The PLA and regionalism in Hong Kong

This article examines the linkages between changes in international capital movements and currency values on the one hand and Asian regionalism on the other. It argues that economic ties within Asia in the late 1980s and early 1990s can be traced primarily to the increasing values of currencies in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong. Foreign-direct investments from companies in these countries increased throughout the Asian region. Intra-regional trade grew rapidly as well. Still, by the turn of the century, in contrast to regionalism in Europe, that in Asia remained deeply institutionalized and far less responsive to any central direction from potential leaders such as Japan.     

Identity and security in Korea

The summit meeting between the two Korean heads of state, which took place in Pyongyang in June 2000, constitutes a major turning point in the peninsula's history. As the effects of the meeting are gradually unfolding, a period of détente no longer seems impossible. But major difficulties remain unsolved and Korea will continue to be one of the world's most volatile areas. The task of this essay is to identify and analyse some of the entrenched political patterns that will challenge policy-makers in the years ahead. To do so it is necessary to portray the conflict in Korea not only in conventional ideological and geopolitical terms, but also, and primarily, as a question of identity. From such a vantage-point two components are essential in the search for a more peaceful peninsula. Substantial progress has recently been made in the first realm, the need to approach security problems, no matter how volatile they seem, in a cooperative and dialogical, rather than merely a coercive manner. The second less accepted but perhaps more important factor, revolves around the necessity to recognize that dialogue has its limits, that the party on the other side of the DMZ cannot always be accommodated or subsumed into compromise. Needed is an ethics of difference: a willingness to accept that the other's sense of identity and politics may be inherently incompatible with one's own.     

Post-hegemonic regionalism in Oceania: examining the development potential of the new framework for Pacific regionalism

This article explores the early potential of the Framework for Pacific regionalism, a new political process that Pacific nations are using to establish regional development priorities. The emergence of this process is positioned within a context of a desire for a new era of Pacific-led regional development collaboration. The early outcomes of the Framework are outlined and examined. Specifically, the article questions whether it is meeting aspirations for ‘game-changing’ development goals that enjoy greater levels of ‘ownership’ amongst Pacific leaders. It also explores whether the new process canbe seen as evidence of a new era of ‘post-hegemonic’ regionalism in Oceania, characterised by a revitalisation of regional political debate; a rejection of ‘economism’; and the reassertion of indigenous and civil society concerns.     

Chinese dilemmas in thinking about regional security architecture

From about the middle of the 1990s China's leaders began to articulate a new concept of security that they called ‘cooperative security’, which was seen as more appropriate to the post-Cold War era than the more traditional military alliance systems. It sought to promote mutual trust and consultation as a means of addressing security problems between states that were neither adversaries nor friends. The new approach was better suited to a China that felt more comfortable about itself and its growing integration into international society. It involved a more proactive approach that was ready to take initiatives for the first time in multilateral settings. It also reflected current Chinese interests by seeking to reassure neighbours that they had little to fear and much to gain by the rising China in their midst and by implicitly dissuading them from participating in any significant attempt to contain China. But the new approach is not without its problems. It will need to show a greater readiness to pay attention to the concerns of others, it will require greater transparency in the conduct of foreign policy and it will need to find a way of accommodating the American approach. But in itself most of the countries of the Asia-Pacific will find this a welcome development even though it does not as yet provide a satisfactory basis for erecting a new security architecture to supplant that established under the aegis of the United States.     

The political rationalities of regionalism: APEC and the EU in comparative perspective

Abstract

The essay is a comparative analysis of APEC and the EU, which looks at the particular sorts of economic orders these institutions are helping to create. It is argued that the two regions display some noteworthy differences that result from different approaches to the problem of economic governance. These differences reflect much more than the relative degree and level of regional institutionalization; they flow from different ‘political rationalities’ that are themselves a function of the very different liberal and illiberal polities in Europe and East Asia. Our key theoretical innovation is to use the framework of political rationality to explain different regional approaches to economic governance; more specifically we argue that the EU and the East Asian members of APEC may be understood as respectively subscribing to broadly conceived liberal and cameralist approaches to economic governance which are in turn reflected in the design of regional institutions.     

1987年以来韩国NGO与政府关系

本文以韩国1987年以来的政治民主化转型为背景,通过观察NGO与政府关系的变迁过程,探讨民主化进程中NGO的状况及其对政治民主化、国家与社会关系的塑造功能,以期为准确理解和把握韩国民主政治的转型与发展以及NGO的功能和价值提供新的解读视角和阐释空间。     

Japan's leadership role in East Asian security multilateralism: the Nakayama proposal and the logic of reassurance

Abstract

United States’ foreign policy towards the Asia-Pacific region is set to be fundamentally altered by two developments in Washington's defence policy. The first is the so-called pivot towards the region in terms of overall defence strategy. The second, occurring at roughly the same time, is a move towards a far greater role for advanced conventional weaponry in the US defence posture. We analyse the interaction of these two trends and discusses a central tension between short and long-term challenges, suggesting that, contrary to current developments, either a freeze in the deployment of these weapons programmes or a return to a strategy underpinned by traditional notions of deterrence may well be necessary.     

Local actors and international regionalism: The case of the Sea of Japan zone

The Sea of Japan Zone (SJZ) is an area that has been shaped essentially by transnational relations between the localities of western Japan, northeastern China and the Russian Far East. The emergence of this new type of space, based on interlocal cooperation, is a significant aspect of what could be called the ‘new’ regionalism, i.e. the polymorphous and multicen‐tred movement that is affecting international relations today as opposed to its more rigid version of the late 1950s. The shape of the new regionalism reflects the transformation of international relations in general: this particular regionalization process, that gave shape to the SJZ, is linked to the transnationalization of local actors. The idea of creating the SJZ, in the late 1960s, was first an external answer (interlocal cooperation) to an internal problem (uneven development in Japan). It became a reality some twenty years later as Russian and Chinese localism eventually converged with Japanese localism. Despite important domestic differences the need for local actors around the Sea of Japan to look outside for better development conditions made the synergy possible. It produced a new regional entity that needs to be defined and, for that purpose, that could be compared to other transnational zones in East Asia or even in Europe. Their common characteristic appears to be a functional approach to regional cooperation.     

From secessionism to regionalism: The changing nature of territorial politics in Western Australia

The development of territorial politics within federal systems over time, specifically change in the nature and intensity of territorial claims, is an understudied question. This article looks at the case of Western Australia (WA) to gain a better understanding of the political dynamics behind changing territorial politics in a federation, more particularly around economic and fiscal policies. In April 1933, grievances surrounding the economic and fiscal policies of the Commonwealth government grew so loud in WA that a referendum on secession saw a majority of voters opting to leave Australia altogether. In the end, not only did WA not secede but the secessionist movement disappeared. Today, ironically, the equalization system, whose formalization through the creation of the Commonwealth Grants Commission one month following the referendum was designed to reduce regional disparities and discontent, is at the centre of regionalist politics in the state.     

Communities and citizens: Identity and difference in discourses of Asia‐pacific regionalism

In the post‐Cold War world era, increasing attention is being given to forces of regionalism in global politics. These forces raise the possibility of thinking about citizenship beyond the usual borders of the political communities of nation‐states. Yet the extension of questions of citizenship to regional levels does not dispel the problems of identity formation and the suppression or exclusion of difference in the construction of communities. In the burgeoning discourses of Asia‐Pacific regionalism there is a new orthodoxy which combines elements of neo‐realism, neo‐liberalism and what is often referred to as an ‘Asian way’. But this new orthodoxy neither surrenders nor disturbs sovereign statehood. As a result, discourses of Asia‐Pacific regionalism reinforce the kinds of citizenship granted by political communities of existing nation‐states of the region and fail to recognize difference within and between these communities.     

The US,Japan, and trade liberalization: from bilateralism to regional multilateralism to regionalism+

Abstract

Amid growing alarm over the rising atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, increasing attention is being given to ‘geo-engineering’ technologies that could counteract some of the impacts of global warming by either reducing absorption of solar energy (solar radiation management (SRM)) or removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Geo-engineering has the potential to dramatically alter the dynamics of global climate change negotiations because it might cool the climate without constraining fossil fuel use. Some scholars have expressed concern that certain states may be tempted to act unilaterally. This paper assesses the approach that China is likely to adopt towards governance of SRM and the implications this holds for broader international climate negotiations. We survey Chinese public discourse, examine the policy factors that will influence China's position, and assess the likelihood of certain future scenarios. While Chinese climate scientists are keenly aware of the potential benefits of geo-engineering as well as its risks, we find that no significant constituency is currently promoting unilateral implementation of SRM. China will probably play a broadly cooperative role in negotiations toward a multilaterally governed geo-engineering programme but will seek to promote a distinctive developing world perspective that reflects concerns over sovereignty, Western imperialism and maintenance of a strict interpretation of the norm of common but differentiated responsibility.     

在京韩国留学生跨文化适应问题研究

本文将跨文化适应划分为社会文化适应和心理适应两个方面,通过对在京韩国留学生的开放式问卷调查以及个人访谈,证明虽然韩国留学生也会经历由不适到适应的曲折阶段。但几乎所有时间段的学生都不能适应和认同中国现有的社会公德意识和服务模式。生活时间1至2年的留学生跨文化适应,尤其是心理适应程度最低,抑郁症状相对较重。而在京生活4年以上的韩国留学生基本上都能适应中国的社会生活,且都把中国看作是自己的第二故乡。本文分析了影响韩国留学生跨文化适应的中韩两国社会文化观念和行为习惯的差异,探讨了中韩两国的不同意识结构。     

延边朝鲜族人口发展现状及民族教育对策

学习型组织理论问世以来，首先在企业管理中取得长足进展，继之被引入以政府机构为代表的组织管理过程。在步入新世纪的时刻，随着教育改革的不断深入，走向学习型组织将成为学校组织的必然选择。     

Advancing the study of political cleavages through experimentation: Revisiting regionalism and redistributive preferences in Canada

The maintenance of welfare state policies requires citizen support for the provision of a social safety net through taxation and redistribution. Research has shown that a diverse political polity presents a risk to the welfare state; however, Canada bucks the trend and does not see citizen support for economic redistribution decline in response to immigration-based population diversity. Using Canada as our case, we argue that scholars of welfare state politics and redistribution should turn their attention to other sources of population heterogeneity in an effort to better understand how different political cleavages affect citizens’ redistributive preferences. We use an online experimental survey to manipulate the in-group identity of 500 Canadians. The survey enables respondents to identify with other in-group identities along regional, linguistic, income-group, and urban/rural characteristics. Our results find that while Canadians do have a strong baseline preference for redistributive behaviour, regional and linguistic cleavages moderate this outcome.     

The logic of multiculturalism and Korean democracy

In this article, I attempt to construct a normative framework of Korean multiculturalism in the Confucian public-societal context of Korean democracy by focusing on the political implications of the claim to cultural rights (so-called ‘logic’ of multiculturalism) and cultural pluralism that it is likely to entail for Korean democracy. After examining the logic of multiculturalism that often puts multiculturalism in tension with liberal democracy, I turn to Will Kymlicka's account of immigrant multiculturalism that resolves the potential tension between multiculturalism and liberal democracy in a liberal way. Then, I construct a normative framework of Korean multiculturalism in a way that a decent multicultural society can be established on the same public-cultural ground on which Korean democracy has matured in the past two decades.     

立法机构在公共政策制定中的功能与作用——韩国国会与中国全国人大的比较

国会的立法决策是公共政策的最基本形式之一。在议会政治中,政党、国会议员代表选民输入利益需求,经过立法活动的整合、调整,最终形成能够代表或反映特定利益诉求的、以法律或其他特定权威形式表现出来的公共政策。本文以韩国国会在公共政策制定中所扮演的角色、发挥的功能为参照,对比中国全国人大在公共政策制定中的作用和影响,通过总结韩国国会的经验和教训,试图为全国人大的制度建设提供有益的借鉴和启发。     

“变中求统”:大一统政治思想研究中的语境与逻辑问题

大一统作为一种重要的中国传统政治思想和实践遗产,时至今日仍深刻影响着中国的现实政治发展。围绕着大一统内涵、过程、性质与影响的认识与评价,思想史研究中也长期存在着诸多争论。但无论对于大一统本身所持态度如何,争论各方往往都倾向于将大一统视为一种独立于语境之外的固定结构。作为一种限制性认识前提,这无疑妨碍了对于大一统政治思想与实践发展史的全面理解,更影响到从学理逻辑上阐释大一统与现代中国国家建设与治理事业的内在关联。有鉴于此,在大一统政治思想研究中,有必要超越“正典解读”的束缚,以变的思维考察统的历程,同时也以统的逻辑来整合变的史实,将对大一统的思想史解读放在问题逻辑的语境中,关照智识语境与政治语境对其评价的影响,并慎重地探讨其内涵的普遍性与特殊性规律。唯其如此,对大一统的关照和本土化阐释才真正具有了历史性。     

New regionalism in five Swiss metropolitan areas: An assessment of inclusiveness, deliberation and democratic accountability

Abstract.  Focusing on area-wide policy coordination in metropolitan areas, this article examines the democratic consequences of the supposed shift 'from government to governance'. In the first, theoretical, part it draws upon the debate on old and new routes towards regionalism in order to identify four different types of metropolitan governance. It then develops two working hypotheses – an optimistic and a pessimistic one – in order to analyse the implications of various types of metropolitan governance on inclusiveness, modes of decision making and democratic accountability. In the second part, these hypotheses are tested on the basis of comparative case studies on twenty schemes of area-wide policy coordination in five Swiss metropolitan areas in the fields of water supply, public transport, social services for drug users and cultural amenities. The results suggest that 'governance' is superior to 'government' in terms of inclusiveness, that it cannot be seen as significantly linked to the fostering of deliberative decision making, and that it can present serious flaws in terms of accountability. It is noted, however, that a shift 'from government to governance' does not intrinsically imply democratic drawbacks. Contextual factors play a strong conditioning role.