抗战时期毛泽东与陕甘宁边区民主建设

抗日战争时期,陕甘宁边区的民主建设取得了令人瞩目的成就.毛泽东从理论和实践上都为这一成就做出了积极努力和巨大贡献.本文从毛泽东对抗日和民主的论述、陕甘宁边区民主建设的主要内容及其现实意义三个方面加以阐述.     

民主党派在解放战争时期的历史作用

抗日战争胜利后,中国历史又进入一个新的阶段———解放战争时期。这一时期的民主党派继续与中国共产党竭诚合作,坚持和平民主,反对内战独裁,积极配合人民解放军作战,并逐步克服自身的弱点,走上新民主主义革命道路,为推翻反动派统治、建立新中国起到了重要作用。     

"新帝国主义"论的缘起及其实质

“新帝国主义”这一理论是在美国民主价值观的基础上重新诠释帝国主义,它为21世纪全球化背景下美国的单边主义、“新干涉主义”提供了理论依据。文章对“新帝国主义”的缘起及其实质进行全面分析,揭示了“新帝国主义”是旧式帝国主义的改进版,它竭力维护西方主流的民主价值观,否认民族国家,其真面目是替“美帝国”辩护。     

从袁世凯的两次身份转变看辛亥革命失败的原因

在辛亥革命宣传和组织过程中,孙中山依次提出民族、民权和民生"三民主义"革命纲领,首先提出的是民族主义革命主张,民权主义只是被看作民族主义的结果和延伸,民生主义也没有找到与民族、民权主义对接的现实途径,革命的起点还是民族主义,得到广泛响应也只有民族主义"反满"这一口号。辛亥革命正是在"反满"旗帜下迅速取得成功的,由于袁世凯是汉族,孙中山被迫作出让位于袁世凯的选择,过早地结束了民族革命,导致政治革命失去了依托也随之被终结。     

古罗斯维切制度探秘

维切制度是古代俄罗斯的民主制度,我国学界对其研究甚少,专著和论文几近空白。"维切"也即市民会议,是古罗斯各邦的最高权力机关,在历史上发挥过重要作用,以诺夫哥罗德的维切制度发展最为典型。维切制度以广泛的直接民主和无政府主义为特色,但实际控制维切的还是贵族阶层。     

Cultural Studies and/of Economic Rights: Neglect and Promise

This article theorizes the historical non-relation between cultural studies and economic rights discourse, tracing it to ideal typical distinctions between economy and culture in early cultural studies; Karl Marx's influence on Left thought generally via his critique of bourgeois rights; and Foucauldian governmentalist treatments of rights as neoliberal technologies of control and treatments of economy as having no agency of its own but rather as an effect of governmentality. It then introduces a case-study conjunctural history of American economic rights as a history of present American citizenship and politics in order to demonstrate the historically contingent articulations of individual freedom, government, and economic relations, which are not easily explained by the Marxist or Foucauldian vocabularies. The conjunctural history provides cultural studies research with a new perspective for attention to radical democracy and critiques of neoliberal capitalist policies without surrendering the utility of rights to (neo)liberalism.     

Seinfeld's Democratic Vistas

Academic appraisals of Seinfeld frequently criticize the series as apolitical or as advancing a nihilism that threatens contemporary American society. I counter that the show is better understood as a political satire that advances a robust democratic discourse predicated on inefficiency, leisure, and excessive talk. I argue that Seinfeld's discourse provides a vision of hope for democratic interaction predicated on the commonality of vices rather than a collapse into fascism or the disciplining of rhetoric by presumably higher moral standards.     

Engagement as Co-Generative Theorizing

To meet current and ever shifting problems people continually need new and better ways to attend to, talk about, and respond in the world. All communities can have an impoverished language for talking about human interaction and making decisions in times of fundamental and rapid change. Three current impoverishments are discussed. Engaged scholarship using co-generative theorizing can initiate productive conversations enriching the languages of both scholarly and everyday life communities.     

“Flipping the Scripts” of Poverty and Panhandling: Organizing Democracy by Creating Connections

This study relies on participant observation and in-depth interviews to explore how StreetWise, an organization with a newspaper by the same name, mobilizes symbolic and material support for people without homes or those at risk. Pragmatism is used to understand how StreetWise ameliorates the experience of homelessness by building community. In stark contrast to forces that erase “the homeless” from the public scene, StreetWise integrates people without homes, as vendors, into community life by providing employment and raising awareness about poverty-related issues. Through its structure, mission, and business plan StreetWise encourages an engaged citizenry and enhances civic discourses. StreetWise provides scholars with a context within which to understand the reflexive and interactive organization–society relationships that strive to support a democratic way of life.     

‘Really useful ideas’: building users' powers of persuasion. A response to the discussion of the Learning Outcomes Theme Group from a practitioner in the post-compulsory sector

Taking as its starting point the murder of Stephen Lawrence and the failings which that case has demonstrated in justice and the judicial system in England, this article questions the extent to which current models of citizenship education address the reality of young people's lives. The critique focuses particularly on the proposed revisions to the English National Curriculum to be implemented in 2001. It is argued that unless citizenship education provides an opportunity to study the reality of contemporary experience, including the injustices and inequalities which continue to be features of that experience, it will be an ineffectual exercise. There are also severe dangers of the citizenship curriculum being overcrowded with factual knowledge at the expense of opportunities for experiencing democratic processes and playing a part in the formation of learners' identities. Some examples are given of effective work based on the principles outlined in the article. In conclusion, an agenda for research and curriculum development is described.