Thinking about China

From the editors: The July-August 2004 issue of Monthly Review (vol. 56, no. 3) was given entirely to a book-length article entitled China and Socialism: Market Reforms and Class Struggle, written by Martin Hart-Landsberg (a coeditor of Critical Asian Studies) and Paul Burkett. We invited the editors of Critical Asian Studies to participate in a roundtable discussion of the issues that Hart-Landsberg and Burkett have raised. Responses from CAS editors Victor Lippit, Gene Cooper, Alvin So, Mobo C.F. Gao, and Tai-lok Lui appear in this issue. A rejoinder by Hart-Landsberg and Burkett will be published in our December 2005 issue. The article below is a synopsis of the arguments that Hart-Landsberg and Burkett advance in Monthly Review and in the book of the same title (see http://www.monthlyreview.org/chinaand socialism. htm for details). This article appeared originally in New Socialist 51, May- June 2005 (http://www.newsocialist.org). We are grateful for permission to reproduce the article as an introduction to this Roundtable.

Page references in all of the articles in this Roundtable are understood to be to the July-August 2004 edition of Monthly Review.     

America,capitalism, and the interstate system

Peter Gowan responds to published criticisms of his article “Triumphing toward International Disaster: The Impasse in American Grand Strategy” (Critical Asian Studies 36, no. 1 [March 2004]: 3-36) by Kristen Nordhaug, Ravi Arvind Palat, Vijay Prashad, Marika Vicziany, Mark T. Berger, and Heloise Weber (see Critical Asian Studies 37, no. 1 [March 2005]: 75-140).     

The political economy of China's economic reform

In China and Socialism: Market Reforms and Class Struggle, Martin Hart-Landsberg and Paul Burkett present a withering critique of China's market reforms and development strategy. To assess their critique, I believe it is essential to provide a somewhat fuller discussion of the context within which China's reform strategy emerged than appears in the work of Hart-Landsberg and Burkett. My discussion of this context appears after a brief discussion of their main points, and is followed in turn by a more detailed evaluation of the specific assertions they make. Although I am sympathetic to the spirit of their critique, I believe that in the last analysis they are unable to offer any genuine alternative to the development strategy China has pursued and that their analysis of the consequences of that strategy is in many respects deeply flawed.     

Letter from the Philippines

In this “critique and rejoinder” Martin Hart-Landsberg and Paul Burkett argue that Constance Lever-Tracy and Noel Tracy (authors of “Mismatch at the Interface,” Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars 31, no. 3 [1999)) have fallen into the trap of searching for an “optimal” form of capitalism rather than moving beyond contemporary capitalism's “end-of-history” ideology and envisioning and struggling for a more sustainable and human-developmental system. Lever-Tracy and Tracy reply that however much one might hope for a revival in the fortunes of workers in China and Southeast Asia the reality is that “in the kind of short-term perspective relevant to a temporary, frictional crisis, there really is no realistic prospect for solving [the current crisis] by constructing an alternative society.”     

Urbanization,education, and the politics of space on the Tibetan Plateau

This article provides an introduction to a special collection of five articles showcasing the work of rising scholars in the geography and anthropology of Tibetan regions in China (Eveline Washul, Andrew Grant, Tsering Bum, Huatse Gyal and Duojie Zhaxi, published in Critical Asian Studies 50: 4 and Critical Asian Studies 51: 1). It contextualizes the authors’ contributions in the recent promotion of planned urbanization in Tibetan regions as the key to achieving the “Chinese Dream” under President Xi Jinping. The paper calls attention to these authors’ focus on Tibetan experiences of new urbanization policies and practices, as well as their less-appreciated entanglement with shifting education priorities. Providing brief summaries of each author’s case study and arguments, it points to the ways in which all five articles address the relationship between space and subjectivity, as well as the issue of constrained agency (versus simple notions of “choice”), in statist urbanization processes.     

INTERNAL RESETTLEMENT IN LAOS

In this response to an article by Holly High, “The Implications of Aspirations: Reconsidering Resettlement in Laos,” published in Critical Asian Studies in December 2008 (vol. 40, no. 4, pp. 531–50), the authors do not dispute the notion that many people in Laos have aspirations for modernity and development. However, they are at odds with High in two key ways. First, she only presents a selective reading of authors who have written critically about highland to lowland resettlement in Laos, thus misrepresenting some of their ideas. Second, the empirical evidence High provides is insufficient or inappropriate to support her argument that people who are being resettled from the uplands to the lowlands in Laos are supportive of these state-sponsored schemes because they fit with their aspirations for modernity. The authors are concerned that High's article may inadvertently serve to justify the views of those who advocate and fund centrally planned resettlement of ethnic minorities in Laos and who believe that non-participatory and top-down resettlement is acceptable if increased funding is available and better planning is conducted, even when those targeted for relocation would rather not move.     

CONTINUITY / DISCONTINUITY

Starting from issues Wang Hui raises in “The Dialectics of Autonomy and Opening” (Critical Asian Studies 43:2), the authors of this article focus on the problematic coexistence of continuities and discontinuities in modern and contemporary Chinese politics. China's present role in the international scene, they argue, cannot be assessed in terms of economic performance, but requires new perspectives for rethinking the search of China for an original path in domestic politics, as well as the universalistic attitude toward the various forms of thinking coming from all over the world.     

MIGRATION IN FAR WEST NEPAL

In this comment on an article published in Critical Asian Studies 43 (1), “Migration in Far West Nepal,” the author questions whether the “Bourdieu social practice framework,” which Ephraim Poertner, Mathais Junginger, and Ulrike Müller-Böker employ in their article, provides the most appropriate lens through which to view migration. He argues that the authors fail to present convincing evidence of the relevance of its application. Furthermore, he says, a further dichotomy might need to be addressed first: that between French approaches to social theory and Anglo-Saxon approaches such as that of Anthony Giddens, where the timespace dimensions are much more evident, even if problematic, in the examining structure and agency.     

Book reviews

The New Geopolitics of Central Asia and its Borderlands Ali Banuazizi and Myron Weiner (editors) London: I. B. Tauris, 1994, 284 pp, £39.50

The Central Asian Republics. Fragments of Empire, Magnets of Wealth Charles Undeland and Nicholas Platt New York: The Asia Society, 1994, 143 pp

Does Russian Democracy Have a Future? Stephen J. Blank and Earl H. Tilford, Jr. (editors) Pennsylvania: US Army War College, 1994, 162 pp

Between Marx and Muhammad. The Changing Face of Central Asia Dilip Hiro London: Harper Collins, 1994, 402 pp

The Boundaries of Modern Iran Keith McLachlan (editor) University College London: 1994, 150 pp

Islam and Romantic Orientalism. Literary Encounters with the Orient Mohammed Sharafuddin London: I. B. Tauris, 1994, 296 pp, £34.50

Critical Terrains. French and British Orientalisms Lisa Lowe Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1991, 216 pp, $31.85

The Art and Architecture of Islam 1250–1800 Sheila S. Blair and Jonathan M. Bloom Yale University Press, New Haven and London: 1994, biblio, 280 pp, £45

Culinary Cultures of the Middle East Sami Zubaida and Richard Tapper (editors) London: I. B. Tauris, 302 pp, biblio, index, £34.50     

Anand Patwardhan: Social Activist and Dedicated Filmmaker

In this essay—an earlier version of which was delivered as a lecture at a session cosponsored by Critical Asian Studies and the Alliance of Scholars Concerned about Korea (ASCK) at the annual conference of the Association for Asian Studies, San Diego, California, on 23 March 2013—the author argues the need to go beyond the current state of perilous confrontation and volatility on the Korean Peninsula and examine how and why the current division of the peninsula into North and South has evolved into a “division system.” The author contends that “civic participation” (broadly defined to include business entrepreneurs, corporations, NGOs, and private citizens) is necessary to deal with the durable enormity of the division system. He calls this body of nonstate actors the “third party” (the first two parties being those of North and South Korea). Going beyond strictly Korean affairs, this third party, the author concludes, can play a crucial role in creating a larger framework of East Asian cooperation and solidary.     

A tribute to Phyllis Andors, 1942–1992

Abstract

Phyllis Andors died at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City on 10 February 1992. In the late sixties Phyllis was one of the founding members of the Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars that gave rise to the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars (BCAS), and in 1975 she edited as well as contributed an article and a book review to two BCAS special issues on women in Asia. Most recently, BCAS published her article “Women and Work in Shenzhen” in volume 20, number 3 (July–September 1988). Phyllis was a very active and much appreciated member of the BCAS editorial board since 1987, not only refereeing articles and contributing money but also taking on special projects such as investigating how BCAS might get grants and being the main editor of a proposed BCAS book about women in Asia. We at BCAS are grateful to Phyllis's husband, Steve, for providing us with much of this tribute to Phyllis so that our readers can join us in appreciating who she was and her unique contribution to those around her and the world.     

The Kerala model of development A debate (Part 1)

Abstract

BCAS has invited noted Kerala scholars to comment on the critical position regarding the “Kerala model of development” that Joseph Tharamangalam articulated in his article in the January-March 1998 issue of the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars (Vol. 30, No. 1), “The Perils of Social Development without Economic Growth: The Development Debacle of Kerala, India,” The responses will be published in two installments. Part 1 appears below; part 2 will appear in the October-December 1998 issue of the Bulletin.     

Review Essay: Stabilizing Nuclear Southern Asia

ABSTRACT

This review article considers three significant volumes recently published in the field of Southern Asian security studies. These consist of Not War, Not Peace? Motivating Pakistan to Prevent Cross-Border Terrorism, by Toby Dalton and George Perkovich; Sameer Lalwani and Hannah Haegeland (eds.), Investigating Crises: South Asia’s Lessons, Evolving Dynamics, and Trajectories; and Mooed Yusuf, Brokering Peace in Nuclear Environments: U.S. Crisis Management in South Asia. In the wake of the 2019 India–Pakistan Pulwama militarized crisis, each book focuses on a distinct element of the Southern Asian security milieu that is crucial to understanding drivers of regional insecurity and potential pathways toward greater stability. However, collectively, they leave room for greater exploration for the effects of emerging trends in this regional strategic competition. These include the evolving regional preferences and actions of China, the potential for Pakistan-based terrorist groups to become independent actors throughout a Southern Asian crisis, and the growing prominence of precision-strike standoff weapons in the strategic planning of China, India, and Pakistan. Still, these three volumes prove indispensable for understanding the contemporary political and security dynamics of Southern Asia.     

Professor Ann Lambton (1912–2008)

Humaniora Islamica: An Annual Publication of Islamic Studies and the Humanities, ed. by Herbert W. Mason, Ronald L. Nettler and Jacques Waardenburg; co‐ordinating editor, Merlin L. Swartz. Vol. I/1973, pp. xii+284, indexes. Mouton, 44 guilders.

The Arab‐Israeli Conflict, ed. by John Norton Moore. Princeton University Press, 1974. Three vols. Vol. I, pp. xxviii + 1067; vol. II, pp. ix + 1193, index; vol. III, pp. xxvi + 1248, maps, bibliography and index. $95.00 the set.

Algerian Bibliography: English Language Publications 1830–1973 by Richard I. Lawless. Bowker, in association with the Centre for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies of the University of Durham, . Pp. xvi + 114, index. £9.50.

Dictionary of Oriental Literature, general ed., Jaroslav Prin?ek; vol. I, East Asia, ed. by Zbigniew Slupski, pp. xxii + 226; vol. II, South and South‐East Asia, ed. by Du?an Zbavitel, pp. viii+ 191; vol. III, West Asia and North Africa, ed. by Ji?i Be?ka, Pp. x + 213. London: George Allen &; Unwin 1975. £5.85 per vol.

A Near East Studies Handbook 570–1974 by Jere L. Bacharach. University of Washington Press, (American Universities Publishers Group) 1975. Pp. x + 147, indexes. £2.50.

A Bibliography of Pre‐Islamic Persia J. D. Pearson, ed. Mansell. Pp. vii + 288, index. £11.

A World Bibliography of Oriental Bibliographies, Theodore Besterman and J. D. Pearson, eds. London: Basil Blackwell, . 727 columns, index. £30.     

Saudi Arabia: the ‘arab street’, the media and popular agitation since September 11

Dr Mai Yamani studied Anthropology at Bryn Mawr and Oxford. She has taught at King Abdul Aziz University in Saudi Arabia, and lectured widely in the Middle East, Europe and the United States. She is currently an Associate Research Fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, where she has participated in conferences in the Middle East Programme. In February 2003 she, with others in the RIIA Programme, published Iraq, the Regional Fallout, which is available on the RIIA website. She has written numerous articles and her book, Changed Identities: the Challenge of the New Generation in Saudi Arabia (Royal Institute for International Affairs, 2001) was reviewed in the February 2002 issue of Asian Affairs.     

A tribute to Leo Cawley, 1944–1991

Abstract

In the late sixties, after his tour of active duty as a marine in Vietnam from 1965 to 66, Leo Cawley returned to the United States and became an economics major at Columbia University. There he joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War and the Columbia University chapter of the Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars (CCAS), whose national organization founded the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars. In March and April of 1972 he traveled to the People's Republic of China with the second CCAS delegation. Leo reviewed Waldemar A. Nielson's The Big Foundations in volume 6, number 3 of BCAS in 1974, and from 1985 to 1987 he was book review editor for BCAS. Leo also contributed money to BCAS even in the last year of his life when his medical expenses were skyrocketing. Above all, however, Leo stood for everything BCAS has stood for over the years, and he was a close friend and inspiration to some of BCAS's staunchest supporters.     

INTRODUCTION

Abstract

In the last issue of 1994 the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars (BCAS) presented a special “Notes from the Field” section on the Bretton Woods institutions. The ten contributions to that section provided case studies of specific projects in Asia and overviews of International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank policies. In sum, they mounted a comprehensive critique of the historical and contemporary policies of these global financial institutions.     

Some recent additions to the library

Richard Calland &; Paul Graham (Eds), IDASA's Democracy Index — Democracy in the Time of Mbeki, Cape Town: Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA), Cape Town, 2005, R150, 252 pages.

Pieter Wolvaardt, A Diplomat's Story: Apartheid and Beyond, 1969–1998, South Africa: Galago Publishing, 2005. ISBN 1–919854–15–0, R225, 336 pages.

Greg Mills, The Security Intersection: The Paradox of Power in an Age of Terror, Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2005, 321 pages.

Hugh Pope, Sons of the Conquerors. The Rise of the Turkic World, New York: Overlook Duckworth, 2005. ISBN 1–58567–641–1. 413 pages.     

The Structure and Direction of Contemporary China Studies

Abstract

Since fall 1969, a subcommittee of the Columbia University CCAS has been researching the institutional structure of the Asian studies field, with special reference to the development of Chinese studies in the U.S. since 1959. Our first findings, under the title Report on an Investigation of the American Asian Studies Establishment, were presented at the 1970 CCAS National Convention. Research continued the following year and led to an invitation to participate in the 1971 AAS Presidential Panel Impact of American Organizations on Asian Studies. For that occasion some 400 copies of a revised Report were distributed. Although the Report was intended to be a file of “preliminary working papers”, since it is the subject of Professor Fairbank's Comment, we have asked the Editor to reprint it here for the convenience of the reader.     

Origins of the Arab states' involvement in Palestine

Afghanistan and the Soviet Union by Henry Bradsher. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1982. Pp. 336. $32.50; $12.75 (paper).

Afghanistan's Two Party Communism by Anthony Arnold. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press, 1983. Pp. 260. $10.95.

Revolutionary Afghanistan: A Reappraisal by Beverly Male. New York: St Martin's Press, 1982. £13.95.

Red Flag Over Afghanistan by Thomas Hammond. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1984. Pp. xvii + 261. £26.25; £11.25 (paper).

The Great Powers and the End of the Ottoman Empire edited by Marion Kent. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1984. Pp. x + 237. £18.00.

Der Islam in der Gegenwart edited by Werner Ende and Udo Steinbach, with editorial help from Michael Ursinus. Munich: C.H. Becker, 1984. Pp.774, bibliography, maps, index. DM, 138.

Workers’ Participation and Self‐Management in Turkey by Mehmet Nezir Uca. The Hague: Institute of Social Studies, Research Report Series No. 13, 1983. Pp.xiv + 254. Guilders 11

France Overseas by C. Andrew and A.S. Kanya‐Forstner. London: Thames &; Hudson, 1981. Pp.302. £12.95.