Is Morality Policy Different? Testing Sectoral and Institutional Explanations of Policy Change

We analyze morality policy change from the perspective of punctuated equilibrium theory (PET) to test whether reform dynamics in this policy sector follow a distinct pattern. First, we propose a new measurement scheme capturing changes in the intensity of morality policy output. Second, we demonstrate that morality policy change is strongly punctuated. Finally, and most importantly, we show that the degree of policy punctuations varies between different domains of morality policy, but not according to institutional features operating on the country level, supporting existing PET research, which has discovered similar domain‐specific dynamics in changes of public spending. Specifically, punctuations are particularly pronounced in areas of manifest morality policy, that is, policies characterized by strong value conflicts, whereas punctuations are less pronounced for latent morality policies, that is, policies in which other dimensions of conflict are present next to the value dimension. Significant differences in reform dynamics are neither discerned for countries belonging to the religious or the secular world, nor for countries with majoritarian or consensual democracies. The analysis relies on an original dataset capturing legislative changes in five manifest (abortion, euthanasia, prostitution, pornography, and homosexuality), and three latent morality policies (drugs, gambling, and handguns) in 19 European countries (1960–2010).     

CAN THERE BE A BOURDIEUSIAN THEORY OF CRISIS? ON HISTORICAL CHANGE AND SOCIAL THEORY

Philip Gorski's edited book engages the question of how Bourdieu's concepts can aid historical analysis, and in particular, account for change as well as reproduction. From a fascinating set of papers, this review essay takes special notice of two that theorize crisis. One, by Ivan Ermakoff, engages the question of whether disruption creates the opportunity for more conscious calculation on the part of actors; a second, by Gisele Sapiro, considers how a crisis reverberates through a specific field. This leads to further reflection on Bourdieu's work on power and the state, as well as a call for crisis hermeneutics in social theory.     

Liberal party performance and polarisation

Nagel and Wlezien's ‘vacant centre’ theory suggests that parties close to the centre tend to do better when a political system is highly polarised, creating an empty space in the political market. Cross-nationally, this does not seem to be true when overall system polarisation is used as the independent variable: indeed, there seems to be a slight negative relationship. The farther apart conservative and social democratic parties are, however, the better that liberal parties tend to do. This parallels Nagel and Wlezien's findings for Great Britain specifically.

纳格尔和乌勒子安的“空虚中心”理论指出,在政治体系高度两极化、形成政治市场某种空虚的情况下,接近中心的政党可以做得更好。跨国地看,如果把整个系统的两极化看做自变量的话,这种说法不确,二者之间倒是有些负相关。不过,保守党和社会民主党背道而驰得越远,自由党就干得越好。这倒接近纳格尔和乌勒子安对英国情况的总结。     

Policy Change and Policy Stasis: Comparing Swiss Foreign Policy toward South Africa (1968–94) and Iraq (1990–91)

This article investigates how concepts from the field of public policy, in particular the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF) initially introduced by Sabatier and Jenkins‐Smith, can be applied to the study of foreign policy analysis. Using a most similar comparative case studies design, we examine Switzerland's foreign policy toward South Africa under apartheid for the period from 1968 to 1994 and compare it with the Swiss position toward Iraq after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, when the Swiss government imposed—for the first time—comprehensive economic sanctions against another state. The application of the ACF shows that a dominant advocacy coalition in Swiss foreign policy toward South Africa prevented a major policy change in Swiss–South African relations despite external pressure from the international and national political levels. Actually, quite the opposite could be observed: Swiss foreign policy increased its persistence in not taking economic sanctions against the racist regime in South Africa during the 1980s and early 1990s. The ACF, with its analytical focus on policy subsystems and the role of external shocks as potential triggers for change, provided a useful framework for analyzing the factors for policy change and stasis in Swiss foreign relations toward the selected two countries.     

1918～1926年日本政府改善中国留日学生政策初探

日本政府在1918～1926年的大正中后期一改此前相对冷漠的中国留日学生政策,支持成立"日华学会",颁布改善中国留日学生待遇的系列法案,退还部分庚款建立中国留日学生学费补给制度等。其原因主要来自中国留日学生日益剧烈的反日斗争和欧美各国争夺中国留学生教育权的国际压力,以及本国各界人士要求反省和改进中国留日学生政策的呼吁与建议。因此,这些政策虽在客观上为中国留日学生的学习和生活提供了方便,但并未改变日本政府通过留日学生培养中日亲善意识和亲日分子以配合侵华扩张政策的主观目的,所以具有明显的功利性、选择性、象征性和国际性特点。     

前资本主义社会历史规律的求索——马克先生与历史比较研究

马克先生是我国历史比较研究的开拓者之一。多年来,他基于“前资本主义诸形态的政治经济学”的学术构想,开创出宽阔的“求同”学术理路,对中西封建社会进行诸多深入的比较考察。他在这一领域中的重要建树,在很大程度上廓清了西方学理模式的偏见及其对我国史学界的影响,深化了对封建时代中西历史异同的认识,促进了对封建社会历史规律的探索,推动了中国史学界历史比较研究的发展。     

《华佗传》《曹冲传》疏证--关于陈寅恪运用比较方法的一项检讨

《三国志曹冲华佗传与佛教故事》(1930年),是陈寅恪早年运用比较方法、从事比较之学研究所获得的一项成果,其结论和方法在学界有着广泛的影响。但结合早期传世文献与出土文献考察发现:(1)华之称华佗,乃出于其善治“虫”,而非天竺语“agada”之省译;(2)麻沸散的发明权在中国,中国不但古已有之,而且传承有道;(3)华佗事迹有附益先秦文挚之事者,此乃其原型所在,且早于印度神医耆域故事;(4)曹冲称象之法,中国先秦恐已有成例可寻。在从事比较研究时,中外比较固然重要,古今比较亦不可偏废。     

环太湖地区与中原地区文明化进程的宏观比较

环太湖地区文明化进程大致开始于良渚文化早期,至西周春秋时期才逐渐进入真正的文明社会。环太湖地区的文明化进程波折起伏较大,有着兴盛-衰落-再复兴的曲折过程,然而中原地区则是连续的不断的稳定的螺旋式发展过程。     

金字塔旅游开发和营销理念的启示

如何促使传统观光型旅游产品向具有综合功能和高附加值的多元化旅游产品转化是当前摆在我们面前的一个重大课题,埃及旅游当局的产品开发、营销理念和不断推出金字塔“新卖点”的手段,也许会给我们诸多启示。     

2. ONCE AGAIN,WITH MORE FEELING

This book summarizes in a compact volume Runciman's arguments to comparative sociologists that their discipline belongs under the theoretical umbrella of neo‐Darwinian selectionism. In his view, heritable variation and competitive selection govern cultural and social as well as biological evolution. Runciman makes a strong case for the usefulness of selectionism, but two of the theory's central features are problematic: his choice of units of selection; and the notion that culture can be distinguished from society historically as well as analytically. No one friendly to the basic project would argue against the need for hypotheses about units that undergo selection, but arguments can be made, also on pragmatic grounds, that he has chosen the wrong kinds of units. Runciman's learning and wisdom show to good effect in the book's fundamental approach: in the overall human story, the biological, cultural, and social coevolve. The quickly accumulating evidence of evolutionary psychology, anthropology, sociology, and neuroscience strongly supports the hypothesis that there is a biological basis for a great deal of human behavior, and also that sociocultural evolution modifies genes. History, in this way of thinking, is like a “braided stream” of unpredictably mutating, blending, and coevolving biological, cultural, and social processes. The old Darwinian image of branching fails to capture the complexity of evolutionary processes in biology, culture, and society. Runciman outlines a unified bio‐social science relying upon information theory. If his program were carried out consistently it would relegate to a non‐scientific level the traditional historical narratives about “carriers” or “vehicles”. The scientific‐explanatory level would instead feature replicators. Gametheory strategies play a prominent role in the selectionist picture. The emphasis on units of information stored in human brains or in exosomatic brain prostheses pushes neuroscience and information theory to the fore. An argument for the analytic‐heuristic value of “memes” and “practices” should be weighed against the value of other hypothetical units undergoing selection in a sociocultural evolutionary approach.