台海两岸在军事安全领域谋求和平的历史启示

新中国成立至今,台海两岸虽然没有统一,但在军事安全领域存在着一些相互知会、心照不宣的默契,各自形成了一些自我约束的习惯做法,这也是台海两岸在绝大部分时间里没有发生战争的重要原因。坚持一个中国原则,善于搁置争议、尽最大努力争取和平,严格限定军事行动目标,加强对军事要素的有效控制,以及保持沟通联系、避免相互隔绝是这些默契形成的基础,也是当前推进建立台海两岸军事安全互信机制必须汲取的历史经验。     

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.     

The Progress of Education in the Northern Coalfield Before 1870

Although the literacy of miners lagged behind county and national averages, there was educational progress in the Northern coalfield before 1870. Progress came partly from the private adventure schools and the Sunday schools, which originated in the colliery communities and which have been underestimated by historians. Evidence from parish registers shows that the private adventure schools that proliferated in the collieries, especially from the 1820s, helped to maintain and raise literacy rates in some villages, but were unjustly criticized by educators who favoured state public elementary schools. The colliery Sunday schools, particularly those of the Methodists, were also important in developing the ability to read. The spread of Methodism amongst miners gave an important stimulus to literacy, which resulted in greater support for adult education in the coalfield. The growth of mechanics’ institutes, reading rooms and mutual improvement societies testified to a growing enthusiasm amongst miners for education before 1870. Despite the extraordinary population growth, especially in Durham, and extensive migration of workers in the coal industry, educational progress in the coalfield is evident particularly in the late 1850s and 1860s.     

An information-theoretic approach to the analysis of location and colocation patterns

The study of location and colocation of economic activities lies at the heart of economic geography and related disciplines, but the indices used to quantify these patterns are often defined ad hoc and lack a clear statistical foundation. We propose a statistical framework to quantify location and colocation associations of economic activities using information-theoretic measures. We relate the resulting measures to existing measures of revealed comparative advantage, localization, specialization, and coagglomeration and show how different measures derive from the same general framework. To support the use of these measures in hypothesis testing and statistical inference, we develop a Bayesian estimation approach to provide measures of uncertainty and statistical significance of the estimated quantities. We illustrate this framework in an application to an analysis of location and colocation patterns of occupations in US cities.     

Reanimating Anarchist Geographies: A New Burst of Colour

Abstract: The late nineteenth century saw a burgeoning of geographical writings from influential anarchist thinkers like Peter Kropotkin and Élisée Reclus. Yet despite the vigorous intellectual debate sparked by the works of these two individuals, following their deaths anarchist ideas within geography faded. It was not until the 1970s that anarchism was once again given serious consideration by academic geographers who, in laying the groundwork for what is today known as “radical geography”, attempted to reintroduce anarchism as a legitimate political philosophy. Unfortunately, quiet followed once more, and although numerous contemporary radical geographers employ a sense of theory and practice that shares many affinities with anarchism, direct engagement with anarchist ideas among academic geographers have been limited. As contemporary global challenges push anarchist theory and practice back into widespread currency, geographers need to rise to this occasion and begin (re)mapping the possibilities of what anarchist perspectives might yet contribute to the discipline.     

Town-country relations in China: back to basics

ABSTRACT

This paper develops a nuanced understanding of town-country relations in China. Inherent in the current literature is the serious problem of randomly indigenizing experiences and concepts from the West. To restore this imbalance, this paper provides a preliminary attempt to develop a better understanding methodologically, epistemologically and theoretically. It argues first for the implementation of a spatial story methodology that takes spatio-temporal relations seriously; second, a nuanced concept of the state as dynastic empire-building which functions through a two-tier governing relationship in focus-field relationships; third, a rejection of dualism, advocating instead the idea of mutual embeddedness in order to decipher the subtle relationships between parts and whole; fourth, an interrogation of the appropriateness of spatial concepts like spatial reach, scale, level and territory; and, finally, a proposed concept of cheng-cum-xiang to eschew a dualistic approach to town-country relations. In conclusion, the paper suggests implications for debates within urban studies more generally.