Two Faces of Transparency: The Regulations of People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information

The People’s Republic of China enacted the first nationwide open government information regulations (OGIRs) in 2007. The regulations safeguard Chinese citizens’ right to know and provide public oversight. This analysis aims to explain how and why the Chinese government incorporates the universal values of transparency and accountability into the complex Chinese political systems. The article first provides a theoretical framework of government transparency and a quick road map of OGIRs for international audiences by tracing its regulatory details. It then analyzes OGIRs’ external mechanisms of transparency on how information flows to the citizenry through public supervision and judicial review. Fourthly, the article explains OGIRs’ internal mechanisms of transparency and accountability through the hierarchical control of the party-state agencies and officials. The article emphasizes that transparency and accountability are as important to today’s Chinese government and civil society as they are in democratic regimes generally. OGIR shares the values of external transparency and legislative missions of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). However, the Chinese government tailors information disclosure to meet the institutional requirement of strengthening internal accountability mechanisms, maintaining the party-state’s authority and legitimacy, and representing the collective welfare and public interest.     

The Second Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1945: The Current Status of Research and Publication in the People’s Republic of China,and Prospects and Problems for Foreign Researchers

Zhao Erfeng (1845–1911), the Qing governor-general of Sichuan province in 1911, died immediately after the successful revolutionary uprising in Chengdu. This article examines three biographical narratives of Zhao produced during the 1910s. The three different portraits of Zhao in the biographies—Zhao as racial traitor, loyal martyr, and modernizer—reveal radically different ways in which the Qing–Republican transition was understood in the early Republic. Focused on the two major issues associated with Zhao, the Qing incorporation of the Sino-Tibetan frontier and the railway-protection movement in Sichuan, the following discussion utilizes Zhao's biographies as windows on the unsettled definitions of the 1911 Revolution, revealing how Chinese negotiated the issues of nation, territory, and modernity at the birth of a modern state.     

The role of architecture in the Republic of Georgia’s European aspirations

Alignment with Europe has been a popular foreign policy objective among post-socialist nations. In the Republic of Georgia, discourse surrounding the country’s Euro-Atlantic orientation surged in the decade after the 2003 Rose Revolution. While such discourse has been examined in the context of political reforms and national security goals, this article foregrounds how it was incorporated into alterations of the built environment. Focusing on the urban transformations of the city of Batumi after the rise to power of the United National Movement government, it demonstrates how architecture served as a tool for selectively rewriting Georgia’s contemporary European identity. This article concentrates on two parallel initiatives to transform Batumi into a contemporary European city: the reconstruction of portions of the Old City and the new development along the seaside boulevard. Using evidence collected through qualitative methods, it further highlights the contradictions that emerged during this process of redevelopment and rebranding, as the state balanced initiatives for new development with other post-revolutionary state-building objectives, such as political reform and tourism-market production. Accordingly, it unpacks the various national and international politico-economic forces at play in the process of developing Batumi into the image of a contemporary European city.     

China’s Public Relations and Soft-power

China’s foreign strategy and foreign policy have changed tremendously. China began to build up soft-power of national culture and embark on public diplomacy, which aimed at: 1, increasingly exposing China to the world in terms of the state of affairs, policies and values, 2, creating a more objective and amicable milieu of opinions and 3, enhancing China’s international image. The author offers her personal perspectives on how to handle relations between pursuing public relations and building up national soft-power, how to advance national soft-power by public relations and the need to obviate ideological barriers.     

China’s impact on the landscape of African International Relations: implications for dependency theory

Since China began enhancing its economic relationship with key African oil exporters from the early 1990s, the effect this has had on the International Relations (IR) of Africa has remained largely unknown. This paper delves into African IR theory and finds that, rather than representing an alternative pole for African states to bandwagon with, China’s limited interest in Africa and its international socialisation, along with a possible growth of the middle class in Africa, is likely to give many African states few alternatives than those which have existed thus far in the postcolonial period. More development options are found to lie in sub-regional integration.     

The Strategic Re-view of China’s Territorial Sovereignty

This paper re-examines the status quo of China’s territorial sovereignty security from a strategic perspective.Territory is the most basic physical where-about for a country to express national sovereignty.It is the territory that the national sovereignty derives its physical basis from.In the context of globalization,however, the traditional national territorial sovereignty space is continually squeezed and constrained,but the national territorial sovereignty is still the cornerstone of the international relations.And the inviolability of national territorial sovereignty is still the most important principle of modern international law.In this regard,the primary goal of Chinese national security today remains as a goal to safeguard the unification,integrity and security of China’s territorial sovereignty.At present,the integrity,unification and security of Chinese national territorial sovereignty have yet to be achieved on the strategic level.As one of China’s basic national conditions,it should be taken seriously and paid adequate strategic attentions.     

The Institutional Foundations of China’s Unbalanced Economy

China has become a fast-growing economy with an unbalanced economic structure. Economic policies, especially fiscal and financial policies, contribute to the current growth model by depressing household disposable income and reducing the social services provided by the government. Laws that have been used by the government to subsidise investment and production by distorting factor markets are also to blame. Finally, rebalancing China’s growth pattern has proven to be extremely difficult due to political obstacles, including pressure from interest groups, gridlock caused by factional politics, and ideological discrimination against private entrepreneurs.     

A future,but at what cost? Cuba and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s quest for sustainable development

This paper looks at the question of development by focusing on both Cuba and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. At the heart of the project is the notion of sustainability, and how to achieve well-being even in the most challenging conditions, isolated economies and sanction-laden realities. This is done by tracing both countries’ engagement and development in the fields of health and education. We suggest that political engagement with these countries should be prioritised, without challenging an established political order but with its consent, and with the hope that future generations are socialised to a culture of openness.     

The Europeanization of social movements in the Czech Republic: The EU and local women’s groups

The goal of this paper is to analyze the impact the EU has had on Czech women’s groups since the 1990s. Drawing on both Europeanization and social movement theories, the first section defines the theoretical framework of the paper. The second section is focused on the impact of changes in the funding of women’s groups which, since the end of the 1990s, have relied more than before on European funding. The third section analyzes the shift in the political context and the domestic political opportunity structure in the Czech Republic that has occurred in connection with the accession process. The fourth section analyzes transnational cooperation for which new opportunities have appeared with the EU’s eastward expansion. The paper concludes by summarizing its main findings.