Building a Well-off Society in an All-roundWay

Aftersummarizingthebasicexperienceaccu-mulatedsincethereformandopeningup,especiallysincethe4thPlenarySessionofthe13thCentralCommitteeoftheCommunistPartyofChina(CPC),theCPC16thNationalCongresspointedoutthatinthefirst20yearsofthe21stcenturyeffortsshouldbeconcentratedonbuildingaxiaokang(well-off)soci-etyofahigher-level.Itdemonstratedtothepartyandthewholepeoplethebrightprospectofspeed-ingupsocialistmodernizationbymappingoutagrandblueprintofbuildingaxiaokangsocietyinanall-roundway.Xiaokangisa…     

The development of an inter‐nation tensiometer

The military expenditure (M.E.) of a nation depends partly on its wealth as measured by its Gross National Product (GNP), partly on geography, and partly on its presence in an alliance. The authors describe a method for calculating the M.E. value if it depended solely on the GNP; the value of the M.E. so obtained is termed the theoretical M.E. (M.E._Th.). Dividing the actual M.E. by the M.E._Th. (and multiplying by 100) yields a pure number, the tension ratio (T.R.). We regard tension as a function of geography (thus having a hostile neighbor increases tension and having a friendly neighbor decreases tension) and of membership in an alliance (which should cause a relaxation of tension). Tension ratios were calculated for 63 countries. Of the 13 nations engaged in a war, 76.9 percent had T.R. values greater than 155. Of the 43 nations not engaged in a war, only 26 percent had T.R. values greater than 155. Application of the chi square tests and the Kolmogorov‐Smimov test showed the association of high T.R.s concurrent with wars and antecedent to wars to be significant at the 95 percent probability level. Threshold T.R. values can pinpoint critical, potentially violent situations. Membership in an alliance does not seem as important as the effect of geography (the geographic factor includes the perception of hostility or friendliness in a neighboring country).     

Pushing forward Sino-Japanese Relations in an All-round Way

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Digital India? an email experiment with Indian legislators

ABSTRACT

Of the many tasks elected representatives perform, constituency service is among the most difficult to observe and, therefore, to measure. However, a burgeoning literature uses digital tools such as email to experimentally evaluate the responsiveness of political elites to requests for constituency service. To date, this literature has overwhelmingly focused on the developed world. In this article, we describe the results of an email experiment in which we sent plausible, but fictitious constituency service requests to national legislators in India to evaluate their responsiveness, helpfulness, and possibly discriminatory behavior. While the overall response rate to our request is quite poor, those that do respond tend to offer “meaningful” responses. We find scant evidence of legislators discriminating on religious lines.     

Towards an integrated information society policy in South Africa: an overview of political rhetoric and policy initiatives 1994–2000

Abstract

South Africa is considered one of the few developing countries that has fully embraced the concept of information society and has formulated and implemented policy inititives in order to change society accordingly. By 1995 the theme of the information society started to surface regularly in political discourse and policy documents. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and access to ICTs started to have prominence both in policy formulation and implementation. Although there was much talk about a Green Paper/White Paper process on the information society during 1996 and the beginning of 1997, such a policy process never materialised. To date, there is no document defining the government's view of the information society, no policy document outlining an integrated strategy to arrive there and no government department officially responsible for the coordination of policy initiatives. This article sets out to analyse the notion of the information society in South Africa and to analyse the broad evolution of South Africa's information society policy between 1994 and 2000.     

Sharing benefits of globalisation through an EU-ASEAN FTA?

In the aftermath of the stalled launch of a new WTO round in Seattle in 1999, Singapore and Japan initiated a joint study into a possible bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA). The resulting New-Age Economic Partnership Agreement was signed in 2002, reduced barriers in trade and investment in goods as well as services, technical standards and public procurement. Other FTAs followed including a US-Singapore FTA in 2003. In response, other ASEAN countries initiated negotiations towards bilateral FTAs, such as Thailand with India and Malaysia with Japan etc. Moreover, China declared its intention to enter into a FTA with the ASEAN by 2012. The failure at Cancun in 2003 implies that the Doha Development Agenda will not be achieved within the time-frame set. In this environment, the question of a feasibility of an inter-regional EU-ASEAN FTA is investigated. ASEANs trade policy regime is opening up and the gains of further tariff elimination will be modest, because most ASEAN countries already apply low tariffs, while those of the EU on import from ASEAN are low as well – e.g. for Singapore the tariff rate is merely 1.04 per cent (trade weighted). Nevertheless, a further reduction will benefit both EU and ASEAN because a significant share of imports is intra-firm trade, with EU firms operating from ASEAN as a production platform for the EU markets. However, for an EU-ASEAN FTA to be worthwhile, it must generate benefits on issues relating to non-tariff barriers to trade, esp. technical standards, SPS and mutual recognition of testing. Further significant benefits to EU and ASEAN may be realised by advancing liberalisation of international trade in services (e.g. banking and insurance licences, air and sea transport). Reducing restrictions on foreign direct investment in selectedservice sectors is bound to enhance investment flows from the EU to ASEAN.This article draws extensively on a study directed by the author with Dr. Paul Brenton, Prof. Ludo Cuyvers and Prof. Patrick Messerlin (van der Geest et al. 2003). Research assistance by Ms. Vanessa Sumo and Ms. Roberta Zavoretti is gratefully acknowledged. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of the European Institute for Asian Studies or of its sponsors. The author is solely responsible for any remaining errors or inaccuracies. All comments are welcomed at w.vandergeest@eias.org     

CAFIU Holds an Exhibition of Japanese Ukiyoe Art Treasures

"The Exhibition ofJapanese Ukiyoe Art Treasures", sponsored by Chinese Association for International Understanding (CAFIU)and co-organized by the Nagano Association for Japan-China Exchanges (NAJCE) and Japan Ukiyoe Museum, was held at     

Green Haikou： an Ideal Living Place in Asia

In the picturesque South China, there is an idealliving place that is in spring all the year roundwith the charms of coconut palms and sea waves.This is Haikou. I hope that our Japanese friendswill come to Haikou either for a tour or for invest-ment.Haikou is located in the northern part of theHainan Island, with a population of 1.6 millionpeople, a land area of 2304.8 square kilometers,a sea area of 800 square kilometers and a coast-line of 130 kilometers. Being the only provincialcapital …     

Toward an Analytical Model of Suicide Terrorism—A Comment

In this comment, I offer an alternative model for describing and explaining suicide terrorism. The model offers three stage: a) decision making among elites of terrorist organizations, b) individual motivations of the perpetrators and c) the organisational process of recruitment, socialization, and launching of the terrorist.     

Malaysia – towards a topology of an electoral one-party state

For the first time in 51 years of independence, Malaysia's ruling coalition Barisan Nasional (National Front, BN) under the weak leadership of Abdullah Badawi was denied its customary parliamentary two-third majority in the 2008 elections. The three major opposition parties, which formed the Pakatan Rakyat (The People's Alliance, PR) after the elections, increased the number of opposition-held state governments from one to five. The opposition had never held more than two state governments at any one time.1 Chin and Wong, ‘Malaysia's Electoral Upheaval’. Parts of this paper were used in a research project organized by the Malaysian Strategic Research Centre. View all notes For many practitioners and students of Malaysian politics, the 2008 poll means the birth of a long overdue ‘two-party system’, where two multi-ethnic coalitions contest for power and alternate in running the country. After all, two similar attempts to build a Malay-dominated second coalition to rival the ruling coalition dominated by the ethno-nationalist United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) were made in the 1990 and 1999 elections by former UMNO leaders who lost in their party in-fighting. Sadly, the coalitions built did not survive even the next elections. We argue that such optimism may be misplaced due to a failure to appreciate the ‘electoral one-party state’ nature of Malaysia.2 Wong and Norani, ‘Malaysia at 50’. View all notes Despite having held 13 national elections without failure, and having almost no incidence of in- or post-election violence, neither a military coup nor ‘people's power’, Malaysia has never been anywhere close to being a ‘consolidated democracy’, 52 years after joining what Huntington called the second wave of democratization.3 Huntington, The Third Wave. View all notes For Linz and Stepan, a consolidated democracy requires not only a government with de facto authority to generate policy and exclusive de jure power, but also that ‘this government comes to power that is the direct result of a free and popular vote’. In other words, democracy has to become ‘the only game in town’.4 Linz and Stepan, Problems of Democratic Transition, 5. View all notes     

Greening an international organization: UNIDO’s strategic responses

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization’s (UNIDO) portfolio of technical cooperation projects changed radically between 1992 and 2004. In 1992, industrial-development-related projects constituted 98% of the portfolio in monetary terms, and environment-related projects 2% while, in 2004, the former constituted 43% and the latter 57%. However, the larger share of the environment-related projects in 2004 was only marginally, if at all, linked to UNIDO’s industrial development agenda. A compelling explanation for this radical change in the organization’s technical cooperation portfolio is provided by a model of strategic choice that draws on resource dependency and institutional approaches and that allows for staff strategic actions. Two factors, UNIDO’s financial and confidence crisis in the 1990s and an organizational culture wedded to industrial development, shaped UNIDO’s strategic responses, which, for the most part, did not integrate environmental concerns into industrial development projects and programs as instructed by its principal governing body.

The politics of hosting Chinese investment in Europe—an introduction

Though still a small percentage of the total stock of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) present in European countries, FDI coming from China has risen dramatically in the European Union (EU) since 2009. This introduction to the special issue on “The Politics of Hosting Chinese Investment in Europe” examines the political fears aroused by this recent surge and by the prospect of continued Chinese direct investment in European economies. After surveying patterns of Chinese investment in the EU, this introduction asks what is distinctive about the potential economic and political consequences of Chinese FDI and lays out the argument for and against treating Chinese FDI as sui generis.     

State terrorism research and critical terrorism studies: an assessment†

This article explores the value of scholarship on state terrorism for the critical study of terrorist violences. The article begins by identifying four primary contributions of this scholarship: first, a rethinking of the status and significance of terrorism; second, an unsettling of broader assumptions within International Relations (IR) and terrorism research; third, an ability to locate state violences within pertinent, but potentially camouflaged, contexts; and, fourth, a prioritisation of critique as a responsibility of scholarship. The article’s second section then argues that the purchase of this work could be further extended by greater conceptual engagement with the state itself. In particular, we point to the value of contemporary approaches to the state as a terrain and outcome of social and political struggle, rather than as a singular actor of unitary purpose. Rethinking the state in this way has value, we argue, first, for moving research beyond the identification and typologising of state terrorisms; and, second, for circumventing the perennial problem of identifying intentionality in efforts to designate violences as (state) terrorism.     

India’s Growth Slowdown: End of an Era?

This article examines the sources of rapid economic growth in India in the 2000s and explanations for the growth slowdown in more recent years. We use the Indian national accounts and the National Sample Survey (NSS) to perform a growth accounting analysis. We disaggregate the total economy into agriculture, industry and services and separately identify the contributions of labor, capital and improvements in productivity. Services account for the largest share of the acceleration in 2000-10. Industry, on the other hand, is the sector most reflective of the recent slowdown. The high growth of the 2000s can be traced to strong capital accumulation, improvements in labor skills and large productivity gains. A slowing in the pace of economic reform and a general deterioration in fiscal and monetary policies appear to be the major factors responsible for the slower pace of growth since 2010.     

EU-China relations–an assessment by the communications of the European union

This paper is an analysis of the EU policy towards the Peoples’ Republic of China (China); focusing only on various aspects of the Communications of the Commission. The focus will be on three aspects of the relation: politics, economics and cooperation. We will start with a general historical overview of the EU-China relationship, taking the three above mentioned aspects into account. Then we will have a look at the current EU-China policy and the policy of China towards the EU. A further section will analyse the various policy papers of the European Commission with a more in-depth examination of the time references within those policy papers, the overall structure of those papers and the official reasons for their publication.Olaf Griese is also part of the Share-Research network ().

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Who is rebuilding Aceh? Tensions between groups of staff in an NGO

This article takes its point of departure in an international non-governmental aid organisation (INGO) active in post-disaster and post-conflict Aceh. Using material collected through fieldwork conducted in the organisation, the article addresses the issue of how the intrinsic logic and workings of development reinforce the historically tense relationship between Acehnese and Indonesians.     

Parallel authoritarian powers: an explanation of Mexico’s authoritarian regime breakdown

Regional multilateral regimes have become important instruments for promoting and defending democracy around the world. The novel nature of these regional instruments has generated a cottage industry in social science scholarship. Yet, none of these works compare the democracy promotion and defence regimes of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the African Union (AU). This article is designed to fill this gap. We argue that the unique constellation of actors that are members of each respective organization have reinforced two distinct democracy promotion and defence paths. The state-driven regime evolution characteristic of the Americas contrasts with Africa's expert-driven process of regime construction. The state-centric process of the OAS regime has bolstered a narrow interstate multilateralism that upholds traditional sovereign state prerogatives and minimizes the role for non-state actors in the promotion and defence of democracy in the Americas. The expert-driven process of AU's regime construction has fostered a legalistic approach to democratic promotion and defence in Africa and opened up space for non-state actors to play a central role in the development of regional democracy promotion and defence norms.     

Build an International Exchange Platform for Even Better Understanding between China and the World

At the beginning of the 1980s, China entered a new historical era of reform and opening up and socialist modernization drive. It became important and urgent for China to exchange and communicate with the international community. To meet the demand of