‘A Bed of Procrustes’: The Aden Protectorate and the Forward Policy 1934–44

This article explores attempts by British colonial officials based in Aden to extend systems of political administration to the colony's tribal hinterland during the late interwar and early wartime period. Commencing initially with delicate attempts to recast faltering relations between tribal chiefs and their subjects, the policy would culminate a decade later with the despatch of British military units throughout the furthest extents of the protectorate in support of a range of direct political agreements with local rulers that would eventually set the conditions for federation. The intervening years featured a series of little-known debates among various officials on how precisely to cement British influence in the tribal areas, and the philosophy of administration to be pursued to that end. These would expose an element of confusion as to which techniques would best satisfy British policy, and reveal a preference on the part of some for the application of methods atypical of those used elsewhere under Colonial Office jurisdiction, and which drew their inspiration instead from systems of control used on India's volatile frontiers.     

The Construction of the League of Nations Secretariat. Formative Practices of Autonomy and Legitimacy in International Organizations

This article investigates the formative staffing practices of the League of Nations Secretariat. Drawing on the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu, it argues that core traits of the League's institutional capacity and identity was produced through the institutionalization of recruitment practices in the League's formative years from 1919 to 1923. Through an exploration of early negotiations and practices of staffing, we show how the League built and balanced legitimacy, by combining a clearly international make-up of the League Secretariat with acute sensitivity to state interests, and autonomy, by defending the Secretary-General's exclusive prerogative of staffing, in a way that has been defining for the trajectory of international organizations (IOs) until today. The article thus turns to the institutional landscape where the individual and its surroundings meet: through the daily staffing practices of the Secretariat, it explores how an institution came to be, function and assert its influence as an autonomous and legitimate diplomatic agent in a broader international field. As such, the article, as an innovative contribution to the field, argues that international historians should connect thorough institutional investigations with elements of the ‘cultural turn’ in International History, in order to properly engage with and understand IOs as diplomatic actors.     

The political will and the administrative won't? Mathieu Thomassin and his dauphins (Charles III and Louis II)

The delphinal counsellor Mathieu Thomassin composed a Breviere des anciens droys … du Dauphiné de Viennoys (c.1453) after a career of 30 years in the service of Charles III (the French king Charles VII) and Louis II (the future Louis XI). This was his first major historical text in French, but has been overshadowed by his better-known Registre delphinal, commissioned by Louis II in 1456. This article analyses the historical culture and the conception of history revealed in the Breviere. It notes how Thomassin's careful definitions of frontiers in the past and present reflect his experience of territorial disputes. History and geography are imbued with polemic, however, allowing Thomassin to override competing claims to territory or autonomy by delphinal opponents within and outside the Dauphiné. The principles set out in the Breviere were refined and extended in the Registre. However, it is unlikely that either work was ever intended for wide circulation; rather, they were written to provide ‘authentic’ texts which could be consulted primarily by other delphinal officers. As such, they reflect on occasion the divergence of views between a proto-professional administrator, with a concern for the long-term, and his preoccupied (if not dilettante) prince, much more subject to the requirements of realpolitik.     

魏晋南朝的军府管理与地方变乱

魏晋南朝地方军政官的频繁变乱是个值得研究的问题。其原因主要在于:军府长官在获得财富方面具有先天之利,名义上属于国家的地方财富常常会被越轨的军政长官挪作私用。当时以“节”为发兵符信,但是诏书与尚书符都很容易被伪造,朝廷无法防止地方军政官擅自募兵、兴兵。中央也曾对军府内部士兵、府僚、属州刺史与军府长官之间过于亲密的关系进行干预,并且加以种种规定。但这些规定具有矛盾性,而且这种矛盾性又总是向有利于军府长官的方向转化。中央一直向军府派驻有各种监察性质的官员,但这种官员在身份和地位上又从属于府主,有听命于府主的义务。     

定县实验与农村复兴运动

20世纪二三十年代晏阳初领导的以定县实验为主体的平民教育与乡村建设运动和国民政府倡导的农村复兴运动相结合,使乡村运动走上了“政治与学术合流”的道路,“合流”的结果产生了河北省县政建设研究院。在县政与研究院的双重作用下,平教会的工作得以推进,同时也因此失去了原有的独立地位。但是,无论怎样,这些现象表明当时政府和民间在重构国家权威上的一致性,在自觉地为达到“国家再造”这一目标而进行不懈的努力。     

从马克思"人的全面发展"理论到党的执政能力建设的首要目标

实现人的全面发展是马克思主义政党的终极理想。我们党进行革命和建设的目的,就是为了解放人和发展人。“三个代表”重要思想和科学发展观,从本质上把人的全面发展作为党的执政活动的全部目的。党的执政能力建设的首要目标是建设一个“立党为公、执政为民”的执政党,它体现了马克思主义政党的理想追求和价值取向。     

小泉政府力促联合国改革的玄机

2005年是联合国改革年,小泉政府籍此推进其联合国改革外交,把删除敌国条款和加入常任理事国作为其主要目标。从国家利益出发,日本提出自己的联合国改革方案:恢复联大生机与活力、改革安理会、改革秘书处、修改敌国条款、重新考虑联合国会费分摊及增加联合国日本工作人员数量等。但由于联合国改革本身的复杂性和小泉政府的强硬外交路线,其联合国改革方案能否实现及落实程度仍未可知。     

西汉县级行政首长略论

西汉县令长及其在西汉行政系统中的特殊地位问题,在传世文献资料与尹湾汉简的材料中都有反映。如董仲舒言：“今之郡守、县令,民之师帅,所使承流而宣化也;故师帅不贤,则主德不宣,恩泽不流。”通过分析西汉基层行政,可进一步了解西汉县令长行政类别,行政权限以及县令长与地方王候的微妙关系。     

关于控制我国行政成本的思考

控制行政成本,提高行政效率,是实现行政管理体制改革的核心问题。要降低行政成本,必须注重行政成本宣传,强化行政成本意识;转变政府职能,控制政府机构规模;优化政府管理流程,提高工作效率;控制公务人员膨胀,规范职务消费行为;建立科学决策机制,提高领导决策水平;增强财政预算的刚性约束,健全财政预算管理机制;改革行政部门业绩考核方式,建立科学的绩效评估制度;健全社会监管体系,加大社会监督力度。