Intervention: Engaging post-foundational political theory requires an ‘enmeshed’ approach

This intervention argues for renewed engagements with post-foundational political theory (PFPT) within political geography. We feel that post-foundational political geography may be on the cusp of becoming consolidated as a distinct and expansive approach to political geographic scholarship, but we argue that reductionist and binary caricatures of its central distinction between ‘politics’ and ‘the political’ must be avoided for it to reach its full potential. To this end, we suggest that ‘politics’ and ‘the political’ need to be considered as more ‘enmeshed’ than they have often been represented. We write as four political geographers and will, each in our own ways, highlight how an ‘enmeshed’ approach to PFPT can better translate its conceptual interventions into political geographic research whilst facilitating productive encounters with the broader worlds of critical geographic inquiry.     

Traceable Tasks and Complex Policies: When Politics Matter for Policy Implementation

Implementation represents a key venue for the expression of political conflict. The challenge of illusory implementation, implementing the law's letter but not its spirit, has long vexed scholars and architects of public policy. We develop a political model of policy implementation to predict the kinds of politics—electoral, group, administrative—that different parts of complicated laws activate during implementation. Using original state‐level data on landmark education policy, we assess whether and how these politics render illusory implementation more or less likely for specific policy tasks embedded in complex laws. Consistent with our model, we find electoral politics render illusory implementation less likely for a narrow set of tasks. Group‐based politics and administrative politics bear on illusory implementation for a broader set of tasks in diverse ways. Overall, how policy activates politics during implementation depends on the features of the policy lever, where it is put into practice, and how traceable it is to the bureaucrats who do the implementing. Further, the results underscore how nuanced insights about implementation emerge when one considers individual components of complex laws, rather than treating the laws themselves whole cloth.     

Affluence,Poverty and the Idea of a Post-Scarcity Society

The ‘end of nature’ and the attenuation of tradition, associated with accelerated modernization on a global scale, increase the need for conscious reflection on many aspects of life formerly considered to be givens. Thus in developed and developing countries alike, new questions of personal choice and ethics form the basis for a kind of life politics which is different from — and supplements, but does not replace — the longer-established practice of emancipatory politics, concerned above all with issues of social justice. This essay invites us to consider how life politics can generate new strategies to reduce inequality and alleviate poverty.     

The Wortley Park Poachers and the Outbreak of the English Civil War

Abstract

On the eve of the Civil War, Sir Francis Wortley's deer park near Sheffield attracted the persistent attention of well armed plebeian poachers. The killing of Wortley's deer was an act of defiance that slighted his honour. His reputation was further undermined by the verbal abuse of several yeoman, prompting him into defending his reputation in the West Riding Quarter Sessions and the High Court of Chivalry. An examination of this litigation leads into a discussion of Sir Francis's concept of honour, distrust of popular politics and identification with the ideology of Charles I's personal rule. A micro-history approach to Sir Francis and his poacher enemies addresses the historiographical debate over whether deference or defiance defined plebeian attitudes to the ruling elite. It also impacts upon the formation of popular allegiance at the outbreak of civil war, and Wortley's brief notoriety as a national figure when he drew his sword for the King at York on 30 April 1642.     

Off‐road policing: communications technology and government authority in Somaliland

Prompted by the trend to see information and communications technology (ICT) as a tool for capacity building, this article asks whether the use of ICT has—or can—recast centre–periphery relations in a hybrid country such as Somaliland. Taking as its departure point Herbst's observation that a fundamental problem confronting African leaders concerns how to extend or consolidate authority over sparsely settled lands, it uses recent developments in Somaliland's coast guard and immigration police to assess ICT's contribution to changing security provision in remote and coastal areas. This allows for an analysis of Somaliland's law enforcement framework, the relationship between its politics and practice, the practical application of its coercive resources, and the Silanyo government's priorities and preference for consensus and co‐existence whenever security imperatives allow. It suggests that ICT can be a desirable operational tool or a variable in existing power networks, but that it does not represent a new mode of security governance. ICT's potential to connect Somaliland's government and populace, and politics and practice, is for now minimal, but identifying the ways in which security actors such as coast guards actually use ICT allows for a more accurate assessment of the variables shaping centre–periphery relations. Contrary to Herbst's observation, the Silanyo government does not need to overtly or systematically extend, consolidate or exert its authority in remote and coastal areas. Spatial metaphors such as centre–periphery help to clarify the situation, but the significance invested in them reflects western rationalities, rather than Somali realities.     

HEGEL AND PATHOLOGIZED MODERNITY,OR THE END OF SPIRIT IN THE ANTHROPOCENE

This article has two broad concerns, both of which are pursued primarily with reference to Hegel's philosophy of history. First, it examines whether Hegel can help explain the difficulty we have in modernity in responding to climate change and ecological crisis. It argues that Hegel provides a useful analysis of this problem, since the model of self‐determination that he appeals to is comprehensively embedded in embodied forms of culture. This helps explain why even a self‐correcting worldview like modernity is obdurate in the face of this crisis. Second, Hegel claims that the defining attribute of spirit is its capacity for self‐production. Modernity is characterized by the emerging and widespread knowledge that spirit is self‐producing. Modernity develops institutions that facilitate and provide an objective reality for spirit's self‐production and its freedom. This aspect of the article examines whether the distinctive capacity of spirit for self‐determination, which is realized in modernity, is subject to the same atrophying conditions by which Hegel says all other historical shapes of spirit are characterized. It asks if the present ecological crisis, something that is directly attributable to spirit itself, represents the limits of self‐producing spirit. The article concludes by examining the difficult position of those countries that cannot be considered to be responsible for the emergence of the Anthropocene but whose actions in the present will amplify its impact.     

The politics of education for globalisation: managed activism in a time of crisis

Since the 1990s, governments of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have begun to promote their foreign aid politics domestically via global education. This policy remit has its origins in civil society and has been combined with a stated aim on the part of governments to prepare populations for globalisation, but also to convince populations of the need for increased aid spending in the context of various challenges, including calls for aid effectiveness, large-scale protest by the metropolitan left and rising parochialisms that diminish cosmopolitan world views. In the context of the apparent spontaneity of political mobilisation globally, this article seeks to qualify the optimism of the political sociology and social movements literature on the network society by comparing two OECD government remits for global/development education in the UK and Australia, which are attempts to manage or socially engineer civic activism and engagement. The problem which this article addresses is that, on the face of it, state funding of ‘global education’ appears to be a success of the activism of educators combined with the networked advocacy efforts of development non-governmental organisations, except that it has occurred in tension with international drivers to use education to further global economic competitiveness and governments' desire to promote their own foreign aid spending in a climate of falling legitimacy. This phenomenon of state funding for global education might be considered an elaboration of network politics, but this article argues that it must equally be read, via Gramsci, as a hegemonic contest in the struggle for subject production appropriate to the global knowledge economy.     

Honour,Shame and the Fourth Crusade

This article evaluates how far chivalric notions of honour and shame had become associated with crusading by the early thirteenth century. It stems from a wider investigation into how crusading helped to forge standards for knightly behaviour and influenced the development of chivalric ideals. The Fourth Crusade serves as a focused case study, and this article examines the significance of its controversial course and conclusion as well as how two lay authors, Geoffrey of Villehardouin and Robert of Clari, used ideas about honour and shame in their narratives. It takes a close look at terminology, exploring a variety of expressions for concepts of honour and shame, and highlights the contexts in which they were used: whether to describe military encounters, the pressure on social bonds, or leadership roles. It argues that by the turn of the thirteenth century, crusading played a significant rather than extraneous role in developing ideas about chivalric conduct and proper social behaviour.     

The Clash of Interests: Commerce and the Politics of Trade in the Age of Anne

This article celebrates the contribution which Professor Holmes made to the field of British politics and society by the study of an important collection of political tracts. The compiler of the collection is identified as Sir Charles Cooke, one of the most significant commercial politicians of his day. The organisation of the collection illuminates the ways in which City politicians used various channels of information, both printed and personal, to support their political platforms. It also demonstrates how Cooke contributed to the defeat of the tories over the French Commerce Bill of 1713, by supplying key sources to combat the ministry's position. On a wider plane, although it suggests that partisan politics tainted all information advanced in the public sphere, this did not relieve political rivals of the need to establish the superior authority of their sources, and political success only saw Cooke redouble his efforts to gain as wide a base of information as possible. Statistical precision remained elusive, but his archive stands testament to a growing need for authority of source in a political world of party and vested interests.     

The Domestic Politics of Globalisation

This article provides a domestic-focused account of the impact of globalisation on Australia. The overriding aim of government in recent years has been to educate the population about the imperatives of globalisation and the need for economic liberal policy change. Labor succeeded in breaking down Australia's protectionist policy structure but both Labor and Coalition governments have found it difficult to manage globalising policy change. The Howard government has continued Labor's efforts to sell globalisation but has often diluted its message through its policy choices and rhetoric. It has been less concerned with maintaining the consistency of its message. This reflects the continuing need for governments to manage what can be called the domestic politics of globalisation. Contrary to the arguments of global determinists, domestic politics continues to shape policy and the impact and trajectory of globalisation.     

Reviving Community Spirit: Furthering the Sustainable, Historical and Economic Role of Fish Weirs and Traps

Stone wall fish weirs and traps were once an important means for inland and coastal communities to catch fish. In many places the weirs and traps have been left to deteriorate and other more productive but less sustainable practices have taken their place. It was considered that they have fulfilled their historical and economic role and it was the loss of community spirit that has contributed to their decline. A recent survey in Yap, Federated States of Micronesia found a diverse and extensive number of fish weirs and traps, and a community keen to restore and reinvigorate their associated cultural practices and community spirit. The paper draws on comparative data from other places of the world to investigate weirs and traps, and to see if a similar revival could be observed. Of importance was a need to highlight the value of pursuing this type of research for contemporary communities and maritime archaeological practitioners in the current international management framework for underwater cultural heritage.     

THE TIME OF POLITICS,THE POLITICS OF TIME,AND POLITICIZED TIME: AN INTRODUCTION TO CHRONOPOLITICS

Time is so deeply interwoven with all aspects of politics that its centrality to the political is frequently overlooked. For one, politics has its own times and rhythms. Secondly, time can be an object and an instrument of politics. Thirdly, temporal attributes are used not only to differentiate basic political principles but also to legitimize or delegitimize politics. Finally, politics aims at realizing futures in the present or preventing them from materializing. Consequently, the relationship between politics and time encompasses a broad spectrum of phenomena and processes that cry out for historicization. In our introduction to this History and Theory theme issue on chronopolitics, we argue that the concept of chronopolitics makes it possible to do this and, in the process, to move the operation of rethinking historical temporalities from the periphery toward the center of historiographical attention as well as to engage in a dialogue with scholars from a wide range of disciplines. To this end, we propose a broad concept of chronopolitics by discussing existing definitions, by distinguishing between three central dimensions of chronopolitics (the time of politics, the politics of time, and politicized time), and by systematizing possible approaches to studying chronopolitics.     

Under the Danish Cross: flagging Danishness in the years around World War II

This article explores the significance of the Danish flag in the formation of national identities during World War II and the immediate post-war period. During this dark and tumultuous period of Danish history, the flag was claimed by different groups with very different agendas, which in turn engendered differing conceptions of Denmark and Danishness. Three different themes are investigated in the article. The first regards the flag as a symbol of national continuity and endurance. From this angle, the flag functioned as a living, corporeal piece of history, which signalled that old Denmark would prevail, in spite of the crisis at hand. The second theme investigates the coupling of the flag with democracy during the 1943 elections. This event was hailed by the government as a major national celebration, with nationwide flagging for the democratic values of Denmark. At the same time, the elections were criticized as ‘un-national’, both by home-grown Nazis and the resistance movement. The third section dwells on the notion of martyrdom for the flag. This form of Danishness was not connected to peace-loving democracy, but woven into a martial discourse of sacrifice, honour and masculine heroism. Public worship of martyrdom was particularly intense in the early post-war era, when the flag was used to link ordinary Danes to the fallen heroes of the resistance movement. Thus, it was not the democratic spirit of 1943 that was celebrated after Liberation, but the martyrdom of fallen male resistance fighters, whose blood was evoked as the foundation of the re-born nation. The national memory of post-war Denmark, thereby, was based on the notion of a united people, who had stood firm and even been willing to die for the honour of their ancient flag.     

Spaces of labour control: comparative perspectives from Southeast Asia

This paper seeks to identify the spatialized dimensions of labour control in sites of rapid and recent industrialization in Southeast Asia. Using a comparative analysis of locations in Penang (Malaysia), Batam (Indonesia) and Cavite/Laguna (the Philippines), it is argued that the construction and control of space has been used to enhance control over the working body, and, in particular, to contain labour organization, unionization and collective bargaining. Three broader arguments are made. First, that labour geographies need to be cognizant of the spatialized politics of labour beyond a narrow focus on the trade union movement. Second, that space is a potent tool in labour control and must be explicitly considered alongside the identity–based control strategies and institutional structures that have usually informed studies of labour regimes in newly industrializing contexts. Finally, a comparative perspective on local labour markets, and control regimes in particular, shows that the ways in which space is constructed and controlled differs between contexts, implying that universal judgements on the relevance or importance of particular arenas or spaces for labour politics should be reserved.     

非自然景观在旅游规划实作中的运用--以"老重庆"为例

本文总结了我国近几年旅游规划在实际操作中的利弊得失,指出要给游客留下深刻印象首先就要做到突出地方精神和地方特色,在阐释非自然景观含义的基础上本文得出结论：非自然景观正是表现这种地方精神的最佳载体,接着本文分析了如何在旅游规划实作中正确运用非自然景观因素表现地方精神以及这种运用所带来的巨大吸引力,最后以重庆市大渡口区“老重庆”城旅游规划为例,从调查分析中总结出重庆的地方精神在于其非自然景观要素,在此基础上从主题营造、特色分区和景观设计三方面集中探讨了非自然景观在旅游规划实作中的具体操作。     

法家事功思想初探——以《商君书》、《韩非子》为中心

法家事功思想是东周历史潮流的反映和法家主体抉择的结果。它以务实重功效的实用理性为引导,以君主之公利为本位,建构了一套既有理论基础和目标设计,又有制度激励和实施手段;既有功利主义伦理色调,又具有鲜明政治践行作风的思想体系。法家事功思想对秦文化的渗透整合,塑造了秦人强烈的事功精神,成为支撑其崛起并担当一统华夏伟业的文化内驱力。     

Social structure,psychoanalysis, and collective aggression

This article considers Kierkegaard's contribution to our understanding of the political. Building on previous scholarship exploring the social dimensions of Kierkegaard's thought, I argue that for Kierkegaard the modern understanding and practice of politics should be understood as ‘despair’. Thus, whilst Kierkegaard's criticisms of politics might have been produced in an ad hoc fashion, this article argues that there is an underlying principle which guides these criticisms: that politics is subordinate to, and must be grounded in, spiritual or religious selfhood. In this way the modern phenomena of democracy, liberalism, the press, and the crowd can all be seen as representative of a form of community which falls far short of the potential that human beings can and should achieve. Such a community would see individuals recognising themselves and each other as spiritual beings, and taking responsibility for themselves and others. That modern politics fails to understand the human being as an essentially spiritual entity related to others through God can only lead us to conclude that, from Kierkegaard's point of view, modern politics suffers from the sickness of despair. Whilst Kierkegaard might be criticised for failing to provide us with a more detailed picture of a polity shaped by the religious contours he promotes, he clearly offers an intriguing and suggestive contribution to our understanding not only of the limitations of politics, but also the relationship between a normative human and political ontology, with the former providing the basis for the latter.     

东汉伦理政治初探

伦理政治的迷失是新朝政权倏忽兴亡的重要原因.刘秀复汉的成功,与对儒家思想的借重是分不开的.儒家政治伦理作为东汉极力表彰的意识形态,享有崇高地位,并与政治实践密切结合.伦理制衡既体现为东汉前期皇帝对治道和施政政策的主动调整,也体现在儒臣对朝廷决策和施政的约束和引导,从而发挥了一定的政治调节作用.东汉素来以朝廷表彰名节、士风高亢而彪炳中古史册,这构成该时期伦理控制的鲜明特征.东汉社会的伦理冲突,集中表现为清流士大夫捍卫德治传统、与黑暗势力的殊死斗争.     

论民主政治

民主政治是当今世界的政治主流。民主政治相对专制政治而言,它能使社会治安形势长时间地获得好转以及使社会获得持续发展。要实现民主政治必然具备一定的客观条件,国际国内的政治形势的相对稳定是实现民主政治的先决条件。要实现民主政治,必须反对超然至上的政治权力,从而使各种政治权力趋向均衡。     

Die bewertung des ungeborenen lebens im alten israel und im alten orient

Abstract

First, how does Haggai “construct” the temple, i.e. what view does he hold of it, its function and its significance? The answer here is that, whatever the Second Temple actually was, Haggai does not construct it as a place of sacrifice, a house of prayer, a location of the presence of God, a pivot of the economic system of Judah, a focus of ethnic identity, etc., but as a treasury. It must be rebuilt because it is a shame (not “glory") for Yahweh not to have a “house” in which treasures of silver and gold belonging to him can be stored and exhibited (2,7–9). And this temple must be rebuilt quickly because of the imminent political‐military upheaval ("shaking") of the earth that will result in booty in large quantities arriving in Jerusalem.

Second, is there anything in the text of the book that undermines this “construction” of the temple? Yes, there is an underlying conflict in the text (amounting to a deconstruction) over the issue of honour Yahweh is dishonoured by the ruined state of the temple, but it is not the rebuilding of the temple that will bring him honour. Further, the designation of the Judaeans and the “work of their hands” as “unclean” (2,14) deconstructs the text's placing responsibility for the rebuilding in their hands. Further still, the sudden narrowing of focus to Zerubbabel in the closing verses of the book (2,20–23), and the unprepared designation of him as an eschatological king, deconstructs the prophecy's professed concern with the temple.

Third, can these deconstructionists be deployed in the service of a reconstruction? Here I use the axiom that texts exist in order to repress social conflicts. Yes, we can first reconstitute the social reality implied by the text: from the deconstruction over the issue of honour we can reconstruct the conflict between enthusiasts for temple rebuilding and resisters. From the deconstruction over cleanness and uncleanness we can reconstruct the conflict between the leadership and the proletariat. From the deconstruction regarding Zerubbabel we can reconstruct the political conflict over the governorship.

And yes, we can secondly “construct” the social reality created by the reading of the text today. Here we can see how the reading of the text by biblical scholars functions as a repression of conflicts of interest and ideology among different groups of readers, and how the deconstructability of the text can serve to bring such conflict to consciousness.