Party Principles Research Articles

English

Well known to construction industry contracts are disputes such as unresolved claims and are inimical to achieving project objectives. This has attracted provision of dispute resolution clause in contractual agreements such as Arbitration clause aimed at resolving any emerging dispute. However, the issue of challenge of jurisdiction (powers) of the arbitrator(s) remains a reoccurring determination in Nigeria courts. Considering arbitral agreements/ clause in domestic perspectives, the paper reviewed provisions of Nigerian Arbitration and Conciliation Act, (ACA) 1988, some other relevant laws and decided court cases as related to determinants of arbitrator(s’) jurisdiction. It discovered that interplay of several factors including principle of parties’ autonomy; project specific characteristics, complexity of construction etc are essential determinants. The paper however concluded that it may be complex to enlist determinants for jurisdictional powers of arbitral panel but recommended that basic requirements should not be far from those provided for by the national arbitration law and the characteristic of construction project contract and environment, while contracting parties must have in view court decisions on construction industry market in drafting arbitral agreements.   Key words: Arbitral Proceedings, Construction Contract, Jurisdiction Nigeria.

Taikytinos teisės pasirinkimo darbo teisiniuose santykiuose galimybės pagal “Roma I” reglamentą

In this paper, the right to choose law applicable to individual employment contracts under Regulation Rome I that replaced the 1980 Convention on the Law Applicable to Contractual Obligations is discussed. The short evolution of the European choice-of-law rules for employment contracts and principle of parties’ autonomy is revealed. The Regulation Rome I implementation practices as well as expression of such choice and cases of limitations are analysed in the paper, as well. The following questions that arise from provisions on the law applicable to the employment contracts and a wide scope of application of Rome I Regulation are discussed: 1) Do the parties to the employment contract may choose applicable law of any State?; 2) Is it necessary to have a connection between the contract and the State whose law the parties have chosen to apply?; 3) Is there a need of foreign element in the relationship when choosing other State’s law and should it be seen as a foreign element in terms of the Rome I Regulation?; 4) Is the choice of the parties limited to only State law or may it include non-state provisions as well? Practical situations arising from the abovementioned questions are presented in the paper, too. After analysing individual national laws, case law and doctrine, two types of the interpretation of the principle of autonomy are presented: 1) the first type (which is used in Lithuania and many other European countries), where the parties are completely free and may choose the applicable law, irrespective of the fact that contractual relationship is related to only one state and the fact that the state whose law is chosen by the parties, has no connection with the employment contract; and 2) the second type (which is used in Poland, Germany), where the parties may exercise the freedom of choice of the contractual relationship only when there is an objective connection with the state which law is chosen. Finally, some states provide that the parties may choose only law of a particular state. However, it is stressed that parties to an employment contract are free to agree on any law to the extent that the agreement improves upon the mandatory minimum standard of protection set by the objectively applicable law.

TUG OF WAR: EVALUATIVE VERSUS FACILITATIVE MEDIATOR

Mediation can be defined as a process where a neutral third party seeks to facilitate communication between the disputing parties to help them arrive at an amicable solution of their disputes culminating in a win-win situation for the parties. Though ‘... there is no single limiting definition of mediation, in part because mediators function in accordance with different philosophies and in statistically different ways’, the most commonly accepted definitions of mediation incorporate two essential elements: ‘(1) third-party facilitation of dispute settlement, and (2) lack of third-party power to determine the resolution of the dispute.’ The central focus of mediation is based on the principle of parties’ self-determination. To further this basic principle, the role of a mediator must be well defined. Looking at mediation from a historical perspective, mediation was confined to the facilitative role of a neutral third party. Gradually, however, there came a sharp divide amongst the existing mediators as regards the scope of intervention by a mediator in the mediation proceedings. At one end of the broad spectrum of a mediator’s role, lies his or her active role as an evaluator and at the other, that as a facilitator of communication between the parties. These two positions are, however, in contrast with each other and hence, the debate as to the most suitable role of a mediator’s intervention in the process. In part II(a) of the present paper I attempt to portray the distinction between mediators and decision-makers. Because of the emergence of evaluative forms in mediation. In part II(b) I sketch the differences between the approaches taken by the facilitative and the evaluative mediators. In part III I try to indicate the dangers posed when mediators strive to put on the evaluative cloak and finally and in part IV I sum up the paper with an appropriate conclusion.

Contractual liability: In European, comparative and Serbian law

Contractual liability is an important topic of the ongoing reform of the effective Serbian Law on Obligations (2007-2009), which aims to harmonize the national legislation in this field with the laws of the European Union. In this paper the author analyzes the evolution of the traditional European civil codes (the German BGB, French Code civil, the Austrian ABGB the Swiss OR and the Hungarian Civil Code), with due attention to the doctrine and jurisprudence, taking into account the proposed reforms of the effective Serbian Law on Obligations concerning issues of contractual liability, such as the legal consequences of nonperformance, misperformance, default, etc. The author is of the opinion that the notion of the breach of contract doesn't cover all the cases in which contractual liability arises, although it embraces nonperformance, misperformance and default. The notion of contractual liability, namely, covers not only the cases of breach of contract, but the infringement of public policy, good morals and mandatory rules, which all lead to the nullity of the contract. In cases of voidable contracts (that is in case of defects of contractual will, such as mistake, deceit and duress) it is questionable whether the scope of contractual liability should be extended to mistake, which is a case of nonconscious discrepancy between contractual will and its expression. It is undisputable that contractual liability arises in case of deceit and duress, to the burden of the party acting in bad faith. The rescission of contract entails a separate complex of legal issues, since it may be justified by the other party's breach of the contract. It can also be onesided, two-sided or by a mutual agreement. Furthermore, specific rules apply to rescission of contract due to changed circumstances. In case of termination of a contract by mutual agreement, the parties usually agree on the extent of liability, that is on the extent of indemnification. Contractual liability is also specific that, according to the principle of parties' autonomy, the parties always may in advance agree on the extent of damages for the case of breach of contract, in a form of a clause on liquidated damages, forfeit money, suretyship for indemnification, the limitation of the sum insured in insurance contracts, clauses in the general conditions of business, etc. The author calls attention to the fact that these clauses in certain extent limit the scope of the indemnification for breach of a contract, according to which this liability differs from the liability for torts, where the principle of full indemnification applies as a rule.

Dirty Gods: An Exhibition on Freud's Archaeological Collection

Dirty Gods:An Exhibition on Freud's Archaeological Collection Lydia Marinelli Translated by Joy Titheridge "Why are the figures placed at such a distance? They are what I came to see." —An exhibition visitor Exhibitions exploring literature and theory are faced with a paradox: They attempt both to reveal that which defies visibility and at the same time to assign the often banal objects of the visible world a significance that will always remain extrinsic to them. This paradox is generally circumvented by making the author the subject of the exhibition, invoking the monographic illusion of the unity of life and work, which are seamlessly juxtaposed. Display cases gather a couple of illegible, handwritten manuscripts, a few yellowing photographs, a pipe; the accumulation of biographical material is used to shed light on literary or theoretical content, or vice versa. To put it negatively, the effrontery that texts represent in a visually oriented culture is palliated with biographically charged, visual "extras"; more positively, however, forms like this can effect a rehabilitation of literature. The reading that emerges for the visitor from this translation into biographical/iconic material is unambigious. The unknown is translated directly into the known in the manner prescribed, and is largely divested of any element of surprise. The intended illustration risks the "stultification" described by Walter Benjamin in a 1928 conversation about exhibition technique: "For any illustration which lacks the moment of surprise must have a stultifying effect. What is there on display must never be the same—or simply more, or less—as the description given by the accompanying text, but it has to carry with it something new, a trick of evidence that can never be achieved with words" (qtd. in Tiedemann, Gödde, and Lonitz 1990, 7). [End Page 149] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. The initial idea for the exhibition, "My . . . old and dirty gods"—From Sigmund Freud's Collection,1 emerged within the context of these convergences and potential pitfalls inherent in conventional exhibition practice. Freud's collection of antiquities was to provide the point of departure for an exhibition about his theories and texts. This gave rise to the following questions: Can something that is implicit in the texts also exist outside of the written word? How can we avoid reducing the unknown to the known, how can we avoid dictating a particular interpretation in an exhibition? Reflection also involves the detours and concepts that are later discarded. The form that initially came to mind was a historico-cultural exhibition on Freud's collection of antiquities that would place his passion for collecting in the context of the contemporary enthusiasm for antiquity. But the collection would then have become one of many at the turn of the century, and its relation to the writings of its owner would have largely remained concealed. A second possibility under consideration presented a more multimedia-based solution. Here, the mute figures were [End Page 150] to be presented as the sole witnesses of Freud's analyses. One of the peculiarities of Freud's collection of antiquities is that it was only displayed in the rooms of his practice and not in his private quarters. As a result, there was a close spatial relationship between this collection and his work. A sound installation would have allowed visitors to listen to excerpts from the only surviving case notes on the "Rat Man" in conjunction with certain figurines. This presentation sought to contrast and compare the muteness of the figures with the role of the spoken word in psychoanalysis. Although this option made greater use of media, an obvious choice for curators today, the application of aural media to the figurines raised another difficulty. On the one hand, the notes were written comments that Freud composed following the analytic sessions, not authentic records of the monologues or dialogues within the therapy session. On the other hand, a recording of the notes read aloud would have had the effect of a halting reanimation, giving the listener the sense that he or she was witness to an analysis. However, this acoustic experience would be diminished because of the principle of third parties being excluded and all the...

Instituting Peace: Third Party Principles and the Mitchell Effect

US Senator George Mitchell's principles of democracy and non-violence are synonymous with peace in Northern Ireland. Mitchell's subsequent deployment to mediate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict armed with the same principles failed, and unwisely fell to a footnote in the history of Israeli-Palestinian interventions. When two US diplomatic initiatives to intervene in protracted conflicts mediated by the same individual reach different outcomes, what means of mediation mitigate failure? The ‘Mitchell Principles’ of democracy and non-violence are pillars of persuasion for protagonists of protracted conflicts. First successfully applied to mediate the Northern Irish decommissioning crisis in 1996, Mitchell's subsequent efforts to apply the principles to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis in 2001 failed. By comparing the fates of the Mitchell initiatives this essay examines the importance of negotiating precedents, procedures, protagonists and the role of third party policy initiatives in determining the success or failure of the Mitchell Principles.

''Governed by Mediocrity'': Image and Text in Vanity Fair 's Political Caricatures, 1869-1889

"Governed by Mediocrity":Image and Text in Vanity Fair's Political Caricatures, 1869-1889 John B. Osborne (bio) On 7 November 1868 Thomas Gibson Bowles published the first issue of Vanity Fair, self described as "A Weekly Show of Politics, Social and Literary Wares." The journal's lead articles focused on the character and policies of Britain's political leaders, dispensing criticisms or accolades to those singled out for comment on the basis of their contribution to the well-being of the body politic and their adherence to principle. The journal assessed Gladstone's ability to lead, Disraeli's opportunism, and John Bright's transformation from pariah to public hero, against a background of commentary on the operation of the current political system. For all of its insightful and witty political commentary, the journal, with a circulation of only 500 copies per issue, appeared headed for bankruptcy until the advent of Carlo Pellegrini's full page color lithographic caricature portrait of Disraeli in the 30 January 1869 issue. Pellegrini's clever caricatures were responsible for a five-fold increase in Vanity Fair's weekly circulation and were undoubtedly responsible for both its financial success and its access to "the somewhat inaccessible class for which its founder proposed to cater."1 The caricatures were accompanied by witty biographical sketches of the individuals portrayed which were written by Bowles and signed Jehu Junior after the Old Testament king appointed by God to destroy idolaters. It is noteworthy that many of the texts, including the first three subjects caricatured, Disraeli, Gladstone, and John Bright, were based on editorial comments that had previously been published in the journal. Bowles intended his innovative visual and literary images to illustrate his editorial political commentary. They were the handmaidens of the journal's political agenda, verbal and pictorial images that epitomized the texts of his political advocacy. [End Page 307] The political agenda advocated by Vanity Fair was delineated from the first issue. Bowles championed rule by Britain's gentlemanly elite, who would create policies based on principle and hammered out in Parliamentary debate. He advocated that Britain be ruled by those with the education, the leisure, and the experience to rise above parochial and class interests and judge what was best for the country as a whole. While realizing that loyalty to one's political party's principles was essential for the orderly functioning of Parliament, Bowles believed it the "bounden duty of a member of parliament to form an independent judgment in respect to every measure that is proposed," to support a bill with which he agrees in principle while opposing one with which he disagrees "though it emanates from his own party leader."2 Bowles felt that neither the middle classes enfranchised in 1832 nor the lower orders who were given the vote in 1867 were worthy of the task of selecting Britain's rulers. He greatly admired the way that Lord Palmerston kept the commercial interests of the Liberal "tradesmen militant" in check by satiating their "hunger for dinners and soirees."3Vanity Fair was initially less concerned about the political actions of the newly enfranchised masses who were seen as naturally subservient. Thus while "the semblance of power has been given to the people, . . . the power itself is still wielded by the upper and middle classes."4 Bowles doubted the efficacy of public opinion in guiding the affairs of Britain. While public opinion might claim to rule over the nation, so long as ministers were able to keep peace with their party they were immune to rebuke by the nation. Should public opinion come tardily to uncover misconduct or discover incompetence, it had little choice after the fact but to overlook or affirm these actions. Arguing that "English ministers are indeed and in fact English rulers, as powerful and as irresponsible as any that exist under more despotic titles," Bowles addressed his editorials to the upper orders in hopes that pressure from them would keep these rulers honest.5 While his political editorials predated the advent of Pellegrini's first caricature, the portraits and their accompanying letterpress biographies, focusing as they did on a single individual, were the perfect vehicles for exposing...

George W. Bush, the Republican Party, and the “New” American Party System

Scholars have long expressed concern that the ascendance of the modern presidency since the New Deal and World War II, by hastening the decline of political parties and fostering the expansion of the administrative state, portended an era of chronically low public engagement and voter turnout and an increasingly fractious and impotent national politics. Presidents' inattentiveness to the demands of party-building and grassroots mobilization, coupled with their willingness to govern through administration, were seen as key obstacles to the revitalization of a politics based in widespread political interest and collective responsibility for public policy. This article argues that George W. Bush's potent combination of party leadership and executive administration, foreshadowed by Ronald Reagan's earlier efforts, suggests the emergence of a new presidential leadership synthesis and a “new” party system. This new synthesis does not promise a return to pre-modern party politics; rather, it indicates a rearticulation of the relationship between the presidency and the party system. The erosion of old old-style partisan politics allowed for a more national and issue-based party system to develop, forging new links between presidents and parties. As the 2006 elections reveal, however, it remains to be seen whether such parties, which are inextricably linked to executive-centered politics and governance, can perform the critical function of moderating presidential ambition and mobilizing public support for party principles and policies.Sidney M. Milkis is Professors of Politics (smm8e@cms.mail.virginia.edu) and Jesse H. Rhodes is a doctoral student (jhr7t@cms.mail.virginia.edu) at the University of Virginia. The authors would like to thank the anonymous readers who reviewed the manuscript for their thoughtful and constructive comments.

Coalitions without Compromise: Reconsidering the Political Abolitionists

In 1848, Representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania explained why he opposed the expansion of slavery into the United States' western territories. Slavery, he argued, brought dishonor and degradation upon the poor man by placing him close contact with the servile labor of the black.1 Historians have long found statements such as Wilmot's to be revealing. His testimony demonstrates that the emergence of a political antislavery movement in the mid-nineteenth-century United States had its origins in concerns distinct from moral objections to slavery or sympathy toward African Americans. Students of American abolition generally portray antislavery's foray into politics as a story of decline. Their studies chart the movement's descent from the Liberty Party's principles of abolition and racial equality to the Free Soil and Republican Parties' calls for the protection of free labor through the non-extension of slavery.2 Specialists in antebellum politics, who rarely acknowledge a connection between abolition and political antislavery, locate the movement's origins in northern resentment of southern political power or in the racism of the North's electorate.3 Studies published in the 1990s, by shifting historians' attention to the issue of privilege within antebellum society, have intensified the sense that the demand for Free Soil was, at bottom, an inherently racist form of antislavery. In their hardest variants, these accounts examine the way in which the developing status of whiteness was invested with an array of privileges that were denied to people of color and which provided a form of psychological compensation to white workers in exchange for their subordination within the capitalist market.4 Statements like Wilmot's demonstrated that Free Soil represented a part of this larger cultural project. Bruce Laurie's Beyond Garrison offers an impressive challenge to these unflattering portrayals of political antislavery. In an argument akin to ones recently advanced in studies of the Democratic Party by Daniel Feller, Sean Wilentz,

Pharmaceutical-Related Strategies for Health Care Reform in Canada: Federal Party Principles, Priorities, and Actions 2004–2006

Background: The guiding principle of the Canada Health Act (CHA) is to provide Canadians with “medically necessary care.” We note the historic limitations of the CHA with respect to the full integration of medicines and pharmaceutical health care and point to the priority given to drugs and pharmacy-related care in 2 recent federal reports on health care reform. In The Health of Canadians — The Federal Role (Kirby 2002) and Building on Values: The Future of Health Care in Canada and its related submissions (Romanow 2002), the role of drugs and pharmacy in Canadian health care receives unprecedented emphasis. Methods: To determine whether the emphasis on pharmacare made by Kirby, Romanow, and others is retained in federal-level health reform planning, we conducted a content analysis of major federal party platforms and policies tabled for the spring 2004 election (as well as brief reference to those tabled for the winter 2006 election). Results: Recommended pharmacy-related reforms focus on potential catastrophic costs to individual patients rather than on a consideration of essential medicines as medically necessary for a growing number of Canadians. Furthermore, little consideration is given to the role pharmacists could play in minimizing the potential risks of inappropriate drug use and associated costs. Discussion: We consider the difficulty of reconciling the principles of the CHA and the reality of a piecemeal pharmaceutical health care system. Conclusion: Health reforms are needed that take into consideration the growing importance of drugs in health care and the issue of equity and access to drugs for Canadians.

A democracia no Brasil: presidencialismo, coalizão partidária e processo decisório

Nada autoriza tratar o sistema político brasileiro como singular. Coalizões obedecem e são regidas pelo princípio partidário. O presidente, que teve seu poder institucional reforçado pela Constituição de 1988, detém monopólio sobre iniciativa legislativa, o que aproxima o sistema brasileiro das democracias parlamentaristas européias. Ainda que estruturada em torno de questões empíricas, a discussão tangencia questões teóricas, como a importância das escolhas institucionais e como estas afetam as relações entre a maioria e a minoria em governos democráticos.

The Marketing Campaign: The British General Election of 2005

Political marketing was a key factor in the 2005 campaign, but more for its ineffectiveness than for its success. The use of marketing techniques such as segmentation and targeting was prolific, however the extent to which the parties adopted the marketing concept was limited. The impact of Labour's Big Conversation and 'Team Labour' campaign approach was always going to be hindered by Tony Blair's perceived dismissal of party and voter opinion on the Iraq War and top-up fees; appointing a marketing director to work on the presentation rather than the design of policy, combined with a highly negative campaign, was never going to win the election for the Tories. The lessons of electoral history – and marketing - were proved right once again: only if parties fully embrace the marketing philosophy and comprehensively design their behaviour by reflecting and responding to public demand. Nevertheless the key to future success for UK parties is to bring back ideology: market-oriented politics should also include using party principles and leadership judgement in order to be able to produce a distinctive response to the public concerns that is both popular and credible.

Red Capitalists in China: The Party, Private Entrepreneurs, and Prospects for Political Change (review)

Reviewed by: Red Capitalists in China: The Party, Private Entrepreneurs, and Prospects for Political Change Lawrence C. Reardon (bio) Bruce J. Dickson. Red Capitalists in China: The Party, Private Entrepreneurs, and Prospects for Political Change. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003. x, 187 pp. Hardcover $65.00, ISBN 0-521-81817-6. Paperback $23.00, 0-521-52143-2. Since Deng Xiaoping pushed forward the dramatic economic changes of the late 1970s, Western observers have speculated about the true nature of China's economic reforms and their implications for political change. During the 1980 s, Western pundits were all too eager to proclaim that the market-opening strategies would unleash the democratic aspirations of the Chinese people. Yet, with the destruction of the 1989 "Goddess of Democracy" in Tiananmen Square, such pundits had to acknowledge the continued ability of the Communist Party to maintain control of the state. During the 1990s, many Westerners hoped that the emergence of a new civil society led by the newly empowered Chinese business class would help transform China into a democracy. While avoiding whether such a civil society is emerging in China today, Bruce J. Dickson pursues in this book the more fundamental question concerning the linkage between civil society and democracy. Reaffirming findings by other China scholars, Dickson uses extensive field surveys to argue that China's new capitalists are "red." In other words, these businesspeople are not catalysts for democratic change, but are partnering with the state in order to pursue what is in their mutual self-interest: economic development. Previous studies of entrepreneurs have focused on elite attitudes, particular associations, or economic sectors; other studies have failed to support their argument with substantial evidence. Employing survey teams from Peking University's Research Center for Contemporary China (RCCC), Dickson analyzed data gathered from eight counties in Zhejiang, Shandong, Hebei, and Hunan during the fall of 1997 and spring of 1999. Altogether, the RCCC team collected data from 524 private entrepreneurs and 230 local Party and government cadre. County officials invited the selected entrepreneurs to meetings to fill out the survey; in certain cases, local government cadre actually delivered the questionnaires to individual entrepreneurs and returned them on the same day (p. 87). While it is difficult to assess the influence of local government participation on survey results, the cooperation between the RCCC and Western academics continues to bode well for China survey research. Dickson's own survey research constitutes the core strength of his analysis and is why Dickson's work makes a strong contribution to the literature on China's entrepreneurs. Continuing his previous work on Leninist party regimes, Dickson describes how the Chinese Communist Party has become a party of inclusion, culminating [End Page 322] with the July 1, 2001, announcement that private entrepreneurs once again could join the Communist Party. To control these new forces, the Party resorted to corporatist strategies of control by establishing trade and business associations that are noncritical of the Party. Members embrace the close relationship between the association and the state; they oftentimes turn to the state to resolve problems. Instead of a utilitarian relationship where relationships (guanxi) and connections (menhu) are of primary importance, private entrepreneurs and officials see a fusion between self-interest and public interest; what is good for business is good for the community. Confirming Pearson's previous work,1 the Party and the associations share the common goal of economic and not political reform. Dickson arrives at his findings by first describing the impact of two decades of economic reform on the Party and its recruitment schemes. Not surprisingly, the reforms had a deleterious effect on the Leninist system of control. Party members had difficulty upholding Party principles in the face of the competing needs of the marketplace. Whereas the Party dominated the command economy of the pre-1980s, the post-Third Plenum economic reforms resulted in the downsizing or closure of the SOEs, which mandated the layoff of workers, including Party members. The Party had little success in establishing cells in the vibrant non-SOE sectors, especially among the self-employed laborers (getihu), in the township village enterprises (TVEs), and the foreign joint ventures. To co-opt the...

Responsiveness and Deliberation in Divided Government: Presidential Leadership in Tax Policy Making

At the heart of the puzzle of representation is the responsibility to construct policy that both responds to the separatist pull of local constituencies and meets the republican aspiration that government leaders define and promote common interests. The difficulty of balancing responsiveness and deliberation is heightened by divided government, where pursuing a competitive course leads to stalemate, while compromising too readily threatens to undermine party principle. This article argues that politicians have an incentive to accommodate their strategies to divided government, and that this accommodation will take the form of centralizing power in the congressional party leadership, with an increased willingness on the part of the president and the congressional leadership to engage in substantive consultation over the content of the legislative agenda. These accommodations will foster the possibility of meaningful deliberation; whether it will occur on any given issue will depend on the context of information and interpretation. Because most policies are open to multiple interpretations, political leaders have some leeway in framing the issue and thus determining what information and which political resources will shape the strategic context. Beginning with a review of the literature on legislative processes and presidential influence in Congress, and drawing on the formal theory literature on information and uncertainty, I explicate the argument by way of an empirical case study of one of the most historically significant tax policy negotiations in the post-war period.

European Party Loyalties Revisited

The likelihood that party loyalties reflect the characteristics of parties and political competition within specific political environments was generally ignored in critiques of party identification abroad. In this article, I identify substantial frequencies of stable partisan ties among British, Dutch, and German voters in the 1960s through the 1980s. Stable party loyalists in turn usually vote for their preferred party in subsequent elections. Long-term partisan ties are most common among supporters of traditional cleavage parties. These long-term party loyalties reflect the effects of both long-standing hostilities toward opposing parties and well-developed party principles. Since partisan responses are internally consistent and subsume ideational as well as affective components, these feelings resemble social psychology's affect-laden schemata.

Comprehensive School Reform and the 1945 Labour Government

When he says that Ellen Wilkinson opposed comprehensive schools, we can assume David Rubinstein' is using an historian's conventional shorthand, and would accept its limitations as considered comment on either the Labour government's educational policy or Ellen Wilkinson's career as a whole. Billy Hughes2 loyally reminds us of Ellen Wilkinson's strong commitment to socialism in word and deed during the 1930s, but this approach also has its limitations for it is the 1945-1951 period which concerns us, and the policy of a Party which declared itself specifically socialist. It is in this broader frame that we have to assess the comprehensive education issue and, in particular, to ask whether in implementing the 1944 Education Act along selective rather than comprehensive lines, the 1945 Labour government was failing to act as a socialist party might be expected to have acted at this time in history. If there was a failure, it might be hard to recognize in retrospect because this same Labour government was relatively so successful in implementing specifically socialist policy in other government departments, and also because the education ministry was so successful in implementing its policy. Billy Hughes gives clear evidence of ministry success, including Lord Alexander's opinion that more teachers were trained and schools built during Ellen Wilkinson's years at the ministry than at any other time in British history. Billy Hughes also says that Ellen Wilkinson fought opposition to get the school leaving age raised. In more recent times another woman education minister, Margaret Thatcher, also raised the leaving age amid opposition and presided over a department which was busy expanding school building. The policy Billy Hughes was describing was in the main an agreed one of expansion and reconstruction after a world war. In all probability it would have been carried out in much the same way, even if at not quite the same pace, by Liberals or Conservatives, either of whom almost certainly would also have agreed to implement the 1944 Act much as Labour did: by accepting the ministry's own strategy as set out in its 1943 Norwood Report.3 The Norwood Report said that children can be divided with certainty into three separate mental -types at eleven, and that separate development in segregated schools was therefore right for Britain's new post-war secondary system. Norwood's 'tripartitism' is discredited today, and its unscientific and expedient pronouncements, fitting children to schools rather than the reverse, were rejected by historians4 long before Cytil Burt, its moving influence, had his own research on hereditary influence discredited.5 That Norwood's philosophy was alien to Labour Party principle, and its policy contrary to Labour's policy, was pointed out from 1942 onwards by many socialists and teachers in the Labour Party, particularly when the ministry published A Nation's Schools in 1945, a month before Ellen Wilkinson was made minister of education. This laid down a tripartite system as the way for local authorities to develop the new secondary schools, and discouraged comprehensive education. Her reputation raised hopes that she would agree to repudiate this publication, but, according to the combined

The party principle in physics teaching at Universities

The party principle in physics teaching at Universities

Historiography as A Special Branch of Historical Science

The present stage of development of the Party's ideological activity is passing under the banner of implementing the historic decisions of the Twenty-Fourth Congress of the CPSU. The Party documents adopted by the Central Committee of the Party after the congress, and particularly the report of L. I. Brezhnev, general-secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, devoted to the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the USSR, advance Marxist-Leninist theory and create new opportunities for theoretical activity by Party personnel in all spheres of scholarly life, including historical science. In this regard historiographic research takes on particular importance. It is precisely in this field that the struggle of different schools of ideas stands out clearly, the class and Party principle of historical analysis undergoes verification, and the laws of development of the discipline are studied. The results of historiographic research, introduced into the teaching process, exercise great influence in shaping the world-view of young historians and on their mastery of the Marxist-Leninist method of historical research. (1) All this necessarily propounds the task of gaining knowledge of the essence of historiography as a special branch of historical knowledge.

V. Lenino knyga „Materializmas ir empiriokriticizmas" ir gamtos mokslai

Apžvelgiamos V. Lenino knygoje „Materializmas ir empiriokriticizmas” nagrinėjamos problemos. Parodoma tuometinių gamtos mokslų laimėjimų kontekstas. Teigiama, kad V. Leninas apgynė materializmo pagrindus, parodė subjektyvistinį machizmo pobūdį. Jis išanalizavo svarbiausias naujausios fizikos filosofines problemas, atskleidė fizikinio idealizmo esmę. V. Leninas nurodė pagrindinius fizikos krizės aspektus – progresyvią, revoliucinę ir bandymą paneigti objektyviąją tiesą ir materialistinę pasaulėžiūrą pakeisti idealistine. V. Leninas teigė, kad fizikos ir apskritai mokslų matematizacija yra labai progresyvus reiškinys. Jis kritikavo reliatyvizmą: idealistai, suabsoliutinę pažinimo santykinumą, paneigė pasaulio pažinumą ir jo objektyvų egzistavimą. V. Leninas apibūdino materiją kaip egzistuojančią nepriklausomai nuo žmogaus sąmonės ir jos atspindimą. Gilėjant žinioms apie objektyvų pasaulį, keičiasi ir mūsų teorijos, sąvokos.

The Tory Party's Attitude to Foreigners: a Note on Party Principles in the Age of Anne

The Tory Party's Attitude to Foreigners: a Note on Party Principles in the Age of Anne