Intensities of Feeling: Towards a Spatial Politics of Affect

Abstract This paper attempts to take the politics of affect as not just incidental but central to the life of cities, given that cities are thought of as inhuman or transhuman entities and that politics is understood as a process of community without unity. It is in three main parts. The first part sets out the main approaches to affect that conform with this approach. The second part considers the ways in which the systematic engineering of affect has become central to the political life of Euro‐American cities, and why. The third part then sets out the different kinds of progressive politics that might become possible once affect is taken into account. There are some brief conclusions.     

The Logic of Spatial Politics: The 1998 Queensland Election

This paper combines one of the few facts we know about the 1998 Queensland state election, ie the break-up of seats before and after the poll, with some straightforward assumptions about political behaviour to develop a spatial model of the election. In doing so, we reach interesting conclusions about the nature of the political contest in Queensland and highlight the existence of somewhat surprising similarities and differences between the policies of the main parties. Just as in mathematics when we can imagine a line and then imagine it projected out further, even to infinity, through the exercise of rational thought, so in politics we can consider actions and calculate consequences. Remark ascribed to John Wallis, Professor of Geometry at Oxford University in the seventeenth century. (Pears 1997, 435)     

Martin Luther King,Jr, and the Possibilities of Democratic Politics

Abstract

This essay moves beyond the limits of the post-September 11 debate over national security versus civil liberties to consider again the possibilities of democratic politics. It briefly surveys three Protestant interpretations of American democracy that have dominated recent debates. These interpretations leave us with the dilemma of having to choose between democratic dissent and the political pursuit of the good. Such a dilemma begs for other interpretations. Martin Luther King, Jr, stands as an obvious but neglected resource. His interpretation of democracy reconciles the pursuit of the good, a substantive politics, with diversity and dissent. This argument requires the retrieval or reconstruction of King's interpretation, which involves an examination of King's religious convictions as well as his engagement in and reflection on the political arena. The essay concludes by suggesting how King's interpretation informs contemporary debates and shapes Christian practice.     

Tibetan Range Wars: Spatial Politics and Authority on the Grasslands of Amdo

This article focuses on one of the most disturbing features of life on the Tibetan grasslands today: intractable, violent conflicts over pasture. The author argues that understanding spatial and historical dimensions of the process through which Amdo was incorporated into the People's Republic of China (PRC) helps us make sense of these conflicts. State territoriality attempts to replace older socio–territorial identities with new administrative units. However, histories remain inscribed in the landscape and lead to unintended consequences in the implementation of new grassland policies. The author draws on Raymond Williams’ insight into residual formations to theorize the relationship between range conflicts and secular state officials’ lack of authority. At the same time, dispute resolution by religious figures challenges both triumphalist readings of state domination and romantic notions of Tibetan resistance.     

抗日战争对中国民主政治的影响--以战后"联合政府"的弃取为例

中国人民艰苦卓绝的民族战争,将中国社会政治全面刷新：中国共产党人在政治斗争中的成熟与实力的空前壮大,战时客观上形成的“一国两制”政制和发展起来的中间党派,使国共两党力量的此消彼长几乎达于均势,为战后“联合政府”政治的生长与发展奠定了基础;随着战后世界和平民主力量的发展,以美、苏为首形成的世界两大均势集团和两个大国主导下战后形成的世界和平共存格局,也为中国“联合政府”的政治取向提供了一个新的国际环境;战时国民党统治力量的削弱、战后社会与经济恢复的困难和国内外全新的政治形势,规定了国民党可能的或可行的选择必须是放弃传统的一统模式,选择“联合政府”与社会政治多元化的发展方向。然而,当时处于国家执政地位的国民党蒋介石集团,对内过高估计自身的力量,过低估计战后中共与中间民主势力的力量。对外寄望于传统的“以夷制夷”的侥幸外交,进而做出了背离时代与脱离现实的错误抉择：选择了内战与独裁的传统“统一”观。结果,中断了中国民主政治或“一国两制”发展的历史进程,使中华民族丧失了一次不可多得的团结奋进、民主兴国的历史机遇。     

Politics and the Cultural Landscape: The Case of Aboriginal Land Rights

In this paper Aboriginal land rights are analysed from the perspective of a disadvantaged group seeking access to a scarce resource controlled by external agents. The Aboriginal participants in land rights politics are found to be actively seeking ways in which their interest in the land can most effectively be communicated to external groups which have constructed well-formed, but often distorted images of what constitutes a genuine Aboriginal interest in the land These externally constructed notions of Aboriginality and what constitutes a valid land claim are influencing the concepts used by Aboriginal groups in the public political arena to demonstrate their unique interest in the land In this paper three examples of this process are explored- the emphasis of a specific gender model, the emphasis on spatially discrete sacred sites and the emphasis on the bounded tribal territory.     

The Dynamics of Incrementalism: Subsystems, Politics, and Public Lands

A host of research has been produced in the decade since Baumgartner and Jones' theory of punctuated equilibrium first drew attention to the dynamics of policy change over time. Much of this research follows a topic across time, highlighting the shift from negative to positive feedback as challengers push an issue from subsystem to institutional level. Far less attention has been paid to the periods between major punctuations, neglecting key questions about whether incremental periods reflect an absence of challengers or the successful defense of established subsystem interests.
This research is a comparison of policy change across two segments of environmental policy. The breakup of the timber subsystem was a clear victory for environmentalists, yet these same actors have been largely unsuccessful at dislodging established grazing interests. These findings highlight the strategic value of venue shifting for bypassing entrenched interests and illustrate the potential for successful challenges to occur in judicial venues.     

抗战时期中国共产党民主建政的历史考察

抗战时期,基于夺取抗战胜利以及推进中国革命的需要,中国共产党对民主问题给予了前所未有的关注。尤其是在陕甘宁边区和各敌后抗日根据地,中国共产党全面推行民选制度;在政权组成上实行“三三制”原则;切实建立为老百姓谋利益的“帮忙政府”;等等,将新民主主义革命时期中国共产党领导下的民主政治建设推向了一个新的高度。尽管这还不十分完善,但却为战后特别是新中国的民主政治建设积累了历史的经验,也显示了中国共产党为民主事业而奋斗的决心。     

学术与政治:《现代本国史》教科书案

1929年,国民政府查禁了顾颉刚、王钟麒编辑、胡适校订的《现代初中本国史教科书》,原因是该书对中国上古史持怀疑态度,“不承认三皇五帝为事实”,会“动摇国本”。《现代本国史》对三皇五帝抱有怀疑态度,但是肯定了上古传说的象征意义和上古帝王所代表的社会演进阶段。《现代本国史》的表述与其他教科书的表述基本相同。查禁的主要原因,是国民政府对顾颉刚等人发起的古史辨运动可能危及到民众信仰的担忧和对胡适等新文化人的不满,实是国民政府加强思想控制的一种手段。民族主义式的指责成为意识形态斗争的工具。     

北洋军阀政府政治制度新论

北洋军阀统治时期的政治制度与南京临时政府和《临时约法》所奠定的资产阶级民主制度相比,是一种反动和倒退,但它与封建君主专制制度也有着根本区别。这一时期的政治制度应该是军阀专权制度,这种制度本质上是属于资产阶级政治制度体系的范畴。     

Limits to Democratic Development in Civil Society and the State: The Case of Santo Domingo

Some scholars see civil society as key to democratization of the political system. In this view, pressure from civil society forces democratization of the state. However, this disregards the fact that changes in civil society's behaviour require changes in political society — changes are reciprocal. The demand–making strategies of grassroots organizations in the Dominican Republic in 1999 provide a good example of this dynamic: the incomplete nature of the democratic transition (specifically, the persistence of paternalism and clientelism) constrained the democratic strategy choices of the civil society organizations. Just as democratization within political society is inconsistent and incomplete, so will be the demand–making strategies of the grassroots towards the state. The Dominican case is of particular interest as it illustrates the blend of personalized and institutionalized elements characteristic of democratic transition.     

The Cultural Politics of Resource Management: the Case of Bushfires in a Conservation Reserve

Recent bushfire events have seen a rise in conflict over bushfire management in south Australia. A case study from Kangaroo Island illustrates the conflict between the rural community and the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The debate is ostensibly concerned with the effectiveness of bushfire management strategies employed in reserves. Inquiry reveals, however, that the conflict is underlain by cultural and social tensions. These issues concern the protagonists' relationship with the Kangaroo Island landscape and recent land management changes. The autonomy and role of the rural community in the landscape has been challenged by these globalising trends in land management. Through the bushfire issue the community is seeking to reassert its position on Kangaroo Island as creator and steward of the landscape.     

The Cold War Politics of Cultural Minorities: Jews and Sorbs in the German Democratic Republic, 1976-1989

This article compares cultural identity politics relating toJews and Sorbs in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) from1976 to the collapse of communism in 1989. Drawing on stateand party sources, oral histories, literature and documentsfrom the Ministry for State Security (Stasi), it juxtaposesstate constructions of minority identities with the views andactions of Jewish and Sorbian students, writers and intellectuals.In its first three decades, the East German Communist party(SED) generally treated Jewish culture with suspicion or indifferenceand often conflated Jewishness with the capitalist West. Incontrast, the party celebrated a folkloric vision of Sorbianculture that linked Germany with the Slavic East. By the mid-1980s,the SED altered its posture towards Jews and Sorbs. In the GDR'sfinal decade, SED officials attempted to cultivate Jewish culturewhile viewing Sorbs with increased suspicion. The main reasonfor this shift was that SED officials placed Cold War foreignpolicy concerns over Marxist–Leninist ideological consistency.Treatment of Sorbs worsened as Sorbs forged ties with dissidentsin other Eastern Bloc nations. Meanwhile, celebrations of Jewishculture aimed to improve the GDR's ties with Western Europeby embracing Western Holocaust memory. The article also showsthat SED efforts to cultivate minority cultural identities oftenbackfired at the grassroots level. The minority cultural imagespromoted by the state often had little resonance outside leadershipcircles. Average GDR citizens frequently grew disenchanted withSED cultural minority policies, ultimately helping by the 1980sto destabilize the regime.