‘Each fantasy chosen begin’: the music of The Divine Comedy

This article considers the cultural and social context for the music of the Northern Irish band The Divine Comedy. It focuses on three mid-1990s albums – Liberation (1993), Promenade (1994) and Casanova (1996) – and debates the significance of this performance of alternative Ulster masculinity during the peace process. It will detail the lyrical obsession with a very particular type of imagined Anglo-Irishness during the first two of these albums, and then consider the complicated uses of the ‘Britpop’ genre in Casanova. This music is baroque, literary and written by an Anglican bishop's son, Neil Hannon, who grew up in Enniskillen during the Troubles. It will consider how Hannon cobbles together an acceptable identity through the use of literary pretentiousness and a carefully crafted pop persona.     

Visions of reconciliation: Longley,Heaney and the Greeks

At the heart of myth is negotiation, as the inner world comes to terms with external conditions. Many contemporary Irish poets have turned to mythical material in order to explore how, as Derek Mahon suggested, a good poem could be a paradigm of good politics. This essay explores the ways in which Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley have used ancient Greek myths to bring a hopeful light against seemingly intractable political problems, in line with the principle of third-party intervention, or the deus ex machina that prevents further misunderstanding. Translation opens up entrenched perspectives, forcing the self, in unfamiliar situations, to face the reality of the other, and to consider the other's perceptions and needs. This intervention aims for reconciliation, whether between individuals, social groups, individual and state, or between the living and the dead, and it reveals that reconciliation is always an approximation that must be continually fought for.     

关于隋文帝民族政策与开皇之治关系的思考

该认为隋初“开皇之治”的迅速形成除政治、经济原因外,还与隋帝推行的民族政策有重要关系。作认为,帝根据各少数民族的实际情况,采取了不尽相同的民族政策,对威胁较大的突厥采取“离强合弱”、恩威并用的政策;对西域、吐谷浑采取以和为主的政策;对东北、长江流域和关中以北诸族采取“以德御之”的怀抚政策。这些政策为隋初的政治稳定、经济的恢复与发展创造了条件。     

Cultural policy as general will and social-order protectionism: Thailand’s conservative double movement

This article interprets the work of Thailand’s Cultural Surveillance Unit through the lens of social-order protectionism. It argues that apparently facile interventions of the CSU into culture debates are underlined by genuine concerns about social disorder and the capacity of citizens to make morally sound choices. Secondly, it interprets cultural policy as implicit social contract making: those who make and activate cultural policy do so invisibly mandated by a higher order of legitimacy than the ballot box – they do so seemingly in the name of the general will. Culture policy as presently constituted provides conservatives with an aesthetic weapon against populism and the assumed deficiencies in the practice of democratic citizenship.     

建国初期城市居民委员会研究

建国初期城市居民委员会对保甲组织的取代及其对社会的整合作用 ,是马列主义国家学说和民主自治思想在中国城市基层社会组织建设中的具体运用和发展 ,表明我国基层社区控制的主体由传统社会中的士绅阶层和家族宗法组织逐步转化为现代社会中的平民阶层和民主自治组织 ,为实现从传统宗法社会向现代民主法制社会的转型奠定了基础     

Spain's and Poland's Road to NATO: the problem of continuity and change in the foreign policy of a democratising state

The aim of this article is to compare the Spanish and Polish road to NATO from the perspective of the shape of the foreign policy and its possible restructuring in states undergoing the process of democratic transformation. The study of both cases shows that the reorientation of the foreign policy of a democratising state results to a large extent from external conditions at the global and regional levels although the internal conditions may hinder or accelerate the reorientation. The example of Spain demonstrates that in a firm and stable international system (the bipolar system) it is extremely difficult to change the direction of foreign policy, even if there are internal premises such as democratisation, well-organised opposition supporting the change and social support. In the case of Poland, the flexible and unstable international system made it possible to radically change the direction of its foreign policy. The existing internal premises without the appropriate external context would not have been enough to generate the reorientation of foreign policy. The comparative study of Spanish and Polish cases should be treated as an introduction to the broader analysis on the subject of the restructuring of foreign policy in the democratising state. Democratic transformation processes which took place in Europe from the mid-1970s provide broad empirical material for further scientific work in this area.     

毛泽东巩固人民民主专政的思想轨迹

建国以来 ,毛泽东率领全党全国人民为巩固人民民主专政的国家政权 ,在政治、经济、思想文化建设等方面进行了极其艰难、复杂、曲折的探索。我们应该严肃地、实事求是地、全面准确地、科学地进一步加以认真的总结和研究。因为它关系着对党和国家近 30年的历史评价 ,关系着 1 0亿中国人民在共产党领导下努力探索社会主义建设道路的伟大实践的评价。     

现代化冲击下的法国教育

在现代化的进程中,法国的教育体系越来越不能适应需要,因而引发了教育民主化思潮的出现。在经济现代化的冲击和民主化思潮的推动下,法国进行了教育体制的改革,建立起基本适应社会需要的教育体系。     

对新中国成立后毛泽东战争与和平思想及实践的几点辨析、概述和思考

毛泽东是伟大的思想家、理论家、政治家、军事家、战略家,他关于战争与和平的思想内容十分丰富,其中许多深刻的基本理论(例如有关战争的根源;提高警惕,准备打仗;热爱和平,不怕战争;努力加强国防建设;常规战争与核战争;世界大战是否可以避免;美帝国主义要称霸全球;帝国主义的两重性;要利用世界各种矛盾;坚持和平共处五项原则;支持各国人民反对帝国主义的战争;结成最广泛的统一战线;弱国、小国能够打败强国、大国;第三世界团结起来,等等)今天无疑仍然适用,对这些思想和实践进行总结和继承,既有助于加深对邓小平理论和“三个代表”重要思想关于战争与和平思想的理解,又有助于遵循正确的战略和策略,争取到一个较长时间的国际和平环境和良好的周边环境,全面建设小康社会。     

民主党派与抗日战争时期的民主宪政运动

民主党派在抗日战争时期参与的民主宪政运动极大地推进了抗日战争时期中国政治民主化进程,深刻影响了未来中国政治发展的走向。追求民主政治的强烈意愿是民主党派参与民主宪政运动的根本动因;国民党的独裁专制统治是其参与民主宪政运动的直接原因;国内外要求民主的强烈呼声是其参与民主宪政运动的外在动力;共产党的引领和帮助是其参与民主宪政运动的重要条件。民主党派经过民主宪政运动的历练,日渐成为中国政治舞台上一支不容忽视的力量;民主党派经过民主宪政运动的实践,对民主的理解更为深刻,对国民党蒋介石的本质认识得更加清楚;民主宪政运动是共产党与民主党派合作共事的成功实践,为革命胜利后中国共产党领导的多党合作和政治协商制度莫定了基础。