CHINA: AN INWARDLY-ANIMATED ECONOMY

The author suggests that the Chinese economy is no longer an export-driven economy but instead is driven by internal demand, which results from the rapid rate of growth over the last few years. The nearest comparison is with the development of a continental economy in the United States in the second half of the nineteenth century. But the Chinese economy is growing much more rapidly than the US at that time. Crucially, massive infrastructure development and workers’ remittances back to the rural areas have transformed the economy of parts of China previously unmarked by development. As a result whole cities are growing up where not long ago there was nothing.     

INDIA-CHINA BOUNDARY DISPUTES: AN OVERVIEW

This article traces the development of the Sino-Indian Boundary problems from their origins during the “Great Game” period during the British Empire in India to the present day. The article looks at both the Western and Eastern Sectors, and traces the development of the various putative frontiers (the Johnson-Ardagh/ Macartney-MacDonald Lines and the McMahon Line respectively). The article looks at recent tensions which have arisen over the frontier areas, as well as the prolonged but unsuccessful attempts to solve the disputes, and considers what moves might be necessary to bring a final resolution of the problems.     

RUSSIA AND CHINA: AN AXIS OF INSECURITY

The juxtaposition of a declining power with a rising power has a number of historical parallels e.g. the Ottoman Empire, the UK/US relationship. This article examines the decline of Russia and the rise of China, countries whose links go back some 400 years. They share many attitudes to the rest of the world, but the bilateral relationship has to accommodate China's vertiginous economic growth and the growing hydrocarbon dependence of Russia's economy, as well as the interests of both countries in the Russian Far East and Central Asia. For the moment both sides seem prepared to make the effort needed to sustain the relationship, but there must be doubts about the sustainability of this essentially benign scenario in the longer term.     

REMEMBERING DU: AN EPISODE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF MALAWIAN POLITICAL CULTURE

In September of 1962, Dunduzu Kaluli Chisiza, Secretary Generalof the Malawi Congress Party (MCP), ‘prison graduate’and prospective Minister of Finance for Nyasaland, died in acar crash. Immediately, rumours began to circulate that thiswas no accident but a case of political murder. For the firsttime, ‘car accident’ became a metaphor for politicalviolence in colonial Malawi. This article examines the availableevidence pertaining to the accident and concludes that althoughit appears not to indicate foul play, much of it was not madepublic and this, coupled with a troubled political climate,bred suspicion. It is argued that the rumours about DunduzuChisiza's death demonstrate a popular awareness that the imageof political consensus advanced by the MCP during the late 1950sand early 1960s was false. Further, the rumours reveal a profoundambivalence about the growing personalization of rule underDr H. Kamuzu Banda. While the Cabinet Crisis of 1964 was thefirst public demonstration of leadership rupture, it was a culminationof tensions rooted in an earlier period, tensions which werealready felt by many and expressed through rumour in 1962 andafter.