Mobile sovereignty: The case of ‘boat people’ in Australia

State sovereignty, in terms of the organisation and expression of political authority by nation states, is traditionally interpreted as a political container that is being weakened by increasing human and non-human mobilities. However recent research indicates that states are themselves becoming more mobile as executive bodies move and sovereign spaces are tactically reduced and expanded to intercept and control global mobilities. While challenging dichotomous notions of mobility and sovereignty, such research frames the movements of governments, territory and sovereign agents as the tactics of already established states. This paper builds on extant research by drawing on both a mobile ontology and Giorgio Agamben's theory of sovereignty to examine how mobilities constitute modern state sovereignty. To do so I examine Australian sovereignty and the related material and symbolic exclusion of asylum seekers arriving by boat. My analysis finds that mobilities, in terms of material movements and their representation, are essential to the construction of Australian sovereignty and the position of maritime asylum seekers as its outsider and limit identity. Through their mobile interception and management, and their representation as mobile ‘others’, maritime asylum seekers are used to create sovereign borders between specific types of movement; between ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’ (im)mobilities. I argue that this form of state sovereignty is disarticulated from space and follows populations who construct territories as being ‘inside’ or ‘outside’ of the Australian state as they move.     

20世纪美国残疾人就业权利的缘起、制度化与困境

在某种意义上,20世纪的美国历史也是一部残疾人的民权运动史。如果说经济大萧条初步唤醒了残疾人的就业权利意识,两次世界大战开启了美国伤残军人康复与就业援助的机制建设,第三次科技革命则加速了残疾人就业权利保障的制度化进程。从公共就业计划、残疾人社会保障保险计划、补充收入保障计划,到《1973年残疾人康复法》,再到《1990年美国残疾人法》,残疾人的就业权利经历了被漠视、依附于福利救济、向实现平等权利转变等阶段,给美国的政治、经济、社会、思想领域留下了诸多挑战和值得思考的问题。由于法律在解决社会问题上存有局限、残疾人对各种福利保障资助的依赖、根深蒂固的偏见等因素,美国残疾人争取平等权利之路仍任重而道远。     

The statistical politics of exceptional territories

The so-called Rotterdam Act enables municipal governments in the Netherlands to bar poor households with no or limited residential history in the metropolitan area from moving into certain neighborhoods. Although evidently at odds with principles of equality enshrined in law, the Act has emerged as a standard part of the policy tool kit. This article seeks to explain how the Rotterdam Act came to pass. Asking this question sets us on the path of reconstructing how specific urban areas suffering from extraordinary problems were identified and how using exceptional measures to exclude specific groups were instituted. In a word, we are interested in the construction of exceptionality. We show that the construction of exceptional territories is based on the interplay of discretionary power and statistical calculation. We discuss the wider relevance of our analysis to the emerging field of critical data studies and for understanding the links between sovereignty, territory and statistics in constitutional democracies.     

Diplomatic relations through wartime alliance: the Republic of China's relations with Canada

Relations between China and Canada began 150 years ago with the arrival of Chinese immigrants in British Columbia. However, formal diplomatic relations were not established until 1942, when Canada and the Republic of China (ROC) became wartime allies in their common fight against the Axis powers. The Canadian government soon passed a China aid program and earmarked 52 million Canadian dollars in war materials for China. This aid program was not favored by either the United States or Great Britain, but was unilaterally adopted by the wartime Canadian government. However, shipments of war materials destined for unoccupied China were blocked by geographic barriers and could not reach their destination. Canada's China aid program continued during the immediate post‐war years. The main motivation was economic: to get rid of Canada's surplus war materials and to develop bilateral trade relations. The aid program came to a halt in late 1948 only when China's political development made the Canadian government change its China policy. Afterward, Canada's diplomatic relations with ROC were stringently maintained until the Canadian government granted diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China in 1970. This article is a brief survey of the Canada–ROC relations during those years.     

Being Canadian: Dual Citizenship in Historical Perspective

Why do states configure their citizenship laws in certain ways? Why do they allow or prohibit dual citizenship? Why was it only in 1946 that Canada decided to enact its first citizenship law which prohibited multiple national allegiances? Why was a similar proposal abandoned in 1931? And why was this citizenship law changed in 1977 to allow dual citizenship? A common answer is that citizenship reflects the national “identity” of each nation-state. Through a perusal of the debates regarding citizenship laws in Canada, I locate the particular motivation for introducing those laws. I argue that although the symbolic element of citizenship laws is significant, citizenship laws are enacted as a political instrument to achieve immediate and specific goals. In particular, accepting dual citizenship in Canada should be seen as a one of the strategies political elites tried in order to incorporate English and French speakers under the same flag.     

Redistricting principles and incumbency protection in the U.S. Congress

Critics of congressional redistricting have argued that recent legislative gerrymandering severely undermines electoral competitiveness to the point of violating constitutional equal protection standards. In this paper, we assess how states' redistricting plans vary in incumbency protection. Particularly, we evaluate whether redistricting principles and processes had any measurable consequence in incumbency protection in the 2000 redistricting cycle. We first report substantial regional variation across states in the principles formally noted in state redistricting laws. We then report results showing that some traditional, “politically neutral” redistricting principles and less politicized processes significantly diminish incumbency protection. Our results indicate significant incumbency gerrymandering across states in the recent cycle; however, states have significantly less incumbency protection when they specify specific population- and politically-based principles while suppressing elected officials' agenda setting influence in the districting process.     

菲律宾政府的海外菲律宾人政策探析

近三十年来,菲律宾向世界各地输送了大量海外移民,尤其是劳工移民。菲律宾政府为此实施了诸多积极有效的海外移民政策。如实施《移民劳工和海外菲律宾人法》等政策法规,维护劳工移民和海外菲律宾人的权益;设立高效协作的移民管理机构,为海外菲律宾人提供全方位保护和服务;实行双重国籍政策,赋予海外菲律宾人公民权;设立"海外菲律宾人月"等节日和"总统奖"等奖项,表彰海外菲律宾人的杰出贡献等。这些政策的实施,加强了海外菲律宾人对祖籍国的向心力和凝聚力,他们在菲律宾的社会经济发展中发挥着重要作用。     

Cooperation without Trust: Overcoming Collective Action Barriers to Endangered Species Protection

Mutual trust among individuals is frequently cited as an important factor in encouraging collective action, particularly in environmental policy settings. Yet the precise role of trust in the collective action process remains uncertain. This article explores the hypothesis that trust is overrated as a cause of cooperation. It initially tests this hypothesis through two case studies of voluntary collective action in a new context: the creation of multiactor Habitat Conservation Plans to protect endangered species. The two cases suggest that institutional mechanisms and political leadership can play an important role in encouraging collective action without relying on trust among cooperators. Besides their theoretical implications, the results suggest policymakers might spend more energy on creating incentives and assurance mechanisms to encourage collaboration, rather than the potentially fruitless task of building of social capital among rival stakeholders.     

"宅地农场议案"在国会的辩论及其通过

《宅地农场法》是美国历史上最重要的一项土地法令,它深深植根于美国悠久的免费分配土地的历史传统之中。“宅地农场议案”在国会的辩论成为美国历史上最激烈和最感情化的一次漫长辩论。它同美国南、北、西三大地理区域关系、奴隶制与反奴隶制的斗争紧密地交织在一起。这一议案的通过,标志着西部和北部争取民主自由、反对奴隶制斗争的胜利,使美国的土地制度进一步民主化。     

“纸生仔”现象的历史现实与文学想象*--以伍慧明《望岩》为例的分析 A

论文结合历史事实和伍慧明的《望岩》对“纸生仔”的形象塑造,分析探讨了“纸生仔”对美国华人的个人关系、家庭关系以及对整个华人社区的影响。“纸生仔”作为美国华人历史上的一个重要现象,一方面,它给众多通过“纸生仔”进入美国的个人及其家庭、整个华人社区造成了长久影响;另一方面,“纸生仔”的影响是代际传递的,它影响了整个华人社区的社会关系。同时,《望岩》展示了在麦卡锡时代和“坦白计划”背景下的华人社区,揭示了“纸生仔”对华人社区造成的持续伤痛。