasons for this are anintriguing blend of developed White House policy, benign neglect,the role of tape recorders in bringing Ford to the Oval Office,and the continuing influence of the ghost of the Watergate scandaleven well beyond the years Gerald R. Ford occupied the nation'shighest political office.     

Justo Sierra O’Reilly and John L. Stephens: Translation,History, and Transnational Romanticisms in the Americas

In this article, I explore the crossroads that unite two important nineteenth-century travel writers from the Americas: John L. Stephens who traveled south from the U.S. to the Yucatán peninsula, and Justo Sierra O’Reilly who traveled north from the Yucatán to Washington D.C. By focusing on two writers from the Americas, my goal is to examine how Romantic aesthetics and ideologies took on new shapes through cultural exchange within the region. More specifically, I study how these two travel writers articulated and came to terms with what Stephen Bann has identified as two fundamental aspects of the Romantic period. The first is the ‘remarkable enhancement of the consciousness of history’ (Bann 1995 Bann, Stephen. 1995. Romanticism and the Rise of History. New York: Twayne. [Google Scholar], 4) evident in the importance of popular literary genres like the historical novel. The second is a new accessibility to texts and information that incorporated large groups of readers and made historical information more available. While Stephens demonstrates an at times romantic fascination with indigenous history constructed through the analysis of the ruins he visits, Sierra O’Reilly’s translation, at every turn, critically engages Stephens's historical conclusions, revealing interlocking and contested notions of history in the Americas.     

地域社会的跨国叙事:近代以来广东潮阳陈四合批局与陈氏跨国家族的建构

论文通过个案研究,探讨了近代以来广东潮阳陈四合批局与陈云腾跨国家族的建构。在中国近代政治史上,闽粤交界的潮汕地区少为国史学者所关注,但在社会经济与文化变迁领域,这是一个需要深入研究的地方。无论是跨国主义、海洋史,还是从方兴未艾的跨国史视角看,近代以来的潮州人一直都是一个活跃的、深具跨国性特征的群体。陈云腾家族的故事首先说明,要深刻理解跨国空间的人群,任何时候都不能忽略近代以来国家的制度变迁与地方社会脉络的因素。在海外的"跨国"要素影响本土社会的同时,本土社会业已存在的历史文化传统也深刻影响着处于跨国空间的人群。     

Re-thinking Solidarity as a Principle of Catholic Social Teaching: Going Beyond Gaudium et spes and the Social Encyclicals of John Paul II

Abstract

The tradition of official Catholic Social Teaching, which emerged within the context of the European social question, has since expanded to incorporate developmental issues of the Two-Thirds World. This is shown in the social encyclicals of Pope John XXIII, but more significantly in the Vatican II Pastoral Constitution, Gaudium et spes, and the social documents of Popes Paul VI and John Paul II. In these writings, the principle of solidarity is a significant feature—both for discussions of the European social question, and in engaging with the problems of poverty and underdevelopment in the Two-Thirds World. This paper accepts that the principle of solidarity occupies a central position in Catholic social thought. It argues, however, that the ever-increasing poverty, exploitation and despair in the Two-Thirds World challenges our ethical and theological conceptualizations of solidarity. This paper intends to examine the use of the solidarity principle both in Gaudium et spes and in the social encyclicals of John Paul II. It will also raise the question whether their formulations and insights are adequate in confronting the ever-expanding challenges of international poverty and underdevelopment.     

Review Article: Westward the Course of Empire

ARTHUR POWER DUDDEN. The American Pacific: Prom the Old China Trade to the Present. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp. xx, 314. $39.50 (CDN)

SUNG-HWA CHEONG. The Politics of Anti-Japanese Sentiment in Korea: Japanese- South Korean Relations under American Occupation, 1945–1952. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1991. Pp. xv, 190. $43.00 (US)

HIDEO IBE. Japan Thrice-Opened: An Analysis of Relations between Japan and the United States. New York: Praeger, 1992. Pp. 294. $49.93 (US)

RICHARD B. FINN. Winners in Peace: MacArthur, Yoshida, and Postwar Japan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. Pp. xxi, 413. $42.00 (US)

ROBERT P. NEWMAN. Owen Lattimore and the ‘Loss’ of China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. Pp. xvi, 669. $36.00 (US)

H. W. BRANDS. Bound to Empire: The United States and the Philippines. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Pp. xii, 384. $39.50 (CDN)

ODD ARNE WESTAD. Cold War and Revolution: Soviet-American Rivalry and the Origins of the Chinese Civil War, 1944–1946. New York: Columbia University Press, 1993. Pp. x, 260. $16.50 (US).     

A Matter of Judgment: Politics,Law and the Trial of Bishop Thomas Watson

Thomas Watson's controversial expulsion from the bishopric of St David's – and hence from the house of lords – after a long and bitterly‐fought series of legal actions, raised fundamental and difficult questions about the right to control membership of the house of lords and about the relationship between politics and the law, as well as between church and state. This article explores both the local and the national political contexts that prompted Watson's ordeal, suggesting that subsequent demonisation by Gilbert Burnet has obscured the extent to which Watson was the casualty of William III's determination to cow his political opponents. It concludes that Watson was marked out for opprobrium precisely because, like Sir John Fenwick, his political and social insignificance enabled him to be victimised without risking a backlash of opposition from the social and political elite.