Legitimising war in a changing media landscape

The media landscape is undergoing a period of radical transformation, characterised by the decline of the traditional media and the rise of digital new media. This article is concerned with the impact these changes are having on political violence and liberal democracies. The article argues that the emergence of citizen journalism and the decline of traditional journalism signals a dangerous deficit in accountability structures in liberal democracies.     

What kind of veto player is the Italian Senate? A comparative analysis of European second chambers

The literature finds evidence that the presence of strong institutional veto players correlates with policy gridlocks. In recent years, in several European countries the rationale of parliamentary second chambers as veto players has been called into question. With regard to Italy, in 2016 the parliament approved a broad constitutional reform, later rejected by a referendum. According to the proponents, this reform would have made Italian institutions more functional in a comparative perspective. Did voters actually block some sort of functionality? To answer this question, this article presents a systematic comparison of second chambers in the European Union. The theoretical framework is based on three dimensions of strength, operationalized by means of quantitative indicators and a comprehensive index of strength. The article ends with a discussion of the findings and a proposal for further research outlooks.     

明代皇权转移之际的合法性博弈

本文通过对明朝皇权转移之际种种关涉政治合法性的博弈进行考察,透视明代皇位继承的文化和心理条件,对帝制体系运行中传统、实力、社会心理、人事关系间的纠结进行剖析。明代除曾发生建文、永乐间武装争位情况外,其他过渡较平稳的皇权转移仍常伴随围绕政治合法性的博弈,皇帝、士大夫、后妃、贵族、宦官都在其间扮演角色。皇权转移关乎国运、政局、民生,由此形成具有制度、文化、时局综合含义的更替规范和社会期待。这种期待,具有一定程度上降低皇权随意更迭的约束作用,凸显合法性构建的必要,但总体而言,明代皇权转移仍在传统政治范围内,没有发生\"转型\"的明确迹象。     

Building Power in Rural Hinterlands: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Vernacular Architecture in Tigray,Ethiopia

In Tigray, Ethiopia highland farmers and noblemen used a common vernacular architecture to build places of political authority and power during the last century of Ethiopia's feudal economy. This study contributes to the perspective that domestic houses are active political locales integrated into the larger political landscape. In addition, it is argued that vernacular architectural style generates hierarchical power in part by manipulating building strategies usually attributed to monumental construction. The study concludes that vernacular architecture is actively engaged in rendering a political aesthetic that reproduces state authority in rural hinterlands.     

‘Queen’s Day – TV’s Day’: the British monarchy and the media industries

In contemporary British history, Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953 is typically imagined and narrated as the moment where television was anchored as a national cultural form. In addition, it is well documented by commentators and scholars that during preparation for the coronation, politicians and the palace had reservations that live television might fracture the carefully constructed mystique of monarchy. This article revisits the coronation to consider why and how television was perceived as a watershed moment for both monarchy and television, and what difference this has made to royal representations since. Using the work of Michael Warner, it argues that the mediated intimacies facilitated by television as a new cultural form encouraged viewers to enact participatory and active processes of spectatorship as royal ‘publics’, who are brought into being through being addressed. That is, it was the act of emphasising the centrality of television’s role in the coronation, and in reinforcing the apparent distance between monarchy and (popular) media, that these ‘meanings’ of the coronation were constructed in the public and historical imaginary.     

旅游地媒体符号的内容分析——以陕西省为例

本文以陕西省这一区域旅游地为研究样本,选取旅游地中英文版本官方网站、国外旅游手册（Lonely Planet）及国内旅游网站携程网等四大旅游传播媒介,探讨不同媒体展现的旅游地符号。本文采用ROST分析软件对文字文本和视觉文本符号进行内容分析,并运用其结果进行对应分析。研究表明,不同传播媒体旅游符号存在差异,这些差异为符号生产者所处的文化和身份的差异及各自目标市场的不同所致。因此,旅游地政府管理部门需重视旅游地符号的多样性和复杂性,在旅游符号的构建和管理工作过程中关注符号体系中三组对象的匹配性——文字文本符号和视觉文本符号,官方媒体符号和非官方媒体符号,媒体符号与目标市场。     

What is the VAT? The policies and practices of value added tax on ebooks in Europe

This article addresses reduction of or exemption from value added tax (VAT) as a cultural- and media policy instrument and analyses the VAT policies on ebooks within the European Economic Area. Examining an area of media and policy studies that is largely overlooked, the article is partly an empirical analysis of VAT policies and partly a discussion paper raising issues applicable to other media sectors and of political and societal relevance. Section 1 of the article conceptualises VAT reduction/exemption as a media and cultural policy tool within national and supranational policy frameworks. Section 2 gives a comprehensive overview of the application of VAT on print books and ebooks in Europe and discusses some consequences of the concrete taxation practices. Section 3 reports and discusses initiatives to alter the European VAT policies on digital media and cultural products and services.     

‘I arranged my own marriage': arranged marriages and post-colonial feminism

This article looks at the practice of arranged marriage among women of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin resident in Britain. It examines the conflation of arranged marriages with forced marriages and the assumption that arranged marriages are examples of cultural practices that thwart individual agency. Drawing upon original empirical data, this article will argue that in the practice of arranged marriage, some South Asian women are able to exercise agency while choosing their marriage partner. They adapt traditional arranged marriage practices to navigate their way around strict cultural expectations and to negotiate with their family members the choice of a match that is favourable for them. It provides a corrective account of arranged marriages by challenging the stereotype of the ‘oppressed third world women' and their experiences of such marriages. The article will do this by employing the idea of post-colonial feminism and by highlighting two long-standing issues in feminist debates: the idea of agency and the conception and role of power in the struggle for women's rights. It will make a case for a post-colonial approach to feminism as one way of reconciling feminism with the politics of multiculturalism.     

Leopards and Invisible Calculators: Violent Incorporation,Political Theology,and Kafka’s “Leopards in the Temple”

ABSTRACT

This essay reads Kafka’s aphorism “The Leopards in the Temple” together with some of the concerns of political theology to think about visibility and agency, the sacred and the profane, the violence of incorporation, and the field of political theology itself. Methodologically, it brings literary studies and political theology into richer engagement without consuming one into the other, either as mere illustration or as gloss. The condensed power of Kafka’s aphorism draws us right into the midst of questions about the dangers of consumption and incorporation, as well as the possibilities for meaningful interaction between these fields of study.     

新文化地理学视角下景观研究综述与展望

景观意义一方面要对其符号化的表征元素进行解读,另一方面也要关注其不可表征的意义。本研究梳理了国外新文化地理学视角下的景观研究,发现： ①表征视角下,一方面景观既被看作文化的产物,又是不同时期文化的再生;另一方面景观在权力博弈中曲折发展并推动其象征性意义的演变。②非表征视角主要关注日常生活行为、情感等方面所反应的社会变迁以及所感知的多元、复杂与不稳定的景观意义。国内新文化地理学视角的景观研究在西方思潮的影响下,对一些具体案例进行了尝试性研究,取得了一定的成果。本研究有助于中国学者结合转型期中国政治、经济、文化背景,构建具有中国特色的新文化地理学景观理论体系,推动新文化地理学在中国的良性发展。     

The ‘Injunction of Jeremiah’: papal politicking and power in the Middle Ages

Throughout the Middle Ages, the ‘Injunction of Jeremiah’ (Jer. 1:10) was employed by countless ecclesiastical writers. Building on an established tradition, medieval contemporaries began applying the allegory of ‘uprooting and destroying, building and planting’ with an intentionally moral and political message. This article examines the Old Testament call narrative with a view to understanding how and why it served medieval popes and other high-ranked ecclesiastics as a political and rhetorical mechanism for legitimising ecclesiastical authority. It argues for a noticeable and deliberate shift in textual interpretation in the ninth century, after which period medieval popes and influential church figures alike marshalled the Injunction to help strengthen the centralising ideology of Rome and her bishop. The effect, it is concluded, contributed ultimately to reinforcing the papacy's claims to govern spiritual and temporal matters throughout Christian society.