Confucian China and Jeffersonian America: Beyond Liberal Democracy

This paper begins by reviewing the ancient Chinese worldview, one imbued with cultural particularism wherein the Middle Kingdom identified itself as the centre of the universe. I then distinguish the ways in which historically the Confucian East and Christian West have respectively exerted cultural hegemony. I next analyse China's rebuffing of liberal democracy, and how the CCP's retention of one-party rule has generated concerns about its legitimacy. I conclude by showing that China and America each possess moral traditions – specifically Confucianism and Jeffersonian Deism – that have overlapping outlooks. Both maintain a worldview that disavows extremism. Based on this broader philosophical-religious analysis, I argue that contentions over liberal democracy notwithstanding, China and America share moral ideals vital for confronting some of today's exigencies.     

Capitalism,Inequality and Ideology in Singapore: New Challenges for the Ruling Party

Amidst popular concerns about rising inequalities and living costs, reduced social mobility and inadequate public infrastructure, Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) suffered significant declines in electoral support in the 2006 and 2011 general elections before regaining support at the 2015 polls. Importantly, these concerns reflect the intensification of contradictions inherent to Singapore’s model of capitalist development. This juncture in the city-state’s political economy has been conducive to greater scrutiny of core PAP ideological notions about the perils of “Western” social welfare and the moral and functional advantages of non-democratic institutions of political accountability and representation. The PAP has responded with creative new defences of its core ideologies in conjunction with social spending boosts, a strategy that will be further tested following the 2015 election.     

Conservative Party Agents in Second World War Britain

The Second World War placed great pressures on the machineryand personnel of all political parties. Conservatives formedthe view that their own machine had been especially hard hitby the challenges of the war years, and that this was a majorreason for the party's 1945 general election defeat. A supposeddecline in the number of full-time, salaried constituency agentswas a key component of this narrative of decline. This articleinvestigates what happened to the Conservative agency in wartime,using an unusually wide range of sources, including those ofaround a hundred constituency associations. It shows that thenumber of agents did fall as a result of the war, but that associationsoften worked hard to keep their agents, or to mitigate the effectsof their departure. It also explains the failure of headquarters'wartime efforts to reform the agency and centralize the employmentof agents. Although the party's relative organizational declinedid have significant emotional and practical consequences forit in 1945, Conservatives tended, post hoc, to overstate theextent of their wartime organizational collapse, in part becauseit allowed them to avoid damaging recriminations about the realreasons for their defeat. Ultimately, though, the war's effects,while significant, were essentially transient. Constituencycontrol of agents remained, and a professional standard wasmaintained. The Conservatives emerged from the war with an agencythat was different in detail from, but recognizably similarin form to, that which had predated the war.     

执政党建设与中国政党制度的民主价值

当代中国正处于剧烈的社会转型期,多元利益诉求引发的政治参与膨胀,对政党制度民主价值的进一步挖掘和发挥提出了更高的要求。执政党党内民主的发展,直接影响到社会民主以及整个国家民主政治发展的进程,而加强执政党的建设则是充分发挥中国政党制度民主价值的关键路径。     

从“第二党”到后备军:共产党与青年团早期关系的演变

中国共产党在自身组织之外,另设青年团独立存在,原意是为其臂助,发挥助手与后备军的作用。然而,党团双轨机制具体如何运作,在中国尚属首创,无先例可循,党团关系的确立颇为周折。由于中共与青年团成立早期的特殊历史背景和客观条件,青年团产生了第二党的倾向。实际运作过程中,党团之间常为争夺组织资源与政治资源,互不相让,时起纠纷。青年团重建后,中共干脆放弃青年团保持组织独立性这一传统,使青年团在政治与组织上完全从属于共产党。     

试论健全与完善党内监督机制

党内监督机制的建设和完善是党的建设的重要内容,它在预防和惩治党内腐败方面发挥着重要作用。针对当前党内监督机制存在的薄弱环节,必须加强党内监督体系的整合与协调机制、运行与规范机制、预防与惩治机制、党内监督与党外监督的联系与配合机制的建设,这是健全与完善党内监督机制的重要内容。     

国民党二届五中全会前后的制宪诉求

融会中西,研究创新制定一部适合中华民国需要的宪法,是孙中山一生的刻意追求.南京国民政府成立后,宣称继承孙中山遗愿,把法制建设作为全力以赴的要事,社会各界利用国民党召开二届五中全会的机会,纷纷要求制定约法,在国民党方面,有国民党中央执行委员朱霁青、南京特别市党务指导委员会,国民政府方面有国民政府法制局在大会召开之前正式提出制定约法的议案于前,国民党中常委将法制局的建议作为提案提交大会,社会团体方面有上海商业请愿团于大会期间请愿,要求制定约法,有着重要社会影响的〈大公报〉的舆论推波助澜于后,又有上海市党务指导委员会于会后积极要求起草约法,形成了蔚为壮观的要求制定约法的声势.