Europe and the American mind∗†

Wells's The New Machiavelli (1911) offers an excellent case study of the use of anti-Machiavellian Machiavellism as both a philosophical and a rhetorical strategy. In Remington, Wells creates a protagonist who follows Machiavellian rules of behaviour and denounces those who do likewise. The novel is structured to show Remington's progress from an idealist refutation of Machiavellism, through a recognition of its necessity, to the formulation of a private and political method for the necessary pursuit of Machiavellian principles under the disguise of anti-Machiavellism, including trenchant criticisms of Fabians as anti-Machiavellian Machiavellians. These stages, culminating in complete personal and public failure, are reflected in Remington's party allegiances, and broadened by Wells into an account of British party ideologies around the turn of the twentieth century. Wells's rhetorical design for mapping and assessing anti-Machiavellian Machiavellism is paralleled by an exploration of that technique in himself, attested by the predominance of autobiographical elements in The New Machiavelli, and by similarities between Remington's and Wells's own deception of others and themselves. Far from incidental, anti-Machiavellian Machiavellism is the motif that unites the shifting party allegiances, political conceits and moral hypocrisies, and private and public failures of Wells, Remington, and of the period of British politics that they intend to encapsulate.     

略论新中国成立以来中国共产党对军队的绝对领导

中国共产党对军队的绝对领导,即"党指挥枪",是马克思主义建党建军学说与中国军事斗争实践相结合的伟大创造,是毛泽东建军思想的重要组成部分。新中国成立后,中国共产党逐步发展和完善了一整套领导人民军队的基本制度,实现了党的组织与军队建制的有机融合,实现了党的思想政治领导与军事行政领导的内在统一,并从新的高度深刻论述和发展了毛泽东"党指挥枪"的建军思想,为坚持党对军队的绝对领导奠定了新的理论基础。     

Parties,promises and politics: exploring manifesto discourse on arts policy in Westminster,Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish elections 1945–2011

This study addresses a key knowledge-gap by exploring the role of electoral politics in shaping public policy on the arts. Analysis of the prioritisation and use of language in party manifestos in state-wide and regional elections in the UK reveals that over recent decades there has been a sharp increase in the attention parties give to arts policy as they compete for the political centre-ground. It also shows how the framing of arts policy has broadened from an initial concern with social policy objectives to emphasise economic benefits and boosting international standing. However, parties have generally failed to advance comprehensive arts strategies raising accountability issues in relation to future government policy. Against the backdrop of a global trend of state restructuring, the analysis reveals how devolution is leading to the territorialisation of policy – as framing is contingent on ‘regional’ party politics, including nation-building by civic nationalist parties.     

Towards a chequebook democracy? Business,parties and the funding of politics in Italy and the United States

This article seeks to establish to what extent Silvio Berlusconi's entry into electoral politics as leader of Forza Italia signals an ‘Americanization’ of Italian politics. It argues that Italian party democracy is moving in an ‘American’ direction in two ways. First, Italian party organizations are declining, leading to a more candidate-centred type of electoral politics. Second, the decline of parties is enhancing the ability of business to use its financial clout to tailor public policy to its own requirements. However, these trends do not have identical effects in Italy and the United States. This article will also show that this process of ‘Americanization’ interacts with the existing political praxis and institutional framework of Italian politics to produce an outcome which differs from both the traditional Western European model and the American model of party democracy. It will be concluded that this outcome seriously undermines representative democracy in Italy.     

The man who never was? The Italian transition and 2008 election

Abstract

The implications for the co-called Italian transition of the 2008 election initially seemed significant – but have since become increasingly uncertain as Berlusconi's conflict of interests has risen higher up the political agenda. This underscores the pertinence of asking about the sense in which the notion of ‘transition’ is actually applicable to the Italian case at all – bearing in mind that it describes a process now supposedly underway for some 17 years; and bearing in mind that its end point can seemingly not be identified (though by definition ‘transition’ implies movement between two points). Discovering if the term applies to the Italian case and if so whether 2008 has brought its conclusion nearer requires exploring if the political protagonists that have emerged from the election as the most significant players – the Popolo della Libertà and the Partito Democratico – have sufficient commonality of view, sufficient desire and sufficient power to complete a process of constitutional overhaul. The evidence suggests that while they have the view and the desire, there are significant limitations on their power. The election might potentially have been a watershed in the so-called Italian transition in the broader sense of system performance, aside from formal constitutional change. Here too, however, the evidence points away from the idea that 2008 represents a real sea change – though the chances seem good that it will come to be perceived as such.     

The 2013 elections and the Italian political system

The February 2013 Italian general elections were characterized by the highest volatility to date. Although, thanks to the majority bonus, the Partito Democratico (Democratic Party) obtained the absolute majority of seats in the House of Deputies, it could not be considered the winner of the elections. Lacking a majority in the Senate, it was obliged to form a government with Silvio Berlusconi's party and with the rather small number of parliamentarians elected in former Prime Minister Mario Monti's list. In spite of his last-minute surge, Berlusconi was a clear loser, having lost almost six million votes in respect of his 2008 victory. Comedian Beppe Grillo's Movimento Cinque Stelle (Five Stars Movement) received the highest-ever number of votes for a new entry into any post-war European general election. Unwilling to play the coalitional game and made up of inexperienced and incompetent parliamentarians, Grillo's party has remained isolated and ineffective. The present Italian party system consists of three poles, the Movimento Cinque Stelle playing the role of anti-system party. Institutional reforms and especially reform of the electoral system, which has been struck down by the Constitutional Court, are again the focus of debate. Restructuring of the Italian political system is yet to come.     

国民党引入军队政工制度原因考

俄共十月革命后建立的”以党领军”的统军制度,为孙中山重新考量”以主义集合”军队提供了鲜活的参照物。受俄共政治工作的启发,孙中山1921—1922年特别注重对官兵进行政治教育。1922年6月,陈炯明的背叛说明,孙中山的政治工作观念存在致命缺陷。在苏俄的引导下,孙中山决心由党建军,1923年8月,以蒋介石为首的考察团赴俄。此次考察对国民党创建黄埔军校、改党建军,影响巨大。苏俄红军的政工制度成为国民党进行政治工作的模本,党代表制与政治部制是政工制度的两大组成部分。     

论民主党派在中国政治现代化进程中的历史作用

现代化是人类社会发展的历史必然,政治现代化则是整个现代化运动的重要方面。在改革开放以来中国政治现代化的进程中,共产党时政治现代化建设的领导是由中国政治发展的历史和现实所决定的。我国实行中国共产党领导的多党合作和政治协商制度,这一制度下的民主党派作为参政党,在中国政治现代化进程中发挥着独特而重要的作用。     

科学发展观与农村经济合作组织党建工作创新

农村经济合作组织党建工作是现阶段党的建设的新领域。以科学发展观为指导,创新农村经济合作组织的党建工作,促进新时期农村经济合作组织党建工作的转型,对于调整农村经济结构、构建现代农业产业体系以及增加农民的收入,都具有十分重要的意义。     

浅析十七届四中全会对党内民主建设的创新

中共十七届四中全会关于党内民主建设提出了很多新思想、新观点,主要有：党内民主是党的生命,集中统一是党的力量保证;在党内民主建设中要坚持和完善党的领导制度;以保障党员民主权利为根本,以加强党内基层民主建设为基础;完善党代表大会制度和党内选举制度;完善党内民主决策机制等。