Debate and commentary

Mikael Venge, Fra åretold til toldetat. Middelalderen indtil 1660. Dansk Toldhistorie (From Our Toll to a Customs Service. The Middle Ages up to 1660. Danish Toll History), vol. 1 (The Society for Toll History, K?benhavn, 1987), 314 pp., ISBN 87 87796 08 2.

Birgit Bjerre Jensen, Udnævnelsesretten i enevældens magt bolitiske system 1660–1730 (The Right of Appointment in the Power Politics of Danish Absolutism 1660–1730) Administrative‐historical Studies no. 12, The Royal Archives (Gads Publishers, 1987), 376 pp., ISBN 87 7497 103 4.

Niels Finn Christiansen, Arbejderbevægelsens forhistorie (The Pre‐History of the Danish Labour Movement. Traits of the Early Danish Labour Movement's Political and Social Development 1848–1880). SFAH's publications series no. 18 (1986), 188 pp., ill., ISBN 87 87739 216, 120 Dkr. (member's rate 100 Dkr.).

Anders Berge, Sakkundskap och politisk rationalitet. Den svenska flottan och pansarfartygsfrågan 1918–1939 (Expertise and Political Rationality: The Swedish Navy and the Armoured Ship Issue 1918–1939), Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis 37 (Stockholm: Almqvist &; Wiksell, 1987), 246 pp., ISBN 91 22 00883 7.

Olav Riste, (ed.), Western Security: The Formative Years. European and Atlantic Defence 1947–1953 (Oslo; Norwegian University Press, 1985), 333 pp.     

Karl Polanyi and the Modernity-versus-Postmodernity Debate

The originality of Karl Polanyi's work in the interwar period has gained increasing recognition in recent years, during which time the major debate on modernity has erupted. In order to link Polanyi's work with this debate, I will first discuss his legacy on the controversial concept of progress, and then relate his position to this debate. It is my contention that Polanyi's position combines the better aspects of the two rival approaches to modernity. I will then re-link Polanyi's thought to the intellectual figures, movements and climate of his time and thereby disclose a curious affinity between his thought and the Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School. This affinity can best be understood within the parameters of the historical context that they once shared.     

Some Angles on the Anglo Debate

Little can be done to replace English as the world’s common language for full WAC congresses. WAC intercongresses, however, offer an opportunity for linguistic (and intellectual) diversity. A regular plenary session at WAC full congresses in which the best works in archaeological theory are presented, with special efforts to include archaeologists whose works are not in English (in addition to those whose works are in English) might help insure diversity of perspectives in WAC.     

美国独立战争爆发前的政治辩论及其意义

独立战争爆发前十余年间 ,北美殖民地人士针对英国的“新殖民地政策”展开激烈辩论 ,阐述殖民地反对英国政策的理由和依据 ,辩论从伸张殖民地居民的权利开始 ,逐步发展到否认英国对北美的宗主权 ,为谋求独立制造思想舆论 ,为进行革命寻找理论根据。通过这场辩论 ,北美居民对殖民地的地位和命运的认识更为清醒 ,维护自由和争取独立的信念逐渐明确 ,《独立宣言》的理论思路和逻辑框架已具雏形 ;欧洲的政治哲学在辩论中转化为北美民众的常识 ,初步形成了独具特色的美国政治自由主义     

Troubadours in Debate: The Breviari d'Amor

Matfre Ermengaud's thirteenth-century Occitan encyclopedia, the Breviari d'Amor, concludes with a treatise on courtly love, the “Perilhos tractat d'amor de donas segon que han tractat li antic trobador en lors cansos.” In this treatise, the chief figures of courtly love—the lovers, ladies, troubadours, and maldizen, with Matfre as narrator and participant—dispute key tenets of love, quoting frequently from numerous troubadour lyrics in order to prove their arguments. In fact, the “Perilhos tractat” presents quotations of troubadour lyric in a disputative manner so as to highlight the troubadours as themselves in debate, although the Breviari purports to be structured by the overarching principle of love dictated by the visual mnemonic metaphor of the Tree of Love. This study examines the quotations of the troubadour lyrics here as dialectical, then, rather than as expressing and confirming a unitary vision of Natural Love. The “Perilhos tractat” is a debate not simply on love but also on the understanding and reception of the troubadours more broadly; that is, Matfre's dialectical use of troubadour lyric generates a broader debate about the meaning of the troubadours’ lyrics and their poetic legacy in the late thirteenth century.     

On the Debate Over Public Choice Theory

Hugh Strelton and Lionel Orchard, Public Goods, Public Enterprise and Public Choice: Theoretical Foundations of the Contemporary Attack on Government .     

原工业化理论及其相关争论

自1970年代以来,“原工业化”这个术语在西方已广泛使用于学术作中,而且在学术界出现了有关这个论题的研究热潮,出版了多种研究成果。在国内,却仅有较少论中偶尔提及而没有较系统的论述和深入的探讨。本试就原工业化的理论,西方学术界对这一问题的争论及研究原工业化的意义诸问题,作一粗略的论述,供同行参考并求指教。     

明治前期日本思想界的政治改革论争

日本明治前期,围绕建立新的政治体制问题,思想界展开了政治改革论争。论争焦点主要集中在政治改革步骤和政治改革方向两方面。一些当政者和大多数思想家主张以稳健的方式逐步推进政治体制改革,少数思想家则主张实行较为激进的改革。最终渐进改革思想占据了上风。对于政治改革方向,既有主张更加民主化的政治改革,也有主张既不能摹仿欧美民主政治体制,也不能回到传统的专制体制,而只能建立符合日本国情的君主立宪体制,还有主张回到皇权至上的传统专制政治体制。