By‐Elections and Political Change in a Local Context: The Case of the 1973 Dundee East By‐Election and the SNP

With their unpredictability and occurrence in between nationwide elections, by‐elections have attracted a degree of scholarly interest. However, this has focused almost exclusively on how the contests have affected, or failed to affect, the direction of national politics. This article seeks to, instead, explore their influence upon the locality in which they are fought. It will achieve this through an analysis of the 1973 Dundee East by‐election and its consequences for the development of the local Scottish National Party (SNP). Prior to the by‐election, the party had not been particularly strong in Dundee. Yet the contest provided a setting in which it was able to transform itself into one of the most effective Nationalist organisations in Scotland, capable of cementing an SNP MP in the constituency from 1974 until 1987, holding firm against the collapse in the party's support across the country in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The article will examine the extent to which this resistance to the national swing was facilitated by the legacies of the by‐election and the extent to which its wider footprint contributed towards the development of an enduring party tradition that has persisted for decades.     

制度移植的动力与困境——北洋军阀时期中华民族共同体的构建路径与效应分析

北洋军阀是近代中国的一股特殊政治力量,它移植了西方现代国家制度,为中华民族构建奠定了基础性的政治框架。北洋政府延续与维系了五族共和的中华民族共同体结构,肯定了中华民族的整体性及其内部多样性,并在西方资本主义国家的框架下,从政治、经济、文化等多方面展开中华民族共同体的构建与整合,进一步提升了中华民族的整体性和凝聚力。同时,这一时期也暴露了中华民族构建过程中的深层困境,如民主制度流于表象,民族文化内在冲突等。北洋军阀及其移植的西方竞争性政党制度无力应对这种困境,中华民族共同体构建的进一步发展需要强有力的权威性领导主体——集权化政党。这说明民族共同体构建的道路应该是多元和多样的,应符合每个国家和民族的历史与发展现状。这也为中国共产党和国民党的探索,提供了理论与实践基础。     

Feature Review

Abstract

The emergence of the Tea Party has set off a new round of speculation on the “future” of the conservative movement. This essay discusses two issues, defense spending and immigration, on which the Tea Party may fuse a conservative-libertarian approach that might distinguish it from earlier conservative political movements. The essay notes that the twenty-first century has a developing school of conservative thought that can provide the intellectual groundwork for such a political combination between conservatives and libertarians. This school opposes both mainstream liberalism and mainstream conservatism and attempts to rework the conservative tradition to face contemporary challenges.     

关于党报创新的思考

目前,党报受到网络等新兴媒体的冲击,加之自身发展的困境,使党报亟待创新。今后,党报要进一步在理念、内容以及版面形式上创新,以增强竞争力,促进党报的发展。     

中国共产党的国家建设目标历史演进分析

90年来,中国共产党围绕争取民族独立、人民解放和实现国家繁荣富强、人民共同富裕这两大历史任务,提出了多个既相联系又有区别的国家建设目标。新民主主义革命时期,面临半殖民地半封建的国情,中国共产党提出要建设一个独立、自由、民主、统一、富强的新中国;获得全国执政地位后,在社会主义革命和建设时期,中国共产党提出要建设社会主义现代化强国的国家建设目标;改革开放历史新时期,立足于总结社会主义建设的经验教训,中国共产党又提出了走中国式现代化道路,建设富强、民主、文明、和谐的社会主义国家的新目标。     

根据中国具体情况决定建国方针--刘少奇新民主主义经济思想再研究

把马克思主义普遍真理同中国具体实践相结合,是关乎中国命运且又常论常新的基本课题.民主革命时期,党的七大树起把马克思主义普遍真理与中国革命具体实践相结合的伟大旗帜--毛泽东思想,使中国民主革命很快取得胜利.中华民族获得独立解放后,继续坚持这一原则尤为重要.建国前后,刘少奇关于新民主主义经济思想的探索和发展变化过程,非常典型地说明了这个问题.他在探索过程中反复强调我们的问题要根据中国具体情况决定,这是中共三代领导集体所始终坚持的重要思想基本原则,至今仍有重要借鉴意义.     

Surveying Subjective Phenomena: A Review Essay

Abstract

The geographic perspective on human behavior emphasizes the notion of context. Context suggests that human behavior is partly determined by the place in which individuals and groups act, and in turn these actions re-create places. It follows that an element of history is the contextual setting of activity. Spatial statistics are introduced as a tool for modeling context in historical studies. Spatial dependence serves to operationalize the specificity of place and the diffusion of processes between places. Spatial heterogeneity serves to operationalize the idea that behavior is regionally specific rather than uniform across space. Both spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity are included in spatial regression models. A spatial statistical analysis of the Nazi Party vote in Bavaria between 1928 and 1932 is adopted to illustrate the argument.     

From Republican Party to Republican Religion: The New Political Evangelists of the Right

Abstract

This essay shows an important shift in the Religious Right from Evangelical participation to Renewalist participation in politics. Renewalists, who are largely Pentecostals, Charismatics and non-denominational Christians, have been lumped into the "Evangelical" category by scholars and the media alike. Yet their theological orientations and concerns drive political questions and actions in different ways. Sarah Palin's placement on the Republican ticket in 2008 as the Vice Presidential candidate represents the first time an explicitly Renewalist Christian has been nominated. Since then, Palin's weaving of her theological orientation has influenced both political activity and Republican candidates in the 2012 election. Butler's essay explores Palin's contribution to this change, and poses questions about how this shift affects the future of the Religious Right.     

Turkey's "New" Foreign Policy toward Eurasia

Two geographers specializing in Turkey's international relations examine the reframing of foreign policy issues under the country's Justice and Development Party (JDP; also known by its Turkish acronym AKP), in power since 2002. After first locating the JDP within Turkey's current political landscape, the authors investigate how notions of civilizational geopolitics have led to a "new geographic imagination" under JDP that has influenced foreign policy thinking. The authors argue that JDP foreign policy exhibits some continuity with that of earlier governments in terms of activist policies toward Central Eurasia (comprising the Middle East, Central Asia, and Transcaucasia), but are based on a new conceptual foundation that views Turkey not as part of Western civilization but as the emerging leader of its own "civilizational basin" (consisting of the former Ottoman territories plus adjoining regions inhabited by Muslim and Turkic peoples). They then explore the implications for Turkey's future relations with the Central Eurasian region (of which Turkey is assumed to be the leader) and countries of the West (viewed now as "neighbors" but no longer "one of us").