Western Political Culture Research Articles

Legal Framework of State Formation in Lithuania: A Historical Comparison Pre- and Post-EU Integration

The accession of new countries to the European Union (EU) in May 2004 marked a qualitatively new stage in the integration processes both in Europe and worldwide. Analysing the positive and negative phenomena accompanying the enlargement of the EU is significant for countries considering or potentially joining the EU in the future. This analysis is crucial when forming long-term economic policies and deciding their integration directions. The experience of the Republic of Lithuania in studying the impact of external political situations on the processes of integration into the European community is seen as illustrative for Ukraine due to shared initial characteristics and historical proximity between the states. The article analyses the features of Lithuania’s integration into the European community. A significant normative and systemic gap between the periods studied in the context of the legislative field is demonstrated. The study aims to analyse the dynamics of the normative-legal framework in developing European integration and state-building processes in Lithuania from 1990 to 2021. The research identifies which countries had the most significant influence on the state-building process in Lithuania after 1990 during the establishment and development of democratisation. Fundamental concepts of state-building in Lithuania during the studied period and the corresponding normative-legal framework of the process are highlighted. It is established that Lithuania’s accession, despite a solid societal push for integration into the Western political and economic culture, had several distinctive features related to constitutional institutions, significantly impacting the resolution of issues between the government and EU institutions.

Democracy as Religion in the Context of the Global Governance System

Introduction. The article examines the modern understanding of democracy as a religious belief system. New technologies and globalization open up opportunities to influence all spheres of society, which makes it possible to impose ethical standards and moral ideals through political technologies and propaganda. Understanding democracy as a new kind of religion allows us to get a full-fledged view of all key elements of the current culture of the modern world, which determines the main semantic content of global revolutionary transformations. Its consideration in the spiritual dimension is an additional vector for the study of social and political processes of globalization. Taking into account the increasing of tensions in the global political arena and the deepening interdependence of all international actors, such an approach can play an important role in their analysis and forecasting. The object of study is democracy; the subject of the study is the specifics of the modern vision of democracy, democratic values and ideals as a special form of religious cult. The purpose of the study is to identify the role of democracy, its new moral values and guidelines in the context of global revolutionary transformations.Materials and methods. The methodological basis of the study was following general scientific and special methods: method of system analysis; historical-genetic method; phenomenological method; analytical method; historical method; contextual analysis and formal logical research methods.Research results. The authors analyzed the specifics of the dominant interpretation of democratic values and goals in the context of Western political culture. The main elements of the new system of beliefs, their relationship, evolution and place in the modern world are revealed. The results obtained allow us to conclude that democracy is being transformed into a special form of cult, which has the characteristic features of religious teaching.Discussion and conclusion. The ideology of people's rule has lost its original meaning, turning into a special cult that serves as an instrument of social management, without taking into account traditional cultures, the diversity of societies and states, and the national identities of peoples. Democracy as a religion without God has become an instrument of the world information agenda, exploiting faith to build a new world order.

ЦІННІСНО-СВІТОГЛЯДНІ ОРІЄНТИРИ УКРАЇНСЬКОГО СУСПІЛЬСТВА 1991 РОКУ (НА МАТЕРІАЛАХ ГАЗЕТИ «ЛІТЕРАТУРНА УКРАЇНА»)

In the conditions of the collapse of the USSR and the gaining of independence by Ukraine, the Ukrainian public faced a number of challenges regarding national identity, historical memory, national and political consciousness, etc. In this vein, in 1991, the Center for Political Psychology and Communication of the Kyiv Union of Higher School Teachers schools and scientists, together with the editorial board of the «Literary Ukraine» newspaper, conducted a sociological study on the study of public opinion regarding the topical issues of that time, historical memory, and national consciousness. A number of questions were posed to society: «Who are we?», «What are we like?», «What do we want and what must we do?», «What kind of people are we?», «What kind of historical memory do we have?», «Do we believe in the national, spiritual and state revival of Ukraine?». The article shows the national composition of the population of Ukraine. A sociological portrait of survey respondents was made. The affiliation of the respondents to one or another political culture was determined, where the attitude towards the state leader was the main evaluation criterion, when the western political culture is oriented towards the equality of all citizens, including the leader of the state, while the eastern political culture is focused on the charisma of the leader. The ratio of different personality types among carriers of types of political culture is shown in percentages, their behavior in conflicts, which gives us a certain idea about the formation of their genotype, identity. The opinions of representatives of different types of political culture regarding the principles of choosing the president, regarding the forms of cooperation of Ukraine with the subjects of the former USSR, were analyzed, regarding the rating of historical figures, the popularity of political figures of Ukraine, the significance of Ukraine’s entry into the USSR and the proclamation of the Act of Independence of Ukraine. It was concluded that the society was not monolithic, identical, because it was formed under the influence of many different factors, among which a special place is occupied by the valuable and worldview aspect of the behavior of various social groups, which was related to their interaction with the political authorities. In this respect, the issue of entry/secession of Crimea and Donbas was indicative. That is, already at the moment when Ukraine gained independence, the mentioned question began to be raised at the level of separatism.

Science Fiction Series <i>Star Trek</i> and <i>Babylon 5</i> as Forms of Political and Memorial Cultures Construction

The author analyzes Star Trek and Babylon 5 series as segments of American political culture and collective memory. The purpose of the article is to analyze how American popular culture, represented by the TV series, actualizes and visualizes the problems of the admissibility / inadmissibility of external influence / non-influence of more developed societies on less developed ones and demonstrates the features of collective memory developments. The author studies the assimilation of the political in the visual discourses of mass culture. Methodologically, the article is based on the principles proposed in the memorial turn and the analysis of the politics of memory within the paradigm of intellectual history. The novelty of the study lies in the analysis of common and unique features and directions of assimilation of the political, reduced to the problems of interference / nonintervention, in modern mass culture and historical memory. The article considers 1) the modes of actualization of political and social differences between societies in Star Trek and Babylon 5 TV series; 2) the political and ideological dimensions of intervention through the prism of mass culture and aspects of the functioning of various memorial cultures; 3) the problems of memory as the trauma received during the forced interaction of imagined societies with different identities in the contexts of the development of collective memories and the uncomfortable past revision through the formation of a compromise memorial canon. The article shows the contribution of the series as elements of mass cultural discourse to the development of Western political culture and of Selfness and Otherness concepts, and indicates their role in the revision of the past in popular culture. The results of the study suggest that the assimilation of the political in mass cultural discourse became both an incentive for ideological modifications and transformations of modern society, and a form of promoting the principles of political correctness and tolerance as its systemic characteristics. Moreover, it can be viewed as an attempt to revise the memorial canon and to enhance it by alternative visions of history, based on the revitalization of marginalized collective memories.

PR AND PROPAGANDA IN THE POST-SOVIET SPACE: PROBLEMS OF INFORMATION POLICY DEVELOPMENT

The article discusses the main approaches to establishing the difference between the concepts of public relations and propaganda. A reconstruction of the development of the sphere of public relations in Western political culture has been made. The features of the development of the sphere of public relations in the countries of the post-Soviet space are determined. It has been established that the concept of public relations, until recently little known and unusual for the former Soviet political culture and mentality, has literally burst into our lives in recent years. This concept has become fashionable, has become a real hallmark of new times. The entire civilized world has not only become accustomed to it, but has also turned public relations into an effectively working science and art of achieving mutual understanding and agreement between various subjects of civil society life. But because of its “fashionableness”, the concept of “public relations” is often used in place and out of place, often putting a perverted meaning into it. Sometimes a superficial approach to this area of ​​activity is contrary to the principles of social responsibility of civil society institutions, in fact pushing to treat the public as an object of deception, manipulation solely in the selfish interests of subjects whose favorable (or unfavorable) image is created at any cost. The institutionalization of a civilized professional system of public relations in the post-Soviet space is making its way through many objective and subjective obstacles. The content of obstructing factors of an objective and subjective nature is always concretely historical. A weighty historical factor in this process is the legacy of the influence of the propaganda machine of the past.

“Hominids with an Infected Brain” Engage in Viral Debate: Agamben and Žižek on the Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Human Relationships

“Hominids with an Infected Brain” Engage in Viral Debate: Agamben and Žižek on the Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Human Relationships

User Experiences of the NZ COVID Tracer App in New Zealand: Thematic Analysis of Interviews.

BackgroundFor mobile app–based COVID-19 contact tracing to be fully effective, a large majority of the population needs to be using the app on an ongoing basis. However, there is a paucity of studies of users, as opposed to potential adopters, of mobile contact tracing apps and of their experiences. New Zealand, a high-income country with western political culture, was successful in managing the COVID-19 pandemic, and its experience is valuable for informing policy responses in similar contexts.ObjectiveThis study asks the following research questions: (1) How do users experience the app in their everyday contexts? and (2) What drives the use of the app?MethodsResidents of New Zealand’s Auckland region, which encompasses the country’s largest city, were approached via Facebook, and 34 NZ COVID Tracer app users were interviewed. Interview transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis.ResultsInterviews ranged in duration from 15 to 50 minutes. Participants ranged in age from those in their late teens to those in their early sixties. Even though about half of the participants identified as White New Zealanders of European origin, different ethnicities were represented, including New Zealanders of South Pacific, Indian, Middle Eastern, South American, and Southeast Asian descent. Out of 34 participants, 2 (6%) identified as Māori (Indigenous New Zealanders). A broad range of careers were represented, from top-middle management to health support work and charity work. Likewise, educational backgrounds ranged broadly, from high school completion to master’s degrees. Out of 34 participants, 2 (6%) were unemployed, having recently lost their jobs because of the pandemic. The thematic analysis resulted in five major themes: perceived benefits, patterns of use, privacy, social influence, and need for collective action. Benefits of using the app to society in general were more salient to the participants than immediate health benefits to the individual. Use, however, depended on the alert level and tended to decline for many participants at low alert levels. Privacy considerations played a small role in shaping adoption and use, even though the participants were highly aware of privacy discourse around the app. Participants were aware of the need for high levels of adoption and use of the app to control the pandemic. Attempts to encourage others to use the app were common, although not always successful.ConclusionsAppeals to civic responsibility are likely to drive the use of a mobile contact tracing app under the conditions of high threat. Under the likely scenario of COVID-19 remaining endemic and requiring ongoing vigilance over the long term, other mechanisms promoting the use of mobile contact tracing apps may be needed, such as offering incentives. As privacy is not an important concern for many users, flexible privacy settings in mobile contact tracing apps allowing users to set their optimal levels of privacy may be appropriate.

Analysis of the European integration process Baltic countries: experience for Ukraine

The article analyzes the peculiarities of the integration of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia into the European Union. The stages are highlighted, the principles and mechanisms of the European integration policy of the Baltic States are clarified. The problems of Ukraine's adaptation to the requirements of the European Union, in particular the conditions of the Copenhagen criteria, ways to use the relevant experience of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are revealed. Recommendations for further rapprochement of Ukraine with the EU are considered.
 The accession of dozens of new countries to the EU in May 2004 marked a qualitatively new stage in the integration process both in Europe and in the world. As a result of the largest enlargement of the European Union, the state of the economy in the old member states has changed significantly, but rather it has had decisive consequences in all areas of the economy for the new member states. Analysis of the positive and negative phenomena that accompanied the enlargement of the EU is important for countries that have or are considering joining the EU in the future, in the formation of long-term economic policy and deciding on the directions of their integration. The closest to Ukraine in terms of development in the EU are the countries of Central Europe and the Baltics, so their experience will be useful for our country.
 Integration with the European Union was less difficult for the three Baltic states than for many other accessing countries, due to their strong social impetus to join Western political, economic and legal culture after they regained their independence from the Soviet Union in 1990. However, the accession of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had several distinctive features related to constitutional origin and institutions, which had a strong impact on the resolution of problems between the government and the EU institutions. The path taken by the Baltic countries upon accession to the EU was difficult and their role in the EU was not easy. Today, the EU-related agenda requires more skills than ever before in finding allies and choosing partners.

Christian democracy as a modern political doctrine

Christian Democracy is one of the youngest political doctrines of our time, a product of the twentieth century. But it influenced the formation of the post-war order of Europe, of the world, and the formation of new political parties and whole party systems, and a new type of political culture. The reaction of Christianity to manifestations of anti-clericalism and socialism in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. became Christian democracy. Christian democracy is a fairly broad concept. In its content, it includes the direction of socio-political thought, political movement as well as a network of public organizations and associations. The article discusses the essence of the concept "Christian democracy", its contentfulness in the twentieth century. The key stages of the development of modern political doctrine of Christianity and the main principles are analyzed. The article traces the institutional development of Christian-democratic organizations. Particular attention is devoted to the Christian Democratic parties of the countries of Western Europe, which are the most powerful in the world. Characteristics of the development of Christian Democratic parties in Ukraine are given, and tendencies of their further development are revealed. The question of the ideological and social significance of Christian democracy in the context of the formation of Western political culture is explored. The basic tasks and directions of development of Christian Democratic Movement as Important Parameters of Christian Politics, and the Importance of Political Participation of Christian Parties in the World and in Ukraine are formed. The main principles of Christian democracy are outlined: solidarity, subsidiarity, personalism, responsibility, decentralizationю These principles laid the specific understanding of the concept of "person-society-state". The concept of the doctrine of Christian democracy as the basis for the formation of a pluralistic society and a deligatory state is highlighted.

О некоторых особенностях теоретических дискуссий о коммунизме в XXI веке (размышления о книге Коммунизм. Антикоммунизм. Русофобия / Авт. кол.: П.П. Апрышко и др. М.: Мир философии: Алгоритм, 2019. – 495 с.)

The article is devoted to the analysis of discussions related to the assessment of both the ideological consequences of post-communist transformations in modern Russia, and the peculiarities of interpretation of the heritage of Karl Marx and the communist tradition in domestic and international philosophical and political discourses. As the base text the collection of articles and essays of leading Rus­sian philosophers and scholars еdited by the publishing house World of Philoso­phy was chosen. They seek to critically analyze numerous myths and misconcep­tions regarding the nature of communist ideas and the historical features of the implementation of the socialist experiment in Russia. The article presents an at­tempt to make a comparative analysis of the domestic experience of analyzing the evolution of the communist tradition with the various discussions that have been taking place in Western Europe and the USA for several decades. In the context of the analysis of the texts presented in the collection, the main features of the polemics of Russian scholars with anti-communist rhetoric wide­spread in the West and their reasoned criticism of the centuries-old traditions of Russophobia, rooted in Western political culture, dating back to the 18th century, are highlighted.

Znamiona państwa wyznaniowego. Uwagi na kanwie dorobku współczesnego konstytucjonalizmu

An analysis of contemporary constitutions indicates that the number of denominational states is slowly decreasing. However, we also encounter opposite tendencies. The model of a denominational, or a religious state is primarily characteristic for Muslim countries of the Near and Middle East and for a number of Southeast Asian countries. In the last decades, the number of Christian states and secular ideological states has declined signifi cantly. There is a stable group of states with Buddhism as a privileged religion. The religious constitutional norms of states of confession are generally characterised by a high degree of generality. Detailed provisions are seldom and denominational clauses are primarily included among the principles of the supreme constitution. Underlying the religious character of the state lies the rejection of the neutrality of the worldview. It is not possible, on the basis of the constitution alone, to reconstruct a detailed, universal model of a religious state. In the light of fundamental laws, the most common characteristics of religious states are: the negation of the neutrality of the state in worldviews, the acceptance of a particular religion as the offi cial religion, the rejection of the equality of religious associations, the requirement of a head of state to follow the state religion or belief, and the state support for a given confession. The constitutions of most religious states formally provide for religious freedom. In the fundamental laws of some Muslim states, the guarantees for this freedom are, however, silent. The Western political culture fails the characteristics of an organisational unity of the state or the religious apparatus. The socio-political reality of contemporary religious states indicates that this model of statehood cannot be a priori regarded as contrary to the principles of democracy and human rights.

Reading Arendt in the Russian Context

Hannah Arendt is well-studied in Russia; her legacy is noticeable in academic discussions. However, her theoretical positions can hardly bring about a significant change in the present state of local political and philosophical affairs. The reason is the same for both the unusual popularity of her theoretical concepts and their lack of practical relevance. Her non-traditional approach to politics seamlessly fits into recurrent patterns of Russian social life which are no-less distant from the established forms of Western political culture. Being uncritically transplanted into different soil, her unorthodox way of thinking about politics found an immediate enthusiastic reception in Russia, but not at the same level of scrutiny as was in the West. Paradoxically, this proves that Arendt’s views may confirm the local status-quo, rather than challenging it. In this paper, I will try to explain this paradox by presenting both the elements of her theory that remain under-appreciated by her Russian followers, and her dogmatic positions shared with her school of thought, which can be elucidated by reading them against the Russian context. Arendt’s theory features hidden, but distinct, elitist, and liberal tendencies; to some degree, her theory goes well with the Machiavellian character of contemporary Russian politics. However, at the exact point when she finds an unlikely ally in Isaiah Berlin, her normative solutions mostly go unnoticed. On the other hand, reading her texts against the Russian experience exposes some of her preconceptions about human existence, the meaning of political life, and our relations to history, all of which weaken the practical relevance of her thoughts.

The Rivers Ran Backward: The Civil War and the Remaking of the American Middle Border by Christopher Phillips

Reviewed by: The Rivers Ran Backward: The Civil War and the Remaking of the American Middle Border by Christopher Phillips Michael S. Green The Rivers Ran Backward: The Civil War and the Remaking of the American Middle Border. Christopher Phillips. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. ISBN: 978-0-1951-8723-6. 528 pp., cloth, $34.95. Mention border areas in nineteenth-century America, and western scholars might cite the borderlands field that focuses mainly on old Spanish colonies that now comprise much of the Sun Belt. Others will point to the border states in the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln's statement on emancipation that he wanted God on his side but needed Kentucky. Identifying western border states seemed easy: Kentucky and Missouri, slave states that remained in the Union. But Christopher Phillips's remarkable new book should make all who study the nineteenth century think differently and deeply about the Civil War's border regions and perhaps borderlands history. The Rivers Ran Backward focuses on those traditional border states, and the lower northern border—Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Kansas—then considers the west. According to longstanding arguments, "Once settled, the new states west of the Appalachians formed a fixed boundary between freedom and slavery, extending the border that inevitably produced the war. None of these beliefs is, or was, accurate" (5). Phillips explains, "This book is about how a traditional western political culture that traditionally accommodated slavery was transformed by the era of the Civil War—its coming, its lived experience, and its memory—into the cultural politics of region. It explains how slavery could organize the life of an entire region even as it became the foundation of the conflict while being at once its least attributed and most unreconciled cause among those white residents who endured it" (9). To explain how the Civil War did and did not shape the region, Phillips travels a necessarily long and winding road from the early nineteenth century into the early twentieth. He examines how upper southern border states never relied so heavily on slavery as deeper and coastal southern states did, how slavery affected [End Page 92] the culture of the North's lower western border, how regionalism developed and its effects, and how historical memory shaped the Civil War's outcomes on the western border. A rich series of character portraits, statistics, descriptions, and analysis shows how slavery existed north of what traditionally has been considered the institution's northernmost boundary and how it and responses to it shaped race relations and politics. It seems as though every page has facts or analysis that historians of the era and its numerous subfields, as well as scholars of place and the places Phillips discusses, will find useful and thought-provoking. Even a book this brilliantly researched and ambitious cannot do it all. Phillips states—maybe warns—that it "is largely organized chronologically and topically, moving back and forth as events occurred across the interior rivers, central to the region's history, between the middle border's slave and free states," which makes it difficult at times to follow a complicated story (10). For example, James Rollins appears as a proslavery Whig urging his West Point–cadet son to say "that you belong to neither section—that you are a true son of the great West" but never reappears as a border state unionist who votes and speaks for the Thirteenth Amendment—a niggling point, but the kind of information that might have done more to unify the story (94). The anecdote brings up Lincoln's role: Phillips calls him the "central figure" in the traditional narrative and "a lifelong resident of the border states of this region"; increasing his presence might have better underscored the evolution of the people, issues, and place (5). One way he puts Lincoln at the center is in the 1858 Senate debates: he sees the debates in the context of Illinois as part of the western border region is welcome, but calling Lincoln "still a Whig in a Democratic world" that year misstates his political evolution, the region's, and the result (Lincoln won more votes and legislators than Stephen Douglas) (102). More substantively...

The European Grammar of Inclusion

This paper tackles an old, yet persisting philosophical and cultural imaginary that justifies the political subjugation, marginalization and exclusion of distant others through claims that such people are less advanced and cognitively inferior, and therefore remain at the periphery of moral and political considerations of Western political culture. My premise here is that all knowledge is historically conditioned, and as such serves as a discursive formation that mirrors and sustains specific historical forms of social organization and practices. Thus, by considering the interrelated themes of epistemic and social inclusion (and exclusion) of refugees and migrants from a range of critical philosophical perspectives, I argue that successfully managing the dire humanitarian circumstances involved in admitting and receiving displaced and migrant people requires the inclusion of both the bodies of knowledge and discursive interactions (i.e., epistemic inclusion) and also diverse social and cultural perspectives (i.e., social inclusion).

Znamiona państwa wyznaniowego – uwagi na kanwie dorobku współczesnego konstytucjonalizmu

Analiza współczesnych konstytucji wskazuje, że liczba państw wyznaniowych powoli maleje. Spotykamy się jednak z tendencjami przeciwstawnymi. Ustrój państwa wyznaniowego jest charakterystyczny przede wszystkim dla krajów muzułmańskich Bliskiego i Środkowego Wschodu oraz dla szeregu państw Azji Południowo-Wschodniej. W ostatnich dziesięcioleciach wyraźnie zmalała natomiast liczba państw chrześcijańskich oraz świeckich państw ideologicznych. Stabilna pozostaje grupa państw z buddyzmem jako religią uprzywilejowaną. Przepisy wyznaniowe konstytucji państw konfesyjnych charakteryzują się z reguły dużym stopniem ogólności. Rzadko spotyka się postanowienia szczegółowe. Klauzule wyznaniowe zamieszczone są przede wszystkim wśród zasad naczelnych konstytucji. U podstaw wyznaniowego charakteru państwa leży odrzucenie neutralności światopoglądowej. Nie jest możliwe na podstawie samych tylko konstytucji zrekonstruowanie szczegółowego, uniwersalnego modelu państwa wyznaniowego. W świetle ustaw zasadniczych najczęściej spotykane cechy państw wyznaniowych to: negacja neutralności państwa w sprawach światopoglądowych, przyjęcie określonej religii jako oficjalnej, odrzucenie równości związków wyznaniowych, wymóg wyznawania przez głowę państwa określonej religii lub światopoglądu, udzielanie przez państwo wsparcia dla danej konfesji. Konstytucje większości państw wyznaniowych formalnie zapewniają wolność religijną. W ustawach zasadniczych niektórych państw muzułmańskich gwarancje dla tej wolności są jednak przemilczane. Jedność organizacyjna aparatu państwowego i wyznaniowego nie jest charakterystyczna dla sfery kultury politycznej Zachodu. Rzeczywistość społeczno-polityczna współczesnych państw wyznaniowych wskazuje, że wspomnianego modelu państwowości nie można a priori uznać za sprzeczny z zasadami demokracji oraz z prawami człowieka.

Open-Air Biowarfare Testing and the Evolution of Values.

The United States and the United Kingdom ended outdoor biological warfare testing in populated areas nearly half a century ago. Yet, the conduct, health effects, and propriety of those tests remain controversial. The varied views reflect the limits of currently available test information and evolving societal values on research involving human subjects. Western political culture has changed since the early days of the American and British testing programs. People have become less reluctant to question authority, and institutional review boards must now pre-approve research involving human subjects. Further, the heightened stringency of laboratory containment has accentuated the safety gap between a confined test space and one without physical boundaries. All this makes it less likely that masses of people would again be unwittingly subjected to secret open-air biological warfare tests.

Judging in the Name of Humanity: International Criminal Tribunals and the Representation of a Global Public

In this article, we look at ways in which international criminal tribunals, notably the International Criminal Tribunal for the formerYugoslavia and the International Criminal Court, purport to do justice in the name of humanity. The exercises of justice in the name of humanity, as we observe them here, also have the effect of supporting the institutional powers of international criminal tribunals. To do so, however, courts must give form to the idea of humanity on which they rely. We argue that international criminal tribunals, in these instances, act as representatives of humanity understood as a global public. But representation and identification of a global public prove to be two sides of the same coin, reflecting a paradox of representation. This paradox, as it is manifest by international criminal tribunals, is situated within the context of Western political culture. Accordingly, proceeding from Hobbes through to ideas of contemporary phenomenology, we explore representation as a creative act: in representing humanity as a whole, international criminal tribunals engage in a constitutive act by which they embody and thereby establish that which they purport to represent. Finally, we investigate this process in terms of self-assertion and community making, done for the purposes of realizing and channelling the potential power of collectivity.

On Political Parties in China and Western Societies

Faction in politics is a long-standing objective phenomenon in human political life. Party has made factions public and legal. Clique is only a kind of small group struggling for private interests. Derived from faction, party is different from faction because party has its own clear objective, well-organized structure and discipline. Without getting rid of minor faction, party has to struggle against factionalism after its coming into being. A proletariat party has also to face the temptation of factionalism and keep politics focused on the benefit of the people in general. The nature of Chinese proletariat party decides there is no space for the development of major factionalism. Chinese culture from ancient times demonstrates that every empire was destroyed from within by factions. In order to create cultural harmony in China and prevent regime destruction, strong factions from within must be avoided. Western political culture analysis shows that an environment developed which was favorable to two and multiple parties. Chinese culture never produced such a condition.Keywords: Party – Faction – Clique – Factionalism – Proletariat – Culture-----Bibliography: Feng, Wang: On Political Parties in China and Western Societies, PCS, 2-2013, pp. 120-132. https://doi.org/10.3224/pcs.v4i2.19800

Alphonse de Lamartine, poète et politicien: Le discours du 6 octobre 1848

It is well known that nineteenth-century France can be regarded as a laboratory of political experimentation. From the perspective of constititutional history, it was in the course of the 1848 Revolution that the first cycle of experiments was completed (1791–1848). Alphonse de Lamartine's celebrated speech to the National Assembly in favour of the direct election of the President of the Republic has its place within this framework. It also merits detailed analysis because it heralds a new political era. Parts of the speech throw light on Lamartine's project, his ideas about the politics of the people and about the man who should lead it. A study of the speech reveals some surprises. One is dealing with a strange mixture of notions about public law, of romantic ideas, and of oriental prophecies. Yet, by an irony of history, the speech was to facilitate the accession to power of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte. In the presidential election of 10 December, the nephew of Napoleon I obtained more than five million votes, whereas Lamartine had fewer than 18,000. The significance of this episode is not limited to Lamartine's personal failure. It invites reflection on the romantic roots of the strong presidential model. Thanks to the support of France's most famous poet, the idea of a linkage between the people and its leader was to take root in Western political culture extending beyond the time span of the second phase of Bonapartism.

Ecological Civilization, Indigenous Culture, and Rural Reconstruction in China

The governments of almost all developing countries are facing the long-term twin problems of capital shortages and high fiscal debts, resulting from their attempts to modernize the state forms and economic and financial relations left by colonialism or copied from western political culture. Whether they claimed to be of the left or the right ideologically, they almost invariably undertook policies to attract foreign investment and encourage domestic private investors to join the global industrialization competition during the twentieth century…. Continental China, the biggest developing country, with the largest population (but also with significant natural resource constraints) has close to 20 percent of the world's population, but only 9 percent of its arable land and a mere 6 percent of its fresh water. Over the centuries, China had its share of drought- or flood-induced famines. But if not for a 6,000-year history of irrigated agriculture, with its related village rationality based on traditional indigenous knowledge—which internalizes risks by its multifunctional rural cultures of sustainable self-reliance—China would have been a land of perpetual hunger.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.