Down Jamaica Way with Theodore Roosevelt the Diplomat

Book reviewed in this article:
William Tilchin, Theodore Roosevelt and the British Empire: A Study in Presidential Statecraft     

Durham and South Wales Miners and the Spanish Civil War

This article compares and contrasts the roles of the South WalesMiners' Federation and the Durham Miners' Association (DMA)regarding solidarity activities with the Spanish Republicangovernment, 1936–39. It firstly establishes that therewere far fewer Durham miners in the International Brigade thantheir South Wales counterparts, despite comparable socio-economicconditions. This is explained by the different political culturesof the two coalfields (although at times, both coalfields reactedin similar ways to analogous social and political circumstances).The fundamental difference was the strength of the CommunistParty in South Wales and its weakness in the Durham coalfield.The nature of Communist influence in the Durham coalfield inthat period is then explored. The final section studies theconsiderable and hitherto unappreciated institutional contributionof the DMA to the Spanish Republican cause. It also notes theparadoxical effects of the Communist-supported popular frontpolicy.     

Public Spending on the Arts as Morality Policy: The Structure of Public Attitudes

Successfully reframing a political issue as morality policy should strengthen the hand of those charging immorality. However, reframers face a daunting task in shifting public opinion. In 1989, Christian conservatives attempted to reframe the debate over federal funding for the arts from waste to immorality, by attacking grants for "anti-Christian" and "homoerotic" art. Using General Social Survey data from before, during, and after the attempted reframing, this article assesses the reframers' success in heightening the salience of religion, commitment to civil liberties, and attitudes toward sexuality in public thinking about government spending on the arts.     

冀朝鼎与中美英平准基金会

1939年底,冀朝鼎以地下党身份由美回国,通过陈光甫担任国民党政府的“环球进出口公司”襄理,从事出口中国桐油、进口美国战略物资等业务。其间曾化解了桐油危机并获得美国援助的锡贷款,还赴滇缅公路视察桐油运输情况,以打破日本的海上封锁。1941年,他利用与孔祥熙的“世交”关系,经美国友人推荐,出任“中美英平准基金委员会”秘书长,以维护法币的国际币值。他和一些美国高层官员私交甚厚,因此成为国民党财政部和美国财政部沟通的桥梁。在平准会后期他成为关键且具争议性的人物。他在汇率上的丰富经验使他成为新中国初期最有创新精神的经济事务官员。作者查阅了大量美国档案资料。这篇译文是作者文章的一部分。     

Civil Society in African Contexts: Reflections on the Usefulness of a Concept

This article considers the usefulness of the concept of civil society — both as an analytical construct and as a policy tool — in non–Western contexts, drawing on a selected review of literature on Africa from anthropology and development studies. Rejecting arguments that the concept has little meaning outside its Western origins, but critical of the sometimes crude export of the concept by Western development donors seeking to build ‘good governance’, the author examines different local meanings being created around the concept as part of an increasingly universal negotiation between citizens, states and markets. The article seeks to clarify different theoretical traditions in thinking about civil society, and suggests distinguishing the use of civil society as an analytical term from the set of actually existing groups, organizations and processes which are active on the ground. The concept is therefore useful in the analysis of contemporary politics, but is also important because it has a capacity to inspire action.     

Psychoanalysis and the Unfulfilled Social Theorist

Books reviewed in this article:
Fred Weinstein, Freud, Psychoanalysis, Social Theory: The Unfulfilled Promise