How Turkey’s democratic backsliding compromises the international dimension of democratization

Previous research suggests that linkage to the West can have a strong democratizing influence on transitioning states. Yet, Western linkage and leverage lost much of their democratizing force by the early twenty‐first century. Turkey's political trajectory over the last decade furnishes a representative case study of the waning power of the West as an anchor for democratization in high‐linkage countries. Despite Turkey's robust ties to the West, competitive authoritarianism has been further entrenched and signs of a drift toward full‐fledged authoritarianism emerged since the failed coup of July 2016. We argue that in a context where the European Union and the United States’ willingness to support democracy declined considerably the AKP’s distancing from the West in foreign policy and balancing the Western powers with its new economic and political relations with autocratic regimes have served to stifle the democratizing pressure of Western linkage by lowering the cost of autocratic behavior for the AKP government and facilitating Turkey's illiberal turn.     

Playing with Infrastructure like a Carishina: Feminist Cycling in an Era of Democratic Politics

This article discusses transit infrastructure as a site of radical possibility and limitation in an age of participatory democracy across Latin America. I focus on multiple spaces of participation in Quito, Ecuador to elucidate how citizenship and infrastructure are co‐produced through gendered processes. I first analyse city space of Quito from a gendered and infrastructural lens to consider how urban environments are dictated by violence and insecurity. Then, against this backdrop, I explore the spatial strategies of the feminist bicycle collective, Carishina en Bici, which translates from Quechua to “bad housewives that cycle”. Here, I draw on the concept of “deep play” to reveal how public practices in Quito question the equitable impacts of local democratic experimentation. To examine Carishinas’ spatial practices, I focus on an urban alleycat race, the Carishina Race, to show how strategic practices of solidarity reinsert feminist possibilities in urban space.     

南非民主进程的顿挫与延续——略论博塔的改革总战略

博塔任南非政府首脑期间,面对索韦托暴动引起的政治、经济与社会动荡和国内外的新形势,提出和推行改革总战略：对不适应南非现代化建设和政治稳定的现存制度进行改革;坚决镇压反抗白人统治、破坏社会秩序的行为;全力营造一个有利于改革总战略的国际环境。其目的是维护白人统治和种族隔离制度。他的改革在沃斯特的种族政策调整与德克勒克的民主改革之间架起了一座桥梁,起到了承前启后的作用,将南非的改革进程带入一个新阶段,一定程度上改善了黑人的处境。但博塔的镇压造成国内局势紧张并迅速恶化,以至于到了几乎失控的程度,改革进程陷入停顿。     

Changing the national past: re‐creating the democratic Polish nation after 1989

ABSTRACT. Poland provides a critical example for studying how national identity is transformed to fit new domestic and global circumstances. While Poles must re‐identify themselves as a democratic nation, they have a choice of whether to incorporate aspects of the communist experience or to ignore it and draw solely from other historical sources. A comparison of holiday newspaper articles from before and after 1989 provides an opportunity to observe this process through the lens of national commemoration. This review shows that themes of national identity are influenced by political context and their potential to unify without contestation. In addition, while the communist period remained a salient unifying historical experience for Poles, democratic values did not act as a unifying theme during the first ten years of Polish democracy.     

An Alternative Approach to Canadian House of Commons Reform

Empowering backbench Members of Parliament in order to restore the effectiveness of the House of Commons has been a central theme in Canadian parliamentary reform for at least fifty years, but results are widely seen as disappointing. This article argues that unrealistic expectations, fostered by adherence to a traditional conception of the Westminster model of representative and responsible government, are part of the problem. A modernized conception of parliamentary government, recognizing the House as a forum for competing political parties between elections, could help us to better understand the House and improve its contribution to democratic governance. The proposed approach suggests innovative procedural options for legislative debate, Question Period, and other activities. It also offers a consistent basis for addressing issues such as floor-crossing, coalitions, and prorogations. More broadly, it points to the need for an integrated approach to the House, elections, political parties, public education, and citizen engagement in order to respond to contemporary democratic challenges.     

拉斯基的美国政治体制变革观

拉斯基的美国政治体制变革观,对于整个资本主义制度从私人垄断阶段过渡到国家垄断阶段的变革具有深刻的启迪意义,也从一个重要的侧面和较为适合的角度,反映出了处于思想成熟时期的拉斯基主张和一贯倡导的民主社会主义理论的丰富内涵。     

孙中山地方自治思想之学理意义

孙中山关于地方自治的思想理念,是其民权主义政治革命纲领的基本内容。在长期的民主革命实践中,孙中山的地方自治思想不断丰富和完善,尤其是在中华民国建立以后,孙中山始终坚持以地方自治为政治理想,并由此形成了系统而完整的地方自治思想体系,体现了孙中山卓越的政治智慧和坚定的理想信念。孙中山关于地方自治的思想理念,带有鲜明的时代特色和民族属性,它是近代中国资产阶级政治文化的产物,也是近代政治思想发展史上的一个重大理论贡献。虽然这一地方自治思想体系带有不可避免的理论缺陷,在近代民主政治的实践过程中也遇到很多挫折和障碍,但其在学理上的意义是应当给予认真总结和充分肯定的。     

毛泽东关于西藏民主改革的认识与决策

西藏民主改革是西藏在和平解放的基础上由封建农奴制到人民民主的历史性变革和发展,是西藏完成反帝反封建的民主革命任务的里程碑。这是在以毛泽东为核心的中共中央第一代领导集体根据西藏和平解放后不同阶段的实际,正确认识和处理西藏民主改革的历史必然性与社会基础、时机与条件、策略与步骤以及性质与前途等问题,并依此相应地作出和平协商、"六年不改"、赎买和"稳定发展"等方针政策的指导下开展和实现的。正是在这一历史进程中,西藏由和平解放、筹备成立自治区至民主改革,跨越几个世纪而成为人民民主的西藏。     

一切能力都是为人民执政——学习十七届四中全会《决定》

所谓党的执政能力,其本质就是为人民服务的本领。一切能力,都是为人民执政;一切能力,都要为人民执政。归根到底,党的执政能力要从人民群众的历史创造中来,要在与群众密切联系的实践中历练,要在严酷的反腐败斗争中提升,最终还要由人民群众来断定。加强党的执政能力建设,意义重大,任务艰巨,过程艰苦。     

Hannah Arendt's Political Theology of Democratic Life

Abstract

In this essay, I explore Hannah Arendt's suggestion that we conceptualize human power and freedom polytheistically if our aim is to understand the challenges and requirements of democratic self-governance. Although it is not clear that politics must always be understood through theological grammars, if it is to be, polytheism affirms that there may be multiple sources of value and of right, offering both a metaphysical counterpart to value pluralism and a vision of how to create political practices and institutions that mirror and honor both the equality and distinction of human beings.