The State of Autonomy

In this article it is argued that between 1870 and 1910 the Swedish social liberal state used economic grants as a political tool in order to govern parts of the sector of social movements. State grants given to non-formal education, folk high schools, organizations that held lectures for the working class, and organizations that set up libraries are the point of departure for the analysis. The specific governing measure consisted of making the sector flourish in a ‘state of autonomy’, a state in which their conduct was influenced by the need to fulfil certain demands in order to receive funding. The requirements included, for instance, that the organizations were governed by a specific form, that they were in liaison with the local government, and that they did not wander outside the ideological demarcations set up by the government. In conclusion, the article shows how the state tried to govern the conduct of non-formal education.     

Review Article: The Perils of Mid-Nineteenth-Century Anglo-American Relations

JAMES J. BARNES and PATIENCE P. BARNES. Private and Confidential: Letters from British Ministers in Washington to the Foreign Secretaries in London, 1844–67. Selinsgrove, NJ: Susquehanna University Press, 1993. Pp. 475. $55.00 (US)

IAN F. W. BECKETT. The War Correspondents: The American Civil War. Gloucester, UK: Alan Sutton, 1993. Pp. 198. £17.99

ROBERT M. BROWNING, JR. From Cape Charles to Cape Fear: The North Atlantic Blockading Squadron during the Civil War. Tuscaloosa and London: University of Alabama Press, 1993. Pp. xi, 453. $44-95 (US)

GEORGE E. BUKER. Blockaders, Refugees, and Contrabands: Civil War on Florida's Gulf Coast, 1861–1865. Tuscaloosa and London: University of Alabama Press, 1993. Pp. ix, 235. $29-95 (US)

HOWARD JONES. Union in Peril: The Crisis over British Intervention in the Civil War. Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 1992; Pp. xiii, 300. $50.95 (US).     

The Hidden Perils of Citation Counting for Australasian Political Science

In a recent article in Australian Journal of Political Science, Dale and Goldfinch present ‘standard’ journal-based publication and citation rankings of Australasian political science departments designed to complement what they characterise as the multidisciplinary, historical, qualitative and humanistic political science of the region. However, the ‘highly cited’ articles in their top-ranked political science department belong to quantitative psychology. Through unravelling why their study favours the opposite of that which it was meant to detect, this paper alerts political scientists to the hidden perils of accepting ‘standard’ Institute of Scientific Information-based approaches to citation counting as valid measures of research ‘quality’. It exposes the veiled bibliometric assumption that the ‘best’ social science is quantitative research, notes that incongruous citation scores may inform the distribution of block funding and departmental appointment processes, and warns against using ‘standard’ data to unintentionally self-police the future shape of Australasian political science.     

History Declassified: The Perils and Promise of CIA Documents

After a grueling confirmation hearing in late 1991, Robert Gates, the director of central intelligence, convened a CIA Task Force on Openness. It recommended that the agency begin to declassify documents that had previously been withheld from the public.¹ Within the CIA, a Historical Review Board was instructed to "make significant historical information available to the public without damage to the national security interests of the United States."² In the fall of 1992, with great fanfare, the CIA released the first batch of the promised intelligence material–112 documents on the Cuban missile crisis. In the fall of 1993 many of the intelligence estimates on the former Soviet Union were declassified, and thousands of pages of material on the JFK assassination were sent to the National Archives in the wake of public pressure for disclosure generated by Oliver Stone's film JFK.     

The Perils of Utopia: The Russian Intelligentsia under Communism and Perestroika

After evoking the spirit of the Russian intelligentsia, this essay interprets its changing place in society. A force for humanism, universal brotherhood and freedom of expression within a succession of repressive political regimes, the intelligentsia should — one might think — be greatly favoured by perestroika. Yet its very idealism and uncritical faith in such abstractions as ‘the people’ and ‘beloved foreigners’ have ill prepared it to deal with harsh and complex realities. As earlier stereotypes crumble and the Communist regime disintegrates, the intelligentsia itself is confused and divided. Faced with moral and political dilemmas, Tolstaya suggests that there may be some virtue in a productive form of escapism in art.     

The Autonomy Argument for Liberal Nationalism

Abstract. The article examines a recent normative argument for ‘liberal nationalism’ that can be found in the work of a range of influential contemporary writers. That argument seeks to defend the view that the state has a responsibility to preserve and promote national cultures. It does so by arguing that the liberal ideal of an autonomous individual chooser presupposes a rich and healthy national culture which provides, and gives meaning to, the options which an individual faces. The claim of the present article is that the liberal nationalist argument is much less successful than these writers would like to think. Although the argument may be valid in certain restricted contexts, the article shows that it runs into severe difficulties for a wide range of central cases that nationalists have traditionally been concerned with.     

孙中山地方自治思想之学理意义

孙中山关于地方自治的思想理念,是其民权主义政治革命纲领的基本内容。在长期的民主革命实践中,孙中山的地方自治思想不断丰富和完善,尤其是在中华民国建立以后,孙中山始终坚持以地方自治为政治理想,并由此形成了系统而完整的地方自治思想体系,体现了孙中山卓越的政治智慧和坚定的理想信念。孙中山关于地方自治的思想理念,带有鲜明的时代特色和民族属性,它是近代中国资产阶级政治文化的产物,也是近代政治思想发展史上的一个重大理论贡献。虽然这一地方自治思想体系带有不可避免的理论缺陷,在近代民主政治的实践过程中也遇到很多挫折和障碍,但其在学理上的意义是应当给予认真总结和充分肯定的。     

清末两级地方自治中的官治与自治模式

清末地方自治包括府厅州县和城镇乡地方自治两个层级,并建构了两个层级不同的官治与自治模式,即在城镇乡一级实行"以自治辅助官治",而府厅州县则实行"自治与官治合并"之制度。两种模式都借鉴了日本自治制度,但都有所不同。就清末城镇乡地方自治的运行来看,由于地方自治章程赋予官府监督自治之权,也由于自治团体为谋求地方利益,常常也会与官府对立,所以,官治与自治常常处于矛盾冲突之中。     

改革十年：庞贝管理自治权的兴衰（上）

1997年9月,一项特别法案赋予庞贝考古遗址新的身份——从意大利文化部的地方直属管理局改制为一个自治管理局.2008年7月,意大利总理宣布庞贝进入为期一年的紧急状态,并委任一名特别专员以应对“该考古遗址的严峻局势”.本文旨在回顾庞贝在这十年间的转型,考察其重大机构改革,并分析其间的工作以及人力和资金管理的演变.本文除关注专业问题之外,还着重研究文化机构问责制的作用,以及意大利公共行政管理体系的特征,并对公共机构转型是否存在全球统一的路径提出质疑.     

中世纪欧洲村庄的自治

中世纪欧洲许多村庄具有自治性质。它们独立管理自己的事务：有自己的法律——村规;有自己的最高权力机构——庄园法庭和村民会议;有自己选举出来的管理人员;有些村庄还有自己的军事防务。中央政府和领主承认许多村庄的自治。     

美国与中国关税自主

美国对华关系在南京国民政府成立初期(1927—1928)经历了一个重要发展时期。虽然当时美国认为中国没有代表全民的“中央政府”,但美国公使馆依然驻在北京,施肇基作为北京政府驻美公使继续驻在华盛顿。由于美国在华利益主要集中在长江以南,美国又承认南京政府是政治实体。     

改革十年：庞贝管理自治权的兴衰（下）

1997年9月,一项特别法案赋予庞贝考古遗址新的身份——从意大利文化部的地方直属管理局改制为一个自治管理局.2008年7月,意大利总理宣布庞贝进入为期一年的紧急状态,并委任一名特别专员以应对“该考古遗址的严峻局势”.本文旨在回顾庞贝在这十年间的转型,考察其重大机构改革,并分析其间的工作以及人力和资金管理的演变.本文除关注专业问题之外,还着重研究文化机构问责制的作用,以及意大利公共行政管理体系的特征,并对公共机构转型是否存在全球统一的路径提出质疑.