Economic Transformation in Russia and China: Two Comments on A Comparison

Two prominent Western observers of the economic transition and development in Russia and China evaluate and supplement the preceding paper (Malle, 2008), which compares the two economies by tracing their evolution from central planning to market-oriented systems. While in general supporting and agreeing with the premise of the comparative analysis presented in that paper, albeit pointing out some instances of disagreement, the authors add observations on the preconditions and structural differences between the countries, on the political context and framework of the transitions, as well as benchmarks for measuring China's success, and reasoned observations on the latter country's policies and sustainable growth.     

乐嘉藻日记.辛亥日记简

乐嘉藻《辛亥日记》是辛亥年贵州政治、社会及士绅生活的实录,如革命前并没有社会动乱,革命时也是政权和平移交,没有出现流血事件。这些记录有别于以往对这一重大历史事件的描述。     

越南华侨与戊申云南河口起义

论文分析梳理了越南华侨与云南河口起义的密切关系,探讨了越南华侨对辛亥革命的巨大贡献。在河口起义中,越南华侨发挥了极其重要的作用,包括积极支持、参与建立河口起义的革命机关和革命军,是起义的骨干力量;参与掩护、救助因起义和策应起义而被法国方面拘押的革命志士;为起义踊跃捐款;担当起义的后勤运输、通信联络以及宣传报道等工作;起义失败后积极做好起义善后工作以及无怨无悔地默默承受起义的后果。因此,他们在起义中的所作所为,是辛亥革命前海外华侨的革命楷模。     

贵州辛亥革命中“二·二”事变性质分析

1912年贵州“二·二”事变的发生,给辛亥革命后贵州政局的发展走向产生了重大影响。长期以来,无论是时人或后人,对“二·二”事变的认识和评价,都存在着分歧。在纪念辛亥革命发生100周年之际,分析贵州辛亥革命中“二·二”事变的性质,总结其经验教训,对于更加深入全面了解贵州辛亥革命史具有重要意义。     

农业起源与“广谱革命”理论的变迁

广谱革命是国际学界农业起源研究的一个重要理论概念,自20世纪60年代以来被广泛用来指导中石器时代人类觅食策略和经济形态的变迁研究,并取得了显著的成果。在后来的半个世纪里,这一概念被不断的检验、充实和提高,并不断受到新材料的挑战。目前,过渡阶段的经济变迁也日益受到中国考古学界的关注,深入了解这一概念的发展,有助于我们提高研究水准,为我国的农业起源研究提供有益的理论指导。     

The general will beyond Rousseau: Sieyès’ theological arguments for the sovereignty of the Revolutionary National Assembly

Cultural history's recent treatments of Sieyès’ political theory have understood his political writings in their convergences with and divergences from Rousseau's political theory. By sketching a thoroughgoing analogy between the ecclesiological arguments in Malebranche's Entretiens sur la Métaphysique et sur la Religion (1688) and the arguments that Sieyès offers on the floor of the National Assembly concerning the nature of representation, I suggest that we should recontextualize Sieyès’ speeches vis-à-vis the broader discourse of the ‘general will,’ which was theological at its root. That is, the arguments Sieyès offers for the sovereignty of the National Assembly, separately and in combination, appear to have been shaped by a malebranchiste ecclesiology that grew out of the particular context of the Jansenist challenge to the Church. This argument has ramifications not just for our understanding of Sieyès and revolutionary political theory but also for what have been called the “religious origins of the French Revolution.”     

Museums in revolution: changing national narratives in revolutionary Cuba between 1959 and 1990

This paper explores the function and role of museums in revolutionary Cuba between 1959 and 1990. Drawing on a variety of hitherto unexplored archives and interviews with bureaucrats of the Cuban heritage field, the paper argues that there is a close relation between museum production, the prevailing narration of nation, internal power struggles within the regime and the changing relation with the USSR. Museums were considered primary tools for historical production and politico-ideological socialisation. These were two fundamental issues for communist regimes, concerned with fixing cultural identity and affirming historical continuity. The paper focuses on the case of the Museum of the Revolution to argue that Cuban museums changed in conjunction with the increasing crypto-colonial relations of subordination to the USSR. In the first, humanist and Universalist phase, museums served to expand culture and spread a nationalist-revolutionary narrative of nation. The second period after 1975 witnessed the institutionalisation and Sovietisation of Cuban museums. This involved their transformation into a device to instil a nationwide homogeneous class-based Marxist–Leninist narrative adapted to Cuba from the Soviet model. This ideological closure of museum production contributed to the ideological and identity-building objectives of the regime.     

Shades of Orange: The Electoral Geography of Ukraine's 2004 Presidential Elections

Two American geographers and noted specialists on the electoral geography of post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine describe and analyze the three rounds of Ukraine's pivotal and highly contested presidential elections in late 2004. In an effort to shed light on the underlying demographic and socio-economic correlates of the vote (e.g., age, income, urban/rural residence, language/ethnicity), the authors pay special attention to changes among the rounds, providing background to widespread allegations of electoral fraud in round two (first runoff). Finally, they summarize results of bivariate and multivariate regression analyses that reveal which among the various correlates contribute most to explaining differences in the vote. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: H10, O18, R10. 6 figures, 5 tables, 26 references.     

Rethinking the Political Thought of James Harrington: Royalism,Republicanism and Democracy

Traditional accounts of seventeenth-century English republicanism have usually presented it as inherently anti-monarchical and anti-democratic. This article seeks to challenge and complicate this picture by exploring James Harrington's views on royalism, republicanism and democracy. Building on recent assertions about Harrington's distinctiveness as a republican thinker, the article suggests that the focus on Harrington's republicanism has served to obscure the subtlety and complexity of his moral and political philosophy. Focusing on the year 1659, and the pamphlet war that Harrington and his supporters waged against their fellow republicans, it seeks to re-emphasise important but neglected elements of Harrington's thought. It suggests that the depth and extent of Harrington's sympathy with royalists and royalism has been underplayed, while too little attention has been paid to the fundamental differences between his ideas and those adopted by other republican thinkers at the time. In addition it brings to light, for the first time, Harrington's innovative endorsement of both the term and the concept of ‘democracy’ and draws attention to his intellectual and personal affinities with the Levellers. Finally it outlines some implications of these findings for understandings of English republicanism and the republican tradition more generally.     

A “Theological Junto”: the 1641 Lords’ subcommittee on religious innovation

Abstract

The 1641 Lords’ sub-committee on religious innovation has never been the focus of a dedicated study, despite its acknowledged significance. This article presents the sub-committee as an attempt to control parliamentary discussion of the Church. Its membership was carefully selected to ensure that it would have an anti-Arminian bias. Its discussions addressed a wide range of doctrinal and liturgical questions. The Conformist members of the sub-committee were attempting to re-assert the Reformed identity of the English Church, and roll back the doctrinal and liturgical developments of the 1630s. However, despite the political crisis, they were not prepared to give much ground to Puritan opinion. The sub-committee therefore illustrates the strength of commitment, even amongst leading Reformed theologians, to the idiosyncratic aspects of the English Church Settlement. It is therefore a significant witness to the development of English Conformist opinion.