A Critical Appraisal of the Children of Light and the Children of Darkness in the Debate of the Necessity of Democracy in Twenty-First-Century Mainland China

2020 ◽  
Vol 77 (3) ◽  
pp. 285-297
Author(s):  
Shang-Jen Chen
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Political System ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
Critical Appraisal ◽  
Mainland China ◽  
Economic Situation ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Affluent Society ◽  
Individual Ownership

The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness is Reinhold Niebuhr’s major treatise on democratic theory. A reassessment of the book with particular attention to Niebuhr’s theological analyses of human sinfulness, individual ownership, and toleration may help us to understand the political and economic situation in China. The Communist Party of mainland China (CPC) consistently upholds the exclusiveness of the Party’s leadership and a one-party political system. This article will explore whether it is plausible to construct a free, just, and affluent society without democracy, as the CPC proclaims.

The Mensheviks and NEP Society in Russia

1982 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 347-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Brovkin
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Institutional Changes ◽  
Election Campaign ◽  
Soviet Regime ◽  
New Period ◽  
History Of

AbstractContemporary scholarship on the development of the Soviet political system in the 1920s has largely bypassed the history of the Menshevik opposition. Those historians who regard NEP as a mere transition to Stalinism have dismissed the Menshevik experience as irrelevant,1 and those who see a democratic potential in the NEP system have focused on the free debates in the Communist party (CP), the free peasantry, the market economy, and the free arts.2 This article aims to revise some aspects of both interpretations. The story of the Mensheviks was not over by 1921. On the contrary, NEP opened a new period in the struggles over independent trade unions and elections to the Soviets; over the plight of workers and the whims of the Red Directors; over the Cheka terror and the Menshevik strategies of coping with Bolshevism. The Menshevik experience sheds new light on the transformation of the political process and the institutional changes in the Soviet regime in the course of NEP. In considering the major facets of the Menshevik opposition under NEP, I shall focus on the election campaign to the Soviets during the transition to NEP, subsequent Bolshevik-Menshevik relations, and the writings in the Menshevik underground samizdat press.

„I Have a Dream“

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Werner
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Civil Rights Movement ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Political System ◽  
East Germany ◽  
Martin Luther ◽  
The Political ◽  
Church Staff ◽  
Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King and East Germany are connected both directly and indirectly. The Communist Party had the power to make public decisions on agenda-setting topics related to Martin Luther King. The Christian Bloc Party mostly represented the state and published books by Martin Luther King, which churches and the civil rights movement liked to use. Moreover, pacifists and civil rights activists used these books to undermine the political system in East Germany. Church institutions reported by far the most on Martin Luther King. This empirical study, which can also act as a basis for further research on Martin Luther King and East Germany, will appeal to both church staff and admirers of Martin Luther King.

The Changing Shape of the American Political Universe

1965 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter Dean Burnham
Keyword(s):  
Survey Research ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Political System ◽  
Critical Appraisal ◽  
Secular Trends ◽  
The Political ◽  
Good Case ◽  
Methods Of Analysis ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Large Increments

In the infancy of a science the use even of fairly crude methods of analysis and description can produce surprisingly large increments of knowledge if new perspectives are brought to bear upon available data. Such perspectives not infrequently require both a combination of methodologies and a critical appraisal of the limitations of each. The emergence of American voting-behavior studies over the last two decades constitutes a good case in point. Studies based on aggregate election statistics have given us invaluable insights into the nature of secular trends in the distribution of the party vote, and have also provided us with useful theory concerning such major phenomena as critical elections. Survey research has made significant contributions to the understanding of motivational forces at work upon the individual voter. As it matures, it is now reaching out to grapple with problems which involve the political system as a whole.

Class Struggle and Socialist Construction: The Hungarian Paradox

Slavic Review ◽  
1966 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 303-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. von Lazar
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Political System ◽  
Class Struggle ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Relationship

This article examines the relationship between the semantics of ideology and political practice under the pressure of socio-economic change in Hungary of the early 1960s, especially 1962-63. The events of 1956 forced the Communist Party elite to recognize the imperative need for internal social change and for control over its dynamics. Manipulation of social forces and ideological currents became a day-to-day concern as soon as it was realized that the political system must rely to an increasing extent upon the introduction of policies which induced support for the system itself—a need undoubtedly arising out of the social transformation that accompanies a developing and modernizing industrial society.

scholarly journals RZUT OKA NA POLSKĄ ROMANISTYKĘ W PIERWSZYM DZIESIĘCIOLECIU XXI WIEKU

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Maria Zabłocka
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
Political System ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Second World War ◽  
First Century ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
The Political ◽  
Private Law ◽  
World War ◽  
Second World

An Overview of the Work of Polish Scholarship on Roman Law in the First Decade of the Twenty-First Century Summary In the first decade of the 21st century Polish scholars of Roman Law accomplished a considerable amount of work, adopting an entirely new area of research. While publications on private law had constituted the predominant trend since the Second World War, especially in the first forty years of the period, articles on public law were an exception until recent times. In the last few years nearly twice as many monographs have been published on a broad range of issues in public law, such as the political system, administration, and criminal law, as on private law. The numer of articles on public law has also been much larger than on other branches of Roman law. The work of Polish Romanists has earned acknowledgement abroad, as evidenced by the invitations Polish researchers have been receiving to contribute to foreign occasional volumes, and by the digests of Polish books and articles which have appeared in the Italian scholarly journal «Iura. Rivista internazionale di diritto romano e antico».

The China Model

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Bell ◽  
Daniel A. Bell
Keyword(s):  
Political Development ◽  
Political System ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political World ◽  
China Model ◽  
Political Model ◽  
Political Meritocracy

Westerners tend to divide the political world into “good” democracies and “bad” authoritarian regimes, but the Chinese political model does not fit neatly in either category. Over the past three decades, China has evolved a political system that can best be described as “political meritocracy.” This book seeks to understand the ideals and the reality of this unique political system. How do the ideals of political meritocracy set the standard for evaluating political progress (and regress) in China? How can China avoid the disadvantages of political meritocracy? And how can political meritocracy best be combined with democracy? This book answers these questions and more. Opening with a critique of “one person, one vote” as a way of choosing top leaders, it argues that Chinese-style political meritocracy can help to remedy the key flaws of electoral democracy. It discusses the advantages and pitfalls of political meritocracy, distinguishes between different ways of combining meritocracy and democracy, and argues that China has evolved a model of democratic meritocracy that is morally desirable and politically stable. It also summarizes and evaluates the “China model”—meritocracy at the top, experimentation in the middle, and democracy at the bottom—and its implications for the rest of the world. The book looks at a political system that not only has had a long history in China, but could prove to be the most important political development of the twenty-first century.

The Influence of the Past: How the Early Years Helped to Shape the Future of the Chinese Communist Party

1968 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 23-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Martin Wilbur
Keyword(s):  
Social Environment ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Chinese Communist Party ◽  
Political System ◽  
Early Years ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Past ◽  
Historical Fact ◽  
The Chinese Communist Party ◽  
The Relationship

Early in 1928 the Chinese Communist Party was in crisis. It might have disintegrated and disappeared. Yet in fact it persisted, constantly refashioned itself, and ultimately became the political system of the country. The broad questions we may ask about this historical fact are: What was the nature of the Party in 1928? What had been the experience of the leadership? And what was the relationship between the Party, with its distinctive ideology, and the Chinese social environment?

Support for Democracy in Eastern and Western Germany: an Attempt to Explain the Differences

2004 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
DETLEF POLLACK
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political System ◽  
East Germany ◽  
Economic Situation ◽  
West Germany ◽  
The Political ◽  
Democratic Culture ◽  
East And West Germany ◽  
Support For Democracy ◽  
Western Germany

This paper raises the question to what extent of East Germans support the political system in which they live. Have people who lived for decades under authoritarian conditions been able to develop a democratic culture? Or are their mind-sets and attitudes still influenced by the effects of GDR socialization with its socialist values and ideals? The paper argues that the peculiarities of the political culture in East Germany are less attributable to effects of GDR socialization than to current differences in the economic situation between East and West Germany.

scholarly journals “Some deputies hesitated until the last moment.” On the road to Ukrainian independence

2021 ◽  
pp. 142-158
Author(s):  
Anton KRUTIKOV
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Political System ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
The Political ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Political Class ◽  
The Road ◽  
On The Road ◽  
Personal Interests ◽  
Ukrainian Society

The reluctant alliance between Ukrainian nationalists and the Communist Party and economic nomenklatura in August 1991 was one of the key factors in the declaration of Ukrainian independence. The Ukrainian political class preserved its monolithic character, which was reflected in the decorative and mostly formal changes that took place in the country after 1991. Instead of a profound transformation of the political system and structure of the political power, Ukrainian society received essentially the same set of institutions, political practices and actors. Personal interests of Ukrainian elites, guided by the instinct for self-preservation, played a decisive role.

scholarly journals Reminiscencja marksizmu-leninizmu w XXI wieku? Przykład Komunistycznej Partii Polski i Polskiej Socjalistycznej Partii Robotniczej

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-86
Author(s):  
Paweł Malendowicz ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Political System ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Communist Ideology ◽  
Source Materials

In 2002, the Communist Party of Poland and the Polish Socialist Workers’ Party were founded. Their programs were based on Marxism-Leninism. These parties were marginal organizations and did not play any significant role in the Polish political system. They made a positive but biased assessment of the period of socialism in Poland before 1989. This assessment was justified by the communist ideology. The Communist Party of Poland and the Polish Socialist Workers’ Party negatively assessed the political and economic transformation in Poland after 1989. They also criticized Poland's inclusion in the globalization processes, and positively assessed the policies pursued by countries that have not changed their systems, such as Cuba and North Korea. To verify this research hypothesis, the author used the method of qualitative analysis of source materials, including manifestos, policy documents and journalism of the aforementioned politica parties.

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